Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread 5

CNN ^ | March 12, 2004

[thecabal]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- This week's deadly train bombings in Spain will not lead to a rise in the U.S. color-coded terror threat alert system, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman said Friday.

"Based on the current intelligence, we have no specific indicators that terrorist groups are considering such an attack in the U.S. in the near term," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.

[Letitring]

Oh Dear. I do too, but it's probably because of where I've been lately. Supervolcano site. :(

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

Thanks for posting back I was worried I was the only one left!!! LOL

[Oorang]

This is from SITE Institute (Ritz Katz's website. She is the woman who wrote "Terrorist Hunter"). SITE Institute

Thai Police Arrest Greek Man Said To Have 350 Passports

BANGKOK (AP)--A Greek man who about to catch a flight to London was arrested in Bangkok for allegedly carrying more than 300 fake passports, Thai police said Friday.

The man, identified as Fotios Manolopoulos, 25, was caught Thursday at Bangkok's international airport as he was preparing to board the flight, said police Maj. Gen. Panya Mamen.

Thailand is well-known in law enforcement circles as a center for production of fake passports, which has became a matter of major concern in the fight against terrorism and human trafficking.

Source: Associated Press

[Oorang]

Many thanks, I think (grins)

[Velveeta]

Ick. Butterflies. Hope it's up and functional again soon.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Some place there was something about the terrorists ability to take down the 911 service..

I feel such shock that I am not even thinking, just listening to my ears roar.

Maybe it was something that we were interested in and I read it at the Seattle Washington newspaper site.

I don't recall the name of the paper, but do recall going there on a link and finding this and more, maybe in an article about such as this happening.

I was asleep when the phone rang, but never gave me time to get to it, so will need minute to find my brain.

[Domestic Church]

"It's starting to look like a who's going to nuke who first scenario."

They might use nukes but we have additional toys in the box and for all we know this hurricane off of southern Brazil just might be the easiest way to sink the al qaeda navy.

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

I remember this too but for the life of me cannot remember where. I think I saw it in more than one place. May had something to do with the electrical outage.

[Oorang]

I don't think this is the article you are referring to, but, it is interesting even if it is a bit old (2001).

Professors aim to hold phone from terrorists

2001-03-17 By Sonya Colberg Business Writer

Two professors have been awarded almost $1 million to stop cyberterrorists from setting off an electronic Pearl Harbor. >p>The Oklahoma City National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism and the U.S. Department of Justice provided the grant.

University of Tulsa computer science professors Sujeet Shenoi and John Hale will use the $977,865 grant to develop systems to defend telephone networks from cyberterrorist attacks.

Shenoi said the threat is real. >p>“If I were a terrorist and decided to explode a bomb like what happened at the Murrah Federal Building, I could take down 911 service,” he said. “You can imagine the havoc that would occur.”

The professors will lead the work of at least 10 computer-savvy students ranging from high-school students to Ph.D. holders. Over three years, the group hopes to set up virtually impenetrable firewalls to the nation’s phone system. Hale and Shenoi are using three computers — one that acts as an attacker, another that acts as victim and a third to act as cyber-sniffer — to act out problems and solutions.

Shenoi said the work has been underway for more than a year at the university’s Center for Information Security.

Thirty years ago, disrupting the phone service was almost child’s play.

Shenoi said telephone technicians would adjust phone service by using equipment that produced a whistling sound over a certain radio frequency. When Cap’n Crunch cereal began packing toy whistles in its cereal boxes, they were inadvertently giving hackers a tool.

Hacker John Draper made a name for himself in 1972 when he figured out how to make free phone calls by blowing on those little whistles.

Since then, deregulation has opened up the market to lots of competing phone companies as society has become more dependent on telecommunications through the Internet. That move also has opened up new vulnerabilities in the phone system, Shenoi said. The phone network now includes Internet and wireless phones that offer more entry points.

Smaller companies pay the big companies to lease the lines so they can provide service to their own customers. The big companies have strong security systems in place, but the smaller ones typically don’t have the resources to provide that kind of security, Shenoi said. And if terrorists got into one small phone system, that would easily lead to a breach of the larger system.

“If I were a terrorist, I could pay $10,000 to get access to the U.S. public phone network and, if at some point I got upset with the U.S., I might launch an attack,” he said. “Even if I were a friendly one, I could eavesdrop on conversations.”

The risk is great enough that Shenoi’s group has had meetings on telecommunications security at the White House and the U.S. Department of Defense. Shenoi said that, ultimately, a breach of telecommunications could disrupt society.

“If I were a terrorist I could stop banks. I could stop Wall Street from functioning,” he said. “There could be an electronic Pearl Harbor.”

The University of Tulsa will work closely with Williams Communications and scientists at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.

The research team will use advanced telephone equipment to sniff out potential security problems. Shenoi and Hale said there are four basic ways of bringing down or misusing communication networks: interception, interruption, modification, such as fraud; and falsification, such as creating a fake 911 emergency call.

Shenoi said the students are anxious to proceed with the project.

“How often do students get to work on a project that is of national or societal importance?” Shenoi asked. “And they’re learning a lot.” Source

[rickylc]

On the FEDEX tire blow out:

My uncle flies for UPS in the same model of plane that blew the tires. This is the story he gave me.

He said that maintanence had asked the crew to test the backup brake system and when they did, they had the switch in the wrong position. this will disable the antilock system. They didn't realize what was going on til it was too late.

What will happen in this scenario is the tires will lock up, no antilock to prevent it. They overheat quickly and blow. Apparently the braking system on this plane is electronicly controlled and the pedal travel is very slight to full brake. There is no feedback to the pilot as far as brake pressure is concerned.

So, this was just pilot error. Nothing sinister.

[Mrs. Xtrmst]

I think I know what you're taking about. I tried Googling with what I remember but didn't have any luck. Maybe someone else can find it. A few weeks (maybe a month) ago someone posted an article from the NW, perhaps a Seattle paper but I'm not sure where the actual incident occured. Someone had deliberatly interferred with phone lines. It was clearly intentional, not an accident. Authorities were puzzling over "who" & "why" and there was speculation here that it was a test because the actual damage was minimal. Either phones or 911 specifically (sorry, can't remember which) was out for a few hours.

[Oorang]

Is this it?

Local sites potential targets for cyberterror

Source is the Seattle pi newspaper.

[WestCoastGal]

Interesting FR thread re: gold and stocks now with comparisons to the market before 9-11. This person is concerned about the price of gold among other things.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1105996/posts

[DAVEY CROCKETT]

FYI

North Sound 911 Service Repeatedly Targeted
Chris Halsne KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter


POSTED: 2:18 pm PST October 31, 2003
UPDATED: 2:48 pm PST October 31, 2003

A KIRO Team 7 Investigation has uncovered disturbing details of a plot to disrupt all telephone, computer and cell service to the North Sound.

Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne proves our most precious infrastructures are still vulnerable to attack.

The FBI won't tell you this, but we will: For the past two years, federal investigators have been trying to catch a criminal who has repeatedly tapped into a major fiber optics cable north of Seattle.

This person hasn't been randomly chopping entire bundles of cables, but rather he or she is using surgical precision to black out one particular 911 emergency call center.

Early in the morning of Sept. 3, some criminal strolled into a Qwest Telecommunications server station with tools in hand and carefully sliced one strand of wire.

For the next 8 hours and 41 minutes Whatcom County, Bellingham and northern Snohomish County lost all telecommunications. Even 911 service was disconnected.

"If phone lines go out, somebody could call for help and die as a result of not being able to receive help. We are very concerned," said Bill Eflo, Whatcom County Sheriff.

Operators couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu. KIRO Team 7 Investigators have learned that someone intentionally rerouted, cut or altered 911 service to Whatcom County on three occasions in two years. Each time the criminal entered the same Qwest fiber optics "hut" to create the chaos.

"Communications can be vulnerable if you don't safeguard them," said Chuck Busick.

Busick is a retired Army Special Ops commander and now a telecommunications security expert. He says it's naive for the FBI and Qwest to pretend the series of fiber optics cuts is "vandalism."

"From a special operations perspective, it's called 'probing the target.' Trying to find out what their true vulnerabilities are. Sometimes you hit it the first time, sometimes you don't. So going in and doing multiple tests to make sure this is, in fact, a good way to disrupt the communications system is certainly feasible," said Busick.

While the FBI scrambles to find a suspect, KIRO Team 7 Investigators went to check out security measures at the Qwest routing station.

We walked straight through an unlocked gate, a wide-open door, and then mapped the interior of the building with our hidden camera. Nobody asked for ID or questioned our motives.

KIRO Team 7 Investigators then headed to Qwest Corporate Headquarters in downtown Seattle. Ironically, it was lots tougher getting in there.

Guard: "I hope you're not recording."

Halsne: "Is there a problem recording in this building?"

Guard: "Right now there is, without express approval from corporate security."

We had an appointment to interview a public relations person but the hassles continued for 15 minutes.

When we finally sat down, Qwest Public Relations specialist Michael Dunne stuck to the corporate line that this four-time-broken-into routing station was secure.

"We have stepped up security significantly for that particular area and there's various surveillance and electronic equipment we've added to make that is what really a state of the art security facility in our network now," said Dunne.

But the sad truth is our hidden videotape proves security remains lousy.

Whatcom County Sheriff Bill Elfo couldn't be more disgusted.

"We're really concerned about the lack of Quest response to the problem. We were assured two years ago security precautions had been taken to prevent that from happening again, obviously they weren't," said Elfo.

The FBI won't comment about its ongoing investigation into the cut phone lines. Agents can't even ask the public for help because doing so might reveal the location of the Qwest building in question.
Copyright 2003 by KIROTV.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


http://www.kirotv.com/news/2601577/detail.html

[knak]

me too

[Cindy]

SPEAKING OF GREECE...

eKATHIMERINI.com (Reuters) : "OLYMPIC FLAME IS LIT Athens 2004 Countdown Begins in Birthplace of Ancient Games" (March 26, 2004) (Read More...)

eKATHIMERINI.com - News Brief: "BOMB SCARES Warnings of explosives on train, ferry turn out to be hoaxes: Passengers aboard a train en route from Thessaloniki to Dikaia in Evros yesterday were evacuated after an anonymous caller warned the Hellenic Railway Organization’s (OSE) Serres offices that a bomb had been planted on the train. But police who inspected the train found no suspect devices. Also yesterday, an anonymous call to Eleftherotypia newspaper warned that a bomb had been planted on a ferry due to leave Piraeus at 7 p.m. But checks on two ferries — bound for Chios-Lesvos and Aegina, respectively — revealed nothing." (March 26, 2004) (Read More...)

[Letitring]

Good deal. We can put that one to rest, thank goodness.:)

[jerseygirl]

Just trying to catch up. Gulp. :(

[Oorang]

Thanks for the info and thanks to your uncle for his input.

[rickylc]

My pleasure.

You may be able to thank him yourself soon. He's a newbie freeper. (like I'm not!!) I keep trying to get him to hang on this thread for a bit, so he can give input to aviation questions, but he spends all his freeping time on the anti-kerry threads :).

I think the backlog of 25,000 posts is a bit intimidating too ;)

I pinged him with this reply, perhaps he'll join us.