DHS to Launch SAR Database. In Suspicion and Surveillance We Trust?

Homeland Security will launch its suspicious activity report database to connect the dots. Citizens are encouraged to spy on and report suspicious activity of neighbors.

On  October 12, DHS will implement its database of "suspicious activity reports" (SAR). SAR programs encourage intelligence and homeland security officials, law enforcement officers, emergency responders, and even the public to report “suspicious” activities of neighbors and strangers to law enforcement and intelligence agencies. According to the  Center For Investigative Reporting, (CIR) "Reports will be submitted not just by state and local police and agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, but also private corporations that control economic and infrastructure assets considered high-profile targets for terrorists."

This nationwide database will "connect the dots" in order to find terrorists who are conspiring to carry out an attack. The DHS reports will be overseen by the Justice Department.

Nationwide SAR Initiative  (NSI) states some of its successes  such as, "The continued priority to safeguard the privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties of our nation’s residents (including the assurances that not only is information shared appropriately with authorized personnel but that the information that is exchanged is “quality” information)." According to NSI overview (pdf), tips will go through a vetting process by a fusion center.

The Washington Post's Top Secret America found that about 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies work on programs related to counterterrorism, homeland security, and intelligence in about 10,000 locations across the United States. They produce 50,000 reports a year – 136 a day.

How many more might be produced after DHS implements its SAR database?

ACLU said  all these SARs reports "can yield only one outcome: an ocean of data about innocent individuals that will overwhelm the investigative resources of the authorities." Furthermore, the ACLU reported, "Director Michael Leiter complained that the NCTC receives 'literally thousands' of pieces of intelligence every day. Adding innocuous information about the everyday activities of Americans will only increase this burden on intelligence resources."

A senior homeland security official, John Cohen, stressed that "authorized users of the [SARs] system are instructed on how to distinguish between behavior that warrants scrutiny and lawful conduct that doesn’t justify attention from the government," reported CIR. Cohen added, "Users would need a legitimate reason for searching the reports, and they would have to document the justification."

Yet the same article pointed to federal findings in which only 12 of 5,700 suspicious activity reports compiled by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement met the Washington standard for inclusion in the nationwide portal. In Virginia, only seven of 350 met the standard. An LAPD commander told Congress that of nearly 1,400 reports, only 50 were referred to a Joint Terrorism Task Force for follow-up and led to four arrests which were not specified as being terrorism-related.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and the federal government have pushed for greater suspicious activity reporting in recent months. CIR reported, the feds have "encouraged parking-lot attendants, shopping retailers, Amtrak  employees and campers near the Canadian border to report suspicious people. Bridge workers in New York are also being trained to spot bad guys."

Part of the mantra in the DHS Safety Advice for Retailers and Shoppers video is "There aren't really suspicious people, only suspicious behavior." But haven't we seen peace groups targeted, and specific races profiled, even photographers flagged as being "suspicious" in the past?

The ACLU Spy Reports were filled with increased and unjust government spying. The ACLU wrote about SARs, "For all the potential impact on the rights and privacy of innocent people, there is little objective evidence that SAR programs are effective in identifying and interdicting acts of terrorism."

Law enforcement and regular citizens are encouraged to report suspicious activity through such campaigns as See Something, Say Something. Despite assurances that all this reporting will not be done for innocuous and innocent behaviors, precursors, or "warning signs" of terrorism, have been put into public service announcements. Citizens are encouraged to report behaviors like note-taking, drawing, photography and collecting money for charity. The Terrorist Awareness guide lists one "heightened sense of concern" as "inappropriate photographs or videos."

Would you report this as a precursor of terrorism? Kentwood, Michigan, population 45,255, has pictures of water towers on its city website. Yet when an amateur photographer engaged in his "nerdy" hobby and took a picture of a Kentwood water tower, some of the city's utility workers must have decided he was planning a terrorist attack to poison the water supply. The utility officials harassed the photographer and then referred the incident to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, reported Grand Rapid News. The mayor of Kentwood said he "was proud of city workers for their diligence," adding that "they responded appropriately." The photographer, who has never been in trouble with the law, is worried that he may end up on a watch list and have trouble traveling.

I'm not saying that people should not report suspicious activity, but what is considered “reasonable suspicion”? The  LAPD iWatch site behaviors and activities that you should report. There are eight signs of terrorism to look for according to  Colorado Homeland Security.

This is a real iWatch video:

This one is an iWatch parody video by someone who is not a big fan (warning strong language).

Although the news has so far been rather quiet, the Homeland Security database of suspicious activity is about to go live and "connect the dots." Homeland security officials have stressed their ability to "distinguish between behavior that warrants scrutiny and lawful conduct that doesn’t justify attention from the government." There have been assurances at all levels that U.S. citizens need not worry about their privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties. Do you feel reassured?

I hope we are not about to officially go live with the fear-mongering motto of "in suspicion we trust."

(NetworkWorld.com)

Espionage Via Spoofed White House eCard

Espionage malware came packed in a happy holiday eCard that spoofed whitehouse.gov, tricking government and contractor cybersecurity experts and stealing over 2 gigs of data.

mindfulsecurity.com

When many people were caught up in the warm fuzzy feeling of peace on earth and goodwill toward man, it may have felt rewarding to receive a Christmas eCard from The White House. The bad news is that the spoofed whitehouse.gov seasons greetings contained malware aimed at espionage and sucked up several gigabytes of sensitive government documents. Some of the victims worked on cybersecurity as government employees and contractors.

World Digital Economy - E-Government, E-Health and E-Education Trends

(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0c88c5/world_digital_econ) has announced the addition of the "World Digital Economy - E-Government, E-Health and E-Education Trends" report to their offering.
This annual report offers a wealth of information on the vitally important re-government, e-education and e-health sectors. The report includes analyses, statistics and trends. The report provides valuable insight into the key trends occurring worldwide and includes unique regional perspectives on the markets of North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Subjects covered include:

• Smart Cities, the way of the future; 
• Key Global E-Government Trends;
• Key Global E-Education Trends;
• Key Global E-Health Trends;
• Key Elements of the Digital Economy;
• Regional insights for North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Digital economy important to key social services:

Developments in digital technology are driving the changes occurring in key social services such as government, healthcare and education. These sectors continue to incorporate e-services and this in turn is providing the building blocks for the smart cities of the future. Many of the elements that will make up the smart cities already exist and are continuing to evolve and become more widely used.

In the context of the global crisis, we must now look at every opportunity to build smarter communities. These should incorporate cross-sector public safety, carbon neutral, state of the art communications networks, linked to a new generation of social services provided by government, such as e-government, e-health and e-education.

Developments in e-government, also known as Government 2.0 (Gov 2.0) not only comprise web-based developments but increasingly mobile applications (m-government). Citizens and application developers are becoming more involved in shaping this sector with one example including the movement towards conducting App Contests which request the general public to submit ideas for useful apps that would assist in improving government services.

The digital world also continues to influence the growth of e-education with a number of trends emerging in this sector. Cloud computing is beginning to be implemented for use at an operational level, resulting in infrastructure cost reductions and administration time. Mobile technology is also being utilised as an education tool, particularly by academic and healthcare organizations and is driven by the use of e-readers and mobile devices.

The most important sector that will benefit from developments in the digital economy is worldwide healthcare. BuddeComm believes that the alternative to not embracing e-health is to accept a significantly inferior healthcare service in the future. Countries that are lagging in broadband infrastructure developments are going to face, not just a telecoms dilemma but, more importantly, they are going to face a health crisis.

The enormous success of fixed and mobile broadband in both the developed and the developing world is providing governments everywhere with the opportunity to transform the underlying digital infrastructure into a platform that can be used for unprecedented economic and social transformation in such areas such as healthcare, government processes, education, commerce, banking, environment, energy and transport. 

This annual report provides valuable insights and analysis into the key trends taking place in the e-government, e-health and e-education sectors. It explores future directions such as the increasing use of cloud computing and mobility for e-services. The report provides a unique perspective into how the digital economy is unfolding differently around the world by incorporating regional overviews written by BuddeComms senior analysts.

Examples of key insights:

Around the world there are many smart city developments taking place with governments allocating billions of dollars for such initiatives.

• E-government initiatives in Eastern European EU countries have been guided by EU policy such as the Lisbon Programme and i2010.

• According to the 2010 UN e-government survey, the Oceania region rated 0.42 in the development index which was below the world average rating of 0.44.

• There is some evidence that while overall spending on enterprise training has declined in light of the economic downturn; spending on e-learning has grown, with more spending being directed towards this learning method than instructor-led training.

• Corporations are beginning to show interest in a trans-sector approach to the digital economy, with more companies becoming involved in new services for the broader digital economy, including e-education. One example includes News Corp, which recently purchased an education technology company.

Although small compared with the world as a whole, e-education is a fast growing market in Latin America. Practically all Latin American countries have adopted some form of distance education as an essential tool to overcome schooling shortages and improve the quality of education.

In all OECD countries total spending on healthcare is rising faster than economic growth.

Data in this report is the latest available at the time of preparation and may not be for the current year.

Key Topics Covered:

1. Smart Cities The Way of the Future
2. E-Government Insights
3. E-Health Insights
4. E-Education Insights
5. Key Elements of the Digital Economy
6. Regional Overviews
7. Glossary of Abbreviations

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0c88c5/world_digital_econ

(UNPAN)

Malta Takes The Lead in EU on E-government Services

Malta is the European leader for online government services.

Malta has been recognised as the European leader in online government services, according to the government's Benchmarking Report, Ireland coming in at second place.

Measuring across six core indicators through a ranking system, 2010's report shows the best-performing countries that have implemented the most mature e-Government services. The benchmarking exercise not only measures the implementation of EU policies, but also promotes standards and guidelines for future and ambitious implementation of e-Government services.

All 27 European Union member states, together with Croatia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey, have participated in this year’s study, making the report a very comprehensible picture of e-Government across Europe.

The best performing country in the 2010 Benchmarking exercise was Malta - having managed to attain a score of 100 per cent in five of the six core indicators. Second place was taken by Ireland, who scored 100 per cent in three of the six indicators.

The six core indicators included online availability and sophistication, how easy e-services are to use, measurement of national portals by usability, visibility and pre-award of e-procurements.

In the report, government attributed its success to input by the local ICT industry to the contribution made by all local ICT players that ensured Malta’s success.

In a statement welcoming the report, the Chamber of Commerce's Business Section welcomed the good the between the Minister, the Ministry, MITA and the industry in the last years and expressed confidence that greater successes will be achieved in the coming years.


(MaltaToday.com)

Indonesia Plans New Passenger Terminal For Surabaya Airport

hanif pesawat

Indonesia state-controlled airport operator Angkasa Pura I, or AP I, said Wednesday it plans to boost the passenger capacity at the main airport in country's second-biggest city Surabaya.
"We expect to add a terminal for four million passengers annually," costing $ 45 million, it said in a statement.

"Construction will take about 11 months after we secure all permits," AP I added without detailing when the construction will start.

The Juanda Airport in Surabaya, situated on the densely-populated Java island, is currently running over its capacity of 6.5 million passengers a year.

The number of passengers coming in and to the airport is estimated to reach 11.9 million this year. 



(Nasdaq)

Hackers Make a Mockery of Government Security

Australia is facing an unprecedented cyber security crisis with new attacks from global hackers growing at a much faster rate than the federal government can respond.
A report to be released later this month paints a damning and frightening picture of a complacent nation that has not grasped the scale of the threat posed by cyber hackers to national security, the economy and personal privacy.

More than a million computers in Australia each year are said to be infected by viruses that can be used to bring down a website or network.

The Defence Department records more than 200 electronic attacks on its networks each month.

Hackers range from cyber spies working for foreign governments such as China to locally based criminal opportunists.

The comprehensive report, by respected strategic think tank The Kokoda Foundation and obtained exclusively by The Australian, warns that cyber security has become the "fundamental weakness" in Australia's national security and the threat is poorly understood by both politicians and the public.

The report, written by strategic consultant Gary Waters and former RAAF deputy chief John Blackburn, finds that Australia has reached "a tipping point where the current trajectory of cyber responses is being rapidly outpaced by the evolving threat".

"A large part of the Australian population does not comprehend the scale of the growing cyber threat, nor the potential impact of that threat on personal and national wellbeing," says the report, which is based on extensive interviews with cyber security experts in government and industry.

"That lack of understanding, and therefore commitment to addressing that threat, is a fundamental weakness in the individual and collective security of Australians."

It warns that the threat could endanger critical infrastructure such as electricity grids, water storage and distribution, aviation and maritime transport and telecommunications networks.

The findings of the Kokoda report support disclosures in confidential US cables released by WikiLeaks showing that Australia's intelligence agencies privately admitted in 2008 that they were struggling to comprehend the scale of the cyber threat.

A US cable in November 2008 reported private comments made to US officials about cyber security by the then director of Canberra's Defence Intelligence Organisation, Major General Maurie McNarn.

General McNarn noted the "intelligence community was hard pressed to understand the full extent of the threat, let alone serve in a position to lead the co-ordination of any inter-agency mitigation efforts", the cable says.

"McNarn said the Defence Signals Directorate had 'the lead' for Australia in tackling the issue but was more focused on traditional intelligence collection/counter-intelligence themes, and that Australian intelligence would need to stay engaged with its US counterparts to share lessons learned in the cyber arena."

The Kokoda study, "Optimising Australia's response to the cyber challenge" -- says Australia has the fifth-highest level of malware infections in the world.

"There is a growing threat from state and non-state actors who compromise, steal, change or destroy information and information systems upon which societies depend," it says.

The government has stepped up efforts to combat cyber threats with the opening in January of the Cyber Security Operations Centre in DSD, staffed with about 100 people from four federal agencies.

In September, Attorney-General Robert McClelland said it was "very difficult to identify the source of attacks; often they can be routed through other countries or other players". "State actors, non-state actors, private hackers or terrorist organisations, these are all risks."

The Kokoda report says not enough is being done and the country still lacks a "whole-of-nation, government-led integrated long-term National Cyber Strategy and Plan".

It calls for the National Security Adviser to be appointed as the lead co-ordinator on cyber security issues across government, and for mandatory security measures such as firewalls and anti-virus software as conditions of purchase and sale of computer systems.

Mr Waters told The Australian an estimated one million computers in this country, or 20,000 a week, were being compromised by viruses, partly because people were not doing "basic housekeeping" to protect their computers from attacks.

"This is a problem which is sneaking up underneath us, just as terrorism did a few years ago," he said.

(TheAustralian.com.au)