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Chinese Woman Charged in Trade Secrets Theft Case
Associated Press (07/02/14) Pitt, David
FBI agents in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 1 arrested a Chinese woman who allegedly conspired to steal trade secrets from seed corn companies in the U.S. The woman, Mo Yun, is the latest in a series of indictments of individuals related to China'-based Dabeinong Technology Group Co. (DNB Group) or its subsidiaries who have been charged with attempting to steal patented seed corn from fields in Iowa and Illinois. The six other men allegedly involved in the operation were tracked traveling to corn fields and buying bags of seeds in Iowa and Missouri. Agents say the men were heard discussing Mo Yun's role running the operation and the group's plans to collect 1,000 pieces of corn hybrids in order to test the DNA of the seeds.
Hospitals See Increase in Violent Crime
Security InfoWatch (06/30/14) Griffin, Joel
The results of the "2014 Healthcare Crime Survey" of some 386 hospitals in the U.S. and Canada by the International Healthcare Security and Safety Foundation (IHSSF) show an increase in the number of violent crimes reported by hospitals between 2012 and 2013. The survey found that the number of violent crime incidents increased by 16 percent from 1,437 in 2012 to 1,669 in 2013. There was also a 6 percent increase in simple assaults over the same period. IHSSF President Steve Nibbelink attributes the increase in violent crimes to greater awareness and reporting of violent crime in hospitals as well as an increase in the health acuity of those visiting hospitals, which increases the likelihood of violent incidents. Karim H. Vellani, the lead author of the report, says that in order for hospital officials to better mitigate against violent crimes, they need to be aware of what crimes are being committed in their facilities. Most hospitals are most concerned about violent incidents committed by individuals with no connection to the workplace, but Vellani notes that incidents committed by patients or clients that target staff occur more frequently and have a greater impact on hospital employees. Vellani adds that hospitals should focus preventing or mitigating the second type of incidents.
Retailers Apprehend Shoplifters and Dishonest Employees in Record Numbers
Security InfoWatch (06/27/14) Lasky, Steve
A survey conducted by Jack L. Hayes International has found that the number of apprehensions of shoplifters and dishonest employees who have stolen from retailers and the amount of money recovered from retail theft increased between 2012 and 2013. The 23 major retailers that participated in the survey reported that nearly 1.2 million shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended last year, a number that was 2.8 percent higher than it was in 2012. These retailers also reported that they were able to recover more than $199 million from retail thieves in 2013, which was up 4 percent from the previous year. The participating organizations suggested that there were several reasons for the continued growth of shoplifting, including the fact that organized retail crime is becoming more prevalent and more complex, the greater ease with which stolen merchandise can be sold, and reduced coverage of the sales floor. Hayes International found that the factors that are contributing to the growth in employee theft include reduced employee supervision, the ease of selling stolen merchandise, ineffective pre-employment screenings, and a decline in personal honesty.
Florida Governor Signs Nation's Toughest Data Breach Law
SecurityCurrent (06/26/14) Rashid, Fahmida Y.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has signed what may be the U.S.'s toughest and most wide-ranging data breach law. Under the Florida Information Protection Act of 2014, companies must take "reasonable measures" to shield and secure personally identifying data in electronic format, while companies' disclosure requirements in case of a breach also are broadened. The law, which goes into effect July 1, calls for notifying state regulators within 30 days of breach discovery if more than 500 residents are impacted, rather than 45 days. Meanwhile, third-party agents must alert the partner company of a breach within 10 days, and the company is ultimately liable if the agent fails to comply with the new notification mandate. Firms must "consult with relevant federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies" before deciding whether or not the breach is serious enough to report, according to attorney Stephen Satterfield. Also outlined by the law are items to be included in notification letters to victims, and companies also must provide, upon request, Florida's attorney general with additional information, such as police reports and a list of all remedial steps taken.
Five Strategies for Handling Workplace Violence
EHS Today (06/25/14) Cable, Josh
Workplace violence can come in a number of different forms besides active-shooter situations, says Armistead Whitney, the CEO of the business-continuity firm Preparis Inc. A 2012 study from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that 475 people were killed in workplace homicides that year, but Whitney emphasizes that workplace violence can also include less serious incidents such as bullying and outbursts that become physical. However, employers should not ignore such events, Whitney says. “When things that might seem small at first build up and aren’t addressed soon enough by an employer or an employee who might be experiencing them, that’s when things can take a turn for the worse and end up being a real incident that makes the news,” he adds. In order to prevent these problems, Whitney urges companies to put in place crisis plans to be used in the event of a workplace violence incident. Along with such plans, a crisis team should be assigned so that people know who is in charge in the event of an incident. Once these elements are in place, employees should be trained on how to deal with a workplace violence incident. Crisis teams should also occasionally perform tabletop exercises to simulate acts of workplace violence. Finally, companies should institute emergency messaging systems that can send alerts to workers' phones and/or e-mail accounts to warn them in case of an emergency.
Tighter Security for Flights to the U.S.
BBC News (07/03/14) Westcott, Richard
Security is being tightened at international airports around the world with direct flights to the U.S. on news that Islamist terror groups in Syria and Yemen are working to develop and smuggle hard-to-detect bombs onto planes. An official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said security is being heightened in response to "real time" intelligence of a "credible" threat. The threat comes from al-Nusra Front and al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), a pair of al-Qaida affiliated terror groups based in Syria and Yemen, respectively. The two groups are reportedly cooperating in the development of "artfully-concealed devices," bombs that contain no metal, emit minimal vapor, and are otherwise difficult to detect. AQAP has been developing such bombs for years and has tried to smuggle them onto international flights multiple times. But while AQAP has succeeded in smuggling bombs onto flights three times, only one of the bombs actually exploded, in that case killing only the bomber. Officials did not detail the measures being taken to tighten security, but they likely include more rigorous checks of shoes and electronic devices.
Watchdog Finds NSA Net Surveillance Effective, Sounds Constitutional Warning
Wall Street Journal (07/02/14) Gorman, Siobhan
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board's second report on the National Security Agency's surveillance programs, which was released Tuesday, found that programs that collect Internet communications are effective and not in violation of the Fourth Amendment. However, the report did warn that the programs needed additional controls to ensure they protect Americans' privacy. In its first report on the NSA in January, the board questioned the legality of the spy agency's mass collection of phone data and called for that program to be terminated. The new report focuses on a group of programs that are meant to target and collect the communications of "foreign intelligence targets." One of the programs gives the NSA indirect access to the majority of the U.S. Internet backbone. While it found the programs to be legal, the privacy board also highlighted several areas of concern, mostly focusing on the NSA's collection of Americans' data through the program and the access it grants the CIA and FBI to such data. The new report recommends tightening the rules for identifying surveillance targets and collecting their communications, limiting the FBI's access to data collected through the program for non-intelligence purposes, and increasing reporting requirements when surveillance involves U.S. persons.
Fervor of Benghazi Suspect Described
Washington Post (07/02/14) Horwitz, Sari
Court documents filed in the case of Ahmed Abu Khattala, the suspected mastermind of the 2012 attacks on the American diplomatic compound and CIA facility in Benghazi, Libya, include information about the possible motive for the attack as well as Khattala's alleged actions during and after the assault. The documents filed by prosecutors in the case state that Abu Khattala held extreme anti-Western views and that he disliked the fact that there was an American compound in Benghazi. Prosecutors say that these views prompted Abu Khattala to organize the attack, which also allegedly involved a number of his associates from the Ansar al-Sharia militia. In the aftermath of the attack, Abu Khattala attempted to obtain equipment and weapons in order to defend himself from any U.S. effort to capture or kill him. Abu Khattala is also believed to have subsequently taken steps to target American interests in North Africa in retaliation for the capture of Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, a suspect in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, in Tripoli last year. Abu Khattala, who has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, could ultimately face the death penalty if convicted. He remains the only suspect in the Benghazi attack to have been captured.
Court Gave NSA Broad Leeway in Surveillance, Documents Show
Washington Post (07/01/14) Nakashima, Ellen ; Gellman, Barton
Former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has released several new documents that detail the scope of the agency's Section 702 surveillance program, in which the e-mails and phone calls of foreigners believed to be located outside the U.S. are collected. The documents indicate that the NSA has the authority to perform surveillance on foreigners who "posses, are expected to receive, and/or are likely to communicate foreign intelligence information" about all but four countries. The four countries that are generally exempted are the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, which along with the U.S. make up the so-called Five Eyes alliance. Perhaps one of the more controversial pieces of data is included in a document that notes that NSA could be collecting as many as 46,000 e-mails sent between individuals in the U.S. each year. NSA is authorized to collect such e-mails if they mention a foreign surveillance target's contact information. Officials say the number of wholly domestic e-mails being collected is less than 1 percent of all the communications being intercepted and that steps are taken to protect the privacy of Americans whose e-mails are collected under this authority. But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is expressing concern about the collection of these domestic e-mails, saying that the program is intercepting messages that are not related to actual national security threats and is thus a threat to Americans' privacy.
ISIS Terror Threat to US Targets 'High,' Say Officials
NBC News (06/30/14) Esposito, Richard; Windrem, Robert; Winter, Tom
Multiple U.S. intelligence officials have called the terror threat posed to U.S. targets by the Islamist terror group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) "extremely high." ISIS, which has established a safe haven across large swaths of Syria and northern Iraq, possesses a great deal of military hardware and bomb-making expertise, but the danger it poses to U.S. targets at the moment is likely limited to U.S. military personnel in the region. The group and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, are currently focused on the project of carving out what they call an Islamic state in the region. However, one U.S. official notes that "al-Baghdadi's rhetoric alone would suggest that he does have ... international ambitions." The threat to America is also limited by the relatively small number of Americans, roughly 70, who have left to join the fight in Syria and have returned or could return to the U.S. The U.K., however, faces a much larger potential threat from as many as 500 British residents who have traveled to Syria. About two thirds of these fighters have already returned to the U.K. These fighters, especially those with Western passports, could easily slip back into their home countries. One expert called the number of potential attackers created by the conflict in Syria and Iraq the largest seen "since 9/11."
Oil Industry Forms Clearinghouse for Cyberattack Data
Security InfoWatch (07/02/14) Eaton, Collin
The American Petroleum Institute recently announced that it has established the Oil and Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center, in which cybersecurity experts will analyze malicious software attacks on networks used to run energy infrastructure such as offshore rigs, refineries, and pipelines. Once the team of experts has been established, analysts will send reports to member companies, says Curt Craig, a founding director of the center. Craig added that such sharing of information will help improve cybersecurity in the energy industry more rapidly than would have otherwise been possible. The Oil and Natural Gas Information Sharing and Analysis Center reported that cybersecurity attacks on the oil and gas industry made up 53 percent of the more than 200 incidents reported last year to the Department of Homeland Security's industrial emergency arm. While cyberattacks on U.S. oil and gas companies traditionally come from foreign competitors, such as Russian or Chinese firms trying to steal company secrets, a newer type of hacker network has emerged that tries to hijack energy infrastructure control systems or put executives' personal information on the Internet.
U.S. Breach-o-Rama Continues as Butler University Admits 163,000-Person Hack
Network World (07/02/14) Dunn, John E.
Butler University in Indiana is warning 163,000 staff, students, and alumni they may be at risk of identity theft following a recent data breach. The breach, which reportedly began in November and lasted through May, resulted in the theft of personal information such as Social Security and driver's license numbers, names, and dates of birth. The breach was not discovered until a person arrested in California last month was found in possession of a flash drive that contained the stolen data. It remains unclear how the cybercriminals behind the breach pulled off the theft without being found out. Due to concerns that these individuals may use the stolen data to perpetrate identity theft, the university is offering all affected students, staff, and alumni free identity theft insurance and monitoring services. Butler University joins the University of Maryland as one of the institutions of higher learning in the U.S. that have recently been targeted by cybercriminals. Universities are popular targets for malicious hackers because they possess data on large numbers of affluent individuals, meaning cybercriminals can realize significant gains by stealing the identities of these people.
Russian Hackers Threaten Power Companies, Symantec Says
San Francisco Chronicle (07/01/14) Thomson, Amy; Rahn, Cornelius
Symantec says Energetic Bear, a Russian hacking group, is attacking energy companies in the U.S. and Europe. The group also is known as Dragonfly and may have government assistance due to its size, resources, and organization. Symantec warns the hackers are targeting grid operators, petroleum pipeline operators, electricity generation companies, and other vital energy businesses. The targets reflect the expanding reach of hackers as more parts of the economy become connected to the Internet. Meanwhile, although possible government involvement suggests hacking is being encouraged to further political strategies, Symantec has found no evidence of direct government involvement. Most of the attacks focused on targets in the U.S. and Spain, although victims of attacks also were identified in Serbia, Greece, Romania, Poland, Turkey, Germany, Italy, and France.
Nearly Half of Companies Hit with DDoS Attacks in the Last Year
ZDNet (06/30/14) Ranger, Steve
Forty-one percent of organizations around the world were victims of distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks over the past year, and 78 percent of them experienced at least two such attacks during that time period, according to a recent BT survey. The survey suggested the frequency of attacks is causing concern among IT security professionals around the world, although the level of concern is uneven. For example, 58 percent of the organizations said DDoS attacks were a key security concern, although only an average 36 percent of U.K. organizations said that. The lower level of concern about DDoS attacks in Britain could be because many IT security professionals there are prepared to respond to these attacks. Forty-nine percent of British organizations said they have plans in place for responding to DDoS attacks, although just 10 percent of decision-makers in U.K. organizations strongly believe they have the tools they need to defend their organizations from cybercriminals seeking to bring down their websites and other IT resources. Many British organizations said they had DDoS attack response plans in place, but 58 percent of decision-makers said these attacks knocked out their systems for more than six hours. However, that is lower than the average of 12 hours that it takes to recover from a powerful DDoS attack.
Warning Signs Corporate Computers Could Be Talking to Cloud-Based Malware
CSO Online (06/27/14) Gonsalves, Antone
Trend Micro recently announced it had discovered that some botnet malware was receiving instructions from command-and-control servers through a cloud storage service. Trend Micro says the new threat adds to the list of potential risks posed by such services, including the risk of employees uploading sensitive data to servers the enterprise has no control over. The easiest way to defeat the potential risk is to block access to cloud storage solutions on corporate networks, or restrict access to only approved services. However, some experts say another solution is to monitor computers for potential signs they are infected by malware, which include a system with consistent hours of operation and volumes of data traffic suddenly operating outside of the normal activity window or drastically increasing its data traffic. Other suspicious behaviors include consistent, systematic querying of other machines on the network, which can indicate attempts to infect other systems on the network, and unexplained use of previously unused TCP/IP ports or services such as Internet Relay Chat. NSS Labs also suggests the use of breach-detection systems.
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