A Mineola-based database company, Safe Banking Systems, has uncovered information that six men suspected of, or convicted of crimes that threaten national security kept their federal aviation licenses even though 9/11-related anti-terrorism laws required they be revoked.
The Department of Homeland Security has been given the go-ahead to hire up to 1,000 new cybersecurity pros over the next three years.
The new hiring authority will let DHS, a key agency in the nation's cybersecurity strategy, fill positions in risk and strategic analysis, incident response, vulnerability detection, intelligence, investigation, and network and systems engineering.
Read more about this at IInformationWeek Government.
Wii Fit Balance Boards are being investigated as the newest tools for detecting signs of tension or anxiety in airport security lines. The Department of Homeland Security is leading the research on the worthiness of this product's use in terror attack detection. The Wii Balance Board can detect your precise balance point, including rapid shifts in balance, which are attributes the Future Attribute Screening Technology project hopes will identify those passengers who may have hostile intentions.
Nervous flyers look out.
According to The Blog @Homeland Security, the Department of Homeland Security is looking for "products that could be used for its integrated cybersecurity program that includes software and hardware."
Those interested in the opportunity need to contact the department by July 22.
By Shelley Smith
Internet and telephone services hit the Gulf Arab region when marine cables were cut causing communications disruption with Europe, the Middle East, and Asia on Wednesday. This will disrupt regional economics and could last for some time. In the BBC News article "Severed Cable Disrupts Net Access", Friday, 19 December 2008, parts of the Gulf Arab region was plunged into darkness disrupting 80 percent of Egypt services, and 65 percent of services between Europe and India. Severe disruptions also included facilities in Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and Pakistan.
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| The boy, described as a 'genius' and model student. |
By Shelley Smith
Playing trains and derailing a city’s tram system for real is serious business and a 14-year-old Polish student, known as an electronic “genius” and a model student, did just that in the city of Lodz, Poland. The teenager turned the city of Lodz tram system into his own personal train set by using public library and open source information from the Internet and trespassing in tram depots to gather information needed to build a device made by modifying a TV remote control.
To do this he hacked into the train network where he was able to make the tram system into his own personal train set. With the remote control he was able to maneuver the trams and change track points, triggering chaos that derailed four trams, caused emergency stops that resulted in the injury twelve people in the process and luckily no deaths. His reason for modifying the track settings; he did it as a prank.
This was the latest incident of young computer hackers breaking into computer systems challenging security systems. Another example was in 1999, where hackers, using home computers, broke into a British military system and changed secure settings of a British military satellite. Securing the nation’s rail and mass transit system continues to be an enormous undertaking from terrorist attacks, yet there still looms the vulnerabilities from unseen computer hackers and terrorist attacks.
During 2004 and 2005, a U.S. Teamsters Rail Conference conducted a Safe Rails/Secure America Survey and rail workers evaluated safety and security measures. Employed members from 46 states by 34 railroads participated. It was discovered that the nation’s 230,000 miles of track was a likely target of Al-Qaeda and security efforts have largely been left to the discretion of rail corporations. The workers reported security gaps and showed there was a disturbing lack of security along the railroad tracks and in the rail yards across the nation. They found corporations were growing dependent on remote control technology to replace engineers. There was minimal security training for employees and a disinterest in improving security along points of vulnerability, for locomotives, tracks, bridges, tunnels and for those who lived in close proximity of the railroad tracks.
Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the 7/7 London subway bombings, and the Madrid rail bombings, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken steps to manage risk and strengthen the US rail and transit systems from terrorism or other criminal activities. To help reinforce rail and mass transit security, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has given out $115 million in grants since the March 11 Madrid, Spain lethal attacks on their rail and mass transit system. Yet, even with assertive efforts against potential terrorist attacks there still looms the threat of cyber terrorism and hackers.
Sources:
Schoolboy Hacks into City's Tram System
Polish Teen Derails Tram After Hacking Train Network
Transportation Security Administration
Workers Warn of Security Gaps on Nation's Railroads
Shelley Smith is an expert in analysis and research on national and international law, foreign affairs, criminal justice systems and the psychology of criminal behavior. Smith is currently working toward a B.A in Intelligence Studies with a focus on analysis and terrorism at American Military University.
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