Terrorism

Use of Ebola virus as bioterror weapon highly unlikely: Experts

Wed, 2014-11-12 10:49 — mike kraft

HOMELAND SECURITY NEWS WIRE Nov. 11, 2014

Francisco Martinez, Spain’s state secretary for security, claimed that ISIS fighters are planning to carry out “lone wolf” attacks using biological weapons. He cites conversations uncovered from secret chat rooms used by would-be militants.

Bioterrorism experts say the use of Ebola for bioterrorism is highly unlikely. “Assuming a terrorist organization manages to capture a suitable Ebola host, extract the virus, weaponize the virus, transport the virus to a populated city and deliver the virus, it is entirely likely that the sub-optimal climatic conditions of a Western city will kill it off relatively quickly,” says one expert.
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CNN Nov. 11, 2014

Meanwhile, in Wellington New Zealand, three suspicious packages with a reference to Ebola were sent to the Parliament building, the US embassy, and a newspaper in what appeared to be a hoax.

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Jihadi Online Chatter Discusses Using Ebola as Weapon Against the West

Mon, 2014-10-06 13:42 — mike kraft

HOMELAND SECURITY TODAY Oct. 3, 2014

By: Anthony Kimery, Editor-in-Chief

Jihadists and supporters of the Islamic State have stepped up discussions on jihadist social media websites about the possibility and ease of using Ebola, as well as other virulent pathogens and poisons, as weapons against the US and the West, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) said Friday.

Homeland Security Today first reported on August 4 that US counterterrorism officials were concerned that African-based, Al Qaeda-tied ihadist groups might try to take advantage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa by sending Ebola infected “bio-martyrs” to the US. The officials said they could be members of Al Shabaab -- who have been caught this past year trying to enter the US through the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, according to intelligence sources -- Nigeria’s savage Boko Haram or Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

... officials discussed their concerns with Homeland Security Todayat the time because, they explained, the terrorist component of a pandemic “must” be taken into any response planning consideration “because it changes the dynamics of a natural pandemic and requires considerably different planning and far more resources to deal with it,” as one explained.

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The sad legacy of 9/11: Isis and al-Qaida are stronger than ever

Sat, 2014-09-13 17:09 — Maeryn Obley

It is the sad legacy of our response to 9/11 that bin Ladenism has spread far beyond Osama bin Laden’s wildest dreams. Illustration: Steve Haske for Guardian US Opinion

Image: It is the sad legacy of our response to 9/11 that bin Ladenism has spread far beyond Osama bin Laden’s wildest dreams. Illustration: Steve Haske for Guardian US Opinion

theguardian.com - September 11th, 2014 - Ali Soufan

In the years leading up to the attacks of 11 September 2001, the west saw al-Qaida rising but didn’t address the threat in time. My colleagues and I in the FBI and over at the CIA had been focused on al-Qaida since the mid-1990s. The true threat, however, came from the ideology, not the group.

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Russia Attacks U.S. Oil and Gas Companies in Massive Hack

Tue, 2014-07-08 16:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Russian hacker spies are attacking energy companies. It's the latest sign the Cold War has gone cyber.

money.cnn.com - by Jose Pagliery - July 2, 2014

The Cold War didn't end in the 1990's. It simply moved online.

That much is clear after a security firm reported this week that Russian hackers have launched unprecedented, highly-sophisticated attacks on Western oil and gas companies.

The cyber operation nicknamed Energetic Bear is the latest example of an ongoing battle between all-seeing American and British cyber spies on one side -- and intellectual-property-stealing hackers in China and Russia on the other.

The report by Symantec (SYMC, Tech30) described how hackers have sneaked malware into computers at power plants, energy grid operators, gas pipeline companies and industrial equipment makers.

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Shaping a Response to Russia Will Be a High-Stakes Test for Obama

Mon, 2014-03-24 21:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

President Obama, at the Andrews Air Force Base golf course in Maryland, will visit Europe this week.
(Mandel Ngan / AFP/Getty Images / March 22, 2014)

President Obama's trip will be a plunge into American leadership in Europe after years of shifting U.S. policy away from the Old World.

latimes.com - by Kathleen Hennessey - March 23, 2014

WASHINGTON — Planned as a springtime tour with a modest itinerary — affording time to chat with the pope, admire the Rembrandts and take in the Colosseum — President Obama's weeklong trip to Europe instead has become a high-stakes test of whether he can move the continent's leaders into a tougher response to Russia's annexation of Crimea.

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U.S. Risks National Blackout From Small-Scale Attack

Wed, 2014-03-12 23:30 — Kathy Gilbeaux

submitted by Margery Schab

Federal Analysis Says Sabotage of Nine Key Substations Is Sufficient for Broad Outage

wsj.com - by Rebecca Smith - March 12, 2014

The U.S. could suffer a coast-to-coast blackout if saboteurs knocked out just nine of the country's 55,000 electric-transmission substations on a scorching summer day, according to a previously unreported federal analysis.

The study by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded that coordinated attacks in each of the nation's three separate electric systems could cause the entire power network to collapse, people familiar with the research said.

A small number of the country's substations play an outsize role in keeping power flowing across large regions.

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News Release - FERC Directs Development of Physical Security Standards

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Target Hackers Wrote Partly in Russian, Displayed High Skill, Report Finds

Fri, 2014-01-17 16:40 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Target Hackers Wrote Partly in Russian, Displayed High Skill, Report Finds

wsj.com - by Danny Yadron - January 16, 2014

The holiday data breach at Target Corp. TGT -0.94% appeared to be part of a broad and highly sophisticated international hacking campaign against multiple retailers, according to a report prepared by federal and private investigators that was sent to financial-services companies and retailers.

The report offers some of the first details to emerge about the source of the attack that compromised 40 million credit- and debit-card accounts and personal data for 70 million people. It also provided further evidence the attack on Target during peak holiday shopping was part of a concerted effort by skilled hackers.

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