NIPC Daily Report
19 April 2002
The NIPC Watch and Warning Unit compiles this report to inform
recipients of issues impacting the integrity and capability of the
nation's critical infrastructures.
Detroit develops homeland plan. Detroit recently published a detailed
plan on how it intends to develop stronger defenses against terrorist
acts while increasing the city's routine services. The goal is to use a
cost-effective way to create an infrastructure that could stop the next
terrorist act while also improving the city's ability to deliver
everyday services. Specifics of the 10-point plan include appointing a
city homeland security coordinator, linking emergency services through a
wireless interoperability network, and establishing an Internet based
public health disease surveillance system. (Federal Computer Week, 18 Apr)
WWU Comment: Although the Office of Homeland Security was created at the
federal level, the creation of a state, city, or town level homeland
emergency plan increases the capability and efficiency of first
responders. Those who provide emergency services need fast and accurate
specific information. Effective, integrated communications is
especially beneficial.
Nuclear plants behind on security upgrades. Although nuclear power
plants are ahead of schedule on some security upgrades, nearly
three-quarters are behind schedule on new federally mandated security
upgrades, mostly dealing with truck bombs, according to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC). Truck bombs are one of the most commonly
used and easiest to obtain terrorist weapons, and anxiety about them has
grown since 11 Sept. A truck bomb is unlikely to cause a runaway
nuclear catastrophe but the explosion could knock out power required to
run pumps that bring in water to cool the nuclear material. It could
take weeks of electric power from back-up sources to pump water and cool
the nuclear material to safe levels. (Tri-City Herald, 18 Apr)
TVA agrees to join Midwest transmission grid. The Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA), the nation's biggest public power producer, said it had
agreed to connect its 30,000 megawatts of generation with a network that
spans 20 Midwest and Southwest states and one Canadian province.
Additionally, four groups that own or operate 150,000 miles of
transmission lines and provide power for an area covering 1 million
square miles agreed to form a grid this summer. Federal regulators
applauded the move as an important step in their drive to create
so-called regional transmission organizations (RTOs) to alleviate
transmission bottlenecks responsible for power shortages like the one
seen in California last winter. (Reuters, 18 Apr)
Florida bank suffers online security breach. A large commercial bank in
Florida said on 17 April that "an Internet hacker" penetrated the
security of its systems earlier this month and made off with a file
containing 3,600 online-banking customer names and addresses. Officials
of Republic Bank said the attacker managed to get past the bank's
security firewalls but did not access the account balances or
transactions of its online banking customers. According to Internet
records, the server hosting Republic's online bank is operated by
Atlanta-based S1 Corp, a leading provider of electronic finance services
to banks, credit unions, insurance providers and investment firms.
(NewsBytes, 18 Apr)
Law conference spotlights bioterror threat. "The public must recognize
the broadening role of wastewater treatment systems because of potential
contaminants that could appear there after a terrorist attack," said
Alexandra Dunn, general counsel for the American Metropolitan Sewerage
Agencies. The American Bar Association's (ABA) is working with the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Centers for Disease Prevention
and Control (CDC) to create a protocol for handling and treating
contaminants before sending them to wastewater plants. (Watertech
Online, 18 Apr)
Senate blocks oil drilling in arctic reserve. The Senate on 18 April
blocked oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge, handing President Bush a key defeat and putting in doubt the
future of comprehensive energy legislation. In the closely watched roll
call, pro-exploration forces fell short of the 60 votes needed to
overcome opposition against the drilling plan. Only 46 senators voted to
end the debate; 54 opposed the motion. (LA Times, 19 Apr)
US Secret Service targeting cyber-criminals. The US Secret Service is
establishing up an Electronic Crimes Task Force in nine cities, aimed at
helping businesses combat cyber-crimes. The task force is a
public-private partnership between federal, state, and local law
enforcement as well as private industry experts in many fields,
including telecommunications and financial services. The goal is to
reach out to local industry and law enforcement experts to create a
network that businesses and the agency can rely on for prevention of
cyber-crimes. The task force will operate in Boston, Charlotte,
Chicago, Miami, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and
Washington, DC. (Miami Herald, 17 Apr)
Twenty-seven people arrested in software piracy sting. Law enforcement
officers arrested 27 suspected software pirates yesterday, charging them
with money laundering, criminal copyright infringement and trafficking
in counterfeit goods. The piracy ring cost Microsoft about $75 million
in lost sales. The sting, dubbed Cyberstorm, involved local, state and
federal law enforcement officers, and was assisted by Microsoft and
other software companies. The ring allegedly duplicated software
programs in Taiwan before selling the products in the United States. Law
enforcement officials believe the arrests may have dismantled the ring,
which court records show has been under observation for two years.
Companies lose an estimated $12 billion a year to counterfeit software.
(Associated Press, 19 Apr)
AltaVista to remove link to railway sabotage guide. AltaVista Co.
removed from its search engine hyperlinks to a Web site with articles
detailing how to sabotage railway systems after Deutsche Bahn AG, the
German national railway operator, threatened to take legal action. The
Web address for the site, which contains articles from Radikal, a
German-language, left-wing extremist publication that is illegal in
Germany, will be put on AltaVista's "banned list," AltaVista spokesman
Karl Gregory said Wednesday. Deutsche Bahn announced yesterday that it
would sue Palo Alto, Calif.-based AltaVista and Yahoo Inc. and Google
Inc., if they don't remove hyperlinks to two articles published under
the headline "A handbook for destruction of railroad transport of all
kinds." If it files suit, Deutsche Bahn will do so in Germany, where all
three search engine companies have subsidiaries. The company feels it
wouldn't stand a chance in a US courtroom because of the First Amendment
to the US Constitution. (IDG.net, 17 Apr)
WWU Comment: This action illustrates the increased attention now being
given to the mountains of radical, potentially destructive literature
that has been readily available on the open market for decades. Gone
are the days when individuals sought to obtain such products for mere
amusement. Owners and protectors of infrastructure are realizing that
tactics and techniques once thought implausible - the very ideas that
once appeared in a book, pamphlet, or Web site penned by a "radical" -
may very well be well along in the planning stages.
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