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Internet Attack Hunt Difficult
January 30, 2003 | adminLeading experts on Internet security are skeptical that the FBI and other investigators will be able to track down the person responsible for last weekend’s attack on the Internet. These experts, including many who provide technical advice to the FBI and other U.S. agencies, said exhaustive reviews of the blueprints for the attacking software are yielding few clues to its origin or the author’s identity. “The likelihood of being able to track down the specific source of this is very unlikely,” said Ken Dunham, an analyst at iDefense Inc., an online security firm. “We don’t have the smoking gun.” Did Honker do it? Many top experts believe the programming for the Internet worm was based on software code published on the Web months ago by a respected British computer researcher, David Litchfield, and later modified by a virus author known within the Chinese hacker community as “Lion.” Full Story
Few Clues in Web Worm Whodunit
January 30, 2003 | adminLeading experts on Internet security are skeptical that the FBI and other investigators will be able to track down whoever was responsible for last weekend’s attack on the Internet. These experts, including many who provide technical advice to the FBI and other U.S. agencies, said exhaustive reviews of the blueprints for the attacking software are yielding few clues to its origin or the author’s identity. “The likelihood of being able to track down the specific source of this is very unlikely,” said Ken Dunham, an analyst at iDefense, an online security firm. “We don’t have the smoking gun.” The worm’s author could face up to life in prison under new U.S. anti-terror legislation passed two months ago, some legal experts said. Full Story
FAA: Slammer Didn't Hurt Us, But Other Attacks Coming
January 30, 2003 | adminThe U.S. Federal Aviation Administration survived last weekend’s slammer worm attack with only one administrative server compromised, and the agency that controls commercial air traffic in the U.S. is taking a multi-pronged attack to network security, said Daniel Mehan, assistant administrator for information services and chief information officer at the FAA. Mehan, speaking to the media at the ComNet Conference and Expo Tuesday, said no “mission-critical” computers were compromised by the Slammer attack, which shut down Internet service in some parts of Asia and slowed connections worldwide. A combination of keeping up to date with patches, keeping workers trained and using a variety of anti-hacking strategies kept the FAA’s important computer systems running during the Slammer attack, he added. Full Story
Bugwatch: Combating the Aerial Threat
January 30, 2003 | adminHow to take the worry out of wireless Lans Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert from the antivirus world to give their views on recent virus and security issues, with advice, warnings and information on the latest threats. This week Kevin Hogan, security response programme manager at Symantec, looks at the security headaches caused by wireless Lans, and suggests ways that businesses and individuals can deal with them. Wireless local area network (wireless Lan) technology frees businesses and home users from the tyranny of computer cabling. But it also brings new threats, potentially opening another door to attack from unscrupulous competitors, hackers and other criminals intent on obtaining or damaging data. Full Story
Explosion Rocks Quito Hotel
January 29, 2003 | adminPolice in Ecuador say at least one explosion has rocked hotel in the capital, Quito, damaging an American Airlines office inside and injuring at least one person. Officials say at least one bomb exploded late Tuesday in or near the Hilton Colon in Quito. Windows were blown at the American Airlines office, which was located on the first floor. Police said a group calling themselves the People’s Revolutionary Militia left pamphlets claiming responsibility for the bombing. The pamphlets indicated the attack was an armed response to what was termed “imperialistic measures” by newly-elected President Luis Gutierrez. Full Story
Terror War Takes Pentagon Over Budget
January 29, 2003 | adminFighting the war on terrorism has cost the Pentagon at least $15 billion more than its budget can cover, and the gap must be filled soon or troop training will have to be cut, the Pentagon says. Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon comptroller, said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press that the military also is accumulating additional unbudgeted costs as it mobilizes reservists and sends tens of thousands of troops and tons of equipment to the Persian Gulf region in preparation for a possible war in Iraq. He would not say how much the troop buildup is costing. “We’re still estimating,” he said. “It’s changing almost daily.” Full Story
Iraq Denies Any Connection to Al Qaeda
January 29, 2003 | adminIraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tareq Aziz on Wednesday denied President Bush’s allegation that his country has ties to Osama bin Laden’s militant Al Qaeda organization. “I absolutely deny that. I absolutely deny that,” Aziz said in an interview on ABC News. “And I challenge Bush and his government to present any, any evidence of that.” In his annual State of the Union speech on Tuesday night, Bush accused Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of aiding and protecting “terrorists, including members of Al Qaeda,” held responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Full Story
Anthrax Vaccination Day for U.S. Marines in Gulf
January 29, 2003 | adminSailors and Marines of the amphibious assault ship USS Tortuga were inoculated against anthrax and smallpox in the Gulf Wednesday as the military gathered its forces for a possible war against Iraq. “It makes it very real when they start giving you vaccinations for things you hadn’t even heard of before,” said 22-year-old Carrie Cornell, a third class petty officer from Philadelphia, after her smallpox jab. A medical technician administers the inoculation with a two pronged needle, jabbing the patient’s shoulder 15 times to pierce the skin without going too deep. Full Story
Colombian Rebels to Free US, British Journalists
January 29, 2003 | adminMarxist rebels said on Tuesday they would release in the next two days a British reporter and a U.S. photographer they kidnapped last week in a war-torn stretch of eastern Colombia. “They will be released in the next few days, in one or two days,” Antonio Garcia, a senior commander of the Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army, or ELN, told RCN radio, adding the two were in “good health.” British reporter Ruth Morris and U.S. photographer Scott Dalton were traveling on a freelance assignment for the Los Angeles Times along a rural road on Jan. 21 in the violent province of Arauca, where U.S. Special Forces are training local troops in counterinsurgency techniques. Morris and Dalton, both experienced hands in Colombia, were stopped at an ELN roadblock, hooded and taken to a secret guerrilla camp, said their driver, who was later released. Full Story
Bush Enlarges Case for War by Linking Iraq With Terrorists
January 29, 2003 | adminPresident Bush, enlarging the case for going to war with Iraq soon, said tonight that there was intelligence showing that Iraq was helping and protecting terrorists. He warned that Saddam Hussein could distribute weapons of mass destruction to terrorists who could use them against the United States. Iraq’s alleged terrorist connection is just one reason Mr. Bush cited for preparing for war. He also said Iraq could threaten the Persian Gulf region if it developed weapons of mass destruction, and he assailed its record on human rights. Full Story