ALERT: CyberAttack Underway Against US Gas Piplines May 6, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in cybersecurity, Industry News, InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management, terrorism.Tags: Chris Mark, cybersecurity, Gas Pipeline, ICS CERT, InfoSec, mark consulting group, security, terrorism
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According to stories on MSNBC, CNN, and other major outlets, “A major cyber attack is currently under way aimed squarely at computer networks belonging to US natural gas pipeline companies, according to alerts issued to the industry by the US Department of Homeland Security.” On March 29th, 2012 the US Department of Homeland Security issued 3 confidential Amber Alerts warning that the US was facing a: “gas pipeline sector cyber intrusion campaign” against multiple pipeline companies. The attacks, which began 4 months ago, are ongoing today. The Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team (ICS CERT), which is responsible for helping secure the nation’s industrial control systems said: (more…)
EXTRA! EXTRA! “Bin Laden Documents Published and Available Online” May 3, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, terrorism.Tags: abbottabad, al qaeda, bin laden, Chris Mark, Combating Terrorism Center, mark consulting group, SEALS, terrorism, West Point
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The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point has published a number of declassified documents taken from the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. You can access the documents here.
CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen had access to some of the materials while researching his new book, “Manhunt: The Ten Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad.”
“The documents paint a portrait of a man who was simultaneously an inveterate micromanager, but was also someone almost delusional in his belief that his organization could still force a change in American foreign policies in the Muslim world if only he could get another big attack” in the United States, Bergen said on CNN.com this week.
Porn, Steganography & Al Qaeda = Bad News May 2, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in InfoSec & Privacy, Risk & Risk Management, terrorism.Tags: al qaeda, Chris Mark, cybersecurity, data security, InfoSec, mark consulting group, steganography, terrorism
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“Believe half of what you see and nothing that you hear”…Benjamin Franklin
Recently it was disclosed that German cryptographers had managed to decipher plans taken from an Al Qaeda operator who had a memory card confiscated. According to the story: “On May 16 last year, a 22-year-old Austrian named Maqsood Lodin was being questioned by police in Berlin. He had recently returned from Pakistan via Budapest, Hungary, and then traveled overland to Germany. His interrogators were surprised to find that hidden in his underpants were a digital storage device and memory cards. Buried inside them was a pornographic video called “Kick Ass” — and a file marked “Sexy Tanja.” “ As stated on Gary Kessler’s website: (more…)
“Privacy, Terrorism, Blowback, and Crime” – Where to start? April 10, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, Laws and Leglslation, terrorism.Tags: al qaeda, Chris Mark, fox news, mark consulting group, Raptor, security, terrorism
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There is an interesting story on the front page of Foxnews this morning where a self-proclaimed patriot hacker who calls himself “The Raptor” is “…waging his own war on terror..” by taking down online forums used by Al Qaeda sympathizers. Certainly, known, and admitted terrorist organizations are not in the public interest. This blog is not justifying their position their tactics, or anything else they do.
The purpose of this post is to question the value of an individual (if you believe his tweets) taking unilateral action and then basking in the attention given to his actions. While vigilante actions may have a visceral appeal to many (including this author, at times) do actions such as this exacerbate the situation? Additionally, one has to ask whether he is right in taking unilateral action? As an American my gut reaction is to applaud the person but upon closer review, I don’t know if his actions are positive or altruistic.
In espionage there is a term called Blowback that refers to the unintended consequences of a covert action. (more…)
France’s PATROIT Act? – “Visit Website; Go to Jail” March 23, 2012
Posted by Chris Mark in Industry News, Laws and Leglslation, terrorism.Tags: al qeada, Chris Mark, france murders, mark consulting group, PATRIOT, privacy, Red Scare, security, terrorism
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In the aftermath of the murder of 7 people in France by a self-proclaimed Al Qaeda militant, France’s president Nicolas Sarkozy has proposed a sweeping law that would jail those who visit extremist websites. “Anyone who regularly consults Internet sites which promote terror or hatred or violence will be sentenced to prison,” he told a campaign rally in Strasbourg, in eastern France. “What is possible for pedophiles should be possible for trainee terrorists and their supporters, too”
The murders of 7 people in Toulouse were horrific. Among those killed were a Rabbi and several children at a Jewish school. The murderer, 23 year old Mohamad Merah, was killed by French police after a standoff. (more…)
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