CRIME FW: NIPC Daily Report 01 May 2002

From: George Heuston (GeorgeH@private)
Date: Wed May 01 2002 - 09:37:37 PDT

  • Next message: Todd Ellner: "CRIME David L. Smith gets 20 months for Melissa"

    Note Senator Wyden's legislation.  Again, this dovetails with our efforts on
    the Hillsboro Police Reserve Specialist program--though the PRS takes this
    beyond an emergency/first responder concept (though that's included) to
    integrate a private technical resourse infrastructure directly into the
    day-to-day mission of enforcement, community outreach, and investigations.
    
    Geo
    ______________________________________
    
    Cyber bills find support. On 24 April, a Senate panel endorsed two 
    pieces of security legislation; one bill that would boost cyber-security 
    research and development, and another that would create a volunteer 
    corps of computer experts who would respond swiftly in the event of a 
    computer emergency, like a cyber-attack.  Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) 
    introduced the Science and Technology Emergency Mobilization Act to 
    create a National Emergency Technology Guard (NET Guard).  The NET Guard 
    would be composed of experts and companies who agree to respond 
    immediately with technological information and equipment to counter an 
    attack.  (Federal Computer Week , 29 Apr)
    
    Bush administration nixes water security request. The Bush 
    administration has decided not to take action on a request for $150 
    million for increased security at reservoirs, locks and dams from coast 
    to coast. According the Associated Press (AP), the US Army Corps of 
    Engineers asked for the money to make it tougher for terrorists to 
    attack up to 200 water projects the agency operates in 43 states.  
    Currently, there are 14 projects not currently funded for protection, 
    including the Upper Saint Anthony Falls lock and dam on the Mississippi 
    River in Minneapolis, which helps create a water supply with an annual 
    economic benefit of $32.9 billion and the aqueduct serving Washington, 
    DC. White House officials said the corps has spent only half the $139 
    million it received in last fall's $40 billion anti-terrorism package, 
    passed in the wake of the 11 September attacks. That leaves enough for 
    the corps for the rest of this fiscal year, which runs through 30 
    September, said Amy Call, spokeswoman for the White House budget office. 
    (Watertech Online, 30 Apr)
    
    Federal screeners take up posts at BWI checkpoints.  Over 200 federal 
    workers took their posts for the first time at the Baltimore Washington 
    International Airport  (BWI) checkpoints yesterday.  BWI is the first 
    airport in the nation to get federal screeners. Transportation Security 
    Administration officials said all of the 500 to 600 private-sector 
    screeners at BWI will be replaced by federal employees within six weeks. 
    After the Sept. 11 hijackings, Congress passed a law requiring that all 
    429 U.S. airports have federal screeners to tighten security.  
    (Washington Post, 1 May)
    
    Security agency to passengers: leave knives and scissors at home.  
    Airport security screeners at Baltimore-Washington International Airport 
    confiscated more than 200 knives and pairs of scissors in less than a 
    week, a discovery that prompted new calls for passengers to leave sharp 
    objects behind.  Transportation Security Administration officials said 
    passengers could avoid long waits at security checkpoints if they left 
    sharp objects at home and said they're considering public service 
    announcements to drive that point home. (Associated Press, 30 Apr)
    
    Movement afoot to beef-up industrial cybersecurity. Senior officials 
    from the president's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board, the 
    National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the US Department of 
    Commerce have asked the private sector for detailed advice on how to 
    improve cybersecurity for the nation's most critical industrial-control 
    systems.   The power industry's demand for remote access encouraged many 
    utility companies to establish network connections between corporate 
    systems and the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems 
    that manage and control the flow of electricity and perform various 
    other critical functions throughout the energy sector. The movement to 
    Web-based connections has made these systems increasingly vulnerable to 
    disruptions and attacks in cyberspace, especially because of the lack of 
    standards to help the private sector to design security hardware and 
    software that can be used in SCADA and other industrial systems.  ( 
    Computerworld, 26 Apr)
    
    Rethinking plan B.  Government agencies like never before are expanding 
    on their existing and often limited disaster recovery efforts. The idea 
    now is to plan for scenarios in which key personnel are unavailable and 
    to shield underlying infrastructures and key programs, rather than focus 
    on protecting data and computers.  Although the Sept. 11 attacks drove 
    home the grim importance of developing plans, even before the attacks 
    disaster recovery was beginning to give way to more comprehensive 
    business continuity concepts. The importance of continuity was 
    underscored during the past several years by the onslaught of computer 
    viruses and some high-profile hackings, of major e-commerce Web sites.  
    (Federal Computer Week, 29 Apr)
    
    Four Atlanta federal buildings fail security test.  According to a 
    report obtained by the Associated Press, Lax security at four Atlanta 
    federal buildings allowed undercover congressional investigators to 
    bypass X-ray machines and sneak in briefcases and packages that could 
    have contained explosives.  The test by the General Accounting Office 
    (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, took place earlier this year, 
    said Ronald Malfi, acting director for the GAO's Special 
    Investigations.  "They were able to move freely and extensively 
    throughout these facilities during both day and evening hours and were 
    not challenged by anyone," Malfi said in testimony prepared for a 
    congressional field hearing on security.  GAO investigators alerted 
    federal authorities to the weaknesses found at the buildings, and the 
    Federal Protective Service issued a bulletin addressing them.  
    (Associated Press, 30 Apr)
    



    This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sun May 26 2002 - 11:42:53 PDT