_________________________________________________________________
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.
Copyright 2002, IWS - The Information Warfare Site
_____________________________________________________________________
Wanja Eric Naef
Webmaster & Principal Researcher
IWS - The Information Warfare Site
<http://www.iwar.org.uk>
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To subscribe - send an email to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" with "subscribe
infocon" in the body
To unsubscribe - send an email to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" with "unsubscribe
infocon" in the body
---------------------------------------------------------------------
IWS INFOCON Mailing List
@ IWS - The Information Warfare Site
http://www.iwar.org.uk
