_________________________________________________________________ London, Friday, June 28, 2002 _________________________________________________________________
INFOCON News _________________________________________________________________ IWS - The Information Warfare Site http://www.iwar.org.uk _________________________________________________________________ IWS Sponsor National Center for Manufacturing Sciences http://www.ncms.org host of the InfraGard Manufacturing Industry Association http://trust.ncms.org _________________________________________________________________ ---------------------------------------------------- [News Index] ---------------------------------------------------- Homeland Security [1] Intelligence agencies to link databases with new department [2] House panel examines terrorism response scenarios [3] Ridge urges Congress to keep INS intact in new department [4] Key Democrat blasts White House homeland security moves [5] Agriculture groups question APHIS move to security agency Infocon [6] US fears al-Qaida hackers will hit vital computer networks [7] (UK) Hacking fears delay tax email service [8] How the Secret Service became cybercops [9] America Targets Terrorism - Cyberwarfare test in works for state [10] Microsoft updates computer security [11] Nimda virus spreads through gaming site [12] Microsoft stomps on Media Player bug [13] Meeting Addresses Cyberterrorism [14] MS Palladium protects IT vendors, not you - paper [15] How Big Is E-Commerce? [16] EU asks citizens for views on data privacy [17] Poland tracking NASA hacker _________________________________________________________________ News _________________________________________________________________ [1] Intelligence agencies to link databases with new department By William New, National Journal's Technology Daily The FBI and CIA are looking at ways to develop terrorist databases linked to the proposed Homeland Security Department in an effort to identify and stop terrorists intending to harm the United States, the agencies' directors told a Senate committee Thursday. "We are examining how best to create and share a multi-agency, government-wide database that captures all information relevant to any of the many watch lists that are currently managed by a variety of agencies," CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee. The new department must connect electronically with members of the intelligence community, he said. "The intelligence community already has in place the architecture and multiple channels necessary for sharing intelligence reporting and analysis at all levels of classification," Tenet said. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0602/062702td1.htm ---------------------------------------------------- [2] House panel examines terrorism response scenarios By Deborah Shapley, CongressDaily Bush administration witnesses tried their level best to argue that the new Homeland Security Department will be focused, coherent and fast-moving, but legislators on both sides of the aisle sounded skeptical Wednesday, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on the administration's bill. "Let's spin the scene of a tank truck that gets hijacked on I-95, and the hijacker has explosive material that could blow a hole in the tank," said Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J. Suppose the tanker could spew out "chlorine gas that could sicken and kill a large number of people. Who would handle it?" Stephen Cambone, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, replied that as part of the new department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service would have the job of stopping foreign terrorists from entering the country. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0602/062702cdam2.htm ---------------------------------------------------- [3] Ridge urges Congress to keep INS intact in new department >From Staff Reports Office of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge urged Congress Wednesday not to split apart the Immigration and Naturalization Service as it works to create a new Department of Homeland Security. "To make the system work, the right hand of enforcement must know what the left hand of visa application and processing is doing at all times," Ridge told the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an Associated Press report. The House voted in April to break the INS into separate agencies that would deal with border security and citizenship applications. On the day before that vote, the White House announced its support for splitting the agency. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0602/062602ts1.htm ---------------------------------------------------- [4] Key Democrat blasts White House homeland security moves By Liza Porteus, National Journal's Technology Daily A key Democrat in the homeland security debate blasted the Bush administration Wednesday for stealing the idea of a Homeland Security Department and said that officials in charge of crafting the new department are flailing. California Democrat Ellen Tauscher and Texas Republican Mac Thornberry sponsored a bill, H.R. 4660, to create a National Homeland Security Department and a National Office for Combating Terrorism within the White House, and Sens. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa., introduced similar Senate legislation. But the White House had asked lawmakers to delay action on such legislation until the administration studied the issue further. Then last week, White House Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge delivered President Bush's plan for a new department to Capitol Hill. Tauscher criticized that effort Wednesday at a conference on homeland security hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute, the policy arm of moderate New Democrats. "At a time we need laser surgery ... unfortunately, it looks like we have a bunch of surgeons coming into surgery with meat cleavers instead of very discreet scalpels," she said of the reorganization process. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0602/062602td1.htm ---------------------------------------------------- [5] Agriculture groups question APHIS move to security agency By Jerry Hagstrom, CongressDaily House Agriculture Chairman Larry Combest, R-Texas, Wednesday said the Bush administration's plan to move the Agriculture Department's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and its 8,700 employees into the proposed Homeland Security Department "has generated far more questions than answers." Combest noted "everyone" on the list of agriculture commissioners and agricultural lobbyists who submitted testimony for the committee's hearing Wednesday expressed support for increasing homeland security but also "opposed the wholesale movement" of APHIS. Combest had invited White House Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge to testify, but he appeared instead before the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday. House Agriculture Ranking Member Charles Stenholm, D-Texas, also said he was dismayed the Bush administration did not send anyone to testify before the Agriculture Committee to defend the proposal. http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0602/062602cd1.htm ---------------------------------------------------- [FUD, FUD, FUD! WEN] [6] US fears al-Qaida hackers will hit vital computer networks Julian Borger in Washington Friday June 28, 2002 The Guardian The al-Qaida terrorist network has been making preparations for potentially devastating attacks on America by hacking into computer networks to look for ways to disrupt electricity and telephone systems, dams and nuclear power stations, it was claimed yesterday. Government officials said the terrorist group appeared to be far more sophisticated than initially thought in its use of the internet as a weapon to disrupt America's web-based economy and cause potentially catastrophic physical damage by opening dam floodgates or blacking out air traffic control systems. http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,745626,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_2070000/2070706.stm http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/qaeda020627_internet.html http://www.iht.com/articles/62895.html FUD alert: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/25938.html ---------------------------------------------------- [7] Hacking fears delay tax email service By Nick Farrell [27-06-2002] Taxpayers left with snail mail option only The Inland Revenue has stalled plans to introduce an email service for taxpayers because of security fears. The department had planned a national email service, and has already installed more than ?200m worth of computers. http://www.vnunet.com/News/1133056 ---------------------------------------------------- [8] How the Secret Service became cybercops By Robert Vamosi ZDNet Reviews June 26, 2002, 4:30 AM PT COMMENTARY--Trained in martial arts, sworn to secrecy, famous for high-tech earplugs and icy stares, the oldest law enforcement agency in the federal government--the U.S. Secret Service--is now protecting our national interests online. "Cybercrime today is the equivalent of counterfeiting in the 1860s," said special agent John Frazzini, speaking to security professionals at the NetSec 2002 conference in San Francisco last week. Frazzini related the simple rationale behind the decision to make the Secret Service, a law enforcement agency best known for protecting the U.S. president, our nation's elite cybercops: The country needed someone to protect the economy. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1107-939425.html ---------------------------------------------------- [9] America Targets Terrorism - Cyberwarfare test in works for state By Peggy Fikac chief, Express-News Austin Bureau Web Posted : 06/27/2002 12:00 AM AUSTIN - Would Texas cities be prepared for cyberwarfare on computer-controlled systems that operate key structures and services such as water plants, power plants and 911 emergency response? State officials hope to find out through what is described as the state's first cyberterrorism exercise, code-named Dark Hive. http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=987&xlc=743427 ---------------------------------------------------- [10] Microsoft updates computer security Firm working toward built-in security, privacy functions By Leslie Walker THE WASHINGTON POST June 27 - It's tough to plug holes in a ship's hull once it is at sea, or to reattach an airplane's wing in flight. Yet that's akin to what the computer industry has been trying to do with security: append layer after layer of protection onto the world's increasingly connected computer networks, all as one big afterthought after another. http://www.msnbc.com/news/773097.asp ---------------------------------------------------- [11] Nimda virus spreads through gaming site 09:26 Friday 28th June 2002 Reuters Users of GameSpy Arcade were unpleasantly surprised to discover that they had downloaded the Nimda virus along with their gaming software Some video game players got a nasty surprise this week when they downloaded software from a popular online gaming site -- the Nimda computer virus. The installer for GameSpy Arcade 1.09, the main file exchange and gaming software of GameSpy.com, available from sites like CNET Networks Download.com service, was infected with the Nimda virus twice this week, GameSpy chief executive Mark Surfas told Reuters. CNET Networks is the publisher of ZDNet UK News. http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2118120,00.html ---------------------------------------------------- [12] Microsoft stomps on Media Player bug By Lisa M. Bowman Special to ZDNet News June 27, 2002, 12:10 PM PT Microsoft is warning people that a series of flaws in its Windows Media Player could allow a malicious hacker to hijack people's computer systems and perform a variety of actions. The flaws, found in some anti-piracy and storage features of the software, affect Media Player for Windows XP and Media Player versions 6.4 and 7.1, according to a security bulletin on Microsoft's Web site. http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-940063.html ---------------------------------------------------- [13] Meeting Addresses Cyberterrorism Reported By: Joel Thomas Web Editor: Manav Tanneeru Last Modified: 6/18/2002 11:33:45 PM A national security meeting was held in Atlanta Tuesday night to protect the Internet from cyber terrorism. http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.asp?storyid=18340 ---------------------------------------------------- [14] MS Palladium protects IT vendors, not you - paper By John Lettice Posted: 06/28/2002 at 05:27 EST Ross Anderson of Cambridge University has published a lengthy and informative paper/FAQ on Palladium, the Trusted Computing Platform Alliance (TCPA), their relationship and their implications. His take is that Microsoft's Palladium, soft-announced by the company earlier this week, will be built on TCPA hardware, adding some extra features as it goes along. Some of these features, he notes, will the there in order to make the package look more attractive, while some of the components of Palladium are already shipping in Xbox and WinXP. http://www.theregus.com/content/4/25415.html ---------------------------------------------------- [15] How Big Is E-Commerce? Thu Jun 27, 1:38 PM ET Lou Hirsh, www.EcommerceTimes.com Different experts might define e-commerce differently, but most agree on one thing: The sector represents a growing piece of the overall commerce pie, and its share is expected to increase steadily -- though gradually -- over the next five years. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=75&ncid=75&e=4&u=/nf/20020627/tc_nf/18403 ---------------------------------------------------- [16] EU asks citizens for views on data privacy Reuters June 25, 2002 BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is asking citizens whether they feel the privacy of personal information is sufficiently protected to see if the EU's privacy laws need to be tweaked or their enforcement toughened. Citizens will be able to spell out their views by answering a questionnaire the Commission has published on its official Web site, such as whether bosses should be able to read e-mails received at work or whether people are happy buying on the Net. The poll will run through September 15. http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2872248,00.html ---------------------------------------------------- [17] Poland tracking NASA hacker Polish prosecutors said on Thursday they were searching for a computer hacker believed by the United States to have penetrated the NASA space agency, causing damage reportedly estimated at $1 million. The search was focusing on Poznan in the west of Poland, a country which has a tradition of codebreaking dating back to helping crack Nazi Germany's Enigma encryption machine during World War Two. http://zdnet.com.com/2110-1105-939842.html ---------------------------------------------------- _____________________________________________________________________ The source material may be copyrighted and all rights are retained by the original author/publisher. 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