US lowers terror threat alert for financial institutions
450667
The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday lowered the heightened terror threat level for financial institutions in New York City, northern New Jersey and
241733
Critical US securities institutions have beefed up protection from terrorist attacks and other disasters, but cost concerns prevent them from taking further steps, officials said in a report on Wednesday.
157394
Heightened scrutiny of banking transactions by the United States since the September 11 attacks has led European and Canadian banks to curtail dealings with Cuba, bankers and businesses say.
501455
The US government lowered the terrorism alert level for financial sites in New York City, Washington and northern New Jersey, because those buildings are now ``hardened,&#39;&#39; or sufficiently protected, an official said.
39345
Anti-terror funding to New York and Washington was cut in favor of protecting suburban areas, Congressional investigators say
236212
(InfoWorld) - A planned cyberattack against U.S. financial institutions by Islamic jihadists has so far failed to materialize, Internet security observers said Friday. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)Â warned of the possible attack Thursday, apparently prompted by discussions earlier in the week in a jihadist discussion forum, said Adam Raisman an analyst with the SITE (Search for International Terrorist Entities) institute, which tracks terrorists. The attack, dubbed "the Electronic Battle of Guantanamo" by jihadists, had been scheduled to start Friday and last until the end of the month, Raisman said. It was planned in retaliation for the U.S.'s holding of suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp, he said. Both Raisman and Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks Inc.'s Security Engineering and Response Team said they saw no evidence of an attack coming Friday. Arbor, which monitors the Internet backbone for distributed denial-of-service attacks, saw no new attempts to create large attacks, Nazario said. The threat, which DHS attributed to the al-Qaeda terrorist group, seems out of step with the group's past efforts to focus on physical damage instead of cyberdamage, Nazario said. "We think there's a low chance that this is ready to go," he added. Earlier Friday, DHS spokeswoman Joanna Gonzalez downplayed the possible attack, saying her organization had "no information to corroborate the threat," and was sending out the alert "out of an abundance of caution." Over the past few months, jihadists had threatened similar attacks against the Vatican and Royal Air Maroc Web sites, Raisman said. By Friday afternoon, Internet research firm Netcraft Inc. had seen no downtime on the U.S. financial Web sites that it monitors, according to Rich Miller, an analyst with the company. Even if an attack were launched, it would require a certain degree of technical sophistication to succeed against major financial institutions, which are generally pretty well defended, he said. "We're talking about sites that have put a lot of security in place," he said. The U.S. Congress has required financial institutions to take strong measures to protect customer privacy since 1999, when the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed, added Pam Johnston, a lawyer with the Foley & Lardner LLP law firm and former federal prosecutor focused on bank fraud. "Banks have been at the forefront of sophistication" in protecting online data, she said. While neither the Vatican nor Royal Air Maroc threats resulted in successful attacks, there have been widespread denial of service attacks in the past. In January, about 800 Danish Web sites were hacked in response to the furor over a Danish newspaper's publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed. Cybersecurity experts disagreed about whether the latest DHS warning was useful. Banks have taken several measures since the Sept. 11. 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S. to secure their data, said Vivek Mehra, chief enterprise architect for global financial services at Keane Inc., an IT consulting firm. "The threat is overstated," Mehra added. "[The warning] is almost meaningless. It doesn't really change anything." But Johnston and Arbor's Nazario said DHS did the right thing by alerting financial institutions of the threat. "It gives companies a chance to ask their IT guys, 'Are we buttoned down?'" Johnston said. Â
675865
The federal government today lowered the terror alert level from orange to yellow for five financial institutions in Washington, New York and Newark, Homeland Security Deputy Secretary James M. Loy announced.
92641
Supporters of the troubled US-VISIT program warned yesterday that the decision to suspend a crucial part of the national security program launched after the 2001 attacks will leave the nation vulnerable to terrorism.
300651
The U.S. government has lowered the  terror threat level for the financial services sector in New  York City, northern New Jersey and Washington, the Department  of Homeland Security said on Wednesday.
545027
The U.S. government has warned banking, stock trading, and other financial Web sites of a potential cyber attack today, but officials and experts alike caution against undue alarm.
504160
Al-Qaida's threat to attack the United States before the Nov. 2 election is geared less toward affecting the outcome of the presidential race than toward making a violent statement to Islamic extremists worldwide, senior counterterrorism officials said Monday.
11115
LONDON -- With eight suspects in last weekend's attempted car-bomb attacks in custody, all of them foreign doctors or other medical professionals, Britain reduced its terrorism threat level from critical to severe yesterday and Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced more rigorous background checks on foreign doctors applying for visas to work in the United Kingdom.
765755
WASHINGTON -- Terrorism has replaced weak employment growth and the ballooning budget deficit as the biggest immediate threat to the economy, the National Association for Business Economics said yesterday.
79273
Britain lowered Wednesday its threat level from &quot;critical&quot; to &quot;severe&quot;, where it had been before the weekend&#39;s failed car bombings in London and the Scottish city of Glasgow.
175266
(InfoWorld) - The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has warned U.S. banks and financial institutions of a threatened cyberattack by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. The group called on allies to attack the Web sites of U.S. financial institutions in December in retaliation for the U.S. holding suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison camp, according to a U.S. government source. US-CERT, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sent out the alert Thursday, but it has "no information to collaborate the threat," said Joanna Gonzalez, a DHS spokeswoman. The alert was "really sent out of an abundance of caution," she added. Such alerts are "not uncommon," Gonzalez said, although she declined to give details about how often US-CERT issues the alerts. Asked if al-Qaeda has the ability to carry out such a threat, Gonzalez said she didn't have that information.
179742
The government lowered Wednesday its threat level from &quot;critical&quot; to &quot;severe&quot;, where it had been before the weekend&#39;s failed car bombings in London and Glasgow.
132119
The US government has lowered the terror threat level for the financial services sector in New York City, northern New Jersey and Washington, the Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday.