CRIME NIPC Daily Report 13 Mar 02

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Wed Mar 13 2002 - 07:04:44 PST

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    -----Original Message-----
    From: NIPC Watch
    To: Daily Distribution
    Sent: 3/13/02 5:19 AM
    Subject: NIPC Daily Report 13 Mar 02
    
    NIPC Daily Report	13 March 2002
    
    The NIPC Watch and Warning Unit compiles this report to inform 
    recipients of issues impacting the integrity and capability of the 
    nation's critical infrastructures.
    
    Terror threat warning system unveiled.  Homeland Security Chief Tom 
    Ridge said on 12 March that a new color-coded US threat advisory system 
    will create "a national framework and a common vocabulary" so that 
    government and the private sector can deal effectively and efficiently 
    with threats of terrorist attack. The warning system will have five 
    levels ranging from green, the lowest alert level, followed by blue, 
    then yellow, orange and red, the highest state of alert.  Each code will
    
    trigger specific actions by federal agencies and state and local 
    governments.  "The advisory system simply deals with our assessment of 
    the risk," Ridge said. "And the second portion of the advisory system is
    
    something that we're working very closely with state and local 
    governments and the private sector so that they come up with various 
    measures of readiness and preparedness." (CNN.Com, 12 Mar)
    
    Virtual Private Networks protect securities.  The events of September 11
    
    and threats of additional attacks or potential calamities have put 
    business continuity planning (BCP) into the forefront of operational 
    strategy for virtually every node of infrastructure and industry in the 
    United States. Securities firms are especially focused on the issues 
    after last year's attacks caused systems outages that affected 
    communication and trading operations in the capital markets.  The 
    importance of Wall Street's BCP has increased with the likelihood of 
    government-sponsored cyber-terror directed at securities firms. Virtual 
    private networks (VPN) are private networks configured within a public 
    network, typically effecting security via access control mechanisms and 
    encryption.   (Securities Industry News, 11 Mar)
    
    State files suit against energy firms.   The California attorney 
    general's office sued four major energy companies for $150 million, 
    alleging that they broke contracts to provide emergency power to the 
    state's power grid operator, and instead sold the electricity on the 
    lucrative spot market.  State officials said the suits demonstrate that 
    big energy companies began "gaming" the state's power grid operation 
    within months of the 1996 law that deregulated wholesale energy markets 
    and caused utilities to sell most of their generation facilities. (Los 
    Angeles Times, 12 Mar)
    
    Police find cyanide stash in Chicago subway tunnel; suspects arrested. A
    
    Wisconsin computer worker who dubbed himself "Dr. Chaos" was charged 
    Monday with possessing a chemical weapon after authorities found a cache
    
    of cyanide in a CTA Blue Line subway tunnel in the heart of the Loop. 
    Authorities say they found a cyanide capsule on Joseph Daniel Konopka, 
    25, when he and a youth were arrested Saturday in a steam tunnel at the 
    University of Illinois at Chicago. FBI agents and Chicago police 
    officers combed the tunnels for chemical weapons and booby traps they 
    believed might be set for them.  Although they found no booby traps, 
    they did find a box of chemicals, including about 1 1/4 pounds of 
    cyanide compounds that potentially could be combined with other 
    substances to create a toxic cloud. Konopka, wanted on several warrants 
    from Wisconsin for allegedly staging attacks on several public 
    utilities, admitted that he "re-keyed" a CTA storage area where he kept 
    cyanide and other chemicals. He also kept a stolen laptop computer that 
    he used for "war driving," accessing networks without permission using a
    
    wireless modem, the FBI said.  (Chicago Tribune, 12 Mar)
    
    Air Force to protect phone lines. The Air Force plans to plug one of the
    
    most commonly overlooked gateways into networks - telephone lines - by 
    deploying its Enterprise Telephony Management (ETM) Platform at Air 
    Force bases worldwide.  Service officials expect to begin deploying the 
    system during the summer (Federal Computer Week, 12 Mar)
    
    Army securing wireless LAN. The Army has selected a security solution to
    
    protect the mission-critical business systems of the Combat Service 
    Support Automated Information System Interface (CAISI) project, a 
    wireless local-area network with about 85,000 users. Defense Department 
    policy prohibits agencies from operating wireless LANs without certified
    
    security.   (Federal Computer Weekly, 12 Mar)
    
    Kazakhstan shows interest in US-backed pipeline.  Following a meeting 
    with Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Steven Mann, the special
    
    adviser to the US State Department on the Caspian Sea region, said the 
    US and Kazakhstan have demonstrated a "unity of views" on a wide range 
    of energy issues.  In particular, Kazakh oil producers intend to get 
    involved in the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline project, and the US 
    intends to assist Kazakhstan in finding future alternative export routes
    
    for its gas and oil products.  (Interfax-Kazakhstan, 12 Mar)
    
    Canal Plus says News Corp. unit hacked digital TV smart cards. Canal 
    Plus and two of its technology subsidiaries filed a lawsuit in US 
    District Court for Northern California against NDS Group, claiming that 
    the U.K.-based company spent large amounts of money and resources to 
    break the security code behind Canal+'s digital TV smart card. When the 
    smart card code was published on the Internet, criminal organizations 
    flooded the market with counterfeit cards.  Canal+ said in a written 
    statement that the incident will cost the company an estimated $1 
    billion.  NDS officials were not immediately available for comment. 
    Canal+ has launched a special Web site to provide more information on 
    the lawsuit: http://www.actiononecanalplus.com.  (Newsbytes, 12 Mar)
    ..
    



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