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Liam Fox says government departments under sustained attack – and claims more needs to be done to protect infrastructure Criminals and foreign spy agencies launched more than 1,000 cyber attacks on the Ministry of Defence last year in an effort to steal secrets and disrupt services, Liam Fox has revealed. In a speech on Tuesday night, the defence secretary laid out the growing threat to the country from cyberspace, saying that government departments were now under sustained attack. He underlined the problem by saying that “across the core defence networks there were an average of over a million security alerts every day”. These comprise mainly of spam emails that are blocked before entering government computer systems. But many turn out to be deliberate attempts to infiltrate and steal from the MoD’s computer systems. Last week the Guardian revealed that the UK is now developing a cyber weapons programme to give ministers an attacking capability in cyberspace. It also emerged that the FBI is investigating allegations that the Google mail accounts of senior US government officials have been attacked by Chinese hackers. In his speech, Fox set out why the government had committed an extra £650m for cyber security in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review. He also warned more would need to be done to protect the UK’s core infrastructure from cyber attack. “Between 2009 and 2010, security incidents more than doubled,” he said: “Was this in Afghanistan? No. This was in cyberspace and the target was the MoD. I and my senior colleagues are routinely alerted to incidents that could have had severe consequences if they’d not been stopped. “Our systems are targeted by criminals, foreign intelligence services and other malicious actors seeking to exploit our people, corrupt our systems and steal information. “To give you an idea of the challenge, last year we in the MoD blocked and investigated over 1,000 potentially serious attacks. ” Fox described it as the “war of the invisible enemy” and said the boundaries between government, business and every individual internet user were becoming blurred.”This threat is growing in scale and sophistication. My department is a prime target. Across the core defence networks there were an average of over a million security alerts every day.” He said the opening of a new Global Operations and Security and Control Centre would help to coordinate the Whitehall response to cyber attacks, but conceded that government could not do this alone. “We now see weekly reports of cyber attacks against businesses, institutions and networks used by people going about their daily lives,” he said. “The cost to the UK economy of cyber crime is estimated to be in the region of £27bn a year and rising. These are attacks against the whole fabric of our society. “There is no Maginot Line in cyber space … our national intellectual property in defence and security industries is at risk from a systematic marauding. Not only could it severely affect the future success of British industry, our economic advantage, and the country’s financial recovery, but also directly impacts upon our national security today.” Last week, the US government said it was intending to rewrite its military rule book to make cyber-attacks a possible act of war. In May, the chancellor George Osborne said foreign intelligence agencies were carrying out cyber-attacks on the Treasury, targeting it with programs designed to steal information. Some experts have warned against government’s over-exaggerating the problems in cyberspace, noting that 80 per cent of all such attacks can be thwarted with better computer ‘hygiene’ – such as people using less obvious passwords. Terrorism policy Global terrorism Internet Computing UK security and terrorism Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
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Agriculture commissioner forced to promise better deal to European farmers who lost income during public health panic The European commission on Tuesday promised to pay more than €150m (£134m) to farmers hit by the E coli crisis, following robust lobbying by Spain and France. The agriculture commissioner, Dacian Ciolos, proposed sharing out to farmers affected by falling sales amid the public health panic the sum of €150m, equating to payments worth about 30% of the average market price for the unsold crops. But at the meeting of agriculture ministers in Luxembourg, representatives from several member states demanded more help. Spain immediately warned the €150m would not be enough. Spain has suffered disproportionately from the economic impact of the outbreak, in part because it grows a significant share of Europe’s salad produce but also because blame for the bacteria outbreak at first was attributed to its cucumber crop . “No, Spain does not see €150m as sufficient,” the country’s agriculture minister, Rosa Aguilar, said. She was backed by her French counterpart, Bruno Le Maire. Ciolos then said he would “come back tomorrow with an improved proposal”, but warned that Spanish demands for compensation of 90% or even 100% of market price were unrealistic. “We have to bear in mind that this is public money, and we have to account for its use,” he said. The outbreak, of a newly identified and especially virulent strain of the E Coli bacterium has killed 23 people, all either in, or recently returned, from northern Germany, according to figures compiled by the European Centre for Disease Control. More than 4,200 people have become ill, almost 700 of whom have developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, a serious complication that affects the blood, kidneys and nervous system. The rate of cases is now slowing. Cornelia Pruefer-Storcks, the health minister for Hamburg, the city thought to be at the centre of the outbreak, said medical staff believed the situation was gradually improving. “We are seeing the first patients discharged, others are getting much better, so the first glimmers of hope are on the horizon.” However, scientists appear to be no closer to establishing the source of the outbreak. After Spanish cucumbers were ruled out, German officials confidently named a bean-sprout farm in Lower Saxony as the likely culprit, only for bacteriological tests to come back negative. German ministers had said there were “strong and clear indications” that bean sprouts from the Gärtenhof organic farm, 40 miles from Hamburg, had spread the E coli bacteria. However, more tests have failed to link the farm to the outbreak. The confusion has seen many Europeans stop buying a range of products, while Russia has banned all EU vegetable imports. EU farming representatives said the sector’s losses had exceeded €400m. Spain has been at the forefront of calls for Germany to pay the bulk of the compensation, a move ruled out by Ciolos, who said it would come from central budgets. At a press conference he refused to speculate on the total bill, saying only that it would be increased, the revised offer to be approved within the next few days. The EU’s health commissioner, John Dalli, has criticised Germany for its “premature conclusions” on the source of the outbreak. “I would like to stress it is crucial that national authorities do not rush to give information on the source of infection which is not proven by bacteriological analysis, as this spreads unjustified fears in the population all over Europe and creates problems for our food producers selling products,” he said before the farm ministers’ meeting. He added: “While such intensive investigations are ongoing, we must be careful not to make premature conclusions.” He said the outbreak had been contained to a relatively small area. He told the European parliament: “I stress that the outbreak is limited geographically to the area surrounding the city of Hamburg, so there is no reason to take action on a European level. [EU-wide] measures against any product are disproportionate.” Scientists say the longer the wait for a definite source, the more likely it is that none will ever be identified. “If we don’t know the likely culprit in a week’s time, we may never know the cause,” said Dr Guénaël Rodier, an infectious diseases expert at the UN’s World Health Organisation. European commission Europe European Union E coli Spain France Farming Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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We’ve been waiting for nearly an entire year to carve up battle droids with a Kinect-controlled lightsaber, and we got the chance last night, donning virtual Jedi robes alongside our friends at Joystiq and calling upon our inner midi-chlorians in a series of brief co-op fights. The interactive demo of Kinect Star Wars version is a fairly scripted affair — your light side avatars automatically dash from encounter to encounter with the occasional cutscene between, without any prompting from you, and when you get into a melee, the computer controls which enemies you face as well. Still, there are quite a few maneuvers available once combat begins in earnest. You can swing your right hand to swipe with the lightsaber, bring up your left for a powerful Force Push, jump to flip over hapless destroyer droids, step forward to dash directly at a foe, and tilt your body to dodge and flip. There’s a bit of a delay between the time you gesture and the time the game recognizes your actions, but it generally seemed to follow our saber strokes, and a product manager tells us a lag fix is inbound. Long story short, we can’t tell you quite yet if your 1:1 slicing fantasies will be fulfilled. Kinect Star Wars hands-on: Engadget and Joystiq get in touch with the Force originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Jun 2011 15:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
Continue reading …Looks like Ali Abdullah Saleh won’t be making such a quick recovery after all. The Yemeni president has burns over 40% of his body and a collapsed lung, US officials briefed on his condition tell CNN . Though Saleh is now said to be in stable condition, he won’t be ready…
Continue reading …Iman al-Obeidi, the Libyan woman who made headlines when she claimed Moammar Gadhafi’s troops raped her, is at a UN refugee center in Romania. Al-Obeidi had gone from Libya to Tunisia to Qatar, but was expelled from Qatar back to Benghazi on Thursday. A UN spokesperson confirmed that al-Obeidi arrived…
Continue reading …Sarah Palin’s latest literary trove lands with a 275-pound thud in Juneau Friday morning: Almost three years after media outlets requested the emails she and husband Todd sent while she was governor, Alaska has set Friday as the official release date, reports the Anchorage Daily News. The state is handing…
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Ladies, are you feeling bad about those extra five pounds? This might just make you feel worse. (Sorry!) According to a study in the Journal of Applied Psychology, women who are “very thin” earn nearly $22,000 more than their “average weight counterparts.” The study was conducted by Timothy A. Judge from the University of Florida
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All-out assault on residents of Jisr al-Shughour feared after uprising against security forces The Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour was besieged by columns of government tanks on Tuesday night as the army massed for what is feared will be an all-out assault on residents it claims killed more than 120 security force members over the weekend. By nightfall most inhabitants had fled to nearby Turkey before the expected sharp escalation in a three-month uprising that has pitched largely unarmed demonstrators against a regime using increasingly lethal force to suppress the gravest threat to its four-decade rule. Jisr al-Shughour, a town of 41,000 people, was largely abandoned. The hospital stood empty and the intelligence headquarters, which had been the scene of an uprising on Sunday, was now a looted and empty shell, according to three men who had stayed behind. Human rights activists in Damascus said 59 civilians had been confirmed killed. However they feared the final number was likely to be more than 100. The prospect of the imminent operation has stirred the ghosts of an infamous assault on the town of Hama 29 years ago, in which tens of thousands of residents were killed by the former president Hafez al-Assad after they launched a failed challenge to his authority. Assad’s son, President Bashar al-Assad, is now facing a more serious threat, with sustained protests in many Syrian towns and cities that are steadily eroding the iron-clad rule of the Assad dynasty. The siege of Jisr al-Shughour appears to mark a turning point in the popular rebellion, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. The Syrian information minister, Mohammed al-Shaar, insisted on Monday night that residents had taken up arms and turned on security forces. Exactly what happened is not yet clear, but anecdotal evidence emerging from the town suggested that armed clashes did take place. One witness told the Guardian that some officers from the security headquarters had switched allegiances and were shot by loyalists from inside the building. “They were killing the defecting officers,” said one local speaking by telephone. “The people came to defend them and then they had to defend themselves. There was a battle.” Another man, who did not want to be identified, also said that some officers had switched sides. The Syrian government refused to acknowledge that any mutiny had occurred. However, it did concede that forces inside the town had “lost control for intermittent periods”. Another government official confirmed that some government weapons were now in the hands of residents. The haul included five tonnes of dynamite, the information ministry spokesman Reem Haddad told the BBC. Shaar said the military would “not stay silent” and a move to retake the town was expected before daybreak. “The army will carry out their national duty to restore order,” he said. Authorities in Turkey said it had received several hundred refugees who had crossed the border, many of whom had wounds. Several thousand more villagers are thought to have fled south towards Aleppo and east into farmlands. It is not known how many residents have stayed behind. “I know that people are waiting for the army,” said one Syrian exile in London. “I have spoken to people there today and they are preparing to fight them.” If claims of an armed rebellion are proven, it would mark the first time that citizens had taken up weapons in large numbers. Protests have been taking place at least weekly in many cities, including the capital, Damascus. Human rights groups claim that more than 1,000 people have been killed, nearly all of them demonstrators campaigning for widespread democratic reforms. Weekly death tolls have risen sharply over the past fortnight, placing growing pressure on Assad. Damascus has been anxious to cast the uprising as a series of clashes with armed gangs who are backed by foreign powers aiming to topple the government. The US has imposed sanctions on Assad and members of his inner circle and there are increasing signs that Europe has lost a one-time belief that Assad is a reformer constrained by the society he rules. The UN has stopped short of imposing on Syria the same sort of security resolutions as those directed at Libya and has ruled out military intervention, and Russia has indicated it would veto any UN attempt to increase the pressure on its long-term ally. Analysts in Damascus said they feared the government was willing to push the country into a violent struggle as it tried to cling to power. Their view was backed by diplomats in Beirut, who said regime figures were likely to further destabilise neighbouring Lebanon if pressure on them continued to mount. Israel has accused Damascus of orchestrating protests in the Golan Heights along the ceasefire line between both countries to create a diversion from its domestic troubles. The uprising broke out in mid-March, initially calling for reforms but escalating into demands for the toppling of the regime after a series of brutal crackdowns that spread to most major towns and cities in the country. “Our line is that protesters either go out peacefully, or they don’t go out at all,” said one religious man in Damascus who is supporting the protests. • Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus Syria Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Turkey Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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CPS opens inquiry after claims prosecutors withheld undercover police officer’s surveillance tapes from defence lawyers Prosecutors have been accused of suppressing surveillance tapes covertly recorded by the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy, the Guardian can reveal. Leaked documents indicate the Crown Prosecution Service may also have misled the public and even the courts when the trial of six environmental campaigners accused of planning to break into Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire collapsed earlier this year. Two days before it was due to commence, the trial was abandoned by the CPS, which told the court that “previously unavailable information” had come to light that undermined its case against the activists. However, the supposedly new evidence – the Kennedy tapes – had in fact been in the possession of the CPS for more than a year. Prosecutors had taken part in a number of high-level meetings with police about Kennedy’s potentially explosive surveillance tapes, but withheld them from defence lawyers. Confidential correspondence between senior police and prosecutors suggests officers told the CPS about Kennedy’s deployment from the outset. The police say they handed over a transcript of his secret recording to Ian Cunningham, a senior CPS prosecutor, within weeks of the raid. The CPS confirmed on Tuesday it had opened a “full and formal” inquiry, led by deputy chief crown prosecutor, Chris Enzor, into allegations made by senior police officers who have concerns about how prosecutors managed the case. “All the public statements made by the Crown Prosecution Service about this case have been made based on the information that was available at the time. “It would be wrong to anticipate the outcome of Mr Enzor’s formal inquiry. The original police investigation took at least two years and generated thousands of pages of evidence. Mr Enzor has no previous knowledge of this case and his thorough review of the evidence is, therefore, likely to take some time.” Enzor’s inquiry was described by Cunningham as a potential “disciplinary” investigation. It is the fifth formal investigations launched in response to the Guardian’s ongoing investigation into the multimillion-pound operation to plant police spies in the protest movement. Senior police officers have privately accused the CPS of failing to cooperate with at least one other inquiry into the Kennedy affair, which is being conducted by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC). The six activists were among more than a hundred spied on by Kennedy, a Metropolitan police officer who had been living deep undercover in the protest movement. Kennedy was gathering evidence to be used to prosecute the activists, who police suspected of planning to break into Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station two years ago. However, the deployment backfired when conversations covertly recorded by Kennedy provided evidence likely to exonerate rather than incriminate the six activists. Kennedy speculated earlier this year that the tapes may have been withheld by his handlers at the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU). The new evidence suggests it was down to the CPS. Most of the activists were released without charge, but the CPS brought proceedings against 26 campaigners on charges of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass. Twenty defendants, known as the “justifiers” because they conceded they planned to break into the plant but said their actions were defensible to avert climate change, were convicted in December last year. But the six so-called “deniers” who said they did not agree to join the protest, faced a trial in January 2010. That trial collapsed after defence lawyers discovered independently the protesters had been infiltrated by Kennedy. The “justifiers” are now seeking to overturn their guilty verdicts at the court of appeal, after the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, said evidence relating to Kennedy’s deployment that was not disclosed at their trial may mean their convictions were unsafe. Mike Schwarz, of Bindmans, the lawyer for all 26 activists, said he hoped the court of appeal case would examine any failure to disclose the Kennedy tapes.
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