U.S. warns of possible Qaeda financial cyber attack
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The U.S. government has warned U.S. private financial services of an al Qaeda call for a cyber attack against U.S. online stock trading and banking Web sites beginning Friday, officials said on Thursday.
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CAIRO -- The new Al Qaeda video featuring an American calling for his countrymen to convert to Islam raised fears it signaled an imminent attack, but analysts in the region said yesterday it is more likely a bid to soften the terrorist group's image.
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Can members of Al Qaeda use voice over Internet technology (VOIP) to avoid wiretaps?
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A new report fueled jitters of a fresh Al Qaeda attack on America. But the document also shows how little intelligence officials really know about the state of terrorist threats.
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US authorities fear an attack by Al-Qaeda terrorists between now and the November 2 presidential election, top US officials said.
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U.S. and other Western installations are at risk of terrorist attack in Africa's most-populous nation, and U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance in the West African nation, the U.S. Embassy said Thursday.
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The U.S. faces âa persistent and evolving terrorist threatâ from Al Qaeda, according to the nationâs intelligence agencies.
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The attack this week on the U.S. consulate in Jiddah could be followed by more terror attacks in Saudi Arabia, a worried State Department said Tuesday.
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The Bush administration will release on Tuesday an unclassified intelligence document describing al Qaeda's resurgence as a threat to the United States, officials said.
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(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
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DOHA, Nov 29  - Al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri warned in a video broadcast on Monday that the terror network would go on with its fight against the United States until it changed its policy towards Muslims.
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Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an al Qaeda ally  fighting the U.S.-backed Iraqi government, has issued a new  threat against Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in a purported  taped message posted on the Internet.
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The United States faces an increased threat of attack from al Qaeda, which will likely try to use battle-hardened associates in Iraq to strike inside the United States, an intelligence report warned on Tuesday.
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(InfoWorld) - The Department of Homeland Securityâs Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) raised a few eyebrows in late November when it sent a warning out to U.S. banks and financial institutions about a possible cyber attack by Islamic militants. The alert, dated Nov. 30, was triggered by a posting on what the DHS considered an Islamic jihadi Web site calling for hackers to attack U.S. financial and banking Web sites, apparently to protest the detention of Muslims at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. However, the warning was heavily qualified, with DHS calling the threat âmore aspirational than operational.â Financial firms downplayed the danger, too. One security executive at a major brokerage told InfoWorld that the warning was a ânon-event.â But could repeated warnings about such non-events eventually make critical infrastructure owners deaf to DHSâs warnings? InfoWorld Senior Editor Paul F. Roberts recently chatted with John Carlson, senior director of security and risk Assessment at BITS, a financial-services industry consortium focused on security, fraud, and risk management, about the DHS warning and state of the public-private partnership on cybersecurity. InfoWorld: Iâm guessing that your members received the US-CERT warning about the cyber terrorist attack? John Carlson: There were two messages sent: the first was [Nov. 30]; then a second revision came out [Dec. 1]. The gist of it was that these reports were not corroborated. IW: What was the reaction of BITS members to the warning? JC: Our members have an âall hazardsâ approach to business-continuity planning. Theyâve got well-developed approaches that have been bolstered since 9/11. In response to new regulatory requirements, firms have done a lot to improve backup, theyâve done tests with the various exchanges. Theyâre also working in closer harmony with the federal government to share information on threats and vulnerabilities. I think thereâs a spirit of appreciation that the government is willing to share information with the financial services industry. The firms take that information into account in responding and activating their business continuity plans. IW: How do your members apply information like this that comes from DHS? JC: Iâm not sure I can give a blanket answer. Each firm has its own mechanisms for gathering information. Risk-management professionals at these firms read the paper and understand the military conflicts and theyâre mindful of that. They take it into account when they have employees traveling. Theyâll monitor where they are. With the [bird flu] pandemic issue, firms were monitoring that closely and trying to figure out what impact it would have on their organizations. IW: Is there a danger from these warnings of creating a âBoy Who Cried Wolfâ situation, where firms begin to disregard the warnings? JC: Thereâs always a concern about the crying-wolf syndrome. But our firms appreciate getting the information even if itâs not corroborated. A continuous flow of information helps build trust between the private and public sectors. IW: Was this warning about the jihadist threat something that your members see all the time, or was this an unusual kind of warning from DHS? JC: I think the warning came across the transom at a high level [saying] âpay attention to this.â So it was different from what we normally get. Weâre getting a steady stream of information on threats and vulnerabilities and a range of things. For example, if thereâs a known virus thatâs being perpetrated in [the United States] or against a financial institution. Weâre also getting information on political changes around the world. IW: Do you think DHS has its arms around the cybersecurity problem? JC: My personal opinion is that the government has some capabilities, but not all capabilities. In general, our firms would like more information, but there are many reasons why if (the government) has the information they donât provide it. But itâs a touchy question. People have lots of different views. Â  IW: Do you feel like your members are getting all the information they need? JC: Thereâs some filtering, but I donât have information to compare or validate what the filter is. We talk about issues through coordinating councils that meet quarterly. Itâs a two way conversation.Â
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A bomb threat against the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on Thursday was conveyed to authorities by a pair of cell phone text messages signed, "al Qaeda," local officials said.
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U.S. and other Western interests in Nigeria are at risk of "terrorist attack", the United States embassy in Africa's top oil producer said on Thursday.
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WASHINGTON -- President Bush has decided to warn Pakistan's leader to pursue Al Qaeda operatives in the tribal regions near Afghanistan more aggressively or risk a cut in aid by Congress, The New York Times reported today. The decision follows a US intelligence assessment that the Al Qaeda terrorist organization is rebuilding its infrastructure in the border regions. The Times, ...