CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE: Napolitano: Hackers "came close" to Shutting Down Critical Infrastructure

courtesy of:
www.ccip.mst.edu

Infrastructure protectionPublished 28 October 2011On Thursday DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano revealed that hackers have "come close" to shutting down parts of the nation's critical infrastructure; at a press conference Napolitano stated that hackers have attempted to infiltrate financial systems, transportation networks, and other key elements of U.S. critical infrastructure, making cyberattacks on these facilities one of her top concerns  Read more

HOMELAND SECURITY NEWSWIRE: Secretary Clinton Demands Libya Return Lockerbie Bomber to Prison

Published 27 October 2011

courtesy of americanglob.com

Now that the fighting in Libya has drawn to a close with the death of Muammar Qaddafi, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is pressing the new Libyan government to return the only individual convicted in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103; Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al Megrahi, was convicted and jailed in Scotland for the Lockerbie bombing which killed 259 people, mostly Americans; in 2009 Scotland released him on the grounds that he had been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer and only had three months to live; al Megrahi returned to Libya where he has been living since; over the weekend Clinton said, "We want to see him returned to prison, preferably in Scotland, where he was serving the sentence"

9/11 UPDATE: Why the Twin Towers Collapsed: New Theory

Just before the two skyscrapers collapsed on September 11, 2001, powerful explosions within the building could be heard, Photo: Jim Collins / AP / SCANPIX

Twin Towers attackWhy the Twin Towers collapsed: new theory

Published 22 September 2011

Materials scientist says that a mixture of water from sprinkler systems and molten aluminum from melted aircraft hulls created explosions that led to the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11

Just before the two New York skyscrapers collapsed on 11 September 2001, powerful explosions within the building could be heard, leading many people to believe that overheated steel beams in the building were not the cause of the collapse.

The explosions fed the conspiracy theories that someone had placed explosives inside the towers.

At an international materials technology conference in San Diego, senior scientist Christian Simensen of SINTEF Materials and Chemistry present an alternative theory, based on the physics of materials, of what happened in the towers when they were attacked by the aircraft. Siemensen believes that his theory is much more likely to reflect the actual situation than the official explanation of the collapse.

In the wake of the conference Simensen had an article published in the journal Aluminum International Today, describing his theory.  Full story

RIOTING: London Police Use Smartphones, Social Network to Identify Rioters

Published 10 August 2011

The rioters in London -- and now, in other British cities -- have been using Blackberries to outmaneuver the police; communicating via BlackBerry instant-message technology, as well as by social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, the rioters repeatedly signaled fresh target areas to those caught up in the mayhem; RIM has now agreed to cooperate with Scotland Yard to turn over protestors using the service to coordinate their assaults; the police is also releasing CCTV images of the rioters to a group using face recognition technology to identify and condemn rioters; the police is also using Flickr, Tublr, and Twitter to spot and identify participants in the riots

London police have been using the same social media // Source: sodahead.com

Smartphones, especially Blackberries, have been a helpful information transmission and coordination tool for anti-government activists in a score of Arab countries – and they have played a major role in helping the rioters in London and other British cities coordinate their assaults and evade the police.

Here is how the New York Times saw it:

Despite an additional build-up in the number of riot police officers, many of them rushed to London from areas around the country, gangs of hooded young people appeared to be outmaneuvering the police for the third successive night. Communicating via BlackBerry instant-message technology that the police have struggled to monitor, as well as by social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, they repeatedly signaled fresh target areas to those caught up in the mayhem.  Read more

TECHNOLOGY: Beachball-like Observation UAV Developed

Published 8 August 2011

A beach ball-size drone can fly down narrow alleys, hover on the spot, take off vertically, bounce along the ground like a soccer ball -- all the time transmitting live images from a video camera; it can travel above traffic or spy on a target through a window -- and can also be used in search and rescue in disaster zones, where it could fly through buildings and even up and down stairways

Fumiyuki Sato with his beachball UAV // Source: xatakaciencia.com

A Japanese researcher working for Japan’s Ministry of Defense has developed a spherical observation UAV that can fly down narrow alleys, hover on the spot, take off vertically, bounce along the ground like a soccer ball – all the time transmitting live images from a video camera.

The drone – or Spherical Air Vehicle (SAF) — is the size of a beach ball, and it is controlled by an operator with a remote control. It is powered by a propeller protected by a spherical shield with large openings for airflow, allowing it to hit a wall or a tumble to the ground without damaging the propeller. Tech.blorge reports that the device’s designer is continuing to work to improve it. The designer says that in the future the SAF could be used as a formidable pursuit vehicle that can travel above traffic or spy on a target through a window.

Its inventor says it could also help in such as search and rescue in disaster zones, where it could fly through buildings and even up and down stairways.

The developer, Fumiyuki Sato, a research engineer at the Technical Research and Development Institute Ministry of Defense, said that “This is the world’s first spherical air vehicle.”  Read more

U.K: Asks Citizens to Report Anarchists Along with Terrorists

[I find this rather chilling, since I have had several conversations of late, about some anarchists and their violent acts...]

Published 4 August 2011

The U.K.'s counterterrorism police force has asked local businesses and residents to report any anarchists in their neighborhoods along with religious extremists; the notice comes in the wake of the attacks on Norway which left seventy-six people dead; the Metropolitan Police is urging residents to report any suspicious activities from Muslim terrorists like al Qaeda, Irish dissidents, and political groups like anarchists; anarchists were the only political group mentioned which is drawing criticism for singling out the organization.

TERRORISM: Study Finds U.K. at Greatest Risk of Terror Attack

Published 4 August 2011

A recent study found that the United Kingdom was at greater risk from terrorist attacks than any other Western nation; the study, complied by Maplecroft and dubbed the Terrorism Risk Index, ranked the United Kingdom at higher risk than the United States, France, and Spain; overall the United Kingdom ranked thirty-eighth behind nations like Somalia, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan, which topped the list in that order; the U.K. ranked higher than other nations due to the internal threat from dissident Irish Republican terrorists; "The U.K. continues to face terrorist threats posed by Islamist militants and dissident Irish republicans. The Islamist terrorist threat has both international and domestic elements," the report wrote; it added, "The majority of perpetrated attacks continue to be committed by dissident Irish Republican terrorists"

SECURITY vs FREEDOM: Norwegian Ambassador: A More Restrictive Society” is Not the Answer

[I can't help but empathize with this guy and Norway as a whole.  I vacationed there, and absolutely love the people and their country. Maybe they are learning from our mistakes...hopefully, somebody does...SDF Blogger]

Published 4 August 2011

coutesy of www:s260.photobucket.com

Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Norway that left at least seventy-six people dead, Svein Sevje, Norway's ambassador to Israel, said in an interview that the Norwegian government will not become a surveillance state and instead focus on maintaining freedom and transparency; "The answer to this is not closing in and a more restrictive society, it's more transparency, more involvement, that must be the answer," Ambassador Sevje said; "Our prime minister and foreign minister have stated that Norway will still be recognizable tomorrow," he said; the ambassador added that some new security measures will be introduced, but he hopes that they will not come at the cost of democratic freedoms

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY: Not Just for Private Sector Any More

Tue, 2011-07-26 02:32 PM (www.gsnmagazine.com)

Mark Fabro (left) and Anthony Di Bello

By Mark Fabro and Anthony Di Bello 

In the last several years, critical infrastructure protection has moved to the forefront of almost every asset owner’s agenda, be they in the public or private sector.

Perhaps more importantly, cyber security and its relevance to the protection of national critical assets are gaining considerable attention from Congress, the White House and the U.S. Defense Department.

Even though much of the U.S. critical infrastructure is owned by private industry, many high-value critical facilities are actually operated by government agencies. Critical infrastructure systems, regardless of who owns them, often share a tremendous amount of interdependency and interoperability, and from these interdependencies come previously unseen attack vectors.  Read more

Rep. King discusses homegrown Islamic terrorism and other security issues at NYC breakfast

[Courtesy of www.gsnmagazine.com]
Tue, 2011-07-26 08:46 AM

Rep. Peter King (R-NY)

Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee in the House of Representatives, asserted that Americans are much safer today than on 9/11. Among the reasons he cited were public awareness of the potential threats that exist, better integration and cooperation with our allies, and an exceptional commitment by the NYPD, which has 1,000 officers working in counter-terrorism and engages in extensive intelligence-sharing with the Nassau and Suffolk County Police Departments, the New York State police, FBI and CIA.

But he warned that Al Qaeda realizes that Americans feel secure, so they are now using radicalized homegrown operatives, such as Najibullah Zazi, the would-be 2009 NYC subway bomber, who grew up in Queens, and U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, who allegedly murdered 13 people at the Fort Hood military base in Texas.

“The only way they found out about Zazi, was that his name came up in a conversation they were monitoring and an analyst picked it up,” said King. “One random mention of his name prevented a disastrous attack on the New York City subway system.”   Read more

Al-Qaeda: Weakened, Continues to Target U.S.: Officials

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Al-Qaeda still hopes to carry out attacks against the United States, even as the structure of the terrorist network has become more dispersed, the White House pick to oversee unified U.S. counterterrorism operations said at his Tuesday confirmation hearing (see GSN, July 18).

"That threat is not so much from the senior (al-Qaeda) leadership in Pakistan with one unified goal, it is now diffused in various regional locations under various leaders and with various goals," said Matthew Olsen, who is awaiting Senate approval to become the new director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

Olsen said the May shooting death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy SEALs was a "significant milestone" that that there has been "substantial progress" in the fight against the terror group.

Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch "has shown a willingness and a level of capability to strike in the United States," Olsen told members of the Senate intelligence committee. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has been linked in recent years to failed efforts to detonate a bomb on a passenger aircraft heading to Detroit and to mail explosives to the United States.   

Read more