Threat Matrix: Daily Terror Threat - Thread Fifteen

CNN ^ | 07/25/04 | N/A

[JustPiper]

Credit: The Cabal

The title refers to a daily report given to the president of the United States detailing the most serious terrorist threats against the country. To tackle those threats, the government has formed a top-notch task force to infiltrate the terror cells and cut off the danger.

"Every morning, the president receives a list of the top ten terrorist threats - this list is known as the threat matrix."

We here at FR are trying to be in conjunction with the daily reports around the world that involve threats. We try to provide a storehouse of information that takes hours of research.

YOU be the Judge and get informed.


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

Group linked to al Qaeda warns of 'columns of car bombs'

Australia and Italy have received warnings through a statement purportedly from militants linked to al Qaeda that demanded those countries withdraw troops from Iraq.

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



Meet It!
Greet It!
Defeat It!

LINK TO THREAD FOURTEEN

[HipShot]

Awesome pic, courtesty of ExSoldier:

[HipShot]

Courtesy, too!

[Cindy]

That's some picture.

[Labyrinthos]

Thank-you.

[Honestly]

Natural gas and electricity have increased more rapidly than the inflation rate in the Midwest too. I don't know why an inflation rate doesn't include energy, education, and health care, but I keep hearing that inflation is in the 3% range and that these three items have had double-digit increases.

[HipShot]

That pic was a test. That is the kind of thing the goblins are having nightmares about.

[nwctwx]

I fear that we will never know the "when, where, what, or how" they will attack............all we know is the "why".

Agreed.

[Honestly]

Hackers will settle your scores online (prices start at £50)
By Charles Arthur, Technology Editor

31 July 2004

Organised criminals have drawn up a price list for internet attacks ranging from raids on betting websites to sending e-mails for spammers.

A multi-million pound underground economy is growing up through the sophisticated use of internet sabotage involving extortion, blackmail and fraud.

Sending a million e-mails to an enemy costs up to £50. A programme to hijack users' internet browsers to display a pornography site will set you back around £200. And between £8,000 and £12,000 will buy a full-blown assault on a website.

This week two new computer viruses emerged which proved that their writers no longer do it for idle recreation. Instead, they aim to set up "zombie networks" of thousands of virus-infected PCs, to offer as tools for criminals to exploit and attack the wider internet.

On Monday the MyDoom.O virus spread so rapidly that it took over thousands of machines around the world, with the side-effect of paralysing the search engine Google because the virus used it to search for more machines to infect.

Within 48 hours a second virus, called Zindos, appeared which used only those machines infected with MyDoom.O to launch an attack on Microsoft's website.

"Zindos was able to use those machines because it knew the equivalent of the secret knock on the door that could control them," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the antivirus company Sophos. "Both viruses were written by the same guy. And it's clear some viruses are written purely to create a network of 'zombie' machines which can be used to do anything the virus writer wants."

A "zombie" machine appears normal, but unseen to the user, an electronic "back door" allows the virus writer to control it remotely, to send out e-mails, store pornography, or attack a particular site. The only way to reclaim such a machine is to run up-to-date antivirus software and use a firewall to prevent unknown internet links.

However, many people are ignorant of those dangers. There are hundreds of thousands of such virus-infected "zombie" machines worldwide, security experts reckon. They are organised into separate groups, controlled by the owners of the viruses which infected them.

The most valuable use now for such "zombie" systems is to launch "distributed denial of service" (DDOS) attacks on websites which have to offer online services, particularly betting and financial organisations. The DDOS uses the zombie machines to make the internet equivalent of a phone call - and then hang up immediately. With thousands of machines each doing this hundreds of times per second, the site is overwhelmed by fake requests. (snipped)

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=546481

[Cindy]

http://internet-haganah.us/harchives/002410.html

"PALESTINIAN COMPANY STEPS UP TO DISTRIBUTE AL QAIDA DOCUMENTS" (July 30, 2004)

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http://www.e-prism.org/images/PRISM_no_2_vol_2_-_Who_Wants_to_Email_Al-Qaeda.pdf

"E-PRISM.org - "WHO WANTS TO EMAIL AL-QAEDA?" (July 20, 2004)

[Cindy]

That was a test?

Ok.

[HipShot]

Testing email attachments.

[Cindy]

Ok.

[HipShot]

They've been selling zombies to spammers and kiddy porn people for a while.

I'd bet that a lot of money will be changing hands soon. I'd even go so far as to say that there was a commission involved; a bounty on as many systems as possible for a REALLY big ddos flood. Who would be interested in such a thing? (rhetorical)

[Oorang]

That is an excellent idea jstolzen. It also sounds like it would be easy enough for us folks that are not extremely internet savvy.

Perhaps some folks that have the time/inclination (I would be willing to do this) can take a particular previous thread (or part of a thread) and archive the pertinent information.

we could have a "My Threat Matrix" page (ala My Yahoo)

Does this mean it would be on Yahoo? I am hesitant to go to Yahoo because of the cookies. But if Yahoo is the best way to go, so be it. Excellent idea, please keep me posted.

[Honestly]

Inside the Ring
By Bill Gertz and Rowan Scarborough

EP-3 intercept
A Chinese jet conducted an aerial intercept of a U.S. EP-3 aircraft over the South China Sea last week, as the aircraft sought to monitor Chinese military activities.
The Chinese F-8 interceptor came within 500 feet of the U.S. surveillance plane, according to defense officials.
"There's been an intercept every couple of weeks for the last year," one official said, noting that the Chinese fly close to the Japan-based U.S. aircraft "every fourth or fifth flight."
"They haven't demonstrated any of the craziness of the past," the official said, referring to the Chinese pilot who crashed into an EP-3 in 2001, killing himself and nearly killing the U.S. crew.
The latest intercept involved an EP-3 that was on a monitoring mission with two objectives: listen in on the large-scale Chinese military exercises on Dongshan Island near Taiwan and watch for three Chinese missile tests Beijing is expected to conduct in the coming months. China has told neighboring Russia that it plans to flight-test a long-range DF-31, a medium-range DF-21 and a JL-2, a submarine-launched version of the DF-31.
Asked recently about the upcoming missile tests, Air Force Gen. Lance W. Lord, chief of the Colorado-based Air Force Space Command, said, "If they test, we'll see them." (snipped)

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is good at metaphors. Capturing Osama bin Laden is akin to catching a chicken in the barnyard. Tapping reserve forces is like turning on the spigot of a deep barrel of water. (snipped)

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20040729-111504-5385r.htm

[HipShot]

ping to this story

[HipShot]

"The Chinese then stripped all electronic gear from the aircraft, and U.S. officials tell us it has since been used as part of a major "denial-and-deception program" to prevent further monitoring of Chinese communications."

Any elint operator types around? I don't mean tape loggers.

[Oorang]

Isn't Reston the place where the book HOTZONE took place?

Yup, Reston - The Hot Zone by Richard Preston. Real cheery book :-). Demon in the Freezer is another good one by R. Preston

[Honestly]

I don't know what an elint operator is, but I'll bet Myrddin would know about this too. I think he's on vacation for a few days though.

[HipShot]

Reston has one another major feature, one that may be best left undefined here.