It’s Monday Morning Extra caffeinated; More Chinese Fraud, Net Hackings; a Beheading Riot and Pirates hunted by Islamic Militants, Yowzer !
Forget Caffeine, take a look at the Monday Morning Headlines..from home and abroad. All of these pieces are from BBC News -
Online fraudsters ’steal £3.3bn’
Credit card numbers and bank details are big sellers among hi-tech thieve
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Hi-tech thieves who specialise in card fraud have a credit line in excess of $5bn (£3.35bn), research suggests.
Symantec calculated the figure to quantify the scale of fraud it found during a year-long look at the internet’s underground economy.
Credit card numbers were the most popular item on sale and made up 31% of all the goods on offer.
Coming in second were bank details which made up 20% of the items being offered on criminal chat channels.
The $5.3bn figure was reached by multiplying the average amount of fraud perpetrated on a stolen card, $350 (£234), by the many millions Symantec observed being offered for sale.
Similarly, the report said, if hi-tech thieves plundered all the bank accounts it saw being offered for sale they could net up to $1.7bn.
Beheadings in Guatemala jail riot
A fight between rival gangs in a Guatemalan prison has left seven prisoners dead, five of them beheaded, officials said.
Inmates at the Pavoncito prison, south of Guatemala City, displayed the heads of some of the dead prisoners, reporters who witnessed the scene said.
The violence broke out after a group of gang members was transferred to Pavoncito from another prison.
Violence is common in Guatemala’s overcrowded prisons.
The riot lasted about five hours before prison guards and police regained control of the prison.
The other two prisoners died in a hospital of gunshot wounds, said Guatemalan prisons system spokesman Rudy Esquivel.
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“This is a dispute between prisoners belonging to different gangs, who bring their conflicts with them when they are locked up,” he said.
Inmates in Guatemalan prisons often have easy access to weapons and members from rival gangs are able to carry on their disputes behind bars
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
Somali Islamists ‘hunt pirates’ – shouldn’t have taken a muslim owned ship.. oooo oooooo
URL: Somali Islamists ‘hunt pirates’
There are fears if the ransom is paid other super-tankers will be targete
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Somali Islamist insurgents have begun searching for the pirates who hijacked a giant Saudi-owned oil tanker last Saturday, reports say.
A spokesman for the al-Shabab group, Abdelghafar Musa, said hijacking a Muslim-owned ship was a major crime and they would pursue those responsible.
The pirates are thought to be trying to obtain a multi-million dollar ransom.
The ship, the Sirius Star, is believed to be be anchored off the Somali port of Haradheere.
It has an international crew of 25 people and is carrying $100m (£67m) worth of crude oil.
‘Show of force’
“We are really sorry to hear that the Saudi ship has been held in Somalia,” Mr Musa told the Associated Press.
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“We will fight them.”
Reports said Islamist fighters had descended on Haradheere in an apparent show of force, saying they were looking for the pirates.
“The Islamists arrived searching for the pirates and the whereabouts of the Saudi ship,” an unnamed elder in the port told Reuters news agency.
“I saw four cars full of Islamists driving in the town from corner to corner. The Islamists say they will attack the pirates for hijacking a Muslim ship.”
Another report suggested local militia and Shebab fighters had arrived in Harardhere in a move to position themselves for a share of any spoils.
“There are many militiamen who have arrived in the town and they want to get a share from the pirates if the ransom is paid,” Ahmed Abdullahi, a local elder, was quoted by AFP news agency as saying.
Meanwhile, Kenya reported on Friday that Somali pirates had been paid more than $150m (£101m) in ransoms in the past 12 months.
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
Pirates ‘earned $150m this year’
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There are fears if the ransom is paid other super-tankers will be targeted
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Somali pirates have been paid more than $150m (£101m) in ransoms in the past 12 months, Kenya’s foreign minister says.
“That is why they are becoming more and more audacious in their activities,” Moses Wetangula said, urging the world to take urgent action.
He said it was affecting all countries involved in international trade.
Ninety-five attacks have been recorded off the Somali coast this year, including the recent capture of a Saudi tanker carrying a $100m cargo of oil.
A reported ransom demand of $25m (£17m) for the MV Sirius Star was denied by the company conducting the negotiations with the pirates on behalf of the tanker owners.
Shipping experts expect the demand to be much higher.
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
Greek ship released by pirates
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Pirates in Somalia have released a Greek-owned ship that was hijacked two months ago.
Greek officials say the tanker’s cargo of refined oil is intact and its 19 crew members are safe.
The owners of the MV Genius declined to say whether a ransom had been paid to the pirates.
In the past two weeks Somali pirates have seized eight vessels, including a huge Saudi tanker carrying $100m (£67m) worth of crude oil.
This high profile case has outraged the maritime industry and the international community have called for joint action against piracy.
Dangerous waters
“The pirates released the ship today and it is now sailing to freedom,” said Andrew Mwangura, the head of the East African Seafarers Association.
The Greek Merchant Marine Ministry says the 6,765 tonne vessel was on its way to the United Arab Emirates and is about 500m (800km) off the coast of Somalia.
Somali pirates seized the tanker on 26 September in the Gulf of Aden near the Horn of Africa, waters that are highly dangerous for shipping.
The MV Genius was hijacked on the same day as MV Favina, a Ukrainian ship that was carrying a cargo of tanks and weapons, and it is still being held by pirates.
Pirates based in war-torn Somalia regularly attack vessels plying major commercial shipping routes nearby.
This year here have been 95 attempts at capturing ships by pirates in the Gulf of Aden, 39 of which have been successful, according to maritime organisations.
Chinese Hacking of American Military Networks On the Rise
“China is stealing sensitive information from American computer networks and stepping up its online espionage, according to a US congressional panel. Beijing’s investment in rocket technology is also accelerating the militarization of outer space and lifting it into the ‘commanding heights’ of modern warfare, the advisory group claims. …
A summary of the study, released in advance, alleges that networks and databases used by the US government and American defense contractors are regularly targeted by Chinese hackers. ‘China is stealing vast amounts of sensitive information from US computer networks,’ says Larry Wortzel, chairman of the commission set up by Congress in 2000 to investigate US-China issues.” The full study addresses these issues and others relating to the US-China relationship (PDF).
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
Worm Attack Prompts DoD To Ban Use of External Media
“The Pentagon has suffered from a cyber attack so alarming that it has taken the unprecedented step of banning the use of external hardware devices, such as flash drives and DVDs [...] The attack came in the form of a global virus or worm that is spreading rapidly throughout a number of military networks.”
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
Police Cars To Transmit Real-Time Video
“In the first such system deployed in the country, police vehicles in Ponca City, Oklahoma will have wireless video cameras installed so precinct dispatchers and supervisors can monitor activities during traffic stops in real time, and quickly deploy additional officers and resources if necessary. The system to provide an added level of monitoring and protection for its force is part of a broadband mesh network comprised of more than 490 wireless nodes and gateways connected to 120 miles of fiber backbone that will provide coverage for approximately 30 square miles of the city.
The network will provide field communications for city services including police, fire and emergency, parks and recreation, public works and energy, but will also be used to provide free wireless internet access for all residents of the city. ‘The testing of this network showed that it was robust enough to handle not only municipal traffic, but also citizens’ traffic.’ said Mayor Homer Nicholson. ‘So the Ponca City Board of Commissioners voted to allow the extra internet access to be given to the citizens of Ponca City for free.’
The second phase of the project will expand the network and wireless coverage to more than 430 square miles surrounding the city with an estimated annual cost savings of over $1 million for city residents, who can discontinue their existing internet service. ‘Our goal is to be one of the most mobile communities in America, and this is a significant step in that direction,’ said Nicholson.”
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
Fewer Than 1% Arrested From TSA’s “Behavior Detection”
“Fewer than 1% of airline passengers singled out at airports using the much vaunted ’suspicious behavior detection’ techniques are arrested, Transportation Security Administration figures show.
The TSA program, launched in early 2006, looks for terrorists using a controversial surveillance method based on behavior detection and has led to more than 160,000 people in airports receiving scrutiny, such as a pat-down search or a brief interview. It has resulted in only 1,266 arrests, often on charges of carrying drugs or fake IDs, the TSA said.
The TSA has not publicly said whether it has caught a terrorist through the program.” In related news, the odds of sanity coming to the TSA plummeted today when Schneier said he’s not interested in the top job there.
(story continues at bbc – click headline for original story)
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Tags: american military networks, behavior detection, beheadings, chinese hackers, dod, fraud, greece, guatemala, hi tech thieves, islamist militants, online fraud, pirates, police cars, prison riot, real time video, theft, tsa
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