Germany sees online al-Qaida activity
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German security officials have seen an increase in al-Qaida activity on the Internet aimed at radicalizing, recruiting and training potential German-speaking terrorists, an Interior Ministry official said Friday.
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German government plans to spy on terror suspects by deploying malicious e-mails draw sharp criticism.
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Authorites on Friday arrested a Syrian-German businessman who is wanted by Spain on charges he helped fund the al-Qaida terrorist network for years and who appeared in a wedding video at a mosque with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, German officials said.
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(InfoWorld) - For months, German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble has been lobbying intensively forÂ tough security measures to fight terrorismÂ and cybercrime. Now he's putting his words into action. Law enforcement officials in Germany and Austria are now among the first to have electronic access to each other's fingerprint databases, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior said Monday. Since 2006, the two countries have shared their DNA databases as one of several measures agreed by some European Union nations under the Treaty of PrÃ¼m in 2005. The treaty, which has meanwhile been signed by several E.U. member states, gives police and other security agencies in different countries unprecedentedÂ access to a range of individuals' personal data. During its E.U. presidency, Germany is trying to muster enough support to turn the Treaty of PrÃ¼m into E.U. law. Support for tough security measures has grown in Germany and other E.U. member states that worry about their national security being increasingly threatened by international terrorism, organized crime and, increasingly, cybercrime. Recently, the Baltic nation ofÂ Estonia suffered several weeks of DDOSÂ (distributed denial-of-service) attacks against government and private-sector Web sites. That DDOS attack sent a warning signal to governments across Europe. On Monday at an IT security conference hosted by the German Interior Ministry, SchÃ¤uble referred to information technology and communications infrastructures as "the nerve strands of society" and called on everyone -- governments, businesses and consumers -- to give IT security a top priority. Protecting critical infrastructure, including communication and energy grids, from cyberattacks is a key area of focus during the two-day conference. SchÃ¤uble is also determined to give the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) greater power to monitor terrorists and criminals online by allowing the agency to peek inside their computers. In an interview with the Berliner Zeitung published on Saturday, the minister said he aims to complete draft legislation over the next few weeks to allow the BKA to hack into the PCs of suspected criminals. This year Germany's High Court handed down a landmark decisionÂ banning police from installing spywareÂ on computers of suspected criminals without their knowledge. The High Court in Karlsruhe argued that searching computers is similar to searching homes, a practice in Germany that requires police to follow certain procedures, such as obtaining a search warrant and informing suspected offenders of a search. The judges also argued that hacking computers by the police is not permitted under Germany's strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance. In the interview, SchÃ¤uble said he would amend Germany's constitutional law to allow online surveillance if the country's leading courts required such an amendment. In February, Germany passed a law allowing security officials to create the largest and most comprehensive pool of personal data ever amassed in the country. The databases of nearly 40 different agencies, including BKA and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), are now linked to allow authorities to run searches on suspected individuals and retrieve information within minutes. Â
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A German-language mouthpiece for al Qaeda has re-emerged on the Internet, vowing to defy the authorities despite this month's arrest of suspects linked to it in Austria and Canada.
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(InfoWorld) - When it comes to who can and who can't be a hacker, the German government appears to want its cake and eat it, too. AfterÂ passing antihacking legislationÂ earlier this year to crack down on the sharp rise in computer attacks in the public and private sectors, the government is now floating a plan to develop and smuggle its own spyware on to the hard drives of suspected terrorists through e-mail messages. German Interior Minister Wolfgang SchÃ¤uble has been feverishly seeking support for a new security law that would allow federal authorities to investigate suspects' Internet use and stored data without their knowledge, ever since the country's Federal Court of JusticeÂ halted their cybersnooping activitiesÂ in February. The judges argued that the hacking of computers by the police is not permitted under Germany's strict phone-tapping laws and that legislation would be needed to enable covert surveillance. SchÃ¤uble's efforts to introduce a security law with wider police surveillance powers have, however, led to a heated debate that nearly exploded late last week when a copy of the proposed security law was leaked to the German media. The measure would allow authorities to install Trojans carrying remote forensic software on suspects' hard drives. While SchÃ¤uble has said that government cyberspying would only be conducted in a handful of exceptional cases and only on those suspected of planning terrorist attacks, critics say he may have overstepped his bounds. Max Stadler, a security expert with the German Free Democratic Party, warned in a ZDF television interview last week that the Interior Ministry's spyware plan would weaken the trust of German citizens in government. He referred to the government Trojan as "an invasion into the private sphere." Magnus Kalkuhl, a virus specialist at the German office of Russian security software vendor Kaspersky Lab, said the plan "would undermine the very purpose of security software, which is to plug -- not make -- security holes." The idea of allowing officials in one specific country to snoop also disturbs Kalkuhl. "What's going to prevent police in Germany from breaking into computers in Italy?" he asked. And even if the government approves the use of spyware, Wolfgang Wieland, a member of the Green Party, told the Berliner Zeitung newspaper last week that he questions the success of a measure that assumes suspects know little about computers and won't detect and remove Trojans and other spyware. It's naive to believe that terrorists, who live in a world of conspiracy, would trip over something as obvious as e-mail from an unfamiliar source, he said. In defense of the plan, SchÃ¤uble said in an interview with Deutschlandradio last week that police need to keep pace with terrorists and criminals, who shouldn't be allowed to use cyberspace as a protected area. The plan, he said, isn't to control everyone's computer but rather only those machines used by suspected criminals and terrorists and only for a limited period of time. JÃ¶rg Ziercke, president of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), said in an interview with the German magazine Stern that the planned remote forensic software can't be used broadly because it must be tailored to run on each targeted computer. "We're talking about 10 such measures a year," he said. The German government has released no technical details of how the sypware will operate. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry declined to comment, citing security regulations. The use of spyware by crime fighters isn't new. For instance, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation uses a tool, called CIPAV (computer and Internet Protocol address verifier), which can record IP addresses and send this data back to government computers. Nor is Germany the only European country debating spyware legislation. Neighboring Switzerland and Austria are reportedly considering laws that will give police greater powers to monitor computers online. Neither of the countries has released any information on their spyware plans. No firm date is set when German parliamentarians are expected to vote on the proposed security law. But with Islamic radicals targeting German troops and others working in Afghanistan in recent weeks, SchÃ¤uble has spoken of a heightened threat level that makes the spyware issue of increasing urgency. Â
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(InfoWorld) - A law allowing security officials in Germany to create the largest and most comprehensive pool of personal data ever amassed in the country goes into effect Thursday as the European Union's largest member state moves to protect itself against possible terrorist attacks. The databases of nearly 40 different agencies, including the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and the Federal Intelligence Service (BND), will be linked to allow authorities to run searches on suspected individuals and retrieve information within minutes. Support for the security measure has grown in Germany and many other E.U. member states that worry about their national security being increasingly threatened by international terrorism, organized crime, and illegal immigration. To what extent the numerous databases are already linked -- BKA alone has more than 100 -- and how access to data will be controlled are details the German government isn't prepared to disclose. What is know is that an expanded index file will be created for suspected terrorists. The file will contain the person's name, bank account number, telephone number, e-mail address, driver's license information and other data, including the names of companies, organizations and other parties associated with the person and linked to terrorist groups. Germany is at the forefrontÂ of European efforts to fight terrorism. In a December meeting of E.U. justice ministers in Dresden, the German government sought support for a package of measures that could give police and other security forces in the region unprecedented access to a range of individuals' personal data. The measures, known as the Treaty of Plum after the German town where the accord was signed by several E.U. member states in 2005, would allow police and other security agencies in different countries to search each other's databases for DNA records, fingerprints, vehicle registrations and other personal information. During its E.U. presidency, Germany hopes to muster enough support to turn the private Treaty of Plum into E.U. law. Â
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Osama bin Laden will address the fight by Islamic militants in Somalia and Iraq in an upcoming Internet message, a Web site said Friday, just hours after the al-Qaida leader released a rare statement that praised the slain Iraq insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
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Germany will push the European Union's  member states to agree to share the surveillance of militant  Web sites when it takes over the bloc's presidency in January,  a senior German official said on Monday.
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German authorities called on Friday for increased vigilance against possible terror attacks and said the kind of threat detected before the September 11, 2001 suicide hijackings in the United States had resurfaced.
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German-language papers welcome the Muslim initiative behind Sunday's anti-terror demonstration in Cologne. And France launches a seduction campaign.
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Germany has arrested three men it suspects of belonging to an Islamist terrorist group and planning attacks on Frankfurt international airport and a major U.S. military base, German officials said on Wednesday.
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Authorities on Friday arrested a Syrian-German businessman wanted by Spain on charges he helped fund the al-Qaida terrorist network for years and who is seen in a video at a mosque with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, German officials said.
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German authorities were searching Thursday for about 10 suspected supporters of an Islamic group linked to al-Qaida believed to have assisted three militants arrested for plotting imminent attacks against Americans in Germany, an official said.
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European Union states have started  sharing monitoring of militant Web sites, including sites  linked to al-Qaeda, a draft statement agreed by the bloc&#39;s  ambassadors on Wednesday shows.
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BERLIN, Sept. 6 -- Authorities said Thursday that they are investigating at least seven more people suspected of aiding a multinational cell of Islamic militants plotting to bomb American interests in Germany, including two who may have trained at camps in Pakistan.
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The British government is taking steps to address the growing prominence of al-Qaida and other Islamic extremists who use the Internet to devise terror plots.