Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Eleven

WND ^ | 6/24/04 | N/A

[JustPiper]

Picture credit: TheCabal

"I will never cower before any master nor bend to any threat"

LINK TO THREAD TEN

Iran seeks swap of Brits for suicide attackers

Report says 40 Revolutionary Guard 'volunteers' held by UK

Iran apprehended British military personnel and Navy vessels earlier this week in order to secure release of 40 "suicide operations volunteers" held by the UK, according to an Iranian Revolutionary Guard source.

The source told the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat that the British Army command in Iraq received the demand from the Revolutionary Guard, reported the Middle East Media Research Institute.

According to the source, the content of the message was very simple: "Release our comrades, whom you are holding, and we will release your soldiers."

To Read this entire article

We are the "Stotters" who make ourselves aware of the enemy who wishes to do us harm

[Oorang]

Oh my gosh Jill. Prayers to your son and his fiancé. Hope everyone is doing much better very soon.

[milkncookies]

President Bush Edges Kerry

Friday, June 25, 2004

By Brit Hume

The latest from the Political Grapevine:

President Bush Edges Kerry
A new FOX News/Opinion Dynamics Poll (search) shows that — after being tied with John Kerry for the past four months — President Bush is now leading Kerry by 7 percentage points, when Ralph Nader's in the race. In addition, the poll shows President Bush — who was trailing Kerry in the 15 battleground states two weeks ago — now tied with Kerry, with President Bush beating Kerry in Florida, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

[milkncookies]

According to DEBKA:

Unresolved Turkish-Israeli dispute over Israeli air marshals at Istanbul airport prevents El Al from resuming flights cancelled from Thursday. Israeli sources believe Turkish PM Erdogan and FM Gul seek to weaken strong ties between Israel and Turkish security establishment.

[milkncookies]

Baqouba Sealed Off as U.S. Forces Lose Control of City

Baqouba, Iraq , Jun 24 - Just six days before Iraq’s interim government is to gain partial sovereignty from the US, resistance fighters launched a series of coordinated attacks against US forces and Iraqi government targets in Baghdad, Mosul, Ramadi and Baqouba today. Fierce fighting between the Iraqi resistance and US forces has killed at least 85 people and wounded 320, according to the Iraqi Ministry of Health..(SNIP)

[Cindy]

Thank you Pegita.
and Amen.

[Oorang]

TERRORISM HEADLINES OF THE WEEK
SITE Institute
SITE Institute,6/25/2004 - Domestic

Charities Face Increased Reviews By I.R.S. As Senate Considers Strengthening Oversight...

A Sprawling Probe Of Terror Funding Centers In Virginia...

US Terrorism Task Force Investigates 3 In Denver...

More at link

http://www.siteinstitute.org/exposing.asp?id=248

[Cindy]

ONGOING PRAYERS...

[Cindy]

Thank you.

[Cindy]

url?

[swarthyguy]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5515568

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/06/25/kashmir.killings/

[Cindy]

Thank you Swarthy Guy.

[Honestly]

Web site virus attack blunted

Web surfers are no longer playing Russian roulette each time they visit a Web site, security researchers say, now that a far-reaching Internet attack has been disarmed.
The attack, which had turned some Web sites into points of digital infection, was nipped in the bud Friday, when Internet engineers managed to shut down a Russian server that had been the source of malicious code. Compromised Web sites are still attempting to infect Web surfers' PCs by referring them to the server in Russia, but that computer can no longer be reached.

Still, Web surfers should take precautions, as the Internet underground is increasingly using this type of attack as a way to get by network defenses and infect officer workers' and home users' computers.

"This stops the problem for the short term," said Alfred Huger, senior director of engineering for security company Symantec. "However, it just takes a new culprit to come along and do the same thing all over again."

The attack worked by infecting some Web sites so that when Net surfers visited those sites, they were redirected to the Russian server, which downloaded software onto surfers' PCs. That software could be used by a remote attacker to control those computers. It's unclear what the attackers' motivation may have been. Some have speculated that the purpose could have been spam distribution.

"It is a tremendously powerful way to get into a corporation," Huger said of this sort of attack. "It is significantly easier to lure a number of employees to a compromised Web site than to get through a company's perimeter, which they may have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure."

The tactic is not new. Earlier this month, an independent security researcher found an aggressive piece of advertising software, known as adware, that had installed itself on victims' computers. A large financial client called in Symantec in late April after an employee used Internet Explorer to browse an infected Web site and his system became infected. Additionally, last fall, a similar attack may have been facilitated through a mass intrusion at Interland, sources familiar with that case said.

The Internet Explorer flaws that enabled the Russian attack, however, affect every user of the Web browser, because Microsoft has not yet released a patch. Microsoft advised users to set their browsers' security to the highest settings, even though doing so could break some Web functionality. The company also promised a patch for the flaws soon.

"We are not seeing that this threat is widespread, but we believe the threat to be real," said Stephen Toulouse, security program manager for Microsoft's security response center.

Researchers believe that attackers seed the Web sites with malicious code by breaking into unsecured servers or by using a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft's Web software, Internet Information Server, or IIS.

After that code redirected them to one of two sites, most often to the server in Russia, that server used the pair of Microsoft Internet Explorer vulnerabilities to upload and execute a remote access Trojan horse, also simply called a RAT, to the victim's PC. The software records the victim's keystrokes and opens a back door in the system's security, in that way allowing the attacker to access the computer.

It's unknown how many Web sites were compromised by attackers and whether any high-traffic sites were affected. But it's believed that the number of infected sites is relatively small, given the total number of sites that exist.

Still, the network of compromised sites used in the attack is far larger than any before, said Johannes Ullrich, chief technology officer of the Internet Storm Center, a Net threat-monitoring site.

"This is the first time that this many Web sites got hit," he said. "The only other widespread use of this attack was Nimda, and that didn't work very well, because the exploit wasn't as effective."

Most antivirus companies issued updates overnight to allow their programs to detect the program when it is uploaded from the Internet to a victim's PC, so computer users should update their virus definitions as soon as possible, Ullrich said.
http://news.com.com/2100-7349-5248279.html

[angcat]

I don't lose friends if I do the under my breath thing!

[Lucy Lake]

struck a deal with an estate agent friend

Wonder if this is a way to launder money kept in banks outside the USA?

[Lucy Lake]

Prayers for you and your family.

That was a frightening experience. I've been in three auto accidents, and all three cars were totaled. In each case it was the other drivers fault, and I was a passenger not the driver of the totaled car. Luckily I walked away with bruises and a few broken ribs.

Thank goodness for seat belts.

[MamaDearest]

I do remember those cars!! Where are they now?

They've all disappeared WCG. We had a VW diesel that got 45 mpg all the time. The little Nissan and Toyota station wagons back then also got supreme mileage. Another thought on the matter is that stick shifts will increase gasoline mileage at least 2 miles per gallon better than any automatic. Those also are becoming hard to find.

[Oorang]

Yes, you do have to wade through some muck on IndyMedia, but, I have found some worthwhile articles. The article you linked to was an excellent read. Thanks.

[Oorang]

Thanks very much.

[MamaDearest]

Regarding the Sportsmobile - lets hope life in the future doesn't require us to live in our vehicles and keep moving. If it does, this vehicle looks ideal.

[WestCoastGal]

I grew up in the valley, I think I got out before that VG language came about. I haven't been back there since 1988 I think. It's probably changed a lot.