Critical Infrastructure Vulnerable To Attack, NSA Deputy Director Says

David Vergun at the Army News Service offers the below piece:

WEST POINT, N.Y., April 21, 2016 — Strong dependence on industrial control systems, or ICS, is a serious vulnerability for industry, the National Security Agency’s deputy director said here yesterday.

"There's no doubt that Chinese military planners understand the importance of industrial control systems and the critical infrastructure they control," Richard H. Ledgett Jr. (seen in the above DoD released photo) said in his keynote address during a dinner at the Joint Service Academy Cyber Security Summit at the U.S. Military Academy.

Security Threat Inadequately Addressed

Historically, ICS has been strong because of its obscurity, he explained, calling it "weird software with proprietary systems."

But over time, ICS has become less obscure, and providers, working on thin profit margins, haven't adequately addressed the security threat, he said. "Adversaries are seeing what they can get by compromising those industrial control systems," he added.

In 2007, Idaho National Laboratory ran the Aurora Generator experiment, which demonstrated that the electric grid could be compromised. There are other notable examples, he said.

"You don't need to cause physical harm to affect critical infrastructure assets," Ledgett pointed out. For instance, he said, remote hackers using stolen credentials caused a Ukrainian blackout about four months ago that took down the country’s entire power grid.

"These are all fairly significant events," he said. "We're seeing more and more of that by adversaries."

Internet of Things

More and more devices are being connected to the Internet, Ledgett noted. Some 6.4 billion things worldwide will be connected by the Internet this year, he said, and by 2020, that number will be about 20.8 billion. The challenge is identifying emerging risks and vulnerabilities that come about with the introduction of new hardware and software, he said.

"Any system is only as strong as its weakest link," Ledgett said. Most types of devices connected to the Internet are built with differing security profiles and updated on differing timescales, and every time it's updated, that's another opportunity for a security vulnerability, he added.

Cybercrime is one example, Ledgett said. A million pieces of malware come out every day, he said, and 1.5 million criminal cyber events take place every year.

"Today, anyone with a computer and a fairly decent level of knowledge and an Internet connection can pose a very serious threat to an individual, a business, a city and a foreign nation," he said.

The Joint Service Academy Cyber Security Summit was co-hosted by the Army Cyber Institute and Palo Alto Networks.

Two Individuals Charged In Superseding Indictment With Conspiring To Commit Acts Of Terrorism Transcending National Boundaries

The U.S. Justice Department released the below information:

Today, David Daoud Wright, aka Dawud Sharif Abdul Khaliq, aka Dawud Sharif Abdul Khaliq, 26, of Everett, Massachusetts, and Nicholas Alexander Rovinski, aka Nuh Amriki, aka Nuh Andalusi, 25, of Warwick, Rhode Island, were charged in a superseding indictment with conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries.

The announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz of the District of Massachusetts and Special Agent in Charge Harold H. Shaw of the FBI’s Boston Division.

This charge, as well as additional conspiracy allegations, were included in a new superseding indictment against Wright and Rovinski today.  A grand jury in June 2015, charged them with conspiracy to provide material support to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).  The indictment also charged Wright with conspiracy to obstruct justice and obstruction of justice. 

Wright and Rovinski are charged with conspiring with each other, known and unknown conspirators, and Usaamah Abdullah Rahim, 26, Wright’s uncle, to provide material support to ISIL and commit acts of terrorism that transcended national boundaries.  On June 2, 2015, Rahim was shot and killed after he attacked law enforcement officers in a Roslindale, Massachusetts, parking lot. 

The superseding indictment alleges that, beginning in at least February 2015, Wright began discussing ISIL’s call to kill non-believers in the United States with Rahim and Rovinski and they began plotting and recruiting members for their “martyrdom” operation.  In March 2015, Wright drafted organizational documents for a “Martyrdom Operations Cell” and conducted Internet search queries about firearms, the effectiveness of tranquilizers on human subjects and the establishment of secret militias in the United States.  Simultaneously, Rahim was communicating with ISIL members overseas, including Junaid Hussain.  On Aug. 24, 2015, Hussain was killed in an airstrike in Raqqah, Syria. 

As alleged in the indictment, beginning in or about May 2015, Hussain allegedly communicated directly with Rahim.  Rahim in turn communicated Hussain’s instructions to Wright, with regard to the murder of an individual residing in New York.  Wright, Rovinski and Rahim each allegedly conspired to commit attacks and kill persons inside the United States on behalf of ISIL.  In preparation for their attack, Rovinski conducted research on weapons that could be used to behead their victims.  Since being arrested, Rovinski has sought to continue their planned attacks and has written letters to Wright from prison discussing ways to take down the U.S. government and decapitate non-believers.   

The charge of conspiracy to provide material support provides a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, a lifetime term of supervised release and a $250,000 fine; conspiracy to obstruct justice provides a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine; obstruction of justice provides a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine; conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries provides a maximum sentence of life in prison, lifetime supervised release and a $250,000 fine.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This investigation is being conducted by the Boston Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and the Rhode Island JTTF with critical assistance from the Boston Police Department; Boston Regional Intelligence Center; Massachusetts State Police; Commonwealth Fusion Center; Everett Police Department; U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations; Rhode Island State Police; Warwick, Rhode Island, Police Department; Rhode Island Fusion Center; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; and member agencies of the JTTF.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney B. Stephanie Siegmann of the District of Massachusetts’s National Security Unit and Trial Attorney Greg R. Gonzalez of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations.  The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the court of law.

FBI: Man Gets 16 Years For Attempting To Purchase Ricin, Use of Stolen Identity Adds To Length of Sentence

The FBI released the below report:

It was a very scary scenario: Chinese national Cheng Le, living in New York City, attempted to order ricin through the so-called dark web.

Ricin, of course, is a highly potent and potentially fatal toxin with no known antidote. And the dark web includes a number of extensive, sophisticated, and widely used online criminal marketplaces that allow participants to buy and sell all kinds of illegal and often dangerous items, including drugs, firearms, and hazardous materials, like ricin.

What did Le plan to do with the ricin? Nothing good. According to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara, “In Le’s own words, established at trial, he was looking for ‘simple and easy death pills’ and ways to commit ‘100 percent risk-free’ murder.”

While on a particular dark web marketplace in early December 2014, Le asked, “This might sound blunt but do you sell ricin?” Fortunately, the individual at the computer on the other end was not a trafficker in lethal poisons—instead, it was an undercover FBI employee.

For the next couple of weeks or so, Le and the undercover employee exchanged more than 20 encrypted messages. Some of Le’s communications included:

• “If [the ricin’s] good quality, I’ve already had buyers lining up.”
• “Does ricin have an antidote? Last I check there isn’t one, isn’t it?”
• “The client would like to know...if it is wise to use ricin on someone who is hospitalized...Injection will leave needle holes on the body which could be found in regular forensic examinations. But hospitalized people already have needles in them so it wouldn’t be suspicious...”
• “I’ll be trying out new methods in the future. After all, it is death itself we’re selling here, and the more risk-free, the more efficient we can make it, the better.”
• “Also, besides that one bottle of pills with one poisonous pill in there, can you send some extra loose powder/liquid ricin? I’d like to test something.”

Sometime during these exchanges, Le revealed to the undercover employee that he had a specific victim in mind: “Someone middle-aged. Weight around 200 pounds.”

Ultimately, Le placed his order, paying with bitcoins, a virtual currency. Bitcoins themselves are not illegal and have known legitimate uses. However, they are also a common form of payment for illegal goods and services on the dark web because of the anonymity they provide.

On December 18, 2014, Le directed his contact to send a quantity of ricin to a rented postal box at a Manhattan shipping store (investigators later determined that Le had rented the postal box using the name of an individual whose identity he had stolen).

	The phony pill sent to Le glows under ultraviolet light, just as real ricin would.

The Bureau prepared a mock shipment exactly as Le had requested—with one small difference: the “ricin pill” concealed in a pill bottle and the loose “ricin powder” were fake. And on December 23, the sham shipment was delivered to the requested postal box. Le, wearing latex gloves, retrieved the package, opened it, and took it to his apartment. Agents, armed with a search warrant, entered the apartment, collected the evidence, and arrested Le.

Le was tried by a federal jury and convicted in August 2015 of, among other things, attempting to possess a biological toxin for use as a weapon and aggravated identity theft in relation to a terrorism offense. Last month, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison, a term that had been enhanced by the aggravated identity theft charge.

And as a result of yet another successful joint law enforcement investigation—this one by the FBI, New York Police Department, and U.S. Postal Inspection Service—a criminal who posed a deadly threat to the public is behind bars.

On This Day In History in 1841: Edgar Allan Poe Publishes First Detective Story, 'The Murder In The Rue Morgue'

As History.com notes, on this day in 1841 Edgar Allan Poe published the first detective story.

Edgar Allan Poe's The Murder in the Rue Morgue first appeared in Graham's Lady's and Gentleman's Magazine. The tale is generally considered to be the first detective story.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-detective-story-is-published?cmpid=email-hist-tdih-2016-0420-04202016&om_rid=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa&om_mid=40073209&kx_EmailCampaignID=4148&kx_EmailCampaignName=email-hist-tdih-2016-0420-04202016&kx_EmailRecipientID=de5e4076c942a595dbda53f758321d197499484f6d117f61b6ac5c08e0d6f0aa

You can also read my Crime Beat column on In the Shadow of the Master: Classic Edgar Allan Poe Tales and Essays From Today's Leading Crime Writers via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/04/my-first-on-crime-thrillers-column-for.html

Bryan Denson: My Letter From The Unabomber

Bryan Denson, the author of The Spy's Son, offers a piece on a letter the Unabomber wrote him.

Sixteen years ago, I wrote to convicted serial killer Theodore Kaczynski seeking an interview. It wasn’t my proudest moment as a journalist, as I’ll explain below. But my interest in talking with the Unabomber was serious and heartfelt. 

At the time, I was working for The Oregonian newspaper. I had just co-authored a multi-part series on ecoterrorism, a subject I knew would be near and dear to Kaczynski. His anarchistic manifesto on industrialized society heralded a wave of firebombings by the Earth Liberation Front and its like-minded cousins.

Last Thursday, I got an email from my former editor at The Oregonian with an intriguing subject line: “You have a letter here from Ted Kaczynski.”

I couldn’t imagine why the Unabomber had reached back in time to find me. I left my job at The Oregonian in December to write more books and magazine pieces. I thought perhaps Kaczynski had read The Spy’s Son and was writing to offer his thoughts about Jim Nicholson, one of his fellow inmates at the Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.bryandenson.com/blog/2016/4/17/my-letter-from-the-unabomber

You can also read my Counterterrorism magazine interview with Bryan Denson via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/11/my-q-with-bryan-denson-author-of-spys.html

Why Computers May Never Replace Human Spies

Peter Apps at Reuters offers a piece on why computers may never replace human spies.

If legendary British spy-turned-KGB mole Kim Philby was alive to offer arrested U.S. Navy officer Edward Lin advice — regardless of his guilt or innocence — we know what it would be.

Despite repeatedly coming under suspicion, Philby fed British and American secrets to Moscow for three decades before ultimately defecting in 1963. His survival, he told officers of the East German Stasi spy service in 1981, was partly down to organizational ineptitude and his privileged position as a member of Britain’s ruling class.

But it was also, he said, simply down to the fact that when challenged, he always maintained his innocence. Even when confronted with incriminating evidence in his own handwriting, he simply denied having anything to do with it.

“All I had to do really was keep my nerve,” said Philby according to a recording found by the BBC and published this month. “So my advice to you is to tell all your agents that they are never to confess.”

For Taiwanese-American Lieutenant Commander Lin, it may already be too late for that. The United States government remains remarkably tight lipped — for now, it remains unclear whether he is suspected of spying for mainland China or only Taiwan. All that is known for sure is that he faces charges of espionage, attempted espionage and a charge of patronizing a prostitute.

Lin was a member of an elite U.S. Navy reconnaissance aviation unit flying from Hawaii and said to operate some of the most sophisticated equipment and sensitive missions in the Pacific.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/04/14/why-computers-may-never-replace-human-spies/

India's War: World War II And The Making Of Modern South Asia

Veteran journalist and author Joseph C. Goulden offers a good review in the Washington Times of Srinath Raghavan's India's War: World War II and the Making of Modern South Asia.

In September 1939, the British viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, made a stunning radio announcement: the British Empire, including India, was now at war with Germany — a decision made without consultation with any Indian leader. Thus commenced a two-front struggle — one against the Axis powers, the other with Indian nationalists who felt, as Srinath Raghavan writes, “If Britain was truly fighting for democracy, then it should logically forsake its own empire and introduce full democracy toIndia.”

Such was not to be until 1947. In the interim, the British attitude toward Indian independence was sardonically expressed by Winston Churchill in an “after-dinner joke” in the 1930s — that the often-jailed nationalist leader Mahatma Gandhi “should be bound hand and foot at the gates of Delhi and trampled upon by a huge elephant ridden by the viceroy.”

Nationalists such as Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru bedeviled Britain throughout the war, even going to jail for opposing their countrymen fighting. Gandhi even claimed in 1942 that the United States should have stayed out of the war, that it was “a partner in Britain’s guilt.”

But the vast majority of Indians chose to join the British fight against Germany and Japan. By war’s end, India had trained and deployed some 2.5 million men, “the largest volunteer army in history,” Mr. Raghavan writes. Nearly 90,000 were killed or maimed. The populace clearly did not wish to exchange rule by the British to subjugation to the Japanese.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/apr/17/book-review-inidas-war-world-war-ii-and-the-making/