Posts

Showing posts from March 20, 2016

US to Charge Iranian Hackers for Cyber Attacks Against Banks: Sources

The Obama administration is expected to blame Iranian hackers as soon as Thursday for a coordinated campaign of  cyber attacks  in 2012 and 2013 on several US banks and a New York dam, sources familiar with the matter have told Reuters. The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against about a half-dozen Iranians, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter. It is one of the highest-profile US indictments against a foreign nation on hacking charges. It follows a landmark 2014 case in which a grand jury charged five members of the Chinese military with hacking into American computer networks and engaging in  cyber espionage  on behalf of a foreign government. The charges, related to unlawful access to computers and other alleged crimes, were expected to be announced publicly by US officials as soon as Thursday morning at a news conference in Washington, the sources said. The indictment was expected to directly link the hac

Terror Attacks in Europe Could Lead to Greater Use of Surveillance Tech

Facial recognition software, scanners that detect weapons and cameras that spot nervous people are some of the technologies that could be used more widely to secure public places, but some would require greater acceptance of surveillance in Europe. The deadly attacks in Brussels on Tuesday highlighted the vulnerability of Europe's airports and transport systems. European Union officials, grappling with the conundrum of how to increase security while retaining the openness of society, have convened meetings to discuss aviation and land transport security. Their goal is to be able to monitor passengers unobtrusively while minimising additional hold ups that create crowds, which can themselves become new targets. ( Also see:   Brussels Attacks: Google Offers Free Calls Via Hangouts to Belgium and Turkey ) Experts say technology cannot solve the problem on its own, but techniques such as facial recognition able to pick out known suspects can help if Europeans decide they wa

Hacktivist group Anonymous issues threat against Daesh

Daesh is set to come under renewed attack  from hackers following its atrocities in Brussels yesterday. Hacking group Anonymous have issued a declaration that it will up its cyber attacks on the militant group in the wake of the bombings in  Belgium . The group unveiled its so-called 'Op Brussels' today in which it vowed to continue 'hacking their websites, shutting down their Twitter accounts and stealing their Bitcoins'. In the video released online, a member of the group appears in Guy Fawkes/V for Vendetta mask and vows to continue the online campaign against the Syria-based extremists The speaker states: 'We have silenced thousands of Twitter accounts  directly linked to Daesh . We severely punish Daesh on the dark net, hacked their electronic portfolio and stolen money from the [extremists].' 'We have laid siege to your propaganda websites, tested them with our cyber attacks, however we will not rest as long as terrorists continue their act

Chinese National Admits Hacking US Defense Firms

A Chinese national pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from the hacking of trade secrets from US defense contractors, including plans for transport and fighter jets, officials said. Su Bin, 50, had been charged in a 2014 indictment with hacking into the computer networks of Boeing and other contractors, as part of a scheme to steal plans for the F-22 and F-35 fighter jets and C-17 transport aircraft. In a plea agreement filed in a California federal court, Su admitted to conspiring with two unnamed persons in  China  from October 2008 to March 2014 to gain unauthorized access to the computer networks of defense firms to obtain "sensitive military information and to export that information illegally from the United States to China," the Justice Department said in a statement. Court documents did not indicate to whom Su was sending the plans, but the case highlighted growing concerns in the United States about Chinese hacking of American trade secrets, a topic

Report: UNICEF says 87 million children growing up in conflict zones at risk of brain damage

Image
The UN children's agency, UNICEF , says some 87 million children under the age of seven are growing up in conflict zones across the world, in conditions that can adversely affect their brain development. Exposure to extreme trauma may hinder the development of brain cell connections, essential for health, emotional well-being and ability to learn, UNICEF said in a statement on Thursday, The statement said that extreme trauma puts children at risk of living in a state of toxic stress with lifelong consequences for their cognitive, social, and physical development. The agency further noted that brain development during the first seven years of life largely depends on breastfeeding, learning opportunities, and a chance to grow up in a safe environment. "In addition to the immediate physical threats that children in crises face, they are also at risk of deep-rooted emotional scars," said Pia Rebello Britto, chief of Early Child Development program at  UNICEF . &q

Female fighters from the Democratic Forces of Syria use a tablet in al-Shadadi town, in Hasaka province, Syria

Image
Female fighters from the Democratic Forces of Syria use a tablet in al-Shadadi town, in Hasaka province, Syria February 26, 2016. REUTERS/Rodi Said Source:  http://news.trust.org/item/20160323130303-1gd5v/?source=leadCarousel

Donald Trump goes up in flames in Daesh’s new propaganda video

A suspected ISIS [Daesh] video  claiming responsibility for the Brussels attacks shows Donald Trump burning as it repeats his declaration from two days ago that Brussels is now a 'horror show'. The heavily edited nine minute-long video, which is similar and style and appearance to other ISIS propaganda films, is titled 'The Exile of Islam and Brussels Attacks'. If proved to be authentic, the video provides further evidence of the links between the terror cell responsible for the Paris and Brussels massacres and ISIS. Posted online, the video features Donald Trump declaring:  'Brussels was one of the great cities,  it was one of the most beautiful cities of the world 20 years ago, it was amazing actually, and safe. 'Now it's a horror show, it's an absolute horror show.' It then plays a song, repeating the lyrics: 'Brothers rise up, claim your victory, let's go for jihad.' Over footage of the aftermath of the attacks, a voice

15 Isis suspects arrested in Malaysia had received orders to attack, say police

Malaysian police have detained 15 more suspected members of  Islamic State , who police say planned to launch attacks and tried to obtain chemicals to make bombs.  National police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said in a statement late on Thursday the suspects were aged between 22 and 49 and included four women, a police official, an airplane technician, a mosque cleric and a student. Khalid said they were detained over three days from Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur and six other states. He said they had allegedly received orders to launch attacks in the country from a Malaysian man who had joined Isis in Syria. The arrests followed Tuesday’s  bombings by Islamist militants in Brussels  that killed at least 31 people and injured 300 others. The group also arranged for two foreign terror suspects to sneak out of  Malaysia into a south-east Asian country, he said, without giving details. They were also involved in raising and channeling funds to a militant group in the southern Philippines, an

ISIS to execute Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen on Good Friday?

According to media reports, an Indian priest kidnapped in Yemen by unknown gunmen earlier in the month could be in the hands of ISIS. Tom Unzhunnalil was kidnapped from the Missionaries of Charity’s home for the elderly in Aden where he serves as a chaplain on March 4. There are rumours going around that he will be crucified on Good Friday, which is on March 25. However, a spokesman for the Bangalore province of the Salesians was quoted saying that no group has taken any responsibility yet. A post on the group’s South Africa page has been taken down. Earlier, the Yemen authorities blamed ISIL for the attack on March 4. The External Affairs Ministry had said only one Indian nurse was killed in the terrorist attack in strife-torn Yemen's Aden city. 16 people were killed in Aden when a group of terrorists stormed an elderly care home run by a Kolkata-based Missionaries of Charity and sprayed bullets at the residents. There are around 80 residents living at the home, which is run

ISIS under pressure as troops advance on Palmyra, Mosul

Syrian troops on Thursday entered the ancient city of Palmyra and Iraqi forces launched an offensive against Mosul as pressure mounted on key strongholds of the Islamic State group. US Secretary of State John Kerry was meanwhile holding talks in Moscow to push for peace efforts in Syria, from where IS has claimed attacks on the West including this week's bombings in Brussels. Backed by Russian warplanes and allied militia on the ground, the Syrian army advanced into Palmyra today after launching a desert offensive early this month, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. IS overran Palmyra -- known as the "Pearl of the Desert" -- last May and it has since blown up UNESCO-listed temples and looted relics that dated back thousands of years. "Regime forces have entered the Hayy al-Gharf neighbourhood in the southwest of Palmyra. They are advancing very slowly because of mines planted by IS," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman to

Lawmakers Urge Barack Obama To Allow CIA Target-Killing Of ISIS Leaders

WASHINGTON:   Leaders of the US Senate intelligence committee were secretly pushing President Barack Obama to allow the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out target killings against ISIS leaders, local media reported on Thursday. A bipartisan plea had recently been sent to Obama to reconsider a policy guidance issued in 2013 that stated that the US military rather than the CIA should carry out targeted strikes, US TV network NBC News reported. The plea was sent before the Brussels attacks, said NBC, quoting US officials as saying that Obama was unlikely to change what he believed was a "successful high-value targeting effort." At the outset of his presidency, Obama ramped up CIA drone missile strikes in Pakistan and Yemen, viewing them as an effective tool for degrading the extremist group Al-Qaeda. However, in 2013, a policy guidance was issued that confined CIA drone activities to intelligence gathering. According to NBC, Obama and others came to believe that the

What is happening in Yemen, can peace talks succeed?

LONDON, March 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A year after the conflict in Yemen spread across the country, nearly half its 22 provinces are on the verge of famine and most of the population need some form of aid, according to the United Nations. Yemen was already mired in a humanitarian crisis before the violence escalated in March last year, but now its needs are beyond the international aid agencies' current capacity to respond, the United Nations has said. The warring parties have agreed to a cessation of hostilities starting at midnight on April 10 and peace talks in Kuwait beginning a week later, the United Nations said on Wednesday. There have already been several failed attempts to defuse the conflict, which has drawn in regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran. What's happening in Yemen? President Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to step down in 2011 after widespread protests against his 33-year rule. A lengthy national dialogue ending in January 2014 failed to

Boko Haram Kidnaps 16 Women In North-East Nigeria: Police

KANO, NIGERIA:   Boko Haram gunmen have abducted 16 women in a remote area of northeast Nigeria's Adamawa state, police, a lawmaker and locals told AFP on Thursday. "We received report of the kidnap of 14 women and two girls by gunmen believed to be Boko Haram insurgents near Sabon Garin Madagali village", said Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar. "We have sent search teams to the area and have notified the military who have also deployed personnel for search and rescue operation in the bush to free the hostages." Adamu Kamale, who represents the area in Nigeria's lower chamber of parliament, the House of Representatives, also confirmed the abduction, which happened on Wednesday. Locals said the hostages were seized in the bush while fetching firewood and fishing in a nearby river under the escort of two civilian vigilantes assisting the military against the Islamist insurgents.      "When the civilian vigilantes escorting the women saw t

6 People Arrested In Brussels After Attacks

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM:   Six people were arrested on Thursday in a series of police raids in Brussels, federal prosecutors said, two days after terrorist attacks in the Belgian capital left 31 dead. The arrests come as Belgian ministers under fire for intelligence failings over Tuesday's ISIS-claimed suicide blasts admitted "errors" and offered to quit. Prime Minister Charles Michel refused to accept the resignations of the interior and justice ministers, who have been severely criticised for allowing the attackers -- at least three of whom were known to authorities -- to slip through the net. Hundreds of people gathered late into the night at the Place de la Bourse in Brussels to mourn the victims of the suicide attacks on the city's airport and metro on Tuesday. "Our love for Brussels is stronger than terror," read a banner held by a young couple. Led by King Philippe, Belgians also observed a minute of silence on the third and final day of mourning for th