United States Computer Systems Under Attack, IT Security Lacking

White House emails and networks infiltrated, President elect Obama, and Senator McCain's computers attacked and infiltrated during the summer at least once.

The Chinese have been accused and caught spying on the United States since the early Clinton administration, though nothing has really been done about it.

Little action has been taken to secure the systems, guard information from them, and they are still vulnerable.

The scary part, is apparently the ease with which they were allegedly able to penetrate the systems and this should be a warning to any future candidates running for the office of the President of the United States, and any other people in the Government.

It was recently announced that the World Bank was hacked apparently numerous times as well.

Too many Companies, and Government systems holding sensitive data are unnecessarily vulnerable to outside attack. Placing this data on vulnerable and accessible networks is like leaving the door to the candy store wide open.

Recently, Michael Horowitz had a post on his Defensive Computing blog titled "Some Computers Are Too Important To Be Networked". I highly suggest you read it, and apply its lessons to your computer security plans. It is a short post and well worth reading.

An earlier post I had on this can be found here: Obama and McCain Computers Hacked Over The Summer.

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Al-Qaeda: New Attack Planned Against US

According to reports, Osama Bin Laden is planning a major attack against the United States. The report goes on to say that the attack will "outdo by far" September 11, an Arab newspaper in London has reported.

Many papers in Italy have also published the report and all point to one source so far as coming from, a former senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative.

The warning, on the front page of an Arabic newspaper published in London, Al-Quds Al-Arabi - and widely reported in the major Italian papers - quotes a person described as being "very close to al-Qaeda" in Yemen.

According to the report, bin Laden is himself closely following preparations for an attack against the US and aims to "change the face of world politics and economics".

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UPDATE: 93 Dead After School Collapse In Haiti

The death toll after the collapse of the school in Haiti has risen to 93 as of this writing and search and rescue efforts are switching to recovery mode.

150 have been injured and only four children have been found alive.

In other news about the incident Augustin Fortain, the Pastor and owner of the school has been charged with manslaughter.

At the time of the collapse, builders had been adding a new floor to the school. The pastor had reportedly designed the building himself without the help of engineers.

Officials in the impoverished country, which was devastated by four hurricanes and tropical storms this year, promised an investigation into the school's construction and others that might be at risk.

"This construction did not meet normal standards. We are going to ask the minister of education to make an inspection of all the schools built in the same way," said Yvon Bissereth, a senator.

Original Post: School Building In Haiti Collapses, At Least Seven Dead.

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Bali Bombers Executed, Calls For Revenge Made

The three men that were convicted of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people were executed by firing squad early Sunday morning.

The Bali attacks, which occurred on Oct. 12, 2002, involved two major bombs: one set off inside a nightclub popular with Western tourists in the busy Kuta beach area and another in a truck outside a nearby club that killed dozens of people trying to escape. A third, smaller bomb exploded outside the American Consulate in Denpasar but caused no injuries.

The bombings inspired the Indonesian government to act more forcefully against Islamic militants.

Government officials stepped up security at hotels, shopping centers and embassies in the capital as well as near the prison and in the bombers’ hometowns, anticipating possible retaliatory attacks. Security has also been increased in Bali, where thousands of Australian students are now spending their holidays despite travel warnings issued by the Australian government.

Eighty-eight of the people killed in the Bali bombings were Australians, and though many were expressing relief at the executions many in the Country were also calling for a ban on executions at the same time. Though many feel that the ban should be passed only after the execution of the Bali bombers.

Threats of revenge are being called for after the executions, the Country and City of Bali remain on high alert.

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Russian Nuclear Submarine Accident Kills 20

Accident aboard Russian nuclear submarine kills 20 and injures 22, after a malfunction of the firefighting system sent freon gas into the forward compartments.

The latest in a series of unfortunate submarine accidents in recent years points to a still badly managed and decayed military in desperate need of an overhaul.

With its recent new found oil wealth, and what seems to be a new quest to reassert its dominance the Russians are wiping the dust off its old equipment and using parts piece meal to create working and operable systems.

The sub, an Akula-class attack submarine is the K-152 Nerpa (which means seal). Construction of this submarine started in 1991 but was shelved after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

According to Pavel Felgenhauer, military expert with the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper in Moscow the Nerpa's patchwork history may have contributed to Saturday's disaster. "They are using bits of Soviet equipment and hardware, brushing off the rust and putting in new stuff," says Mr. Felgenhauer. "That's just not a good way to develop operational equipment."

Moreover, Russia's military establishment has a crushing shortage of qualified experts. "That submarine was being constructed over a period of 15 years, and was the only one being built at the Amur shipyard during that time," says Alexander Goltz, a military expert with the online newspaper Yezhednevnaya Gazeta. "How many of the original specialists and skilled workers would have stayed on during that period? Very few. Everything conspired to make that ship very vulnerable."

This sub, though no one seems to be admitting it publicly was slated for delivery to India, under what was to be a 10 year lease.

Other accidents in recent years on Russian Subs:
A torpedo accident on the Russian submarine Kursk in 2000 claimed the lives of 118 sailors. The accident -- and the botched response -- were a public relations disaster for then-Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first year in office. (Click here for Putin's video appearance on "Larry King Live"; Asked what happened to the Kursk, Putin smirks: "Ona utonula" -- "she sank.") The Nerpa incident comes as Russia reasserts its military power and prepares to overhaul its nuclear forces; Russia is currently sending a naval squadron to Venezuela to take part in a military exercise.

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