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Report: Smart-grid Hackers Could Cause Blackouts Posted: 22 Mar 2009 07:53 PM PDT Deployments of smart grids should be slowed until security vulnerabilities are addressed, acording to some cybersecurity experts, citing tests showing that a hacker can cause a major blackout after breaking into a smart-grid system. The idea behind smart grids, a burgeoning energy sector in which even Google is playing a role, is that automated meters and two-way power consumption data can be used to improve the efficiency and reliability of an electrical system’s power distribution. A washing machine in a household hooked up to a smart meter, for instance, could be set up to run only at lower-cost, off-peak hours, and a home sporting solar panels could give power back to the grid. Through the U.S. economic-stimulus package, the Department of Energy is set to invest $4.5 billion in smart-grid technology. And while many utilities are embracing the initiative by installing smart meters in millions of homes nationwide, security experts and others caution that the technology may not be ready for prime time. According to a CNN report published Friday evening: Cybersecurity experts said some types of meters can be hacked, as can other points in the smart grid’s communications systems. IOActive, a professional security services firm, determined that an attacker with $500 of equipment and materials, and a background in electronics and software engineering, could “take command and control of the (advanced meter infrastructure), allowing for the en masse manipulation of service to homes and businesses.” Experts said that once in the system, a hacker could gain control of thousands, even millions, of meters and shut them off simultaneously. A hacker also might be able to dramatically increase or decrease the demand for power, disrupting the load balance on the local power grid and causing a blackout. These experts said such a localized power outage would cascade to other parts of the grid, expanding the blackout. No one knows how big it could get. via Read Full Article This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Thousands Receive Terror Training In UK Posted: 22 Mar 2009 06:04 PM PDT Thousands of UK workers are being trained to help respond to a future terror attack as part of an updated counter-terror strategy, ministers say. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said shop and hotel workers would be among 60,000 people able to deal with an incident. The updated approach, aimed at tackling immediate terrorist threats and the causes of extremism, would be the most comprehensive in the world, she added. But the Tories said not enough action was being taken against extremists.The Home Office’s new counter-terrorism document - to be published on Tuesday - will go into more detail than ever before in the interests of public accountability. It will reflect intelligence opinion that the biggest threat to the UK comes from al-Qaeda-linked groups and will also take into account recent attacks on hotels in the Indian city of Mumbai. Ms Smith told BBC One’s Politics Show: “What we’re completely clear about is that if we’re going to address the threat from terrorism, we need to do that alongside the 60,000 people that we’re now training up to respond to a terrorist threat, in everywhere from our shopping centres to our hotels. “We need to do it alongside the 3,000 police officers now working on counter-terror and we need to do it with international partners. “This is no longer something you can do behind closed doors and in secret.” The paper - called Contest Two - will update the Contest strategy developed by the Home Office in 2003, which was later detailed in the Countering International Terrorism document released in 2006. Over the last six years the strategy has concentrated on preventing radicalisation of potential terror recruits to disrupting terrorist operations, reducing the UK’s vulnerability and ensuring Britain is ready for the consequences of any terror attack. The updated strategy will increase the focus on challenging individuals and groups who undermine the UK’s “shared values” - even if they are not breaking the law. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Report: al Qaeda Recruiting In Uk At Street Level Posted: 22 Mar 2009 05:58 PM PDT The al Qaeda terror network is able to “directly recruit British muslims at street level in the UK”, according to a ground-breaking new report by the UK’s premier anti-extremism think-tank. The research paper produced by the Quilliam Foundation, just published in the US military journal, The Sentinel, says the success of attacks such as 7/7, compared with the failed bombings at Glasgow Airport and London’s West End, is proof of the “direct assistance” from senior al-Qaeda members to British homegrown terrorist, without which “few of these attacks would have ever been viable”. Author James Brandon also rejects the consensus that al-Qaeda has adopted a strategy of “leaderless jihad”, recruiting and mobilizing followers purely through the internet. While counter-terrorism initiatives introduced since 9/11 have driven the movement underground, Brandon claims the evidence suggests al-Qaeda “continues to operate through a traditional hierarchical structure based on face-to-face contact” and is able to recruit directly in Britain. The report compiles evidence based on recent criminal trials to show how most of the major and successful terrorist plots in the post-9/11 era have had direct ties to high level al-Qaeda figures in the Afghanistan and Pakistan border region, calling into question the idea of terrorist self-starters’. Brandon told the Sunday Herald: “People aren’t radicalised just by watching news about Iraq or Afghanistan or Gaza. It’s a much more complex process than that. And the key thing to understand is that there are actually people out deliberately trying to radicalise other people - people aren’t just self-radicalising. And once you understand that then it’s slightly easier to deal with, because if you can simply tackle the people involved in the radicalisation then the problem to an extent goes away.” Terror expert David Capitanchik, formerly of Aberdeen university international relations department, said: “Unlike the IRA, which was one organisation and quite easy to infiltrate, it’s difficult to infiltrate al-Qaeda as the groups are very small.” But professor Alex Schmid, director of St Andrews university’s centre for terrorism studies, criticised Brandon for drawing definitive conclusions from a “nebulous jihadi landscape”. He said: “I have been talking to people with access to classified intelligence and they have given me diametrically opposed accounts regarding the degree of control of core al-Qaeda on plots beyond Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.” via Report Claims Alqaeda Can Recruit In Uk At Street Level (from Sunday Herald). This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Bikers Brawl In Australian Airport; 1 dead Posted: 22 Mar 2009 05:54 PM PDT A man has been bludgeoned to death by a group of Australian motorcycle gang members in full view of dozens of people at Sydney airport. Witnesses described bikers swinging poles “like swords” at each other’s heads as the brawl spilled over two floors of Sydney’s domestic terminal. Four suspects have been arrested and the others are said to have fled. Police believe the fight broke out when one group of bikers coming off a plane was ambushed by a rival gang. Police did not name any gangs thought to be involved, but Australian media reported that the brawl, on Sunday afternoon, was between the Hell’s Angels and Comancheros gangs.A 28-year-old man died in hospital from severe head injuries. Police said about 15 gang members were involved in the fight, which was witnessed by about 50 people. ‘Group of cowards’ Witnesses described how the gang used the metal bollards in the check-in area as weapons. “They started grabbing the metal poles that break up the check-in area and swinging them almost like swords at each other’s heads,” Naomi Constantine told Australia’s ABC news. “I saw one of the men lying on the ground and another man came up with a pole and just started smashing it into his head.” Local police chief Peter Williams called the attack a “disgraceful act perpetrated by a group of cowards”. “A group of males have exited a plane and they were met by another group of males who we believe may be other motorcycle gang members,” Detective Inspector Williams told reporters. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

Bill Forthcoming To Move Cybersecurity From Homeland Security To White House Posted: 2 Mar 2009 05:48 PM PDT Forthcoming legislation would wrest cybersecurity responsibilities from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and transfer them to the White House, a proposed move that likely will draw objections from industry groups and some conservatives. CNET News has obtained a summary of a proposal from Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-W.V.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that would create an Office of the National Cybersecurity Advisor, part of the Executive Office of the President. That office would receive the power to disconnect, if it believes they’re at risk of a cyberattack, “critical” computer networks from the Internet. “I regard this as a profoundly and deeply troubling problem to which we are not paying much attention,” Rockefeller said a hearing this week, referring to cybersecurity. Giving the White House cybersecurity responsibility was one of the top recommendations of a commission that produced a report last year to advise President Obama on cybersecurity issues. However, the Homeland Security Department, which currently has jurisdiction over cybersecurity, has insisted the reshuffling of duties is not needed. Given the enormity of cybersecurity threats, the responsibility is a natural fit for the White House, said James Lewis, a director and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which issued last year’s commission report. “The Obama administration has an adviser on energy and climate change, and that’s good and important,” Lewis said, “but we’re still in the mode that cyber is less important.” While the bill is still in draft form and thereby subject to change, it would put the White House National Cybersecurity Advisor in charge of coordinating cyber efforts within the intelligence community and within civilian agencies, as well as coordinating the public sector’s cooperation with the private sector. The adviser would have the authority to disconnect from the Internet any federal infrastructure networks–or other networks deemed to be “critical”–if found to be at risk of a cyberattack. The private sector will certainly speak out if this provision is included in the final draft of the bill, a representative of the technology industry who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “You can be assured that if that idea is put into legislation we would certainly have views on it,” he said. “It’s not trivial.” While the person did not take a stance on whether the White House is the appropriate place to put cybersecurity jurisdiction, he said, “cybersecurity is a cross-cutting issue, across all government agencies, so leadership at the top is useful.” The bill could also make the proposed cyber adviser responsible for conducting a quadrennial review of the country’s cybersecurity program, as well as for working with the State Department to develop international standards for improving cybersecurity. The draft version of the bill also establishes a clearinghouse for the public and private sectors to share information about cyberthreats and vulnerabilities. It also creates a Cybersecurity Advisory Panel consisting of outside experts from industry, academia, and nonprofit groups to advise the president. Because many federal contracting officers do not currently include security provisions into federal procurements, the bill could also establish a “Secure Products and Services Acquisitions Board” to review and approve all federal acquisitions. Source This story comes to us via Homeland Security - National Terror Alert. National Terror Alert is America's trusted source for homeland security news and information. Share this post

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