July 26, 2010 by Tim McDowell.

On 26 July 2010 militants staged an attack on a police checkpoint near Peshawar. At least two police officers were killed and another 14 injured when nearly 200 militants stormed the installation. The Pakistani police called in reinforcements to help battle the insurgents. The attack took place in Achni, a small town outside Peshawar, which is frequently targeted by militants hiding in the nearby tribal belt near the Pakistan-Afghan border.
On 26 July 2010 a suicide bomber detonated his explosives at a mosque near the home of the provincial minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the town of Pabbi, 15 mi/25 km from Peshawar. The minister was unharmed in the attack; at least six other people were killed and 20 people were injured. The attack took place as people had gathered to mourn the minister’s son, who was gunned down by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) elements two days earlier. Witnesses claim that the bomber was a young boy who struck as he tried unsuccessfully to pass a checkpoint.

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July 21, 2010 by Tim McDowell.

A passenger bus traveling on an expressway to Huanghua Airport (ZGHA/HHA) in the central city of Changsha in the Hunan province exploded at approximately 1600 local time (0800 UTC) on 21 July 2010. The blast and resulting fire gutted the bus, killing two people and injuring 10 others. Officials have blocked off the road and are investigating the incident. Some eyewitness accounts that detail a man attempting to light a suspicious bag shortly before the explosion indicate that it may have been a deliberate attack, although this has not been confirmed.

ASI Comment: Possible motives in the apparent attack are not known, but China has in recent months faced a wave of random acts of violence that have included stabbing attacks on school children and other incidents. China has also witnessed attacks on buses in the past that have seemingly been motivated by the attacker’s personal issues rather than a political agenda.

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September 8, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

Violence erupted at an anti-Islam rally in central Birmingham on 5 September 2009, as counter-demonstrators moved in and confronted the rally participants. Organizers from the right-wing English Defense League stated that the rally was called to protest against fundamental Islamic extremism in the United Kingdom. Anti-fascist groups that oppose the English Defense League also gathered nearby and accused the activists of racism, prejudice and discrimination against Muslims. Clashes broke out when police officers moved in to quell scuffles among the crowd. Authorities stated that 90 people, including English Defense League members and counter-demonstrators, were arrested for committing acts of violence and vandalism during the rally. Clashes erupted at a similar English Defense League rally held in Birmingham in August 2009. Additional police officers have reportedly been deployed throughout Birmingham to prevent any further unrest. Another English Defense League rally is scheduled to occur in Manchester in October 2009.

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September 2, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

“Ted Kennedy’s friends laughingly recalled Friday the time N.Y. Daily News photographers caught him making love to a woman on a boat on the Riviera. The opposition loved it. Republicans saw the photos and thought he’d changed his position on offshore drilling.” –comedian Argus Hamilton

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September 2, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

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August 19, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

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July 2, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

By Joe Campana 

While most of the country mourns the deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, fraudsters seek opportunity by tricking heartbroken followers. The United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) issued an alert today warning of increased spam campaigns, phishing attacks and malicious code attacks surrounding the star’s deaths. Some scams may result in identity theft.

Social engineering occurs when a fraudster takes advantage of a circumstance or creates situations to trick another person into doing something they would not normally do.  

The deaths of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett surprised many people. An astounding number of people are caught up in the social media blitz. Even I Twittered about Thriller last night. Some fans may be distraught or shocked. These emotions provide a “mass vulnerability” that some fraudsters are exploiting to collect information and infect computers with malicious code.

Fraudsters have taken advantage of other situations to swindle personal information and money following national and worldwide disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the Asian Tsunami. In addition to phishing and malicious code attacks, there were many charity scams.

Expect to see charity and fan paraphernalia scams associated with Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon. Some of these scams will claim to collect donations from unsuspecting consumers for charitable causes supported by the late stars. Some scams may collect credit card and bank account information as payment for charitable donations or for the purchase of celebrity memorabilia. There will be no donations or souvenirs—the financial account information handed over will be used by the fraudsters to commit existing account fraud, a form of identity theft. Remember, fraud can occur through the internet as well as by phone, mail or in person.

The current US-CERT Alert warns the consumers of malicious emails designed to

• Record their email address, which can be used later by shady online marketers to send spam.
• Download malware to personal computer and PDAs when email recipients click on a link in the email. Malware include viruses, Trojan horses, spyware, adware, worms, etc.
• Lure unsuspecting people into a phishing scam.

To avoid these and other internet email scams, be cautious of unsolicited emails. Do not click on links in emails unless you are absolutely certain that you know the person that sent the email to you. Even then, be cautious because that person may have been the subject of a virus, and it was the virus that sent you a contaminated email from the person’s computer. Does the email look “out of character” from your friend? I recently received an awkwardly worded email from a local politico suggesting that I make purchases from an Asian online store. The email was out of character, and when I emailed him, he confirmed his computer was infected by a virus that sent me the email.

Keep your antivirus, anti malware software updated. New threats arise daily, so keep your protective software and operating system current.

http://www.examiner.com/x-9215-Identity-Theft-Examiner

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June 30, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

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This is Classic!

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June 30, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

Something extraordinary will happen at

Washington, DC’s Newseum on July 3.

There, on the day before Independence Day, those who suffered through the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon will tell their stories. For the ages. It’s part of an oral history project sponsored by the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, in partnership with StoryCorps.

Attack survivors, members of victims’ families, first responders, volunteer rescuers and other witnesses will record the horrors and heroics they witnessed that day. Their interviews will be maintained at the Library of Congress and become part of the permanent collection at the 9/11 memorial in New York. (While the interviews are being recorded, Newseum visitors will be able to sign one of the “I” beams that will be used in building the memorial.)

It’s important to preserve, forever, the memory of that murderous attack on the American homeland. If we forget the past, it may well revisit us again.

That said, let’s hope members of Congress will read some of these transcripts. It may remind them of their obligation to be ever-vigilant, and to give us laws that will keep us safe, free, and prosperous against a lurking transnational terrorist threat.

Sadly, this year the House on the Hill seems inclined to do anything but that. Here is a short list of really stupid pending legislation. Some entries exemplify “checkbook security”–measures that succeed in spending money, without improving our security.

Others exemplify “feel-good security”–bills that pretend to do something worthwhile, when it’s not. And some demonstrate “checklist security”–meaningless gestures that won’t accomplish much of anything. None of it is real security.

Topping the “dumb” list is a bill called “Providing for Additional Security in States Identification (PASS ID).” Despite its misleading title, PASS ID actually “takes a pass” at implementing a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission: Improving the security of identity credentials like driver’s licenses.

The bill would rescind key provisions of the REAL ID Act, which established national standards. One requirement eliminated is a system that allows states to readily cross-check their data bases to combat fraud and identity theft. While PASS ID wouldn’t roll back REAL ID in its entirety, it would leave us with something akin to a square fort with three walls.

Then there’s the proposed “Chemical Facility Antiterrorism Act.” The Department of Homeland Security has already established reasonable standards for chemical security, but they expire in October. Rather than just reauthorize the standards, this House bill would hijack the issue and force new regulations to advance an activist environmental agenda.

Under this bill, the government gets to decide what chemicals companies should be producing. And the criteria for this decision-making will be “green,” not security. While this will do little to make us safer, it is sure to drive some chemical companies out of business and encourage others to move operations–and jobs–overseas.

Also pending in the House is the “Homeowners Defense Act,” a bill to create a massive government insurance program–allegedly to help Americans recover after a catastrophic disaster. In reality, the main function of the bill is to force all taxpayers to subsidize insurance for folks who opt to live in beach houses in hurricane zones.

Beachfront property offers a pleasant but risky lifestyle, to be sure. But why should these property owners expect others to underwrite their risky behavior? And what in the world does it have to do with security?

And, of course, there’s the “Travel Promotion Act.” This bill proposes an unusual “solution” to the post-9/11 decline in foreign travel to the United States: Slap a tax on foreigners who do visit. The tax money, you see, would then pay for a government-sponsored ad campaign to encourage people to visit.

The geniuses in Congress are really onto something with this one, aren’t they? It could be the start of something really big. How about taxing foreigners who buy U.S. produced beef so the government could launch a “Buy Beef” campaign? Or maybe a special levy on foreigners who buy GM cars. You can almost see the U.S. steel flying off foreign showroom floors, can’t you?

Unfortunately, this through-the-looking-glass logic is all the rage on Capitol Hill. But piling up debt, raising taxes, growing government, strangling private industry, and repealing sound security measures will not make us safer. As unveiled so far this year, the Congressional agenda for homeland security so far just makes our legislative leaders look dumb and dumber.

Examiner Columnist James Jay Carafano is a senior research fellow for national security at The Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org heritage.org)

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June 9, 2009 by Tim McDowell.

According to local media reports, a jacket intended for a suicide bombing was found at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport (OPRN/ISB) on 9 June 2009. The jacket was discovered in a suspicious bag in the airport’s parking area. A bomb disposal squad was called to defuse the explosives. Authorities did not release any other details regarding the incident.

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