Monday, March 23, 2009

The Latest from National Terror Alert Response Center

















Report: Smart-grid Hackers Could Cause Blackouts


Posted: 22 Mar 2009 07:53 PM PDT



Deployments of smart grids should be slowed until security
vulnerabilities are addressed, a
cording to some cybersecurity

experts, citing tests showing that a hacker can cause a major

blackout after breaking into a smart-grid system.


The idea behind smart grids, a burgeoning energy sector in
which even Google is playing a role,
is that automated meters and

two-way power consumption data can be used to improve
the
efficiency and reliability of an electrical system’s power distribution.

A washing machine in a household hooked up to a smart meter, for

instance, could be set up to run only at lower-cost, off-peak hours,

and a home sporting solar panels could give power back to the grid.


Through the U.S. economic-stimulus package, the Department of
Energy is set to invest $4.5 billion
in smart-grid technology. And while

many utilities are embracing the initiative by installing smart

meters in millions of homes nationwide, security experts and others

caution that the technology may not be ready for prime time.

According to a CNN report published Friday evening: Cybersecurity

experts said some types of meters can be hacked, as can other points

in the smart grid’s communications systems. IOActive, a professional

security services firm, determined that an attacker with $500 of

equipment and materials, and a background in electronics and
software
engineering, could “take command and control of the

(advanced meter infrastructure), allowing for the en masse
manipulation of service to homes and businesses.”


Experts said that once in the system, a hacker could gain control of

thousands, even millions, of meters and shut them off simultaneously.

A hacker also might be able to dramatically increase or decrease the

demand for power, disrupting the load balance on the local power grid

and causing a blackout. These experts said such a localized power outage

would cascade to other parts of the grid, expanding the blackout. No one

knows how big it could get.


via Read Full Article



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Thousands Receive Terror Training In UK


Posted: 22 Mar 2009 06:04 PM PDT



Thousands of UK workers are being trained to help respond to a
future terror
attack as part of an updated counter-terror strategy,

ministers say.


Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said shop and hotel workers would
be among 60,000
people able to deal with an incident.


The updated approach, aimed at tackling immediate terrorist threats

and the causes of extremism, would be the most comprehensive in the

world, she added.


But the Tories said not enough action was being taken against
extremists.
The Home Office’s new counter-terrorism document - to be
published on Tuesday -
will go into more detail than ever before in the

interests of public accountability.


It will reflect intelligence opinion that the biggest threat to the UK comes

from al-Qaeda-linked groups and will also take into account recent attacks

on hotels in the Indian city of Mumbai.


Ms Smith told BBC One’s Politics Show: “What we’re completely
clear about is that if
we’re going to address the threat from terrorism, we

need to do that alongside the 60,000 people that we’re now training up to

respond to a terrorist threat, in everywhere from our shopping
centres to our hotels.


“We need to do it alongside the 3,000 police officers now working on

counter-terror and we need to do it with international partners.


“This is no longer something you can do behind closed doors and
in secret.”


The paper - called Contest Two - will update the Contest strategy

developed by the Home Office in 2003, which was later detailed in

the Countering International Terrorism document released in
2006.


Over the last six years the strategy has concentrated on preventing

radicalisation of potential terror recruits to disrupting terrorist

operations, reducing the UK’s vulnerability and ensuring

Britain is ready for the consequences of any terror attack.


The updated strategy will increase the focus on challenging
individuals and groups who
undermine the UK’s “shared values” -

even if they are not breaking the law.


Source



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Report: al Qaeda Recruiting In Uk At Street Level


Posted: 22 Mar 2009 05:58 PM PDT



The al Qaeda terror network is able to “directly recruit British muslims

at street level in the UK”, according to a ground-breaking new report by the

UK’s premier anti-extremism think-tank.

The research paper produced by the Quilliam Foundation, just published

in the US military journal, The Sentinel, says the success of attacks such as

7/7, compared with the failed bombings at Glasgow Airport and London’s

West End, is proof of the “direct assistance” from senior al-Qaeda

members to British homegrown terrorist, without which “few of these

attacks would have ever been viable”.


Author James Brandon also rejects the consensus that al-Qaeda has

adopted a strategy of “leaderless jihad”, recruiting and mobilizing followers

purely through the internet. While counter-terrorism initiatives introduced

since 9/11 have driven the movement underground, Brandon claims the
evidence suggests al-Qaeda “continues to operate through a traditional

hierarchical structure based on face-to-face contact” and is able to recruit

directly in Britain.


The report compiles evidence based on recent criminal trials to show how

most of the major and successful terrorist plots in the post-9/11 era have

had direct ties to high level al-Qaeda figures in the Afghanistan and

Pakistan border region, calling into question the idea of terrorist

self-starters’.


Brandon told the Sunday Herald: “People aren’t radicalised just by

watching news about Iraq or Afghanistan or Gaza. It’s a much more

complex process than that. And the key thing to understand

is that there are actually people out deliberately trying to radicalise other

people - people aren’t just self-radicalising. And once you understand that

then it’s slightly easier to deal with, because if you can simply
tackle the people involved in the radicalisation then the problem to an
extent
goes away.”


Terror expert David Capitanchik, formerly of Aberdeen university

international relations department, said: “Unlike the IRA, which was

one organisation and quite easy to infiltrate, it’s difficult to infiltrate

al-Qaeda as the groups are very small.”


But professor Alex Schmid, director of St Andrews university’s
centre for terrorism studies, criticised
Brandon for drawing definitive

conclusions from a “nebulous jihadi landscape”. He said: “I have been

talking to people with access to classified intelligence and they have given

me diametrically opposed accounts regarding the degree of control of core

al-Qaeda on plots beyond Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.”


via Report Claims Alqaeda Can Recruit In Uk At Street Level (from Sunday
Herald)
.



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Bikers Brawl In Australian Airport; 1 dead


Posted: 22 Mar 2009 05:54 PM PDT



A man has been bludgeoned to death by a group of Australian motorcycle

gang members in full view of dozens of people at Sydney airport.


Witnesses described bikers swinging poles “like swords” at each
other’s heads as the
brawl spilled over two floors of Sydney’s domestic

terminal.


Four suspects have been arrested and the others are said to have fled.


Police believe the fight broke out when one group of bikers coming off a

plane was ambushed by a rival gang.


Police did not name any gangs thought to be involved, but Australian

media reported that the brawl, on Sunday afternoon, was between the

Hell’s Angels and Comancheros gangs.A 28-year-old man died in hospital

from severe head injuries.


Police said about 15 gang members were involved in the fight, which was

witnessed by about 50 people.


‘Group of cowards’


Witnesses described how the gang used the metal bollards in the check-in

area as weapons.


“They started grabbing the metal poles that break up the check-in area and

swinging them almost like swords at each other’s heads,” Naomi Constantine told Australia’s ABC news.


“I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came
up with a pole and just
started smashing it into his head.”


Local police chief Peter Williams called the attack a “disgraceful act

perpetrated by a group of cowards”.


“A group of males have exited a plane and they were met by another

group of males who we believe may be other motorcycle gang members,”

Detective Inspector Williams told reporters.


Source



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Bill Forthcoming To Move Cybersecurity From Homeland Security To White
House


Posted: 2 Mar 2009 05:48 PM PDT



Forthcoming legislation would wrest cybersecurity responsibilities from

the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and transfer them to the

White House, a proposed move that likely will draw objections from

industry groups and some conservatives.


CNET News has obtained a summary of a proposal from Senators
Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.)
and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that would create

an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, part of the Executive Office

of the President. That office would receive the power to disconnect, if
it believes they’re at risk of a cyberattack, “critical” computer networks

from the Internet.


“I regard this as a profoundly and deeply troubling problem to which we

are not paying much attention,” Rockefeller said a hearing this week,

referring to cybersecurity.


Giving the White House cybersecurity responsibility was one of the

top recommendations of a commission that produced a report last year

to advise President Obama on cybersecurity issues. However, the

Homeland Security Department, which currently has jurisdiction over

cybersecurity, has insisted the reshuffling of duties is not needed.

Given the enormity of cybersecurity threats, the responsibility is a

natural fit for the White House, said James Lewis, a director and senior

fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which issued

last year’s commission report.


“The Obama administration has an adviser on energy and climate change,

and that’s good and important,” Lewis said, “but we’re still in the mode that

cyber is less important.”


While the bill is still in draft form and thereby subject to change, it would

put the White House National Cybersecurity Advisor in charge of

coordinating cyber efforts within the intelligence community and
within civilian agencies, as well as coordinating the public sector’s

cooperation with the private sector. The adviser would have the

authority to disconnect from the Internet any federal infrastructure

networks–or other networks deemed to be “critical”–if found
to be at risk of a cyberattack.


The private sector will certainly speak out if this provision is included

in the final draft of the bill, a representative of the technology industry

who spoke on condition of anonymity said.


“You can be assured that if that idea is put into legislation we would

certainly have views on it,” he said. “It’s not trivial.”


While the person did not take a stance on whether the White House is

the appropriate place to put cybersecurity jurisdiction, he said,

“cybersecurity is a cross-cutting issue, across all government
agencies, so leadership at the top is useful.”


The bill could also make the proposed cyber adviser responsible for

conducting a quadrennial review of the country’s cybersecurity program,

as well as for working with the State Department to develop international

standards for improving cybersecurity.


The draft version of the bill also establishes a clearinghouse for the public

and private sectors to share information about cyberthreats and

vulnerabilities. It also creates a Cybersecurity Advisory Panel consisting

of outside experts from industry, academia, and nonprofit groups to

advise the president.


Because many federal contracting officers do not currently include

security provisions into federal procurements, the bill could also

establish a “Secure Products and Services Acquisitions Board”
to review and approve all federal acquisitions.


Source



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