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Ridge warns of pre-vote attack Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Thursday there is credible evidence that al-Qaida may be planning a major terrorist attack in hopes of disrupting the November elections. But he didn't offer any specific information and said the nation's terror alert level will remain at yellow, in the middle of a five-tier scale. "Credible reporting now indicates that al-Qaida is moving forward with its plans to carry out a large-scale attack in the United States in an effort to disrupt our democratic process," Ridge said at a news conference. "We lack precise knowledge about time, place and method of attack, but along with the CIA, FBI and other agencies, we are actively working to gain that knowledge." The Bush administration has been periodically warning of al-Qaida attacks since May, possibly targeting high-profile events such as the Democratic and Republican national political conventions this summer in Boston and New York. July Fourth celebrations and the G-8 summit in Sea Island last month also were mentioned as possible targets, but no attacks occurred. Ridge and FBI Director Robert Mueller briefed senators privately before the news conference. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) said the closed session revealed nothing surprising. www.ajc.com xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSecurity officials, athletes worry Greece isn't ready to police Olympics There was much celebration here last month when the roof of Olympic Stadium - an architectural marvel of glass and steel - finally was pushed into place, several months late. Olympic organizers called it a defining moment in the Summer Games' historic return to Greece: a sign that Athens, despite many questions about its ability to host the Olympics, would be ready. But five weeks before the Aug. 13 opening ceremonies, international security officials are worried that the first Summer Olympics since the 9/11 attacks will be vulnerable to terrorism even though the Greeks plan to spend $1.2 billion on security - roughly four times what was spent to secure the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. Some competition venues, including the Olympic Stadium, still are under construction despite promises by Greek officials that they would be completed and ready for crucial security sweeps and "lockdowns" by mid-July. An intricate, $300 million network of surveillance cameras for streets and venues - the backbone of the security system for the Summer Games - hasn't been completed, more than a month after it was supposed to have been installed. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx US software piracy rate 'only' 22 per cent The Business Software Alliance has announced the results of the annual global software piracy study on software piracy, and at least by comparative standards, Americans are a pretty-law abiding bunch. The United States piracy rate is 22 per cent, while the global piracy rate is 36 per cent. It's not just a matter of third world countries not getting piracy more under control either. Canada is only one point below the world, at 35 per cent. The study is done annually, although previously the study was limited to business software applications. The data comes from a new IDCstudy, and reflects the BSA effort to measure piracy in the global economy. Its scope was expanded to account more accurately for trends, including local software markets worldwide, and Internet piracy. "We think this is a very solid study," said Bob Kruger, vp for enforcement at BSA. "IDC is one of the premiere market research firms for the technology and telecommunications industries. They've thrown all their resources at this study, and we think it stands up very well." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Will the New Biology Lead to New Weapons? Biology is in the midst of what can only be described as a revolution. It began in the mid-1970s with the development of recombinant DNA technology. Slowly at first but with increasing speed, related technologies have been developed that have dramatically expanded the experimental capabilities of modern research biologists and that are rapidly being adopted in such areas of applied biology as drug development. These new technologies include genomics, proteomics, microarray technology, high-throughput screening techniques, combinatorial methods in both chemistry and biology, site-specific mutagenesis, knock-out mice, and many others.[1] Collectively, these technologies are referred to as genomic sciences, or the "new biology." This technology will have great power both for peaceful and hostile uses. Peaceful applications will include a wide range of new therapeutic agents of much greater specificity and safety than are currently available; hostile applications could include a wide range of new biochemical weapons that could transform the nature of combat in unprecedented ways. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx TSA tests 'trusted traveler' program amid concerns Northwest Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration on Wednesday began testing a pre-screening program for airline passengers, but privacy advocates charged that the record-keeping system for the program weakens privacy rights. Under the program, "trusted travelers" can provide personal information to TSA and have records of their fingerprints and iris patterns recorded in TSA databases for identification purposes at airport screening checkpoints. TSA sends the applicants e-mail confirmations if they are accepted into the program, or applicants can call a hotline to check their application status. After being accepted, the travelers can take advantage of an expedited security process. Testing of the program begins at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, where 2,400 passengers have been accepted. Amy Von Walter, a spokeswoman for the program, would not disclose how many people applied or how many applications were rejected. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx U of M center works to thwart terrorist threats to food supply Security must extend from the farmer to the fork as the government works to ensure that the nation's food supply is kept safe from terrorists, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said. Ridge and Agricultural Secretary Ann Veneman were at the University of Minnesota on Tuesday to launch the Center for Post-Harvest Food Protection and Defense, a collaboration that includes educators, growers, food companies and retailers. The center, funded by a$15 million, three-year grant announced in April, is one of four university-based centers being set up around the nation. The others focus on animal diseases at Texas A&M University and economic analysis of terrorism at the University of Southern California. And on Tuesday, Ridge announced that applications are being accepted for a fourth Homeland Security Center of Excellence that will focus on the behavioral and social aspects of terrorism. "Partnership between the government and our great research universities, businesses and scientists produce together what would be impossible individually," Ridge said. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Spelling Out Wireless Security The new Department of Defense rules on wireless security should help clear the way for the spread of these increasingly popular communications technologies throughout the military, analysts say. But the rules and the process by which they were developed also reflect the continuing uncertainty and diversity of opinion within the military over the safety of wireless systems. The department in April released a policy (DOD 8100.2) that requires end-to-end use of data encryption on wireless systems and lays out the responsibilities of a number of different defense agencies in protecting against unauthorized intrusions. The policy, issued by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, covers cell phones, Wi-Fi-enabled laptop computers, personal digital assistants and a variety of other devices that are becoming as ubiquitous in military circles as they are in the world of business. Global Positioning System units, receive-only pagers and certain medical devices are not covered under the policy. The directive spells out rules for department-wide use of wireless technology, notably by requiring that encryption technology meet the standards of the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 cryptographic validation program. The rules provide room for discretion by agency officials, however, by allowing them to apply for waivers on a case-by-case basis. In addition, while mandating encryption for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), the document says only that "encrypting unclassified voice is desirable." xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Could IPods be stealing your companies data? The research firm Gartner Inc. warns of security risks posed by the popular music player and other portable storage devices that plug into a PC's USB or FireWire ports. The iPod, like the rest, can hold data in addition to tunes. "Businesses are increasingly putting themselves at risk by allowing the unauthorized and uncontrolled use of portable storage devices," Gartner analyst Ruggero Contu wrote. The problem, he says, is twofold. In one scenario, employees could simplly drag and drop sensitive files into the devices, which often come with gigabytes of storage capacity. In the other, the devices could carry a virus, Trojan horse or other malware. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Biometrics Beyond Terrorism Since Sept. 11, 2001, biometrics technology has taken center stage in the global effort to secure borders and catch terrorists. Government projects are finally getting the green light, and that means that measures like fingerprint scans, hand geometry and retina scans will soon become part of our everyday reality. As a result--and in spite of plenty of privacy concerns--the consumer market will soon see a flood of biometric applications. "The big programs are getting funded and moving forward, and that's noteworthy because if everyone is getting face-scanned and fingerprinted at the airport, people are going to become more comfortable with the technology," says Raj Nanavati, a partner with the International Biometrics Group, a New York-based research outfit. "That's going to make it much easier for the business sector to use biometrics." On June 1, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded the $10 billion contract to a consortium including Accenture, Raytheon, Dell and AT&T for a system dubbed U.S. Visit. The project is charged with tracking visitors to the United States using biometric information such as fingerprints. Sometime in July, the U.S. Air Transportation Association will begin testing its Registered Traveler project. It will use technology from Unisys (nyse: UIS - news - people ) and Electronic Data Systems (nyse: EDS - news - people ) to let frequent fliers register their biometric information so that they can speed through airport security checks. Also underway is the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program to distribute biometric credentials to all airport, rail and sea transportation employees. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx HSIN starts five months early Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said that the department has nationwide connectivity to all 50 states through a secure unclassified network, a full five months ahead of schedule. At a press conference today in Washington, D.C., Ridge said governors, homeland security advisors, first responders and other local officials are linked to the department's Homeland Security Operations Center through the Web-based Homeland Security Information Network. The center provides round-the-clock monitoring of homeland security information and incident management. Department officials originally set a December deadline to connect its operations center to all of the 50 governors' offices, five territories and 50 largest urban areas. |
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