Homeland Security Science & Technology at the University of the District of Columbia
The Homeland Security Science and Technology (HSST) Program at UDC has a two-fold thrust: to increase the number of underrepresented minorities in Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology priority research areas and to develop an institutional research infrastructure in the DHS S & T social and behavioral sciences priority research area.
Monday, August 10, 2015
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
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
Monday, July 27, 2015
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.”
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