Grants Bring 911 Consolidation One Step Closer to Reality

The new center will consolidate a current county 911 center with the dispatch desks of a county sheriff’s office and two police departments.

William R. Toler, Richmond County Daily Journal | August 6, 2015

A new call center will become a reality. Shutterstock

(TNS) - A consolidated 911 center in Richmond County is one step closer to becoming a reality.

County Manager Rick Sago announced Tuesday night that the county was awarded a $6.3 million grant to build the center.

Richmond — one of three counties awarded — received the lion’s share of the $9.9 million available this year from the N.C. 911 Board. Graham and Hyde counties also received grants.

The funding for the grants comes from the 911 surcharge assessed on wireless phones, said Richmond County Director of Emergency Management Donna Wright.

The new center will consolidate the current Richmond County 911 center with the dispatch desks of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office and Rockingham and Hamlet police departments.

“I think it’s very important to get all the emergency services communications in one place,” said Hamlet Mayor Bill Bayless, who is also deputy chief of the East Rockingham Volunteer Fire Department. “I believe it’s going to be a benefit to everyone in the county.”

While trying to get the Hamlet City Council on board with the idea in February, Wright said there were two primary reasons for the consolidation.

“It’s going to service all our citizens better,” she said, adding the merger would eliminate the need to transfer calls unnecessarily.

Wright, who started her career as a telecommunicator on the night shift at the Hamlet Police Department, said about seven seconds are lost transferring 911 calls to designated agencies.

She said consolidation would also increase the safety of first responders by allowing better information-sharing with the use of new technology.

In a February memo, Rockingham City Manager Monty Crump said the streamlining “will save taxpayers money and increase efficiency.”

He said the city, county and sheriff’s office currently have separate sets of dispatchers providing emergency communications all within about a quarter-mile from each other.

“Consolidation would merge all of this into one agency to provide services to all participating agencies,” he said.

As part of an interlocal agreement, the county will not charge the city any fees for taking over dispatch duties and efforts will be made to hire displaced dispatchers at the new center.

Included in the agreement is the creation of a law enforcement advisory committee.

The committee would consist of representatives from the Hamlet and Rockingham police departments, the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, the 911 center and Wright, and would be responsible for “making recommendations in the the development of dispatch protocols, procedures, polices and systems related to service delivery for law enforcement.”

Wright said that the new center should be operational within the next three years.

“As for location,” she added, “we are looking at our options along with a location at the airport.”

All surrounding counties — Scotland, Anson, Montgomery, Stanly, Hoke and Moore — have fully consolidated dispatch centers. Scotland County’s center went operational in February.

Wright said the Richmond County Board of Commissioners will have to approve the grant once the paperwork is received from the state.


———

©2015 the Richmond County Daily Journal (Rockingham, N.C.)

Visit the Richmond County Daily Journal (Rockingham, N.C.) at www.yourdailyjournal.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

http://www.emergencymgmt.com/next-gen-911/63M-awarded-for-911-merger.html

Israel places Jewish extremists in administrative detention for six months without charge

Published 10 August 2015

Israel has expanded its crackdown on Jewish terrorists and their supporters, placing two high-profile extremists in administrative detention for six months – that is, jailing them for six months without charge — and arrested more than a dozen other extremists in West Bank settlement. About two dozen extremists from different West Bank settlements were taken into police stations and their finger prints, DNA, and other identifying markers collected before they were released. They are suspected of being part of the extremist movement, and if they take part in violent actions against Palestinians it would easier for forensic experts to determine whether or not they were on the scene. Following the 31 July arson attack by extremist settlers on a Palestinian family in the village of Duma – the extremists blocked the doors to the house from the outside to make sure the family of four would burn alive – the Israeli government voted to designate Jewish settlers’ violence as terrorism, allowing the security services and police to take steps to combat the extremists which would otherwise not be permitted.

Israel has expanded its crackdown on Jewish terrorists and their supporters, placing two high-profile extremists in administrative detention for six months – that is, jailing them for six months without charge — and arrested more than a dozen other extremists in West Bank settlement.

The Israeli police and courts had typically treated acts of terrorism and violence perpetrated by Jewish settlers in the Palestinian territories against Palestinians without the urgency and determination directed at Palestinian terrorism, but over the past three or four years there has been a noticeable escalation in violence by extremist Jewish settlers. These violent extremists now destroy not only Palestinian property, but they have begun to take action aiming to kill Palestinians in the Palestinian territories, destroy Mosques and churches in the territories and inside Israel, attack Israeli Arabs, and threaten Israeli Jews who do not agree with them.

Given a patina of religious legitimacy by a few extremist and racist rabbis, some of those behind the new wave of violent settlers extremism openly call for the dismantling of Israeli democratic institutions and replacing them with a Taliban-like (Jewish) religious state in which Muslims and Christians would have no rights (that is, if they are even allowed to stay in the new state).

The movement, calling itself “The Revolt,” wants to establish a Jewish kingdom based on the laws of the Torah. Non-Jews are to be expelled, the Third Temple is to be built, and religious observance is to be enforced, initially in public spaces.

“The starting point of the Revolt is that the State of Israel has no right to exist, and therefore we are not bound by the rules of the game,” anonymous authors of The Revolt’s manifesto of sedition wrote. Portions of the manifesto were posted online (see “Israel mulls designating Jewish extremists as ‘terrorists’,” HSNW, 3 August 2015).

“They want the Messiah to come, to bring back the Kingdom of Israel, like in the days of King David, to rebuild the temple and to drive out all idolaters, meaning Muslims and Christians,” said Lior Akerman, a former Shin Bet officer, told the New York Times.

The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, has been warning for a few years that treating the intensifying settlers’ violence with kids’ gloves would only lead to more – and more dangerous – violence, but politicians vying for the vote of the West Bank settlers and their supporters in Israel have blocked efforts to designate settlers’ violence against Palestinians and Israeli Arabs as terrorism, and without that designation the hands of the security services and the police in taking action against the extremists were tied.

All that changed on 31 July when extremist Jewish settlers threw a Molotov cocktail into the home of a family in the village of Duma in the West Bank. To make sure the family would burn alive, the extremists blocked the doors to the house from the outside, preventing the four family members, who were awakened by the fire, from escaping. An 18-month toddler and his father were killed. The toddler’s 4-year old brother and their mother are in critical condition in the burn unit of an Israeli hospital, fighting for their lives.

The New York Times reports that Israeli authorities described the arson attack on 31 July as an act of “Jewish terrorism,” and that Israel’s security cabinet approved the use of tough measures to tackle an increasing problem. Among the measures approved was administrative detention, which allows suspects to be held for lengthy periods without charge. Administrative detentions have mostly been used against Palestinians suspected of involvement in terrorism, but rarely against Israelis.

Meir Ettinger, grandson of the late U.S.-born racist Rabbi Meir Kahane, and Eviatar Slonim, another Jewish extremist, were on Sunday placed under administrative detention for their suspected involvement in an extremist Jewish organization, Israel’s Defense Ministry said.

Another suspected Jewish extremist, Mordechai Meyer, was placed under six-month administrative detention last week.

Dvir Kariv, a former Shin Bet official, said that sometimes there was no choice but to use administrative detention, for example, “when there is intelligence that proves involvement of this or that person in a terror action, but use of this intelligence in a court will expose the source of the information.”

Administrative detention, however, “in this context is a Band-Aid, not an antibiotic,” Kariv told Israel Radio on Sunday. He called for harsher sentencing by the courts, and deeper engagement of educators and social welfare services.

About two dozen extremists from different West Bank settlements were taken into police stations and their finger prints, DNA, and other identifying markers collected before they were released. They are suspected of being part of the extremist movement, and if they take part in violent actions against Palestinians it would easier for forensic experts to determine whether or not they were on the scene.

The Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, has accused Ettinger of leading an extremist Jewish movement which encouraged attacks on Palestinian property and Christian holy sites, including an arson attack on 18 June on a church near the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel that marks the site of a New Testament story about the miracle of the loaves and fish.

Four other young Israelis were arrested in connection with the arson attack, but only two are going to stand trial. The other three were released.

The extremist settlers view churches and Mosques – and the presence of Christians and Muslims – in Israel and the West Bank as violating the “purity” of the Holy Land.

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20150810-israel-places-jewish-extremists-in-administrative-detention-for-six-months-without-charge?page=0,1

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20150810-israel-places-jewish-extremists-in-administrative-detention-for-six-months-without-charge?page=0,1More Sharing ServicesShare on linke

Bill requiring Internet companies to report “terrorist activity” opposed by digital rights groups

Published 10 August 2015

A coalition of digital rights groups and trade associations last week released a joint letter opposing a proposal in the Senate to require U.S. tech firms to police the speech of their users and to report any signs of apparent “terrorist activity” to law enforcement. The letter says that this sweeping mandate covers an undefined category of activities and communications and would likely lead to significant over-reporting by communication service providers. The letter urged senators to remove the “terrorist activity” reporting requirements from the Intelligence Authorization Act (S. 1705).

A coalition of digital rights groups and trade associations last week released a joint letter opposing a proposal in the Senate to require U.S. tech firms to police the speech of their users and to report any signs of apparent “terrorist activity” to law enforcement. The Center for Democracy &Technology (CDT), one of the signatories, says that this sweeping mandate covers an undefined category of activities and communications and would likely lead to significant over-reporting by communication service providers. The letter urged senators to remove the “terrorist activity” reporting requirements from the Intelligence Authorization Act (S. 1705).

The Intelligence Authorization Act was about to pass the Senate by unanimous consent until Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) put a hold on the bill last week, urging senators to consider the implications of an Internet reporting requirement for all U.S.-based tech companies. The tech groups which signed the letter argue that the reporting provision, which was added to the Act during closed proceedings of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, would put social media platforms, telecom providers, cloud services, and Web sites on the hook for providing government authorities with their users’ personal information and communications content, without the government having to articulate specific suspicions regarding the individual users involved.

“Turning Internet companies into informants for the government flies in the face of individuals’ fundamental right to privacy,” said Emma Llansó, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy &Technology. “People who know their online service providers are required to turn over a broad category of communications and ‘activity’ to the government will face a serious chilling effect on their willingness to access information and speak their minds online.”

The joint letter emphasizes that this provision is not only damaging for users’ free speech and privacy; it is also unnecessary. Internet providers are already permitted to report to law enforcement evidence of crimes that they discover on their networks, and to share the content of relevant communications during an emergency. Providers also support lawful criminal investigations and comply with properly targeted requests for information.

“Forcing tech companies to serve as investigators and intelligence analysts on behalf of the government is an egregious overstep of what should be considered necessary and acceptable scrutiny in a free, connected society,” Llansó concluded.

http://www.homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20150810-bill-requiring-internet-companies-to-report-terrorist-activity-opposed-by-digital-rights-groups

Unlocking Interoperability: What It Means for Next-Generation Public Safety Communications

Many agencies buy a new radio system only to get an unpleasant and costly surprise soon after implementation.

Robert Stack | August 6, 2015

Shutterstock

With nearly 28 years of experience with the Lexington Division of Police and 15 months as director of Lexington Enhanced 911, I’ve seen the realities of next-generation public safety communications — what it can be and what it should be. 

You can’t go 60 seconds in a conversation about public safety communications without someone using the word “interoperability.” Plus, the number of interpretations — and misinterpretations — of what it actually means is directly related to the number of participants in the conversation. That’s because “interoperability” means something different to the industry’s many facets.

One commonality, however, is that regardless of how the term is used, interoperability is vital to realizing the true potential of next-generation public safety communications and how we can better protect lives. But in order to realize that potential, everyone who has even a cursory stake in public safety operations should be aware of the breadth and impact of interoperability in each of its expressions, chief among them network and component considerations. 

Network Interoperability

Disasters, man-made or natural, can happen to any city, county or municipality, regardless of size. In public safety, we throw around “interoperability” as if it were a panacea to solve all issues during a disaster or large event. 

However, at the disaster exercises I’ve assessed, the topic of interoperability often appears prominently in after-action reports, where technicians are observed spending the vast majority of the exercise huddled around an integration device trying to get it to work. When it comes to real-world disasters, the lack of interoperability typically translates into response agencies not being able to communicate across radio systems. 
  
This is why network interoperability is so vital. When jurisdictions can seamlessly connect to neighboring radio systems, first responders can step in and collaborate quickly and efficiently, which can make the difference when lives are on the line. For instance, if a natural disaster rips through a small town, it’s easy to imagine that police, fire and EMS could be simply overwhelmed with the volume of emergency calls and requests. And with the influx of manpower support from nearby jurisdictions, the lack of communication and coordination from conflicting network infrastructures can complicate an already dire situation.

Fortunately agencies across the nation are taking note and have invested a significant amount of funding in temporary integration systems, multiband radios, command posts, emergency operations centers and other solutions to achieve network interoperability. If used properly, these resources are money well spent. 

However, an even better investment would be the deployment of an Inter-RF Subsystem Interface (ISSI) Gateway, which integrates cities in close proximity of each other. 

A high degree of interoperability can be achieved if Project 25 (P25) radio systems from different manufacturers are linked through an ISSI. What you get is a network of shared systems that allows users to roam freely in the coverage area. Imagine police, fire and other first responders moving throughout an area without the fear or doubt of their ability to connect and communicate. This is possible when several cities or counties with different P25 800 MHz radio systems connect through an ISSI gateway. That’s the future we should strive for. That should be the end goal when purchasing radio systems. 

Component Interoperability
It’s astonishing how many agencies buy a new radio system only to get an unpleasant and costly surprise soon after implementation. This shock comes in several forms, but usually involves functions and features that are proprietary to the system. 

A common example is when a land mobile radio (LMR) vendor’s bid is presented as the best value because it includes a “free” capability, such as encryption or interface capabilities. Here is where the surprise comes in: Since the “free” feature is proprietary to the vendor’s system, agencies are only able to benefit when using this same vendor’s handheld and mobile radios. The proprietary nature locks you into using a single vendor, which limits choice and control. 

I recently met two E911 directors who were stung by this approach, and it opened my eyes to the importance of component interoperability, or the lack thereof, in radio systems. One lamented that his city paid thousands of dollars more for each radio because of proprietary “freebies” included with the radio system that were absolutely necessary for certain routine operations, such as encryption, talk-around and group paging. 

Both directors bemoaned the fact that the initial cost savings of the radio system evaporated when they learned that their handheld and mobile radios could only be purchased from the same vendor — at nearly double the cost of similar radios. The price hike for radio units typically sneaks in during the year after the initial system purchase. 

So how do you avoid this situation? 

Begin with a bid process that requires vendors to disclose all proprietary features. Understand how these features directly or indirectly impact your ability to purchase replacement components, handheld and mobile radios, as well as how the features will interface with legacy radio systems and other agencies’ systems in the region. An important point is to find out if the vendor’s price is contingent upon acceptance of one or more of the proprietary features. 

These simple actions on your part increase your ability to evaluate proposals in an “apples to apples” comparison. Fortunately there are industrywide changes taking place that can help.

Industry standards offer the hope of reshaping the LMR marketplace for the better, but only if cities, counties and states insist upon it. 

The infrastructure behind digital radio systems involves computers that perform multiple functions, switches, combiners and antennas. Industry veterans may remember the days when spare parts for many systems could be purchased from electronics vendors without the need to go through the original system installer. Today that’s not necessarily the case. A vendor can install a complete system that includes core components that can only be purchased from that same vendor. So when a computer performing a key function fails, it’s not as simple as reinstalling software onto another computer—even if it’s completely capable of running the application. Without industry standards for interoperability, customers must buy a replacement computer from the original system vendor. 

Clearly the vendor controls the life of its products, but what happens when the vendor decides that a core component is at its “end of life” and will no longer offer it? For some agencies, the shock comes in a letter from the vendor notifying the agency that their six- to eight-year-old multimillion dollar radio system will be phased out and support will cease on a specified date. Imagine delivering that news to your elected leaders just a few years after installing a state-of-the-art system. That’s when public safety agencies begin shopping for used parts on the Internet to keep their legacy systems in operation as long as possible. 

So what should agencies do? 

A good first step is to ask your vendor which components must be purchased from them and which can be purchased on the open market. When opting for open-market items, it may be necessary to ship a replacement part to a vendor for configuration, and it may help to have the vendor integrate the replacement component into the larger system. But bottom line, you will have the part.

Those who manage radio systems should demand the option of pricing components on the market to get the best value for the agency, and more importantly, the taxpayers. 

When it comes to regulating industries, it seems counterintuitive to suggest that having the federal government weigh in on radio systems, integration and interoperability would yield a positive outcome for all public safety agencies. However, that is exactly what it may take for us to install new radio systems and continue to be able to use the handheld and mobile radios purchased earlier for previous systems. But there’s a better way—interoperability testing.

Interoperability testing is a rigorous examination process where vendors have their products tested and certified to work on the radio infrastructures of competing vendors before going to market. Once on the market, agencies can test radio communications between their existing handheld and mobile radio units from their old system to the new radios on the new network and determine feasibility and functionality. Agencies can also ask a manufacturer to test sample radios on a new system in a lab environment to confirm point-to-point communication and determine which functions will and will not operate properly. 

While this process is demanding, it’s nevertheless the most cost-effective approach. It ensures that every piece of equipment is used to its fullest potential and that there are no issues that hamper emergency response.

Although interoperability testing ensures functionality between systems, many vendors are reluctant to participate. Clearly they would rather you buy everything from them, from the handheld to the dispatch console. However, this backs agencies that have a large quantity of handheld and mobile radios into a corner if they select a radio system from another vendor. The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials’ (APCO) P25 standard was meant to alleviate this issue and promote interoperability within the industry.

When a large contract is at stake, manufacturers will express interest in testing their radio units and commit to interoperability, but they rarely follow through. These same manufacturers will be quick to caution that they’re not responsible if their brand fails to perform properly if used on another manufacturer’s infrastructure. Of course, this framework is designed to keep customers locked into a single source for their radios — and to pay the price for it. 

To be fair, manufacturers have the right to proprietary features, and they have the right to only make them available on certain systems, but the core capability and functions essential to public safety should work universally. 

Basic connectivity and communication should be seamless. This is where the government can step in to help. 

Interoperability for the Next Generation
Interoperability is forever evolving. With the next generation of public safety in the works, smartphones, tablets and other commercial devices are delivering a vast amount of information, intelligence and evidence to public safety — more than we ever thought possible. Text-to-911 has rolled out in some jurisdictions, but that’s only the beginning. Within the next decade, live video will be streamed to responders in the field, often in real time, and law enforcement will get a live view inside a facility using Internet protocol (IP)-based video surveillance systems. Soon interoperability will call for public safety agencies’ ability to capture and store the images, video and text in an archival manner required for instant replay and evidentiary purposes.

The meaning of “interoperability” continues to expand. It no longer simply refers to exchanging handheld radios between agencies at an emergency scene. It means requiring radio systems that work together through a gateway, either permanently or on an as-needed basis. It means ensuring that the radio system core comprises components that can be obtained from multiple sources and don’t become obsolete the moment a vendor decides a master site controller will no longer be manufactured or supported. Interoperability also includes the ability for multiple radio brands to work on a manufacturer’s infrastructure, which provides agencies choice in selecting equipment while also demonstrating good stewardship of taxpayer dollars. The ability to integrate entirely separate systems is critical to achieving large-area or statewide interoperability. It also ensures jurisdictions have access to public safety communication systems should they lose their master site. 

Regardless of how it is defined, we should demand that our federal government and public safety industry work together for the common goal of interoperability. We can’t afford not to. 


Robert Stack is the director of Lexington Division of Enhanced 911

http://www.emergencymgmt.com/next-gen-911/Unlocking-Interoperability-What-It-Means-for-Next-Generation-Public-Safety-Communications.html

Bomb-proof lining contains explosion in aircraft’s luggage hold

Bomb-proof lining contains explosion in aircraft’s luggage hold

Published 27 July 2015

 

A bomb-proof lining developed by an international team of scientists has successfully contained blasts in a series of controlled explosions in the luggage hold of a Boeing 747 and an Airbus 321. The Fly-Bag, which lines an aircraft’s luggage hold with multiple layers of novel fabrics and composites, was tested last week under increasing explosive charges on disused planes. The tests, using this technology, have demonstrated that a plane’s luggage hold may be able to contain the force of an explosion should a device concealed within a passenger’s luggage be detonated during a flight.

A bomb-proof lining developed by an international team of scientists, including academics from the University of Sheffield, has successfully contained blasts in a series of controlled explosions in the luggage hold of a Boeing 747 and an Airbus 321.
The Fly-Bag, which lines an aircraft’s luggage hold with multiple layers of novel fabrics and composites, was tested under increasing explosive charges on disused planes at Cotswolds Airport, near Cirencester, last week.
A University of Sheffield release reports that the tests, using this technology, have demonstrated that a plane’s luggage hold may be able to contain the force of an explosion should a device concealed within a passenger’s luggage be detonated during a flight. This would mitigate damage to the plane and help keep passengers safe.
After the tests, explosives were placed in the aircraft without the lining to show the damage that could be caused.
Disasters such as the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 drove the need for this kind of invention, as well as an incident in which a printer cartridge bomb was found on-board a cargo plane at East Midlands Airport in 2010.
Fundamental to the design of the bag is a combination of fabrics which have high strength and impact and heat resistance. The fabrics include Aramid, which is used in ballistic body armor.
“Key to the concept is that the lining is flexible and this adds to its resilience when containing the explosive force and any fragments produced,” said Andy Tyas, of the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, who is leading the research at the University of Sheffield. “This helps to ensure that the Fly-Bag acts as a membrane rather than as a rigid-walled container which might shatter on impact.”
“We have extensively tested Fly-Bag prototypes at the University of Sheffield’s blast-testing laboratory, but the purpose of these tests was to investigate how the concept works in the confines of a real aircraft and the results are extremely promising.”
Hardened luggage containers (HULD) have been developed to deal with bombs hidden in passenger luggage, but these containers are heavier and more costly than conventional equivalents.
A European consortium working on the Fly Bag project includes Blastech, a spin out company from the University of Sheffield, as well as partners from Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
The technology could either be something that becomes compulsory for all airlines to use if the law was changed or could be used by airlines responding to particular threats.
It has also been adapted for use in cabin holds within the plane if the airline crew spot something they think might be a threat and could be a risk to passengers.

DHS S&T Awards $2.9 million for mobile app security research

DHS S&T Awards $2.9 million for mobile app security research

Published 27 July 2015

 

 

DHS S& T last week announced a $2.9 million cybersecurity mobile app security (MAS) research and development (R&D) award which will help identify mobile app vulnerabilities. The MAS R&D project aims to establish continuous automated assurance of mobile apps for the federal government.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) last week announced a $2.9 million cybersecurity mobile app security (MAS) research and development (R&D) award which will help identify mobile app vulnerabilities. The Northern Virginia-based small business, Kryptowire, was awarded a 30-month contract through S&T’s Long Range Broad Agency Announcement (LRBAA).
“Ensuring that our mobile applications are secure across the federal government is a priority for S&T,” said DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology Dr. Reginald Brothers. “This project will help to enable the secure use of mobile apps across the Department’s many missions.”
The MAS R&D project aims to establish continuous automated assurance of mobile apps for the federal government. By combining mobile app archiving and app vetting technologies as well as incorporating government and industry security standards, the project will capture app changes made over the app’s lifespan and will test against known vulnerabilities and emerging threats.
The results captured will be put into a report that is continuously maintained and will follow the Federal Chief Information Officer Council’s Mobile Technology Tiger Team initiative for app reciprocity reporting that would be shareable to other federal departments and agencies.
S&T’s Cyber Security Division and First Responders Group are leading this effort with partnerships from the Department’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, as well as the Department of Justice, U.S. General Services Administration and other federal agencies.
“The MAS R&D project is trying to solve mobile app security for the federal government,” said S&T Cyber Security Division Mobile Security Program Manager Vincent Sritapan. “We want the project to adhere to government requirements and best practices, but still be cost effective for the federal IT community.”
In addition, S&T will be looking to extend the mobile app security capabilities to the first responder community in order to help support their mission.
“First responders continuously rely on mobile apps for logistics and collaboration,” said First Responders Group Office for Interoperability and Compatibility Director John Merrill. “S&T wants to help make sure each first responder has access to secure mobile apps in the future.”
With the success of launching this R&D project and with partners from across the federal government, S&T looks forward to enabling the secure use of mobile apps in the federal government using the highest standards of security and protection.

Russia offers safe haven for a major botnet operator

Russia offers safe haven for a major botnet operator

Published 27 July 2015

 

Recently the FBI offered a reward of $3 million for any useful information which will lead to the apprehension of Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev. Bogachev is notorious for creating the Gameover Zeus botnet, which the FBI had successfully shut down in mid-2014, but the agency failed to capture Bogachev himself. In early 2015 Bogachev managed to restore Zeus.The hackers behind Zeus are believed to have stolen more than $100 million since3 2011. Experts worry that botnet may be used for more than stealing money, and may become a weapon of cyber warfare.

Recently the FBI offered a reward of $3 million for any useful information which will lead to the apprehension of Evgeniy Mikhailovich Bogachev. Bogachev is notorious for creating the Gameover Zeus botnet, which the FBI had successfully shut down in mid-2014, but the agency failed to capture Bogachev himself.
In early 2015 Bogachev managed to restore Zeus.
Bogachev and some members of his hacking crew now live in Russia, and the Russian government does not want to hand him or any of his hackers over to the United States to stand trial.
Gameover Zeus has been in operation for at least four years, and has developed different kinds of bank fraud. The hackers behind Zeus are believed to have stolen more than $100 million since 2011. Zeus has also been used as a means of getting money from PC owners by converting data on computers into an inaccessible code and later extorting big sums of money for the decryption key.
Botnets are a collection of compromised computers, known as zombies, which are controlled by the same hacker (botherder). A zombie is a computer affected by malware which causes it to do whatever the attacker – the botherder – wants it to do without the user’s knowledge. Computers are usually turned in zombies by visiting an infected website.
Strategy Page reports that for almost ten years the FBI, which considers the creators and operators of botnets to be criminals, has apprehended botnet operators and made them criminally liable, and also helped their victims wipe out the zombie software.
Experts estimate that on any given day, about ten million computers all over the world are zombiefied, often without owners’ knowledge. Botnets are most commonly used to steal information or dispatch malware to other computers to turn them into zombies.
Computer owners, even if they do not realize their computers have been turned into zombies, often notice that there is something wrong with their machine – programs are executed more slowly, or the computer freezes up often. There are software programs which trace and remove the hidden malware. Another way to deal with a zombie computer comuter is to reformat the hard drive and reinstall the software.
Microsoft and Internet security firms are constantly improving their security software so that it can automatically detect and delete any malicious software.
Botherders typically hide in countries that have no extradition treaty with the United States – Russia being one such country.
“The most powerful Internet weapons on the planet are botnets,” Strategy Page concludes. “And many of them are getting into uniform. In wartime, many of these botnets would be turned into weapons. A botnet can be used to shut down essential military networks, or infect military computers with destructive (to the computer) software. This isn’t science fiction. It is real.”

More evidence emerges of ISIS’s use of chemical weapons

More evidence emerges of ISIS’s use of chemical weapons

Published 27 July 2015

 

 

A joint investigation by two independent organizations has found that ISIS has begun to use weapons filled with chemicals against Kurdish forces and civilians in both Iraq and Syria. ISIS is notorious for its skill in creating and adapting weapons and experts are concerned with the group’s access to chemical agents and its experiments with and the use of these agents as weapons.

A joint investigation by two independent organizations – Conflict Armament Research (CAR) and Sahan Research — has found that ISIS has begun to use weapons filled with chemicals against Kurdish forces and civilians in both Iraq and Syria. On three occasions last month, ISIS used projectile-delivered chemical agents in Hasakah province and against Kurdish positions near the Mosul Dam.
When CAR investigators reached the “scene of crime” near the Mosul Dam, they experienced severe headaches and nausea when encountering the pungent odor of a chlorine chemical agent, and saw a dark yellow liquid leaking from a projectile, according to James Bevan, the executive director of CAR.
CNN reports that the investigation was launched to ascertain that the device contained chlorine. The results showed that fragments of munitions contained chemical residue which still emitted a powerful odor which affected eyes and throat. The same thing happened with the residue of another rocket from Tel Brak.
Malik Ellahi, spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), noted that any use of toxic chemicals as weapons is prohibited by the Chemical Weapons convention. CAR’s James Bevan believes that the occasions of chemical weapon use the researchers identified may likely be a test run. He also added that ISIS forces are known to experiment with improvised munitions and chemicals which are at hand.
ISIS is notorious for its skill in creating and adapting weapons. Last month, photos depicting its improvised explosive device (IED) workshop in Fallujah were published. The latest assessments of experts suggest that it was a facility for creating different types of weapons.
There is a big distance between Mosul Dam and Tel Brak, but the similarity of the attacks in the two areas led analysts to think that different ISIS commands were sharing weapons and knowledge.
Moreover, there are precedents for ISIS using chlorine in a number of attacks earlier this year. Bombs filled with chlorine were used in a series of attacks near the town of Balad, in Eski Mosul, and Tikrit (see “Syrian Kurdish militia says ISIS used poison gas in attacks on militia fighters,” HSNW, 20 July 2015).
Also, during the fight against U.S. forces in 2006-07, Iraqi insurgents used crude chlorine-based weapons — usually bombs. Islamist insurgents also mixed chemicals with explosive in a suicide truck they exploded in Ramadi in 2007, killing twenty and injuring many more who required hospitalization for chemicals-related injuries.
There were many reports of the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime (see “‘Strong possibility’ Assad may use chemical weapons on a large scale to protect regime: U.S. intelligence,” HSNW, 6 July 2015; and “Assad regime continues to employ chemical weapons,” HSNW, 22 April 2015). At the same time Bevan is concerned with ISIS’s access to chemical agents, and the group’s experiments with and use of these agents in chemical weapons.

Turkey, U.S. to create “ISIS-free zone” along Syria-Turkey border

Turkey, U.S. to create “ISIS-free zone” along Syria-Turkey border

Published 27 July 2015

 

In what should be regarded as a significant victory for Turkey’s approach to the conflict in Syria, Turkey and the United States have agreed on a plan create an “ISIS free” strip inside Syria along the Turkey-Syria border. The deal will see Turkey drawn more deeply into Syria’s civil war and increase the intensity of the U.S. air strikes against ISIS. American officials told the New York Times that the United States would work with Turkey and Syrian rebel fighters to clear a 25-mile-deep strip of land near the border, which would constitute an ISIS-free zone and a safe haven for Syrian refugees.

In what should be regarded as a significant victory for Turkey’s approach to the conflict in Syria, Turkey and the United States have agreed on a plan create an “ISIS free” strip inside Syria along the Turkey-Syria border. The deal will see Turkey drawn more deeply into Syria’s civil war and increase the intensity of the U.S. air strikes against ISIS.
American officials told the New York Times that the United States would work with Turkey and Syrian rebel fighters to clear a strip of land near the border, up to 25-mile deep, which would constitute an ISIS-free zone and a safe haven for Syrian refugees.
“Details remain to be worked out, but what we are talking about with Turkey is cooperating to support partners on the ground in northern Syria who are countering ISIL,” a senior Obama administration official said, using another term for the Islamic State. “The goal is to establish an ISIL-free zone and ensure greater security and stability along Turkey’s border with Syria.”
Late last week, for the first time since the beginning of the war in February 2011, Turkish jets bombed ISIS targets inside Syria – but they also bombed positions of the Syrian Kurds, which are trained and armed by the United States to fight ISIS.
Turkey and the United States last Friday announced that the United States would be allowed to use a major Turkish air base in southern Turkey for bombing raids against ISIS (“Game changer: Turkey allows U.S. to use of Incirlik air base for attacks on ISIS,” HSNW, 24 July 2015)
Turkey has long demanded that a safe haven inside Syria, along the 500-mile order between the two countries, be created so Syrian refugees escaping the Assad regime’s would have a safe place to say where they would be protected from Assad’s ground and air forces. In the absence of such a safe haven inside Syria, more than two million Syrians have escaped into Turkey, where they now live in tent cities.
Turkey conditioned its participation in the fight against ISIS on the creation of this safe haven.
The New York Times reports that it is not yet clear how the safe haven will be protected, who will police it, and whether it will be declared a no-fly zone patrolled by coalition planes.
Another sensitive issue is that of the Syrian Kurds: The ISIS-free zone will include parts of the Kurdish areas in Syria, but these areas are under the control of the Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD), which is the Syrian branch of the Turkish Kurds’ pro-Kurdish independence movement PKK. The PKK is designated as a terrorist organization by both Turkey and the United States.
The hostility between Turkey and the PKK-PYD axis is such, that when the Syrian Kurds’ People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed wing of the PYD, battled ISIS for control over the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani, Turkey blocked aid and supplied from reaching the YPG fighters.
On Friday, when Turkish jets attacked ISIS positions, they also attacked several YPG positions.
The YPG is armed by the United States and trained by U.S. Special Forces, even though it is affiliated, through the PYD, with the PKK (for more on Syrian Kurds, see “Turkish jets bomb Kurdish positions,” HSNW, 15 October 2014). In recent months, the YPG and other Syrian rebel fighters have succeeded in evicting ISIS from large tracts of land in northern Syria, including the crucial border town of Tal Abyad, which foreign fighters had used as a waypoint for traveling to join the terror group.
Today (Monday), Kurdish spokespersons bitterly complained about the Turkish attacks on YPG positions on Friday, as YPG fighters laid siege to ISIS-held positions close to another key border crossing, the town of Jarablus. In a statement, the YPG said Turkey had shelled a Kurd- and Syrian opposition-held town near the border with seven tank rounds, and an hour later attacked vehicles belonging to the Kurdish militia.
“Instead of targeting IS terrorists’ occupied positions, Turkish forces attack our defenders’ position. This is not the right attitude,” the statement said. “We urge Turkish leadership to halt this aggression and to follow international guidelines. We are telling the Turkish army to stop shooting at our fighters and their positions.”
The Turkish campaign against ISIS – in addition to Friday bombing of ISIS targets in Syria, the Turkish security forces have arrested more than 200 Turkish sympathizers of ISIS — has been accompanied by an intensified campaign against the PKK. Turkish police has also arrested hundreds of PKK members in the last few days, in retaliation for violence against local police by PKK militants.
On Sunday, Turkish fighter jets targeted positions of the PKK for a second night, raising concerns that the peace negotiations between Turkey and the PKK may crumble.
Turkey’s acting prime minister, Ahmet Davutoğlu, has said military operations against the PKK and ISIS would continue as long as the country faced a threat by either group. Speaking with Turkish newspaper editors on Saturday, Davutoğlu said the military operations had “changed the regional game” and “showed its strength.”
Turkish daily Hürriyet quoted Davutoğlu as underlining that Washington and Ankara had found enough common ground over their Syria policy to reach agreement on opening up Turkey’s airbases. Davutoğlu said Turkey did not plan to send ground forces into Syria, and that Ankara was willing to cooperate with “moderate elements fighting against DAESH [ISIS].”
“If we are not going to send in land units on the ground, and we will not, then those forces acting as ground forces cooperating with us should be protected,” Hürriyet quoted him as saying.
He also said that the PYD, considered the Syrian affiliate of the PKK, could “have a place in the new Syria” if the party agreed to cooperate with opposition fighters, cut all links with Assad and if it “did not irritate Turkey.”
President Erdogan in 2012 launched the peace negotiations with the PKK in an effort to bring to an end the 30-year bloody war between the PKK and Turkey, in which more than 40,000 Turks were killed. Critics of the government say that the agreement with the United States over the safe haven and the use of the Turkish air base, and the Turkish attacks against ISIS, are meant to provide cover for the government’s plan to intensify its war against Kurdish separatists.

2014 was Earth’s warmest year on record; climate markers show global warming trend

2014 was Earth’s warmest year on record; climate markers show global warming trend

Published 22 July 2015

 

In 2014, the most essential indicators of Earth’s changing climate continued to reflect trends of a warming planet, with several markers such as rising land and ocean temperature, sea levels, and greenhouse gases — setting new records. The report’s climate indicators show patterns, changes, and trends of the global climate system. Examples of the indicators include various types of greenhouse gases; temperatures throughout the atmosphere, ocean, and land; cloud cover; sea level; ocean salinity; sea ice extent; and snow cover. “The variety of indicators shows us how our climate is changing, not just in temperature but from the depths of the oceans to the outer atmosphere,” said Thomas Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information.

In 2014, the most essential indicators of Earth’s changing climate continued to reflect trends of a warming planet, with several markers such as rising land and ocean temperature, sea levels, and greenhouse gases — setting new records. These key findings and others can be found in the State of the Climate in 2014 report released online the other day by the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
The report, compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information is based on contributions from 413 scientists from fifty-eight countries around the world (highlight, full report). It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space.
“This report represents data from around the globe, from hundreds of scientists and gives us a picture of what happened in 2014. The variety of indicators shows us how our climate is changing, not just in temperature but from the depths of the oceans to the outer atmosphere,” said Thomas R. Karl, L.H.D, director, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.
NOAA says that the report’s climate indicators show patterns, changes, and trends of the global climate system. Examples of the indicators include various types of greenhouse gases; temperatures throughout the atmosphere, ocean, and land; cloud cover; sea level; ocean salinity; sea ice extent; and snow cover. The indicators often reflect many thousands of measurements from multiple independent datasets.
“This is the 25th report in this important annual series, as well as the 20th report that has been produced for publication in BAMS,” said Keith Seitter, AMS executive director. “Over the years we have seen clearly the value of careful and consistent monitoring of our climate which allows us to document real changes occurring in the Earth’s climate system.”
Key highlights from the report include:

• Greenhouse gases continued to climb: Major greenhouse gas concentrations, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, continued to rise during 2014, once again reaching historic high values. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 1.9 ppm in 2014, reaching a global average of 397.2 ppm for the year. This compares with a global average of 354.0 in 1990 when this report was first published just 25 years ago.
• Record temperatures observed near the Earth’s surface: Four independent global datasets showed that 2014 was the warmest year on record. The warmth was widespread across land areas. Europe experienced its warmest year on record, with more than 20 countries exceeding their previous records. Africa had above-average temperatures across most of the continent throughout 2014, Australia saw its third warmest year on record, Mexico had its warmest year on record, and Argentina and Uruguay each had their second warmest year on record. Eastern North America was the only major region to experience below-average annual temperatures.
• Tropical Pacific Ocean moves towards El Niño–Southern Oscillation conditions: The El Niño-Southern Oscillation was in a neutral state during 2014, although it was on the cool side of neutral at the beginning of the year and approached warm El Niño conditions by the end of the year. This pattern played a major role in several regional climate outcomes.
• Sea surface temperatures were record high: The globally averaged sea surface temperature was the highest on record. The warmth was particularly notable in the North Pacific Ocean, where temperatures are in part likely driven by a transition of the Pacific decadal oscillation — a recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered in the region.
• Global upper ocean heat content was record high: Globally, upper ocean heat content reached a record high for the year, reflecting the continuing accumulation of thermal energy in the upper layer of the oceans. Oceans absorb over 90 percent of Earth’s excess heat from greenhouse gas forcing.
• Global sea level was record high: Global average sea level rose to a record high in 2014. This keeps pace with the 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year trend in sea level growth observed over the past two decades.
• The Arctic continued to warm; sea ice extent remained low: The Arctic experienced its fourth warmest year since records began in the early 20th century. Arctic snow melt occurred 20-30 days earlier than the 1998-2010 average. On the North Slope of Alaska, record high temperatures at 20-meter depth were measured at four of five permafrost observatories. The Arctic minimum sea ice extent reached 1.94 million square miles on 17 September, the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979. The eight lowest minimum sea ice extents during this period have occurred in the last eight years.
• The Antarctic showed highly variable temperature patterns; sea ice extent reached record high: Temperature patterns across the Antarctic showed strong seasonal and regional patterns of warmer-than-normal and cooler-than-normal conditions, resulting in near-average conditions for the year for the continent as a whole. The Antarctic maximum sea ice extent reached a record high of 7.78 million square miles on 20 September. This is 220,000 square miles more than the previous record of 7.56 million square miles that occurred in 2013. This was the third consecutive year of record maximum sea ice extent.
• Tropical cyclones above average overall: There were ninety-one tropical cyclones in 2014, well above the 1981-2010 average of eighty-two storms. The twenty-two named storms in the Eastern/Central Pacific were the most to occur in the basin since 1992. Similar to 2013, the North Atlantic season was quieter than most years of the last two decades with respect to the number of storms.

NOAA notes that the State of the Climate in 2014 is the twenty-fifth edition in a peer-reviewed series published annually as a special supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The journal makes the full report openly available online.
— Read more in State of the Climate in 2014, Special Supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 96, no. 7 (July 2015)