Free Republic

Botnets Tighten Defenses Year After McColo Shutdown (Only a link can be posted per FR rules.)

...Today, let’s talk cameras. Cameras on utility polls. Cameras on the corners of buildings. Cameras following you as you walk through town, a college campus, or your own neighborhood. Upset? Seems quite a few Atlantans are...

(CNSNews.com) – The Department of Homeland Security is gagging local law enforcement agencies around the country to protect the privacy of illegal aliens. Under "revised" 287(g) agreements between the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement division and state and local law enforcement agencies, any information about local police efforts to enforce federal immigration law must be cleared through ICE before it can be released to the media or the public. DHS says it is doing this to protect the privacy of illegal aliens.

In the dark world of the cybercriminal economy, computer viruses battle not just against anti-virus security software, but even other strains of malware for control of infected PCs, security researchers said. A strain of Trojan malware identified as Bredo contains code that disables the Zeus/Zbot Trojan and moves files to prevent Zeus from reinstalling itself on reboot, according to security researchers from Sophos. Malware authors have previously targeted other malware as a way to keep PCs under their control and not controlled by a rival bot herder. The cybercriminals use networks of infected PCs - called botnets - to distribute...

Communications experts say that fear is the best way to get attention when you’re trying to win an argument. Groups who oppose nuclear power have certainly mastered that technique by playing to economic, environmental, and safety fears. So I’d like to introduce a little element of fear into my argument here. I want to suggest what could happen if we don’t adopt nuclear power as a more important part of our energy future-- if Russia and China and a lot of other countries go ahead with nuclear – as they are now – while we get left behind. Are we...

BUENOS AIRES N.W.R., Arizona | Michael M. Hawkes, manager of the Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, reaches across his desk and pulls out a homemade blue-and-red bumper sticker that reads, "Littering is always a crime." It turns out that here on the U.S.-Mexico border, even that is a controversial statement — because it's aimed at the humanitarian groups that drop gallon jugs of water on public lands to help illegal immigrants crossing the rugged borderlands.

WASHINGTON -- The Chinese government is ratcheting up its cyberspying operations against the U.S., a congressional advisory panel found, citing an example of a carefully orchestrated campaign against one U.S. company that appears to have been sponsored by Beijing. The unnamed company was just one of several successfully penetrated by a campaign of cyberespionage, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report to be released Thursday. Chinese espionage operations are "straining the U.S. capacity to respond," the report concludes...

U.S. pressures Japan on military package Washington concerned as new leaders in Tokyo look to redefine alliance Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, with Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa in Tokyo, pushed Japan to stick with a 2006 deal. By John Pomfret and Blaine Harden Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, October 22, 2009 Worried about a new direction in Japan's foreign policy, the Obama administration warned the Tokyo government Wednesday of serious consequences if it reneges on a military realignment plan formulated to deal with a rising China. The comments from Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates underscored increasing concern among U.S....

"It’s time for President Obama to make good on his promise. The White House must stop dithering while America’s armed forces are in danger."

A private security guard at Newark Liberty International Airport has been arrested Wednesday on charges of threatening President Barack Obama. Port Authority spokesman John Kelly says John Breck allowed police to search his Linden home and officers found 43 firearms. U.S. Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley says the 55-year-old denied making any threats. Obama will be in New Jersey on Wednesday to campaign for New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. Air Force One is scheduled to land around 4:30 p.m.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20, 2009 – The security situation in northern Iraq has improved greatly in recent years, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters today. Al-Qaida, which several years ago launched attacks with abandon in northern Iraq, is now “desperate,” Army Brig. Gen. Robert B. Brown, deputy commanding general for Multinational Division North and the 25th Infantry Division, said during a satellite-carried teleconference. Today, the division’s area of operations “has completely changed,” said Brown, who was in northern Iraq as a Stryker brigade commander in 2004 and 2005. Brown, whom President Barack Obama has nominated for promotion to major...

Three House Republicans are scheduled to hold a press conference on Wednesday morning to "make public a national security threat on Capitol Hill." Reps. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.), John Shadegg (R-Ariz.) and Paul Broun (R-Ga.) will hold a 10 a.m. press conference in the Capitol on the homeland security issue. The congressional daybook schedule does not provide further details. According to a source familiar with the issue, the press conference will focus on a non-profit group that has "known terrorist ties."

TSA Secure Flight Information The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is introducing Secure Flight, a program to help enhance the security of domestic and international commercial air travel through the use of improved watch list matching. In accordance with this new policy, you will notice changes to our reservation process which have been made to obtain the necessary Secure Flight Passenger Data for reservations purchased beginning September 15, 2009. Please note that SFPD is not being collected from AA passengers whose tickets were issued prior to September 15, 2009, regardless of their travel date. How will this affect you? When you...

Support Coal, Now! America's Future Depends on it. Watch the downfall of Obama Socialism from real Americans in Kentucky.

We have an emergency on the horizon and your participation is IMPERATIVE! The US Army Corps of Engineers is holding six public hearings October 13 and 15 to receive public comments on the two proposals related to Nationwide Permit 21 in the nation’s Appalachian Region. NWP 21 authorizes discharges of dredged or fill material into waters of the United States for surface coal mining activities. The effort is underway to apply regulations that will allow the regulation of water from the head of the watershed. The first proposal is to modify NWP 21 to prohibit its use in the Appalachian...

ZURBATIYAH, Iraq, Oct. 5, 2009 – Work to improve commerce and security in Iraq continued as a cargo transload area opened along the Iraq-Iran border following a ribbon-cutting ceremony here Sept. 26. Army Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, director of Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq’s training and advisory mission, talks with Maj. Gen. Isam Salih Yaseen, Zurbatiyah port director for Iraq’s border enforcement department before a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a cargo transload area at the Zurbatiyah, Iraq, point of entry on the Iraq-Iran border, Sept. 26, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Bethany L. Little  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

"...In other words, after you've blithely downloaded a plug-in that shares your computer's Internet connection and processing power with other, unknown computers, Octoshape might choose to alter just what it's doing, how it's doing it, or the extent to which it is using your computer, remotely updating the software on your machine to change it, and /they're not going to tell you/. Oh, they'll make a revision to the license agreement available on their website, sure – but when was the last time you actually read all of the details of any software agreement, much less reviewed revisions to the...

China takes extreme security measures for parade Apartments on the route are evacuated, businesses are forced to close early and transit lines are suspended as China prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary. 'Are we having fun?' one critic asks. China to parade its new and improved arsenal By Barbara Demick September 30, 2009 E-mail Print Share Text Size Reporting from Beijing - This is a parade that demands state-level security. Discipline. Extreme secrecy. Ordinary people will not be allowed anywhere near the parade route in Beijing on Thursday, when the People's Republic of China marks the 60th anniversary of its...

Microsoft plans to release the final version of its free-of-extra-charge anti-malware scanner later on Tuesday The application, Microsoft Security Essentials or MSE (formerly Morro), is designed to provide consumers with basic protection against Trojans, computer viruses, spyware and rootkits. The product lacks the personal firewall, backup and PC tuning features found in OneCare, the paid-for consumer security software discontinued by Microsoft back in June. Cliff Evans, head of security and privacy at Microsoft UK, said he was personally sorry that OneCare was discontinued, but argued that MSE offered a better chance at improving overall internet hygeine. “We want everyone to...

He may not relish the comparison but it is now becoming increasingly obvious that Mr Barack Obama is the most hostile American President for India since Richard Nixon. In the eight months he has been in office, Mr Obama has snubbed India more than once. He has sent repeated signals that New Delhi is not integral to his Asian security architecture. Partly as a result of his country’s economic crisis, he has bent over backwards to accommodate China. His open advocacy of protectionism has been most visibly targeted at outsourcing of technology jobs to India. He headlined anti-trade legislation by...

Contrary to what the Left and their media minions told Americans in 2005 when President George W. Bush wanted to reform Social Security, the nation's largest entitlement program is now projected to run deficits for at least the next two years. In an article on the subject published Sunday, the Associated Press mysteriously hid the seriousness of this revelation while never once mentioning the Republican push to solve this problem four years ago, or that Democrats in January 2006 -- including Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) -- actually applauded the death of the previous year's reform efforts.

WASHINGTON – Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s. The deficits — $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 — won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses from previous years totaling $2.5 trillion. But they will add to the overall federal deficit.

Brzezinski is Stark, Raving Bonkers By Joseph Farah What is Zbigniew Brzezinski famous for besides having a name difficult to spell and pronounce? His claim to fame is introducing the nation to an obscure governor from Georgia by the name of Jimmy Carter. Brzezinski was a foreign-policy disciple of Henry Kissinger and assured Americans that Carter was well-versed in geo-politics and would be a safe bet in his challenge to President Gerald Ford. Brzezinski's payoff after Carter was swept into power was being named national security adviser. He presided over one foreign-policy fiasco after another – the Soviet invasion of...

The G20 comes to streets of Pittsburgh - 118 photos

WASHINGTON -- President Obama says he has no plans to ask the Justice Department to end its criminal investigation into the harsh interrogations of suspected terrorists during the Bush administration. Seven former CIA directors have asked the president to do just that. In a letter to Obama on Friday, they warned that the probe could discourage CIA officers from doing the kind of aggressive intelligence work needed to fight terrorism. Obama tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that he appreciates that the former CIA chiefs are wanting "to look after an institution that they helped to build."

White House National Security Adviser James L. Jones says President Obama's decision to abandon a long-range missile defense site in Eastern Europe was driven by U.S. intelligence concerns that Iran is further along than previously thought in developing medium-range missiles that could strike Western Europe and the Middle East with nuclear warheads. "We think they are heading toward weaponiz[ing] these missiles, which obviously we want to dissuade them from doing," the retired four-star Marine general told The Washington Times, explaining why U.S. officials dramatically shifted from years of focus on guarding against longer-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Gen. Jones also...

Representative Rob Bishop’s (R-UT) is concerned about how the Department of the Interior is – or perhaps more appropriately isn’t - working with the Department of Homeland Security to secure our borders, and he let Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar know it at a hearing [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRT5C9_YiI0] of the Committee on Natural Resources. As evidence of the issue’s gravity, Bishop points to a 2004 Interior Department report that had never been released to the public. According to the report the vast majority of the Organ National Pipe Monument in Arizona has been so degraded that it has lost its ‘wilderness’...

(IsraelNN.com) Security camera footage released by Israel Police Wednesday shows a group of eight Arabs assaulting two Jewish men at the Givati parking lot next to Jerusalem's Old City last Friday. During the incident, one of the Jewish men fired shots at the Arabs, lightly injuring two of them. Police arrested him initially and interrogated him. He claimed that he only fired after he and his friend felt threatened by the Arab group. The video appears to corroborate his version of the events.

Snow Leopard lacks security features that are built in to Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7, a noted Mac researcher has said. Dubbed ASLR, for address space layout randomisation, the technology randomly assigns data to memory to make it tougher for attackers to determine the location of critical operating system functions, and thus make it harder for them to craft reliable exploits. "Apple didn't change anything," said Charlie Miller, of Baltimore-based Independent Security Evaluators, the co-author of The Mac Hacker's Handbook, and winner of two consecutive "Pwn2own" hacker contests. "It's the exact same ASLR as in Leopard, which means...

Where the problem truly arises is where problems occur whenever individual rights and individual property collide with the demands of an increasingly statist government and with genuine communitarian needs and requirements for security of the state. Any treatment of individuals in a free society must be based on the recognition that a citizen – and even a visitor to this free land – is innocent until proven guilty, and that he or she must be treated with utmost respect unless and until we have probable cause to view him or her as a potential threat. Even then, the assumption must...

Obama to Chair UN Security Council Role could have prez crossing paths with Gaddafi Updated 6:45 AM CDT, Wed, Sep 9, 2009 Barack Obama is set to become the first-ever U.S. president to chair the United Nations' 15-member Security Council when it meets later this month. The council, which next meets Sept. 24, deals with a host of global challenges, including nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. The Obama administration hopes to use the month-long appointment to emphasise a departure from the Bush administration's strategy of pursuing its own unilateral policies through the council. Obama will join other heads of government...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 2009 – Iraqi security forces are making tremendous progress throughout southern Iraq, the commander of coalition forces in the region said today. Army Maj. Gen. Richard Nash, who commands the Minnesota National Guard’s 34th Infantry Division as well as Multinational Division South in Iraq, said the Iraqi army, police and border police are performing very well. “The Iraqi security forces have had tremendous success in establishing security throughout the nine provinces of southern Iraq,” Nash said in a video conference with Pentagon reporters today. The spreading security is encouraging local Iraqis to side with the government and...

One of the messages I hear over and over during conversations with security professionals is that security is everyone's responsibility. Yet, if I didn't work in this field, issues of security would remain very far off my radar. I recently asked several of my friends if they had ever heard of a fusion center. All of them looked at me strangely and politely changed the subject. And why should they have heard of such a thing? The public has no role in such initiatives. But should they? In my two years of covering the security field, I continue to be...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1, 2009 – Iraqi security forces have undertaken a broad self-assessment in the wake of series of deadly attacks in the Iraqi capital last month, a U.S. commander there said today. A wave of truck bombings in Baghdad killed at least 100 people and injured more than 500 others in a deadly Aug. 19 assault that exposed a lapse in security, according to U.S. defense officials. “The Iraqi security forces, as a result of that, have done a great deal of introspective assessing, to make sure that they understand how they can mitigate that from ever happening again,”...

With Attorney General Holder’s investigation of CIA operatives who utilized enhanced-interrogation techniques on detainees, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the Obama administration’s downgrade of the War on Terror to “overseas contingency operations,” and the administration’s release of terrorists captured by heroic U.S. military personnel, what should be a preposterous question to ask the President of the United States, now needs to be asked. In the interest of America’s national security, how will President Obama treat the terrorists in America? According to a previously disclosed 2009 Virginia Terrorism Threat Assessment, prepared by Virginia’s Fusion Center, “Al-Qa’ida, Al-Shabaab, HAMAS, Hizballah, Jama’at...

East Alton, IL – -(AmmoLand.com)- Winchester® Ammunition was recently awarded a contract by the Immigration, Customs and Enforcement (ICE) division of the Department of Homeland Security to supply a maximum of 200 million, 40 cal. rounds over the next five years.

Ontario, Wayne County)- State Police in Wayne County arrested three men Saturday after reports of gun shots heard near the Ginna nuclear power plant in the town of Ontario. Police say the shots were fired on Ontario Center road around 4:50 a.m. Troopers say they stopped a car in the area and found an AK-47 rifle in the trunk.

In August 2007 and June 2008, I wrote monster articles projecting Iraqi Security Forces planned development by 2012 and, in some cases, beyond. I am not going to do that this year. Instead I have been writing separate articles addressing the components of the Iraqi Security Forces: June 30, 2009: Commandos in the ISF June 30, 2009: Iraqi Special Operations Force June 30, 2009: The Iraqi Emergency Response Brigade July 15, 2009: Kurdish Regional Guards: The best OPSEC in Iraq July 20, 2009: Iraqi Federal Police: More than a name change? July 26, 2009: Low on the Iraqi MoI Totem...

Former schoolteacher Evelyn Miller doesn't plan to retire from the anti-illegal immigration movement any time soon. She's too busy organizing petitions, blasting e-mails, faxes and letters, and threatening politicians who are up for re-election. The 76-year-old member of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform says she is driven by her belief that those in the country illegally are taking jobs and taxpayer services from Americans. "We're soldiers in the foxhole," Miller said from her dining room in Irvine, which doubles as a home office

A sleepy Montana checkpoint along the Canadian border that sees about three travelers a day will get $15 million under President Obama’s economic stimulus plan. A government priority list ranked the project as marginal, but two powerful Democratic senators persuaded the administration to make it happen. Discuss COMMENTS (83) Despite Obama’s promises that the stimulus plan would be transparent and free of politics, the government is handing out $720 million for border upgrades under a process that is both secretive and susceptible to political influence. This allowed low-priority projects such as the checkpoint in Whitetail, Mont., to skip ahead of...

Most liberals believe that National Security is a threat to Freedom, when in reality - National Security, is the first & last defense for Freedom for the United States, and in most cases - the entire world. The National Security of America is above & beyond almost every other Nation on earth, only Israel rivals the American forces or intelligence.

Congress may confiscate every state pension fund into the bankrupt social security system. Indications that this strategy is being discussed in Washington have come in to us from several sources over the last few days. Tonight, a correspondent who has just come home from a Tea Party Townhall Meeting in Salado, Texas with US Representative John Carter (R-Round Rock) issued the warning. She said, "Representative Carter informed the crowd that talk has been bandied about Congress to appropriate every state's pension plans into the bankrupt Social Security System." She is absolutely 100% sure that she understood him correctly. Dear readers,...

The Obama doublespeak brigade appears to be sewing confusion as to the issues discussed in my previous post regarding exemptions for POTUS in EO 12968. As stated in the previous article, POTUS and VP are exempt from security clearance examinations for receiving classified information listed in EO 12968. However, Sections 5.2(5)(d) and (e) make it clear that if the agency head in charge of such classified info determines that the procedures listed within the EO cannot be invoked without risk to national security – then such provisions do not limit the agency head’s power to deny release of classified information....

After hearing acount after account from friends and acquaintances of rude and sometimes abusive behavior by federal officials in Immigrations, TSA, and others, I spoke by telephone to a fellow at TSA in Washington. He was agreeable and helpful, which is not a response one always gets in the capital. Anyway, I subseqquently wrote him a letter, reproduced below, which addresses matters that in the past have been of interest to readers. Dear Mr. , After our conversation of last week (and I appreciated your taking the time) I thought carefully about the problem of “TSA”—which, as I mentioned, has...

A thorough review of national security clearance guidelines and federal statutes indicates that various heads of government agencies in charge of disseminating classified information should deny access to classified information to President Obama unless and until he undergoes a statutory background check and achieves a proper security clearance. This article stipulates that it is common practice for the FBI to grant full security clearance to elected officials such as Congressman and Senators. The same courtesy has been extended to the office of President and Vice President. This is done in recognition that these elected officials represent the will of the...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 20, 2009 – A U.S. commander in Iraq condemned yesterday’s wave of attacks in Baghdad that killed at least 95 people, saying a security lapse allowed the deadly assault. Army Lt. Gen. Frank Helmick said the Iraqi government is investigating the attack that involved two truck bombs exploding minutes apart near ministry buildings in Baghdad, killing scores and injuring more than 500 others. “Clearly, there was a lapse of security, or this would not have happened,” Helmick, who heads the U.S. command that oversees Iraqi security forces’ training and development, told reporters at the Pentagon today. The attack...

Bachus: Social Security may face deficitLegislator predicts progam could be out of money in two years By Tommy Stevenson Associate Editor Last Modified: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 9:39 a.m. TUSCALOOSA | Social Security could face a deficit within two years, according to U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus who met with The Tuscaloosa News editorial board Tuesday. “The situation is much worse than people realize, especially because of the problems brought on by the recession, near depression,” said Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, in an interview with the Tuscaloosa News editorial board. Bachus, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2009 – When Afghans go to the polls to cast their votes Aug. 20, they’ll see Afghans providing for their security, not U.S. or NATO forces. In a video news conference today from Kabul, Australian Defense Force Brig. Gen. Damien Cantwell, chief of the election task force for NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, stressed that the Afghan security forces are completely in charge of planning and implementing security efforts for the elections. “Afghan security forces have committed themselves fully across the country with the intent to provide all they can within their resource limitations in terms of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 17, 2009 – The top U.S. commander in Iraq has proposed a tripartite arrangement between American, Iraqi and Kurdish forces to shore up security in disputed areas of northern Iraq. The proposal by Gen. Raymond Odierno is only in the discussion phase, but leaders involved in the talks have been receptive, according to a defense official speaking on background. The initiative has been characterized as “a confidence-building measure” aimed at protecting Iraqis and preventing disputed areas “from being used as a seam” by insurgents. Defense officials declined to comment on how the proposed security force would be implemented...

CONCORD, N.H. – When Tropical Storm Chata'an struck the Federated States of Micronesia in 2002, the U.S. government sent 1,300 blankets, 4,000 disposable diapers, 30 cases of sardines — and my Social Security number. The nine digits that govern so much of Americans' identities are supposed to be ours for life — and only ours. But mine ended up linked to a Micronesian man who defaulted on a disaster loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration. I didn't find out until March, in a letter from a debt collector threatening to garnish my wages if I didn't pay $7,306 in...