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"Six Are Held in Bogus Labels Probe"
Los Angeles Times (11/15/07) P. B4 ; Krikorian, Greg Police in New York arrested six suspects in connection with a money laundering ring that revolved around clothes trafficking, following the apprehension earlier this month of 12 Los Angeles residents also involved in the scheme. Federal authorities have charged the suspects with trafficking millions of dollars worth of counterfeit clothes from China, and are investigating claims that the group laundered the income to fund activities for the terrorist group Hezbollah. North Bergen, N.J. resident Hussein Nasser was charged with owning and operating the store where counterfeit goods were sold by himself and co-defendants Hussein Chahine, Hassan Chahine, and Ali Fayed Nasser. Sam Wang of Taiwan was arrested in Queens and charged with manufacturing the goods, and Colin Tsai of Los Angeles was also indicted for allegedly transporting goods from his city to New York. During the two-year surveillance and monitoring operation, police also uncovered a drug-trafficking ring in Los Angeles and recently arrested 20 individuals alleged to be involved in street gangs.
(go to web site) "Chevron to Pay $30 Million in Oil-for-Food Settlement"
Houston Chronicle (11/14/07) ; Ivanovich, David The U.S. Justice Department, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and several other federal agencies uncovered evidence that Chevron Corp. may have indirectly paid kickbacks to the Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq through the United Nation's Oil-for-Food program, which allowed the Iraqi government to sell oil in exchange for food and medicine for poorer citizens after the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. The firm recently agreed to pay $30 million to settle allegations in the matter, though officials at Chevron did not admit wrongdoing. Chevron spokesman Kent Robertson said, "The settlement recognizes that certain third-party merchants from which Chevron purchased Iraqi crude oil paid illegal surcharges to the government of Iraq." Chevron indicated that at the time internal controls were established to ensure the firm's merchants did not purchase crude and pay for secret surcharges, including the requirement that all traders seek written approval from Chevron's director of global crude before Iraqi oil was purchased and the requirement that managers review each proposed deal carefully. The U.S. government contends those internal controls failed, and Chevron purchased oil between April 2001 and May 2002 that paid illegal surcharges up to $20 million to Hussein's regime.
(go to web site) "Finnish School Shooter, Pa. Teen Linked"
CNN.com (11/13/07) ; Cummings, Julian; Acosta, Jim A Pennsylvania teen arrested in October for plotting to carry out a school shooting had an online correspondence with the Finnish school shooter who recently killed nine people including himself, authorities say. While Dillon Cossey of Plymouth Meeting, Penn. and Pekka-Eric Audient of Jokela, Finland, talked via MySpace about video games and the Columbine shootings, Cossey's lawyer says there is no evidence linking his client to the incident in Finland. Investigators say Cossey, who is awaiting trial for charges of unlawful transfer of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor, corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child, and two counts of reckless endangerment, planned to carry out a similar attack on his former high school Plymouth Whitemarsh. Nevertheless, Cossey claims he was unaware of Auvinen's scheme. Cossey's mother, Michele Cossey, was also charged and faces six counts of supplying firearms and bomb-making equipment for her son.
(go to web site) "Gilroy Police Searching for Kidnapping Suspect"
San Jose Mercury News (CA) (11/11/07) ; Olvera, Javier Erik; Gonzales, Sandra The Gilroy, Calif. Police Department is searching for a man suspected of kidnapping a woman in an escape from a department store security guard on Friday night. At approximately 6 p.m. Friday, security at a Kohl's department store called police to report a man who was seen stealing cologne from the store. A security guard followed the man outside, which caused the suspect to run away and enter the passenger side of a gray SUV. Witnesses say the driver, described as a Latina in her 30s, began calling for help, but was forced by the man to drive away. The woman has not been found and no one has filed a missing-person report with a matching description. Police are looking for the man, described by witnesses as a Latino between 25 and 30 years old, with black hair and a beard.
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"Chinese Spying is a Threat, Panel Says"
Washington Post (11/16/07) P. A9 ; Cho, David; Cha, Ariana Eunjung The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission released a report Thursday, which warns that Chinese spying is the biggest threat to sensitive technology data. The report contained 42 recommendations to Congress, including a push to work with China to reduce pollution. Most of the report dealt with security issues, including concerns that the Defense Department purchases military vehicles from companies that outsource the manufacturing to China. The commission also asserts that the advances by the Chinese military are surprising to U.S. experts, questioning the accuracy of U.S. military capability assessments. The Chinese military shot down an old weather satellite during a January test, showing that they could potentially take out U.S. military satellites during a conflict. China is also developing several diesel-powered submarines and lasers that can blind spy satellites. Although the commission has been criticized for not putting enough emphasis on the potential benefits of Chinese growth, the Defense Department is taking Chinese advancements seriously. "We are closely watching China's military modernization," said Defense Department spokesman Stewart Upton. "China's lack of transparency regarding its military modernization raises uncertainty, for the U.S. and others, regarding its strategic intent and causes hedging against the unknown."
(go to web site) "Bomb Parts Get by U.S. Airport Security in Tests"
Reuters (11/15/07) ; Allen, Joanne According to a General Accountability Office report, federal investigators conducting an undercover security test made their way through U.S. airport security with materials that could be used for making bombs. "The TSA needs to explain how after spending billions of dollars over six years, it still is failing to stop dangerous materials from making it onto airplanes," said House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). The report noted that the materials the investigators purchased online could easily be used to perpetrate a terrorist attack. While screeners followed protocols in conducting checks, the report stated that investigators exploited a security vulnerability and successfully made their way through airport screening. In an endeavor to uncover potential security flaws remaining in airport screening, the House of Representatives' government oversight committee called for the testing.
(go to web site) "In a Modernizing Mexico, Blasts Reveal Shadowy Side"
Wall Street Journal (11/14/07) Vol. CCL, No. 115, P. A1 ; Cordoba, Jose de Mexican security officials are concerned over the return of the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR), a Marxist guerrilla group that hadn't been heard from in several years. The EPR, formed in 1994 by the consolidation of several small revolutionary groups, has been implicated in several attacks over the past decade, but has not done much since a post-Sept. 11 agreement with the government. However, in June 2007, EPR sent a message to the government demanding the release of two missing "comrades," Gabriel Cruz Sanchez and Edmundo Reyes, who had gone missing a week earlier. In July, EPR set off bombs at two natural-gas pipelines, followed by a coordinated series of 12 pipeline bombings in early September. Although officials do not know where the missing men are, experts believe that EPR is using them as an excuse to once again rise to prominence in Mexico, possibly with the support of the drug lords that new President Felipe Calderon is fighting. While officials are concerned that the attacks are the first in a new wave of domestic bombings by the EPR, the attacks also illustrate the safety deficiencies around Mexico's natural gas infrastructure. There is already a natural gas shortage in the country, and the bombings caused some manufacturers to stop business for up to a week after the attacks. Although the EPR has not yet attacked the oil supply, officials are worried of facing a situation similar to Nigeria, where sabotage has cut the nation's output by 20 percent.
(go to web site) "Ex-FBI Employee's Case Raises New Security Concerns"
Washington Post (11/14/07) P. A3 ; Warrick, Joby; Eggen, Dan A former FBI and CIA employee pled guilty in federal court to charges of unauthorized computer access, naturalization fraud and conspiracy. Officials say that Nada Nadim Prouty, a Lebanese national who originally entered the country on a student visa, entered into a false marriage to gain citizenship. In 1999, Prouty was hired as an FBI special agent, obtaining a security clearance that she used to access restricted files on Hezbollah, allegedly to see if her family members were linked to the group. Prouty also stated in her plea agreement that she had taken home some classified records, however officials have found no evidence that she shared any sensitive information. The case is the latest high-profile security breach for the FBI, which has been criticized for its security since the 2001 arrest of Soviet spy Robert P. Hanssen. "It is hard to imagine a greater threat than the situation where a foreign national uses fraud to attain citizenship and then, based on that fraud, insinuates herself into a sensitive position in the U.S. government," said U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy. FBI officials say that before she was hired, Prouty went through a full background check and passed a lie detector test. However, the FBI has been criticized by the Justice Department's inspector general for failing to adopt key security measures after the Hanssen case, including improvements to the agency's outdated computer network and background check system.
(go to web site) "Bush Approves Clearances for N.S.A. Inquiry"
New York Times (11/14/07) P. A16 ; Shane, Scott Justice Department officials announced Tuesday that President Bush approved security clearances for Justice's ethics office to investigate the surveillance program run by the National Security Agency. The investigation began after several members of Congress called for an investigation into the approval and oversight of the surveillance program by Justice Department lawyers. The program, which ended in January, allowed the NSA to intercept phone calls and E-mails of people with suspected links to al-Qaeda. In mid-2006, Justice officials announced that the investigation had been halted because President Bush denied them the necessary clearance. The announcement of Bush's reversal came days after Michael B. Mukasey was sworn in as the new attorney general. Although Mukasey said that the issue had been decided before his confirmation, members of Congress have given him credit for convincing Bush to change his mind. "It seems the new attorney general understands that his responsibility is to the American people and the rule of law and not to any particular person, including the president," said Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey (D-N.Y.)
(go to web site) "Iraqi Taxi Driver Shot Dead by Private Security Guard Hired to Protect U.S. Convoys"
Associated Press (11/13/07) ; Yacoub, Sameer N. An Iraqi taxi driver was shot and killed Saturday by a private security guard in Baghdad's Atafiyah neighborhood, Iraqi officials announced Monday. Witnesses say that the taxi drove up to a convoy of seven U.S. vehicles and was signaled to stop by security personnel. One of the guards then opened fire, hitting the driver in the chest and head. A spokesman for DynCorp International, one of three security firms under contract to protect American officials in Iraq, said that one of its security teams opened fire on a car Saturday, however said that they were not sure if it was the same incident because the team reported that nobody had been injured. It is standard procedure for DynCorp employees to disable a threatening vehicle by firing a single shot into the engine block. However, one witness claimed that the taxi's gearshift was in neutral, making the vehicle "totally motionless and no threat whatsover to the convoy." This incident came a month after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ordered an overhaul of government oversight on private security firms operating abroad.
(go to web site) "Militant Group Is Out of Baghdad, U.S. Says"
New York Times (11/08/07) ; Cave, Damien The militant group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has been circumvented and forced out of Baghdad, according to Maj. Gen. Joseph F. Fil Jr., commander of U.S. forces in Baghdad. Gen. Fil reports that murder rates have decreased 80 percent from peak numbers and improvised bombing attacks have also seen a steep decline, due to dwindling support for sectarian violence and reduced funding for terrorist activities. Many displaced families are moving back into the city, but Gen. Fil says Shiite militias, who still control gasoline and government ministries, still instigate sectarian violence in certain neighborhoods in the city, and a Sunni uprising remains a viable threat. For the upcoming year, Gen. Fil predicts it will be "a year of reconstruction, a year of infrastructure repair, and a year of, if there's going to be a surge, a year of the surge of the economy." U.S. intelligence agencies believe Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia to be foreign-led, though the group is comprised of Iraqi Sunni extremists.
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"Google Meets Sherlock Holmes"
Newswise (11/13/07) Most of the information that hinted at possible trouble prior to the 9-11 attacks was buried under massive amounts of data being collected faster than analysts could handle. A single day's collection would fill more than 6 million 160-gigabyte iPods, and some of the data conflicted with other pieces of information. To prevent such pieces of information from being missed again, researchers at the DHS Science and Technology Directorate are developing ways of viewing such data as a 3D picture where important clues are more easily identified. Mathematicians, logicians, and linguists are collaborating to make the massive amounts of data form a meaningful shape, assigning brightness, color, texture, and size to billions of known and apparent facts. For example, a day's worth of video, cell phone calls, photos, bank records, chat rooms, and emails may be displayed as a blue-gray cloud with links to corresponding cities. "Were not looking for 'meaning' per se," says Dr. Joseph Kielman, Basic Research Lead for the Directorate's Command, Control and Interoperability Division, "but for patterns that will let us detect the expected and discover the unexpected." Kielman says it will still be several years before visual analytics can automatically create connections from fuzzy data such as video.
(go to web site) "Top 5 Security-Menace Predictions for 2008"
Network World (11/13/07) ; Messmer, Ellen Bot evolution, Web threats, mobile threats, virtual worlds, and the upcoming presidential election are the leading security threats for 2008, predicts Oliver Friedrichs, Symantec's director of emerging technologies. He forecasts that bots such as the malicious Storm worm will increasingly target peer-to-peer networks. Due to bots' lack of a centralized center, they are difficult to isolate and immobilize. Web sites remain a target for hackers plugging malicious codes into seemingly safe sites, while social networking sites will hold the most potential for future targeted attacks. The increasing usage of Web access via mobile phones will lead cybercriminals to potentially interfere with consumers attempting to conduct mobile banking operations or perform in auctions. Virtual world games such as Second Life and World of Warcraft will also receive their share of hackers, who will attempt to hijack other players' accounts for profits. Finally, the presidential election will likely provoke cyberattacks. As candidates take online contributions, hackers could either interfere with the transmission of funds from one party to another or pilfer the profits themselves.
(go to web site) "Handhelds, Laptops Increase IT Security Worries, Survey Finds"
Federal Computer Week (11/05/07) ; Walker, Richard W. Mobile employees are posing greater security risks for IT security, reports the Computing Technology Industry Association. A CompTIA survey revealed that over half of respondents are concerned about wireless-network security, while about 60 percent said that portable devices have been attributed to increasing security issues within the past year. Though an overwhelming number of the businesses allow employees remote or mobile data access, merely one-third have security training programs. "As access extends beyond the four walls of the organization to satellite offices, home-based workers, and mobile employees, each remote connection or access point is another potential security vulnerability that must be secured," says CompTIA President John Venator. His warning is supported by the fact that only 10 percent of those polled say their organization is slated to introduce security initiatives within the next year. Venator adds that close to 90 percent of companies that have employed mobile employee security training programs have reduced their frequency of security infiltrations.
(go to web site) "Online Searches May Pose Security Threats"
Washington Technology (11/02/07) ; Lipowicz, Alice Federal agencies could be placing their organizations at the forefront of major security threats just from searching the Internet, warns a Civitas Group report. Civitas assessed Google Desktop Search and Search Across Computers for their internal network and Web searching capabilities. Researchers noted that while the applications were efficient, the risk for third-party interception was prevalent. For example, Search Across Computers automatically uploaded information from online to the desktop, posing the possibility for unauthorized access. Such actions also leave government agencies susceptible to potential liabilities due to classified information disclosures. The Ponemon Institute's survey of federal IT leaders found that over 60 percent were cognizant of Google Desktop Search's potential security risks. Though Google has implemented controls to abate the risks associated with third-party access, Civitas says that more competent training and operational measures are necessary to prevent system vulnerabilities.
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