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| DHS OSI Report - August 8, 2007 |
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| Wednesday, 08 August 2007 | |||||
DHS Open Source Infrastructure Report for 08 August 2007
Daily Highlights• Web scammers are turning to online property forums -- where renters and buyers post phone numbers, instant messenger nicknames, and e-mail addresses along with descriptions of the property they want -- to collect personal information about users for later attempts to swindle them out of money. (See item 6)
Energy Sector
1. August 07, CNN — Mine rescue will take three days. Rescue workers will need three days to get to six miners trapped in a Utah coal mine, the mine's operator said Tuesday, August 7. Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, the parent company of the mine's operator, said rescue efforts were taking five different tracks and operating around the clock to reach the men. He said the six were 1,500 feet underground, 2,000 feet from the nearest access and 17,000 feet from the mine's entrance. Six teams with a total of 134 people were dedicated to the rescue effort, he said. Seismic equipment from the U.S. Department of Labor is being flown to Utah on a C-17 cargo aircraft from Pittsburgh, Pentagon officials said. A drilling rig was brought in by helicopter to bore through the mountain. That drilling effort could get a two-inch diameter hole to the miners, enough to get in air, food and water, Murray said Another drilling effort with a larger rig was to begin Tuesday, Murray said, as roads were bulldozed through forest land to accommodate the heavy equipment needed.
2. August 07, Department of Energy — Energy Information Administration: Short-Term Energy Outlook. The Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA) has released its Short-Term Energy Outlook update: The significant crude oil price increases of the last two months are the result of increasingly tighter world oil markets. By August, the average monthly RAC price is projected to be $73.50 per barrel. Continued production restraint by members of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), rising consumption, and moderate increases in non-OPEC supply are keeping oil prices firm. The global oil balance for the remainder of 2007 has tightened since the last Outlook due to lower projections for world oil production and a larger projected Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development stock draw in the second half of the year. This situation contrasts with conditions last year, when prices weakened in the second half due to slow consumption growth, rising global inventories, and the absence of hurricane-related oil supply losses. EIA projections for 2008 also point to a tight market, with higher consumption growth in 2008 than in 2007, moderate growth in non-OPEC supply, increased demand for OPEC oil, and limited surplus production capacity, held mostly in Saudi Arabia.
Chemical Industry and Hazardous Materials Sector :
3. August 07, Monterey County-Herald (CA) — Gas line puncture forces evacuation. A construction crew trying to replace a power pole Monday, August 6, in Salinas, CA, instead struck a gas line that forced the evacuation of residents from a nearby apartment complex. A three-person crew from Baron Construction of Atascadero punctured the three-inch gas line when a worker tried to drill a hole to replace the pole near 16 Natividad Road. Officers knocked on the doors of about 15 apartments to evacuate the residents while the gas spewed. Homes on Natividad between Bernal and Sorentini drives were also evacuated. Traffic in the area of Natividad Road was diverted to other streets while PG&E fixed the leak.
4. August 06, KULR-8 TV (MT) — Chemical fire causes evacuations. A truck carrying hazardous material prompted an evacuation Monday, August 6, in downtown Billings, MT. The Billings Fire Department says a truck carrying the highly flammable chemical xylene caught fire. That fire was put out, but not before many residents were forced to leave their homes. The evacuation was done by using a reverse 911 method. Any structure within a quarter mile of the blaze was alerted of the threat and told to quickly evacuate.
Defense Industrial Base Sector :
5. August 06, Government Accountability Office — GAO-07-936: Military Training: Actions Needed to More Fully Develop the Army's Strategy for Training Modular Brigades and Address Implementation Challenges (Report). The Army considers modular force transformation its most extensive restructuring since World War II. The Army has estimated that restructuring units from a division-based force to a more agile and responsive modular brigade-based force will require a significant investment through fiscal year 2011. To facilitate this transformation, Public Law No. 109-163 Section 353 directs the Army to develop and implement a training strategy for the modular brigades. This law also directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report on the implementation of the strategy. This report discusses (1) the extent to which the Army’s training strategy addresses the five elements specified in the public law and (2) the actions the Army has taken to implement its training strategy and the implementation challenges it faces. To address these objectives, GAO reviewed Army training strategy documentation and interviewed Army training personnel. GAO recommends that the Army (1) take a series of actions to improve its ability to assess unit training and identify funding needs for training by clarifying specific goals, metrics, and its funding model and (2) revise the training strategy, clarify capacity, and complete testing of the exportable training capability. Highlights: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07936high.pdf
Banking and Finance Sector :
6. August 07, IDG News Service — Web scammers use online property forums to collect personal information. Web scammers are turning to online property forums to collect personal information about users for later attempts to swindle them out of money, according to a security researcher. Renters and buyers often post phone numbers, instant messenger nicknames, and e-mail addresses on forums along with specific descriptions of the kind of property they're looking for. This makes it easy for scammers to write proposals that will elicit further information, said Chris Boyd, security research manager for FaceTime Communications, a security vendor. "They basically treat these Websites as a gold mine of information," Boyd said. The scammers then contact the property seeker, offering them a similar property to what they have described, complete with photos, Boyd said. The potential victim is also often asked a range of other personal questions, such as their occupation, marital status, and even if they have a pet. But there's a catch: the scammer usually asks for a deposit before the seeker can see the property. The requested deposit is usually below market price, another way the scammer tries to lure the victim, Boyd said. The e-mail pitches are similar to so-called 419 scams, which offer some greater reward in exchange for money in advance.
7. August 07, InformationWeek — U.S. firm says outsourcer holding its data hostage offshore, customer information exposed. A provider of spend management services says one of India's largest outsourcers is holding its data hostage at an offshore location and is refusing to return the information unless legal claims against it are dropped. New York City-based The Buying Triangle also says that Infosys, through a subsidiary, exposed its customer data online and stole its business plans. TBT hired Infosys BPO last year, when the unit was known as Progeon Ltd., to host, support, and maintain its P2P Smart spend management application. The deal quickly went sour after TBT found that its customers were frequently unable to access P2P Smart because servers Infosys set up in Bangalore to host the application were frequently down, TBT alleges in a lawsuit it's filed against Infosys BPO. To boot, TBT alleges Infosys BPO failed to properly secure customer information on the P2P Smart server. The result: TBT's customers were able to view each other's confidential data, TBT claims. TBT says that when it tried to cancel its contract with Infosys BPO in April, the Indian service provider refused to release its data unless TBT promised not to pursue any legal claims.
8. August 06, eWeek — Survey: Cost of cybercrime reaches $7 billion. A new study has put a price tag of more than $7 billion on the financial suffering experienced by victims of Internet fraud and attacks. That is how much Consumer Report's 2007 "State of the Net" survey projects U.S. consumers have lost during the last two years to viruses, spyware and phishing schemes. According to the report, consumers face a 1-in-4 chance of becoming a cyber-victim, a number that has slightly decreased since last year. During the past six months, 34 percent of respondents' computers were exposed to a spyware infection. Though the study documented a decrease in spyware infections, the chances of getting one are still 1 in 3, and consumers face a 1-in-11 chance of suffering serious damage. Eight percent of those surveyed responded to phishing e-mails in the past two years, a number that has remained unchanged during the past two years. The price, however, can be relatively steep. Dan Hubbard, vice president of security research at San Diego-based Websense, said the likelihood someone can fall victim to a cyber-attack is much higher than 25 percent, considering that most people with e-mail accounts are subjected to spam and phishing schemes.
9. August 06, Reuters — American Express fined $65 million over money laundering. American Express Co. agreed to pay $65 million for failing to detect drug-related money transactions laundered through a subsidiary over several years, U.S. authorities said on Monday, August 6. The unit, American Express Bank International, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to resolve a charge that it failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program. The AEBI's anti-money laundering program "had serious and systemic deficiencies," the U.S. Federal Reserve said in a cease-desist order, citing findings from a DOJ investigation. The DOJ found specific instances of suspicious or illicit activity in drug-related money laundering transactions, moved through "Black Market Peso Exchange" wire transfers which were part of an undercover law enforcement operation, according to the Fed's order.
10. August 03, Government Accountability Office — GAO-07-914: Financial Management: Long-standing Financial Systems Weaknesses Present a Formidable Challenge (Report). The Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA) requires the 24 Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act agencies to implement and maintain financial management systems that comply substantially with (1) federal financial management systems requirements, (2) federal accounting standards, and (3) the U.S. Government Standard General Ledger (SGL). FFMIA also requires the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to report annually on the implementation of the act. This report, primarily based on GAO and inspectors general reports, discusses (1) the problems that continued to affect agencies systems’ FFMIA compliance in fiscal year 2006 and (2) the initiatives under way to help move federal financial management toward FFMIA compliance. To further understand the key issues that affect FFMIA implementation and challenges in improving financial management systems, the Comptroller General is convening a forum later this year to bring together key officials and experts for a candid discussion of these issues. Accordingly, this report does not include any new recommendations. OMB was supportive of the forum, agreed with GAO's assessment, and stated it was working aggressively to assist agencies in building a strong foundation of financial management practices. Highlights: http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d07914high.pdf
Transportation and Border Security Sector :
11. August 06, Department of Transportation — DOT deploys team of experts to assist with Minneapolis bridge collapse. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Mary E. Peters on Monday, August 6, announced she has deployed a team to operate on-site in Minneapolis to coordinate the federal response, recovery and rebuilding effort following the collapse of the I-35W bridge. Secretary Peters said the team -- led by Federal Highway Administrator Rick Capka, a professional engineer and former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Brigadier General -- will have expertise in bridge engineering, federal contracting, transit programs and environmental assessments. The team also includes personnel who will work directly with local, state and federal officials on site. Over the weekend, Secretary Peters spoke with the Secretary of the Navy to request divers who will help support the recovery and salvage efforts.
12. August 06, USA TODAY — New bridge-monitoring devices go unused. The disaster caused by the collapse of one of Minneapolis’ highway bridges points to the need for better technologies to inspect bridges, but states have been slow to spend money on the new methods, national safety and engineering experts said Monday, August 6. Dozens of new technologies can help monitor bridges: X-ray machines that can spot hidden cracks in girders, computerized monitors that track minute changes in stresses on steel beams, and sensors embedded in concrete that track corrosion of steel reinforcing beams. Tripp Shenton, an associate engineering professor at the University of Delaware, says states have moved slowly to adopt monitoring equipment because the extra expense has not yet been proven cost effective. It costs about $250,000 to install a monitoring system on a large bridge. But Ann Darrin, a supervisor at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, says, "I think that the newer technologies that are out there can actually pay for themselves." The lab is working with the Maryland State Highway Administration to place small monitoring sensors in concrete on bridges. Such devices can last 80 years.
13. August 06, Department of Transportation — FRA and California officials announce initiative to educate farm workers about dangers near railroad lines. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Monday, August 6, announced a targeted outreach initiative in California designed to raise awareness among seasonal and migrant farm workers about potential hazards on and around railroad lines that cross through farms and agricultural communities, said FRA Administrator Joseph H. Boardman. Boardman said that in light of several tragic incidents in California involving farm workers, farming equipment, and trains, the FRA and many statewide and local organizations recognized the need for a safety awareness program that would specifically target the predominantly Spanish-speaking agricultural worker population. Thousands of these workers operate heavy equipment and machinery to harvest and transport crops, often crossing over railroad tracks to perform their jobs. As a result, an FRA Community Outreach Coalition worked together to develop an informational DVD available in both English and Spanish to educate farm workers about signs posted at a crossing, how to safely cross the tracks so that farming equipment does not get caught on the crossing, and the dangers of walking on tracks to get to work or between fields, Boardman explained.
Postal and Shipping Sector :
Nothing to report.
Agriculture Sector :
14. August 07, Associated Press — Britain confirms second cattle herd with foot-and-mouth disease. Tests on cattle culled in southern England confirmed a second foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreak, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn said Tuesday, August 7, raising fears that the virus could spread. Tests had been carried out on around 50 cattle late Monday, Benn said. The cows were within the initial two-mile-radius protection zone set up Friday, August 3, around a farm 30 miles southwest of London where a first group of infected cattle was found. Biosecurity experts were focusing their investigation of how the outbreak started on a suspected link between the first affected farm and a nearby vaccine laboratory, Benn said. Investigators were also looking into the possibility that flooding had helped the spread of the virus. The laboratory is shared by the government's Institute for Animal Health (IAH) and a private pharmaceutical company, Merial Animal Health -- the British arm of U.S.-based Merial Ltd. Merial said it found no evidence of a breach in biosecurity, and IAH claimed a check of records found "limited use" of the virus in the past four weeks. FMD information: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/lpa/pubs/fsheet_faq_notice/fs_ahfm d.html
15. August 07, Agricultural Research Service — Lifestyle options dwindle for bovine bacteria. Research suggests that Leptospira borgpetersenii serovar Hardjo is losing its capacity to live in water and is evolving towards a strict host-to-host transmission cycle. This finding is from Agricultural Research Service (ARS) microbiologist Richard Zuerner and scientists at Monash University in Australia. Animals can be infected with Leptospira when exposed to water contaminated with urine from infected animals, or by direct contact with bodily fluids or tissue from infected animals. Pregnant cows infected with serovar Hardjo may experience abortion or stillbirth, or give birth to weakened offspring. Worldwide, most cases of bovine leptospirosis are due to infection by L. borgpetersenii, but both L. borgpetersenii and L. interrogans transmit leptospirosis among cattle in North America. Genomic sequencing studies indicate that the L. borgpetersenii genome is decaying, which is impairing its ability to sense environmental changes, acquire nutrients and survive outside of a mammalian host. These changes have also significantly reduced or eliminated the ability of L. borgpetersenii to survive in water, which in turn restricts its effectiveness at spreading disease. This research provides a foundation for comparing the disease-transmission processes of L. borgpetersenii and L. interrogans, and for developing increasingly effective vaccines and other disease control strategies for bovine leptospirosis.
16. August 06, Agence France-Presse — Ten pig farms in Romania shut down. Ten pig farms in western Romania belonging to U.S. company Smithfield have not been authorized to operate, a veterinary official said Monday, August 6, following an outbreak of swine fever. "Out of 25 Smithfield farms in Timis county, five do not have sanitary-veterinary authorization and have been illegally populated with pigs," said Ioan Jeleriu. Five other unauthorized farms were counted in the neighboring county of Arad.
Food Sector :
17. August 07, Ottawa Citizen (Canada) — More Canadians suffer food poisoning. Up to 13 million Canadians, more than 40 percent of the population, will suffer from foodborne illnesses this year, an epidemic that medical experts say costs up to $1.3 billion annually in lost productivity and medical expenses. A rise in the number of cases involving foodborne illnesses is a strong signal of the need for change, says Paul Sockett, director of foodborne, waterborne and zoonotic infections at the Public Health Agency of Canada. In 2006, Canada imported $19.2 billion worth of food from 195 countries and jurisdictions. While the bulk of imports -- about $11.6 billion -- came from the U.S., Canada also imported about $756 million in food from China, $607 million from Brazil and $599 million from Mexico. Imports from the Philippines hit $91 million, nearly $66 million from Malaysia, about $26.8 million from Iran and $24 million from Ghana. Food imports increased 21.5 per cent from 1996 to 2006. A major portion of the food Canadians eat will never be inspected by the federal government before it goes on store shelves. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency also doesn't scrutinize products based on the country of origin, but instead looks more closely at high-risk food products.
18. August 06, Reuters — U.S. tours food, import sites in safety drive. Senior Bush administration officials are visiting food plants and import facilities as they to prepare a plan for battling an unsettling wave of tainted imports, officials said on Monday, August 6. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt and Food and Drug Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach toured a Maryland seafood firm, which relies heavily on imports, on Monday. Throughout the week, officials will inspect other facilities around the country, including a busy bridge at the U.S.-Canadian border in New York state. The information gathered will go toward a high-level report next month designed to bolster oversight of food and other products making their way across U.S. borders.
19. August 04, Washington Post — Two very different paths from farm to table. Customers dining on surf and turf at a local restaurant may find themselves feasting on steak and a handful of breaded shrimp that took wildly disparate paths through America's food-safety system. The steak came from a cow that was examined by a government inspector before and after it was slaughtered. The shrimp most likely were not inspected. The steak probably came from an American producer. The shrimp likely came from overseas. The disparity is a function of America's 100-year-old food-safety system, under which the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) divvy up the food pyramid. The USDA regulates meat. The FDA oversees the safety of most other foods, including seafood, fruits and vegetables. The split system has resulted in a patchwork process for ensuring that meat, seafood and produce consumed in the U.S. is safe. Changing the system would require upending huge bureaucracies and long-standing traditions, as well as tackling industry concerns. Congress is considering a piece of legislation that would establish a single food-safety agency and another that would, for the first time, allow the FDA to charge importers a fee.
Water Sector :
20. August 06, Associated Press — In New Orleans, water system at risk. New Orleans' 3,200-mile system of water and sewer lines old, leaky and in need of improvements long before Hurricane Katrina was damaged by the torrent of pipe-corroding salt water. The city Sewerage & Water Board says at least 50 million gallons of water a day are now being lost to leaks, or 2.5 times pre-Katrina levels. S&WB officials also believe raw sewage is leaking out in places, though the extent of the problem is unclear. The larger fear is that if some water pumps fail whether because of a power outage, some other kind of mechanical trouble, or another Katrina-like storm a drastic drop in pressure could allow raw sewage or other pollutants to back up into the water system through the leaks. And that could contaminate the drinking water in some neighborhoods for days or even weeks.
21. August 06, Times Record News (TX) — Gas leak forces evacuations, plant sealed off. A leak in one of two 6,000-gallon ammonia tanks at Wichita Falls, TX's Jasper Street Water Plant has forced evacuation of the plant and some nearby homes. A worker heard a gasket on the tank pop Monday, August 6, and notified his supervisors. A wind carried the fumes to the north, prompting city workers to evacuate some homes and advise other people live in the area to stay indoors with doors and windows closed. The ammonia is used in the process of disinfecting drinking water.
Public Health Sector :
22. August 07, Agence France-Presse — Pakistan launches anti-polio drive. Pakistan, one of only four countries where polio is still endemic, will launch a nationwide vaccination drive Tuesday, August 7, aiming to inoculate 32 million children against the disease. Efforts will be concentrated on the border regions near Afghanistan, where ease of movement between the two countries is seen as especially problematic in curtailing the spread of the disease, health officials said. Around 75,000 vaccination teams, with 150,000 workers, will fan out across the country for three days to administer polio drops to children aged under five. Cooperation of tribal elders in many of the volatile and conservative border areas had been secured to ensure the vaccination drive reaches as many children in the remote regions as possible, said Obaidul Islam, a doctor with the World Health Organization (WHO). Vaccination efforts had been hampered in the past, he said, because community leaders in the tribal regions rarely cooperated with people they regard as "outsiders." And while some tribal elders had given assurances that vaccination teams would be welcomed, WHO still faced difficulties gaining access to what he called "high-risk" tribal areas, including North Waziristan, Bajaur and Khyber. Global Polio Eradication Initiative: http://www.polioeradication.org/
23. August 07, Agence France-Presse — Dengue kills nearly 100 children in Myanmar. Dengue fever has killed nearly 100 children in military-run Myanmar in the first seven months of the year, a senior health official said Tuesday, August 7, amid fears of a possible epidemic in Southeast Asia. As of July 31, a total of 8,000 cases of dengue were recorded in children age 14 and under, 98 of them fatal, the health ministry's deputy director Kyaw Nyunt Sein said. "In July alone, 32 children were killed out of 3,000 cases. This July has been the deadliest month," he said, adding that most of the victims were under the age of five. Last year, a total of 130 children died out of some 11,000 cases recorded, he said. The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concerns that Asia could see a dengue epidemic this year. More than 1,100 people have been killed by dengue fever in Indonesia alone this year.
Government Sector :
24. August 05, Associated Press — Florida man jumps White House fence. The Secret Service apprehended a Florida man Sunday, August 5, after he climbed over the White House fence, officials said. Justin Manuel Arrieta, 22, of Cocoa Beach, FL, entered the north side of the White House grounds about 10:30 a.m. EDT and was immediately apprehended by officers in the Secret Service Uniformed Division, according to Secret Service spokesperson Kim Bruce. She said Arrieta was charged with unlawful entry and taken to the Washington metropolitan police's Third District for processing.
Emergency Services Sector :
25. August 07, Public Opinion (PA) — Pennsylvania county prepares for emergency communications upgrade. In Pennsylvania, the pieces to upgrade Franklin County's emergency communications system are coming together. At the same time, the county is planning to keep its old system going as long as it can. The extra time will allow fire companies and volunteer firefighters to replace outdated and expensive pagers. The county has completed seven of nine tower projects and secured four of the 20 pairs of broadcast frequencies necessary and is designing the building that will house the new communications center at the Cumberland Valley Business Park. Firefighters, police, and other first responders expect to better handle emergencies with the new system because they'll be able to communicate directly with each other. Currently, radio communication across different agencies and municipalities is very difficult. There also are "dead spots" where communication fails. The county is moving its dispatching to high-band digital, but not for at least two years. The communications center also is accommodating technology that will locate a cellular telephone caller dialing 911 by way of a global positioning satellite (GPS) chip in the callers' phone.
26. August 06, Government Technology — Virginia to cache first responder radio systems. Virginia Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced Monday, August 6, that the commonwealth will establish three strategic radio caches in Chesapeake, Fairfax County, and the Harrisonburg region to improve the state's ability to establish communications in the wake of a disaster or other large-scale emergency. "The Commonwealth continues to take big steps to anticipate and identify gaps in our communications network," Governor Kaine said. "The strategic positioning of this communications gear will improve the ability of our local, state and federal first responders to seamlessly speak to each other during a crisis situation."
Information Technology and Telecommunications Sector :
27. August 07, ComputerWorld UK — E-voting must stop, warns UK Electoral Commission. The UK Electoral Commission has called for a halt to electronic voting unless major changes are made to the way the voting systems are implemented and secured. The watchdog has issued a series of reports on pilot projects commissioned by the Ministry of Justice that allowed Internet and telephone voting in some areas of England in last May's local elections. A second set of reports examined electronic counting pilots. A report by independent observers from the Open Rights Group, published in June, painted a grim picture of crashed computers and concerns about the systems' security and reliability. The group's concerns are echoed in the new reports. E-voting "should not be pursued any further without significant improvements to testing and implementation and a system of individual voter registration," the commission said. Although remote voting systems had "in broad terms" proved successful and facilitated voting, "the level of implementation and security risk involved was significant and unacceptable," the watchdog found. UK Electoral Commission: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk
28. August 06, CNET News — Qualcomm cell phone ban to take effect. Qualcomm is running out of options as a trade ban goes into effect that will prohibit the import into the U.S. of any 3G handset using Qualcomm chips that have been found to infringe on patents owned by rival Broadcom. President Bush's administration said Monday, August 6, that it would not veto a decision handed down in June by the International Trade Commission that would prohibit the import of cell phones using the chips that infringe on Broadcom patents. The ban went into effect Tuesday. But Qualcomm said that it's not giving up. The company still maintains that Broadcom's patents are not valid. And it said it's still working on an appeal and stay request with the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. Qualcomm is the dominant semiconductor manufacturer for two next-generation technologies -- EV-DO and WCDMA -- that are being used today by three of the four major U.S. operators to build their next generation of high-speed wireless networks. Under the ban, cell phone manufacturers and mobile operators will not be allowed to import any future models of phones that use this technology. 29. August 06, University of California-San Diego — Computer scientists find way to fight spam scams. Computer scientists from University of California-San Diego (UCSD) have found striking differences between the infrastructure used to distribute spam and the infrastructure used to host the online scams advertised in these unwanted e-mail messages. This discovery should aid in the fight to reduce spam volume and shut down illegal online businesses and malware sites. While hundreds or thousands of compromised computers may be used to relay spam to users, most scams are hosted by individual Web servers, computer scientists from the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering have found. Based on an analysis of over one million spam e-mails, 94 percent of the scams advertised via embedded links are hosted on individual Web servers, according to new peer-reviewed research to be presented at the USENIX Security 2007 conference in Boston on Thursday, August 9. “A given spam campaign may use thousands of mail relay agents to deliver its millions of messages, but only use a single server to handle requests from recipients who respond. A single takedown of a scam server or a spammer redirect can curtail the earning potential of an entire spam campaign,” write the UCSD computer scientists in their paper. Report: http://www.cse.ucsd.edu
30. August 06, SecurityFocus — Stanford Security Lab investigates domain-name service rebinding. On a summer day seven weeks ago, a small group of software architects and network engineers descended on Stanford University, worried. The group had been summoned by a team of student researchers and professors at Stanford's Security Lab. The researchers had investigated reports that a critical part of browser security could be bypassed, allowing an online attacker to connect to browser-accessible resources on a victim's local network. While previous attacks using JavaScript could send data to a network, the attack investigated by Stanford -- known as domain-name service rebinding -- could send and receive data from the local network, completely bypassing the firewall. To prove the danger, the Stanford students bought placement for a Flash advertisement on a marketing network and found that, for less than $100, an attacker could have hijacked as many as 100,0000 Internet addresses in three days. David Byrne, security architect with EchoStar Satellite, and Dan Kaminsky, director of penetration testing at IOActive -- gave separate presentations on the subject at the Black Hat Security Briefings and the DEFCON hacking conference. Their warning: Corporate firewalls and virtual private networks could easily be penetrated using this technique, and any permanent fix will take time.
Commercial Facilities/Real Estate, Monument &Icons Sector :
31. August 07, WBZ (NH) — Explosives found in several Bedford driveways. Police made some disturbing and dangerous discoveries in a Bedford, NH, neighborhood on Monday, August 6. According to police, they found three homemade explosives in three separate driveways. One of the explosives contained nine carbon monoxide cartridges and police say it was powerful enough to kill someone. Two bottle bombs were found a short time later near homes in the same area, police say. The two devices were less powerful, but dangerous nonetheless.
32. August 06, Redlands Daily Facts (CA) — Possible explosives under investigation. The San Bernardino County, CA, Sheriff's Department is investigating two 16-ounce plastic bottles filled with potential explosive substances left in a residential area Saturday morning, August 4. According to Capt. Glenn Savik of the Loma Linda Fire Department, one of the bottles had already exploded, and that both bottles have been turned over to the Sheriff's Department for further investigation. "We still don't know what the substance is, and the investigation is ongoing," said Arden Wiltshire, public information officer for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
General Sector :
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