CRIME FW: NIPC Daily Report 19 April 2002

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Fri Apr 19 2002 - 10:39:13 PDT

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    -----Original Message-----
    From: NIPC Watch [mailto:nipc.watch@private] 
    Sent: Friday, April 19, 2002 5:55 AM
    To: Daily Distribution
    Subject: NIPC Daily Report 19 April 2002
    
    
    NIPC Daily Report 
        19 April 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.
    
    Detroit develops homeland plan.  Detroit recently published a detailed 
    plan on how it intends to develop stronger defenses against terrorist 
    acts while increasing the city's routine services.  The goal is to use a 
    cost-effective way to create an infrastructure that could stop the next 
    terrorist act while also improving the city's ability to deliver 
    everyday services.  Specifics of the 10-point plan include appointing a 
    city homeland security coordinator, linking emergency services through a 
    wireless interoperability network, and establishing an Internet based 
    public health disease surveillance system.  (Federal Computer Week, 18 Apr)
    
    WWU Comment: Although the Office of Homeland Security was created at the 
    federal level, the creation of a state, city, or town level homeland 
    emergency plan increases the capability and efficiency of first 
    responders.  Those who provide emergency services need fast and accurate 
    specific information.  Effective, integrated communications is 
    especially beneficial.
    
    Nuclear plants behind on security upgrades. Although nuclear power 
    plants are ahead of schedule on some security upgrades, nearly 
    three-quarters are behind schedule on new federally mandated security 
    upgrades, mostly dealing with truck bombs, according to the Nuclear 
    Regulatory Commission (NRC).  Truck bombs are one of the most commonly 
    used and easiest to obtain terrorist weapons, and anxiety about them has 
    grown since 11 Sept.   A truck bomb is unlikely to cause a runaway 
    nuclear catastrophe but the explosion could knock out power required to 
    run pumps that bring in water to cool the nuclear material.  It could 
    take weeks of electric power from back-up sources to pump water and cool 
    the nuclear material to safe levels.  (Tri-City Herald, 18 Apr)
    
    TVA agrees to join Midwest transmission grid. The Tennessee Valley 
    Authority (TVA), the nation's biggest public power producer, said it had 
    agreed to connect its 30,000 megawatts of generation with a network that 
    spans 20 Midwest and Southwest states and one Canadian province. 
    Additionally, four groups that own or operate 150,000 miles of 
    transmission lines and provide power for an area covering 1 million 
    square miles agreed to form a grid this summer.  Federal regulators 
    applauded the move as an important step in their drive to create 
    so-called regional transmission organizations (RTOs) to alleviate 
    transmission bottlenecks responsible for power shortages like the one 
    seen in California last winter.  (Reuters, 18 Apr)
    
    Florida bank suffers online security breach. A large commercial bank in 
    Florida said on 17 April that "an Internet hacker" penetrated the 
    security of its systems earlier this month and made off with a file 
    containing 3,600 online-banking customer names and addresses.  Officials 
    of Republic Bank said the attacker managed to get past the bank's 
    security firewalls but did not access the account balances or 
    transactions of its online banking customers.  According to Internet 
    records, the server hosting Republic's online bank is operated by 
    Atlanta-based S1 Corp, a leading provider of electronic finance services 
    to banks, credit unions, insurance providers and investment firms. 
    (NewsBytes, 18 Apr)
    
    Law conference spotlights bioterror threat.  "The public must recognize 
    the broadening role of wastewater treatment systems because of potential 
    contaminants that could appear there after a terrorist attack," said 
    Alexandra Dunn, general counsel for the American Metropolitan Sewerage 
    Agencies.  The American Bar Association's (ABA) is working with the 
    Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Centers for Disease Prevention 
    and Control (CDC) to create a protocol for handling and treating 
    contaminants before sending them to wastewater plants.   (Watertech 
    Online, 18 Apr)
    
    Senate blocks oil drilling in arctic reserve. The Senate on 18 April 
    blocked oil and gas drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife 
    Refuge, handing President Bush a key defeat and putting in doubt the 
    future of comprehensive energy legislation.  In the closely watched roll 
    call, pro-exploration forces fell short of the 60 votes needed to 
    overcome opposition against the drilling plan. Only 46 senators voted to 
    end the debate; 54 opposed the motion.  (LA Times, 19 Apr)
    
    US Secret Service targeting cyber-criminals.  The US Secret Service is 
    establishing up an Electronic Crimes Task Force in nine cities, aimed at 
    helping businesses combat cyber-crimes.  The task force is a 
    public-private partnership between federal, state, and local law 
    enforcement as well as private industry experts in many fields, 
    including telecommunications and financial services.  The goal is to 
    reach out to local industry and law enforcement experts to create a 
    network that businesses and the agency can rely on for prevention of 
    cyber-crimes.  The task force will operate in Boston, Charlotte, 
    Chicago, Miami, New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and 
    Washington, DC.  (Miami Herald, 17 Apr)
    
    Twenty-seven people arrested in software piracy sting.  Law enforcement 
    officers arrested 27 suspected software pirates yesterday, charging them 
    with money laundering, criminal copyright infringement and trafficking 
    in counterfeit goods.  The piracy ring cost Microsoft about $75 million 
    in lost sales.  The sting, dubbed Cyberstorm, involved local, state and 
    federal law enforcement officers, and was assisted by Microsoft and 
    other software companies. The ring allegedly duplicated software 
    programs in Taiwan before selling the products in the United States. Law 
    enforcement officials believe the arrests may have dismantled the ring, 
    which court records show has been under observation for two years. 
    Companies lose an estimated $12 billion a year to counterfeit software. 
      (Associated Press, 19 Apr)
    
    AltaVista to remove link to railway sabotage guide. AltaVista Co. 
    removed from its search engine hyperlinks to a Web site with articles 
    detailing how to sabotage railway systems after Deutsche Bahn AG, the 
    German national railway operator, threatened to take legal action.  The 
    Web address for the site, which contains articles from Radikal, a 
    German-language, left-wing extremist publication that is illegal in 
    Germany, will be put on AltaVista's "banned list," AltaVista spokesman 
    Karl Gregory said Wednesday.  Deutsche Bahn announced yesterday that it 
    would sue Palo Alto, Calif.-based AltaVista and Yahoo Inc. and Google 
    Inc., if they don't remove hyperlinks to two articles published under 
    the headline "A handbook for destruction of railroad transport of all 
    kinds." If it files suit, Deutsche Bahn will do so in Germany, where all 
    three search engine companies have subsidiaries. The company feels it 
    wouldn't stand a chance in a US courtroom because of the First Amendment 
    to the US Constitution. (IDG.net, 17 Apr)
    
    WWU Comment: This action illustrates the increased attention now being 
    given to the mountains of radical, potentially destructive literature 
    that has been readily available on the open market for decades.  Gone 
    are the days when individuals sought to obtain such products for mere 
    amusement.  Owners and protectors of infrastructure are realizing that 
    tactics and techniques once thought implausible - the very ideas that 
    once appeared in a book, pamphlet, or Web site penned by a "radical" - 
    may very well be well along in the planning stages.
    



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