DHS INTO Building a Cyber-Attack Database

Mohana Ravindranath

The Department of Homeland Security admits there could be drawbacks to the idea, including a spike in the cost of insurance. 

The Homeland Security Department wants input on an idea for a broad cyber security incident database, accessible by members of the public and private sectors.

Businesses could use the database to assess how their cyber practices stack up against competitors, and the federal government could upload its own cyberthreat predictions, DHS suggests in a new white paper fleshing out the concept.

Such a repository would ask participants to share specific but anonymized details about cyberincidents and threats, including details such as attack timeline, apparent goal and prevention measures.

Until the end of May, DHS is collecting comments on the concept and wants responses on three recent white papers it issued outlining benefits, obstacles and data points participants might be asked to contribute to the repository.

There are currently no concrete plans to build or manage that repository, DHS says, and the database could even be managed by a private organization.
But the current administration has long encouraged the public and private sectors to share more information about cyberthreats to prevent future incidents.

Last February, President Barack Obama issued an executive order directing DHS to promote “Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations” — sector- or subsector-specific groups sharing information about cyberthreats and practices, and “Information Sharing and Analysis Organizations” that would develop cyber standards.

DHS’ white papers suggest a shared repository could help organizations calculate the return on their investment in cybersecurity, helping to assess cyber risk. But “unintended consequences” of such a database include the fact that “aggregated data” showing the “total costs or impacts of certain types of incidents to certain industries” could drive up the insurance cost for common cyberincidents, DHS wrote.

The department is collecting comment on various points, including:

- A description of the data points associated with cyberincidents that would be useful to other organizations

- Potential benefits of a repository not mentioned in the white paper
Types of analysis that would be useful to a participating organization
Anticipated obstacles that could prevent the repository model from functioning smoothly

- Why potential participants might say no to sharing this information

King Abdullah Of Jordan: Terrorists Going To Europe “Is Part Of Turkish Policy”

IHSL

Turkey is enabling the flow of terrorists into Europe, according to King Abdullah of Jordan, leaked documents revealed.

The Guardian has obtained leaked minutes of a closed-doors briefing King Abdullah gave congressional leaders during a visit to the United States in January.

According to the documents, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan “believes in a radical Islamic solution to the problems in the region” and the “fact that terrorists are going to Europe is part of Turkish policy, and Turkey keeps getting a slap on the hand, but they get off the hook.”

This comes mere days after the announcement of a large deal between the European Union and Turkey. The latter will receive €3bn ($3.36bn) in exchange for the return of refugees from Europe to Turkey, and an additional €3bn to assisting with providing care for refugees.

King Abdullah contrasted this with Jordan’s own fight against terrorism. Jordan is particularly concerned with al-Shabaab, the Islamist terrorist organisation operating in Somalia that is linked to both al-Qaeda and ISIS.
“Jordan is looking at al-Shabaab because no one was really looking at the issue, and we cannot separate this issue, and the need to look at all the hotspots in the map,” he said. “We have a rapid deployment force that will stand with the British and Kenya and is ready to go over the border [into Somalia].”

Other revelations in the documents include indications that intelligence services around the world are intentionally keeping terrorist websites “open so they can use them to track extremists,” as has been suggested previously in relation to hacktivist collective Anonymous’ attacks on jihadist websites.
Reportedly, tech giant Google told King Abdullah “they have 500 people working on this.”

The Problem With Losing Palmyra

(Stratfor)

Syria

In yet another defeat for the Islamic State, loyalist forces captured Palmyra over the weekend after a monthslong offensive operation. Following other recent defeats by Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria and by Iraqi security forces in Iraq, the loss shows just how much the Islamic State's strategic position has deteriorated, even as it remains a dangerous and powerful group.

The loyalists' recapture of Palmyra is a significant victory for Damascus for a number of reasons. Palmyra's historical significance draws considerable international media attention, magnifying the importance of its recapture. On a tactical level, the operation greatly reduced the Islamic State's ability to threaten key government supply lines, especially along the M5 highway and the road to Aleppo. Furthermore, Palmyra's strategic location at an important crossroads will enable the Syrian government to pursue further offensive operations eastward deep into Islamic State territory. In particular, the loyalist forces can be expected to push hard to relieve the besieged 104th Republican Brigade at Deir el-Zour.

The loyalist victory was not an easy one, however, and it highlights Damascus' continued reliance on external support. As part of the operation, the Syrian Army assembled a number of its more elite units, including the Tiger Forces and Desert Hawks. Hezbollah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directed foreign Shiite militias, including Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani units, to aid Syrian forces. Finally, the Russians provided close air support with attack aircraft and helicopter gunships, as well as support from special operations forces deployed alongside loyalist forces. Even with overwhelming air, artillery, armor and numerical superiority, the loyalist forces suffered considerable casualties against a determined Islamic State defense at Palmyra, losing dozens in ambushes.

Despite continual cease-fire violations, the effort has a clear impact on the Syrian conflict. With major offensive operations largely halted on a number of fronts between the rebels and the government, both Damascus and the rebellion have finally shifted the bulk of their attention toward pushing back the Islamic State, which is not party to the cease-fire. This is evident in the Palmyra operation but can also be seen in Daraa in southern Syria, where the rebels have been able to pull a number of their forces from the frontline with loyalist forces to face a growing threat from the Islamic State-affiliated Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade and the allied Harakat al-Muthanna group. The Islamic State has taken note, accusing loyalist and rebel forces of having colluded in an unholy alliance against it. Though this is objectively not the case, the Islamic State is right to fear the cease-fire effort. As long as the lull in fighting between the rebels and the government persists, the Islamic State will continue to suffer from their redirected efforts.

IS TURKEY COMING IN FROM THE COLD IN EUROPE?

Washington Institute,Soner Cagaptay

Turkey is facing the largest wave of terror attacks in its history -- in the past six months alone, the country has been hit by five deadly attacks. The Islamic State has targeted Istanbul twice and Ankara once since October 2015, killing at least 120 people, and the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has hit the capital twice, killing at least 65 people.

How Europe responds to the crisis facing Turkey could be crucial to the country's future -- as well as Europe's. The only silver lining for Turkey at the moment is the reopening of the country's European Union (EU) accession talks. Although Turkey and the EU entered into membership negotiations in 2005, the country's membership process came to a halt soon after.
Recently, though, Turkish-EU ties have taken on new life. In December 2015, Ankara and Brussels opened a new chapter in accession talks covering monetary policy, and earlier this month the two reached a deal on a plan for handling refugees.

This is because Brussels realizes that it needs Turkey's help with the refugee crisis threatening to break the EU at its seams. Turkey is a frontline state in the refugee crisis, and the EU needs Turkish cooperation. Accordingly, talks have restarted, and the EU is ready to hold its nose in dealing with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's authoritarian administration.

BENEFITS TO BOTH

Turkey has its own reasons to get back on track with the EU. In 2005, soon after membership talks commenced, Erdogan's government put EU accession on the backburner, declaring 2005 the "Year of Africa" in foreign policy in a clear snub to Brussels, and then pivoting Turkish foreign policy to the Middle East.

As Turkey turned away from Europe and towards Erdogan's foreign policy dream of marching into the Middle East to become a regional star in the last decade, the public pivoted away from Europe with him. Opinion polls conducted by the German Marshall Fund (GMF) show that whereas 73% of Turks were in favor of joining the EU in 2004, in 2010 this number had dropped to 38. And then the Arab Spring took root at Turkey's doorstep and emboldened Ankara to throw its support behind anti-Assad rebels in Syria to oust the Assad regime on its own.

LATE TO THE MIDDLE EAST TABLE

Sadly for Erdogan, in the Middle East mere soft power does not make a country a regional power. Turkey's involvement in the Syrian civil war has been challenged by Iran and Russia, two countries with significant hard power assets including proxies and weapons, which Turkey sorely lacks.

Unfortunately for Turkey, the Erdogan administration has not recalibrated their view of Middle East involvement. But the Turkish public has certainly done so: in 2011 GMF polls showed that support for EU accession increased to 48%, reaching 53% in 2014. The Turks are telling their government to pivot to Europe.

Erdogan is taking a more positive view of the EU as well, contractual as it might be. His Justice and Development Party (AKP) has won successive elections since 2002 on a platform of economic growth.

FRESH HOPE

Faced with multiple crises, the EU is not ready to fully embrace Turkey. Nevertheless, a recently signed deal will breathe more life into Turkey's EU accession process -- new accession talk chapters will be opened up during the Dutch presidency of the EU in 2016.

Subsequent to Erdogan's relentless crackdown on democratic checks and balances in Turkey, targeting everything from the media to the courts, EU membership is the last anchor of liberal democracy in the country. The good news is that the EU once again has soft power in Turkey. The EU should reach out to Turkey's civil society, building bridges with them while also working with Erdogan to maintain a recently agreed deal to prevent further refugee flows from Syria via Turkey.

Abandoning Turkey now would be a historic mistake for the EU as this would pave the way for the death of Turkish democracy. An undemocratic Turkey would export instability and more Syrian refugees to Europe.

Russia’s Internet freedom is shrinking

shareamerica

Two recent independent reports paint a bleak picture of Internet freedom in Russia.

Freedom House, which monitors Internet freedom in 65 countries, for the first time ranked Russia as “not free,” the lowest of three possible rankings. “We’ve seen a continual deterioration of Internet freedom in Russia over the past five years,” said Adrian Shahbaz, a research manager for Freedom on the Net, Freedom House’s annual assessment of global Internet freedom.
Shahbaz blames this deterioration on the Russian government’s sophisticated surveillance apparatus (which he says violates standards of the European Court of Human Rights), as well as on the prosecution of activists for their online activities and increasing censorship of news sites and opposition blogs.
Shahbaz says Freedom House’s rankings are based on factors including a country’s telecom market, the level of censorship and surveillance, and the legal environment. “When a country is ranked ‘not free,’ it’s generally due to state authorities using the full toolbox of repression in order to restrict the country’s online sphere,” Shahbaz said.

According to the report, a “steeper decline” in the already “steadily shrinking” digital freedom in Russia took place from 2013 to 2014, following the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine and the Kremlin’s purported annexation of Crimea.

During that period, authorities significantly increased censorship of content critical of Russia’s policies in Ukraine, including information related to anti-government protests. Certain topics covered online — such as corruption, blasphemy and LGBTI issues — were also censored.

At the same time, the government passed a series of laws on “extremism, nongovernmental organizations and data localization that, due to their broad nature and problematic application, have had a massive effect on Internet users and human rights groups,” according to Shahbaz.

Agora reports increased limitations on Internet freedom
Agora — a Russian civil society organization that also reports on Internet freedom — notes in its annual report a fivefold increase in the number of “Internet freedom limitations” in Russia in 2015.

The total of 15,022 instances reflects a growing number of criminal prosecutions (including prison sentences) of Russian citizens for “expressing opinions,” as well as a significant number of violent attacks and threats against Internet activists.

These threats and attacks are occurring in more regions of Russia than ever before, the report says. In one year, 18 people received prison sentences, while 28 bloggers or Internet journalists suffered violent attacks or threats.
People standing in crowd holding flags and sign (© AP Images)
Russians yell slogans and hold a sign reading, “NO to censorship in the media” in Moscow in 2010. (© AP Images)

Agora explains that the level of violence is due to the “absence of effective investigations of attacks.” This gives a sense of impunity to those committing the attacks and provokes further attacks, the organization says. In the past five years, it has documented at least 90 cases of violence in connection with digital activism.

On February 10, Agora itself fell victim to harsh censorship, as it became the first organization in Russia to be shut down by a court ruling under the foreign agents law.

Russia’s parliament adopted the law in 2012, requiring nongovernmental organizations to register with the Ministry of Justice as foreign agents if they engage in political activity and receive foreign funding. The law’s definition of political activity is broad and vague, so much so that it can extend to all aspects of advocacy and human rights work.

Blocking and filtering online information remains the favored Kremlin tool for hampering Internet freedom. But as digital activists have discovered new ways to bypass such blocks, the state recently shifted its strategy toward putting pressure on individuals, according to Agora.

“Real prison sentences for ‘likes’ and reposts are meant to frighten citizens into giving up discussions of relevant societal problems,” the Agora report concludes.

Deadly Bombing In Lahore Targets Christian Minority

Analyst Comment:

The incident highlights the potential risks of militant attacks in the country, especially considering the location of the attack in the heart of the commercial capital of Punjab province. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, a heightened security presence should be expected across the country, and clients should factor additional time in dealing with security checkpoints. In addition, non-essential medical procedures may be temporarily disrupted as hospitals in the city tend to the casualties, and deal with a shortage of blood supply. Precedents indicate that militants target institutions associated with minority groups, including Christians, and Shiite Muslims, and therefore heightened alert should be exercised in their vicinity. As a basic precaution, clients operating in the country should hold a periodic review of their security apparatus, especially those in the vicinity of potential targets. Personnel should remain vigilant to their surroundings and report any suspicious objects or behavior to the authorities immediately.

China military to end paid-for services within three years

Reuters

China's military will end so-called paid for services within the next three years, state media said on Monday, the latest move to modernise the armed forces amid a reform and anti-corruption push.

The People's Liberation Army announced the move in November, meaning non-core activities such as military-run hospitals and hotels open to the public will be ditched.

The military was banned from overt commercial activities in 1998, but allowed some exceptions.

According to a circular issued by the Central Military Commission, headed by President Xi Jinping, the armed forces must not sign any new contracts for paid services and allow existing contracts to expire.

The notice was carried on the front page of the People's Liberation Army Daily.
Ending all paid services is "an important political task" and all members of the military must fully implement the decision, the notice said.

Services that fulfil an important social security function will be allowed to be included under a new "civil-military integration" scheme, it added, a programme the government has given few details about.

The official Xinhua news agency said the change had been introduced "to reduce corruption in the army".

The military is reeling from an anti-corruption campaign Xi launched three years ago, which has seen dozens of officers investigated, including two former vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission, Guo Boxiong and Xu Caihou.

Xu died of cancer last year before he went on trial. Guo has yet to face a court.
Gong Fangbin, a professor at the PLA's National Defence University, told the state-run Global Times newspaper the end of paid-for services would help with the military's modernisation.

"Paid services can sometimes encourage corruption and the military should focus on national defence," Gong said. "The announcement also aims to improve the military's combat capability."

The People's Liberation Army Daily said in editorial the military's real focus should be on how to win wars, and seeking profits would only distract them.
"The military's basic function is to fight, and deviating from that core activity will bring endless disaster," it said.

Xi's push to reform the military coincides with China becoming more assertive in its territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas. Its navy is investing in submarines and aircraft carriers and its air force is developing stealth fighters.

The armed forces are also losing 300,000 members, following a surprise announcement by Xi in September.

The reforms have proven controversial, and the military's newspaper has published commentaries warning of opposition to the changes and concern about jobs.

Iran's President Says He Wants to Resolve Saudi Tensions

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday Tehran was not interested in maintaining tensions with Saudi Arabia and responded positively when Pakistan tried to mediate between the two rivals.

Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad to mark the end of his two-day visit to Pakistan, Rouhani said Saudi plays an important role in the Muslim world and that "if there is any problem between two countries, it should be resolved through talks."

"Iran's nuclear pact is an example for the world. We have overcome problems through dialogues," he said.

Pakistan is a key ally of Saudi Arabia and shares a long border with Iran.
The trip was Rouhan

WAM, BAM, THANK YOU M'AAM: Saudi Crown Prince Offers $10M to Spend One Night with Kim Kardashian

awdnews

The public display by American rapper Kanye West of his financial difficulties, has brought him an unexpected offer from Saudi King Salman’s youthful son and heir, Prince Mohammed: $10 million for the opportunity to spend one night with his wife, reality television star, Kim Kardashian.

Kanye West created a worldwide commotion in February, by bashfully announcing on Twitter that he was $53 million in personal debt. The impecuniousness, he noted, was the result of following his dreams in the fashion industry.

The self-designated “greatest artist of all times” publicly solicited the help of Mark Zuckerberg, whom he asked for $1 billion to keep making art. He also said he would be willing to accept money from Google’s Larry Page or any other rich benefactor.

No billionaire has answered his plea yet, but the Philadelphia Police has extended a helping hand and offered him a job as a police officer.

The Saudi Defence Minister, Prince Mohamad Bin Salman, made a controversial offer yesterday, during a press conference, that could solve Kanye West’s money problems,
The powerful prince, who has an estimated wealth of more than a billion dollars, offered to pay the rapper $10M to spend one night with his wife.
“I have no interest whatsoever in his music or his clothing,” Prince Mohamad told reporters, “but his wife, she is a treasure of inestimable value. I would gladly pay $10M or even more to spend one night with her.”

Neither Kanye West nor Kim Kardashian, have reacted to the offer yet, but it has already provoked violent reactions from various feminist organizations.
In an interview with CBS, the spokeswoman for the Women’s Liberation Action Network, Jane Austin, called the offer “an insult to women across the world”, saying that it shows how women are still treated as objects is certain parts of the world.

The National Organization for Women even called for a protest, which is to take place in front of the Saudi embassy in Washington, on Saturday.

Why Europe must unify its intelligence networks

 

“The increasing pressure on the Islamic State [IS] is causing the organization to change and to alter its modus operandi,” a former Israeli Mossad official told Al-Monitor, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The organization has lost quite a bit of territory in recent weeks and absorbing military defeats on the ground. In light of this situation, there are signs that IS is changing its strategy. From attempts to expand and continue building a caliphate, it is shifting to a survival mentality, maintenance of its current assets. In addition, it now emphasizes the launching of numerous, high-quality terrorist attacks on sensitive sites in the West, with its focus on nearby Europe, in which it can operate relatively easily.”

 In recent months, Israel’s intelligence and security branches came to similar conclusions. IS, according to their assessments, is evolving into a more dangerous mutant. “We are looking at a new battlefield,” said the former official. “The West must learn to understand it, prepare for it and immediately battle against it. Any delay will cause great damage.”

After the March 22 IS attack in Brussels, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said, “This is a Third World War against our common values.” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a taped speech delivered to the AIPAC conference in Washington, said, “Every day high-level delegations land at Ben Gurion Airport. They come from America. They come from Europe.

Increasingly they come from Asia, from Africa, from Latin America. … They wish to learn from Israel’s proven security and intelligence capabilities how to better protect their own people.”

On this issue, a senior Israeli security official who requested anonymity said, “Israel should also adopt some humility on the issue. While it's true that we teach everyone else how to fight terror, we ourselves are unable to cope with the current terror wave that is mainly comprised of teenagers with knives or improvised guns.” Despite this cautionary statement, the West still knows that Israel has the most accumulated experience in dealing with Islamic terror, which has accompanied the state since the day it was founded.

“The most important thing is intelligence,” said Yaron Bloom, a former Shin Bet senior official. “It all begins and ends with intelligence. You cannot win without it. You must map out the areas in which the seeds of terror are sown and cultivated. You have to know what is being said in the mosques. You have to know where the extremists are located and then create a network of informers that will prevent ‘surprises.’”

Salah Abdeslam, one of the perpetrators of the Nov. 13 massacre in Paris, succeeded in hiding for months in the Brussels neighborhood of Molenbeek. Israeli security sources say that this proves that that neighborhood, like other places in Europe, has a terror-supporting infrastructure. This must be fully understood.

The main problem in today’s Europe, said a former senior officer from the Israel Defense Force’s (IDF) intelligence unit, is the lack of intelligence synchronization. In spite of Europe ostensibly being united, its security and intelligence organizations are scattered and unconnected. They do not sufficiently cooperate with one another. According to the source, there are six police and security organizations in Brussels alone. Belgium has 192 security organizations, while Germany has 16 intelligence organizations.

When intelligence does not flow in real time throughout the entire continent, the struggle is useless, said the IDF source, who cited the following example: It is known that Abdeslam was stopped at a checkpoint after the attacks in Paris, but released after a cursory check. This happened mainly because the necessary information did not arrive in time at the right place.

Europe has a knotty problem with political correctness, a senior Israeli figure who deals with securing airports emphasized. He said that a very high percentage of airport workers in Europe are Muslims. Although the vast majority of the workers are law-abiding citizens and have no connection to terror, even one lone worker who agrees to smuggle a bomb or detonator belt onto a plane or into a terminal can cause terrible damage. This is a time bomb. Such a scenario has already played out with the Russian passenger plane that crashed in the Sinai Peninsula in October.

This means that security branches must prepare for all scenarios and that security must be run by the state, like in Israel. This one sphere should never be privatized. The state is responsible for training, guidance, supervision and control. A large number of security circles must be in place, both visible and concealed. There must be active and passive security safeguards as well as synchronization among the systems. It is a never-ending “war of the brains,” but IS can be vanquished, if this is understood as a life or death struggle.

“The key to success,” said a former Mossad senior official speaking on condition of anonymity, “is that European leadership must understand that we are not talking here about a terror attack or some offensives against Paris or Brussels alone. This is an all-out war. In Europe, they still aren’t even able to utter the word combination ‘Islamic terror,’ as if it will go away if they don’t say these words. But it does exist, and it does threaten, and it seems to me, it is already clear that no compromise can be reached with it.

“Islamic State terror wants to destroy the West and replace it. The faster we understand this, the shorter and less difficult will be the path to victory. This brand of terror knows how to reach its audiences, knows how to use the networks and Internet, Sony PlayStation, Twitter and the social networks, in order to recruit and activate its agents. We must learn to monitor all these networks and terminate the recruitment systems. This is slow, time-consuming work. These are the new rules of the game, but with the proper allotment of resources and correct understanding of reality, victory is possible.”

The current “victory” photo belongs to IS. It was captured at a press conference by Federica Mogherini, the EU high commissioner for foreign affairs and security, and her Jordanian colleague after news of the attack in Brussels. Mogherini broke down in tears and left the podium. For IS, this is a victory photo. The West and Europe sanctify life, while IS and radical Islam worship death. This is the reason why the West will, ultimately, win. If it wants to live, it has no other choice.

Ukraine Blackout – The Future Of War

DefenseOne

For a look at how cyber will play into armed conflict, look at the Dec. 23 attack on the Ukrainian energy sector. This was no simple hack involving celebrity emails or embarrassing personal information, but a highly coordinated and complex cyber-physical assault that knocked out power to more than 225,000 people, in a war-torn country, in the dead of winter.

Recently, the head of Southern Company, one of America’s larger regional electricity producers, said that the United States was well protected against a similar attack. But that doesn’t mean that a repeat, or a similar event, couldn’t trigger a larger conflict even if it doesn’t shut off the lights.

Cyber security researchers have pointed the finger at pro-Russian hacktivist groups. US-based iSight Partners specifically accused the Moscow-based Sandworm. But a wide variety of pro-Russian groups are working against Ukraine and Western forces; one is Cyberberkut, which has taken credit for attacks on German media and NATO sites.

So how do these groups operate? History suggests: with stealth and subtlety. Remember 2014, when masked gunmen, not officially affiliated with any larger nation-state, began waging war in Eastern Ukraine? The so-called “green men” completed their invasion before anyone was able to figure out that they were, in fact, invading.

The specific culprit in the Ukraine blackout is almost less important than the broader trend: the rise of cyber militias that work on behalf of state interests but whose veneer of independence gives governments plausible deniability.

Tom Kellermann, the CEO of Strategic Cyber Ventures, put it this way at the recent Suits and Spooks conference in Washington, DC. “There’s a cult of personality, particularly in the East. The greatest hackers in the world, the Russian-speaking blackhat community in the former Soviet bloc, are beholden to that cult of personality. They’re beholden to that cult of personality for a number of reasons. They’ve been allowed to act with impunity when hacking the US financial sector for more than 17 years in exchange for paying tribute or homage to the regime. The examples are Estonia, South Ossetia, and now Ukraine.”

But to read the way US outlets covered the Ukrainian outage, you might think that the cyber attack and the blackout occurred almost randomly. In fact, utilities and central services have emerged as a new front in the war in the Eastern part of the country. Less than a month before the Ukrainian energy outage, one occurred on the disputed Crimea peninsula. Ukrainian police blamed saboteurs.

Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly reacted by promising to construct power lines into the region; Russian newspapers have reported that German company Siemens has a contract with the Russian government to build gas turbine powered-plants in the Crimean cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol.

Siemens reportedly refuted the claims, as building the plants would be a violation of international sanctions). Not long after that denial, Siemens became one of the key targets in the Ukraine blackout.

The primary piece of software implicated in the attack was called BlackEnergy, according to DHS’s recently released report on the incident. It’s less of a weapon than a vehicle carrying a weapon.

The BlackEnergy malware was reportedly delivered via spear phishing emails with malicious Microsoft Office attachments. It is suspected that BlackEnergy may have been used as an initial access vector to acquire legitimate credentials, the report said.

BlackEnergy is still around in 2016 because it has a modular architecture, allowing people to write different plug-ins. By itself, it’s not the sort of software that could take down a power station. Rather, it would work in concert with an add-on, a very specifically designed package; in this case, one designed to attack the control equipment of the targeted Siemens power plants.

Still, recent attacks against US power entities are even more sophisticated than the one against Ukraine. Fanning pointed to a March 2015 attack on a Pacific Gas and Electric substation. The assailants broke into the station physically and then disabled the supervisory control and data acquisition, or SCADA system, before trying to damage other things.

The use of a self-destruct booby trap is the difference between an act of espionage—something that virtually every nation engages in—and an act of serious consequence, possibly requiring international sanctions or a response from US Cyber Command.

Think back to the Sony hack: the attackers not only took data but also destroyed it. “This is why I think many of us worry about Sony, the destructive nature of it. It wasn’t just the fun and games of, you know, what rich Hollywood executives were saying about rich Hollywood starlets, right?” Mike Rogers, the Michigan Republican who used to chair the House Intelligence Committee, said last year. “…That is equally possible in our electric grid.”

If lawmakers decide that the use of software like KillDisk is tantamount to an act of war that could put the military in a difficult position. Adm. Michael Rogers, the head of Cyber Command has said that offensive cyber weapons would be used proportionally and in line with the rules of conflict.

Why the Republican Race Is The Saddest, Dirtiest, Lowest And Most Pitiful Campaign, EVER

ROBERT MOORE

Let's be clear. This is the saddest, dirtiest, lowest, and most pitiful political campaign I have ever reported on.

So let's put it another way: This contest for the Republican Party nomination is not worthy of America. In fact, not worthy of a third-rate authoritarian regime.

The recent parliamentary election in Iran, reported on so ably by my colleague Rageh Omaar, has been significantly more uplifting.

In the last 48 hours, as the Republican Party prepares to jump over the abyss in an embrace of Donald Trump, what has the debate been about?

Almost unbelievably, it's been an exchange of mocking personal abuse.

Rubio and Trump arguing over who sweats more; whether Trump will sue his tanner for the orange tint to his skin; whether one of them urinated at the podium during the last debate; even - forgive me for writing this - the size of Trump's...well, you get the picture.

His is not a nominating contest that is focusing on the anguish of Syria, the nightmare of almost daily mass shootings, or the challenge of confronting Russia in Europe or of China in the Pacific.

No, this is school-yard bullying and petty abuse.

Tomorrow is likely to be a crucial day in deciding who emerges as the Republican nominee for the Presidency.

It is Super Tuesday, when eleven states vote simultaneously, awarding half the delegates needed to win the prize.

Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio - both young Senators, both Cuban-Americans - are the only serious contenders to stop Trump from a victory that would likely destroy the party and change American politics forever.

Donald Trump is hoping for a knock-out blow that will destroy both his rivals.
They will fight on whatever happens, because the stakes are so high.
But if Trump's angry coalition of the alienated is triumphant late on Tuesday night, then America will face a crisis.

A crisis in its politics and in how the world views the United States, certainly. But no less, a crisis in its culture and sense of identity.

CHILD'S SEVERED HEAD: FROM DAESH TO RUSSIA WITH LOVE

rferl

"Woman Arrested In Moscow After Pulling Child's Severed Head From Bag"

Moscow police arrested a woman who held aloft the severed head of a 4-year-old child authorities said she was hired to care for.

The suspect was captured on video shouting that she was a terrorist.

Investigators accused her of murdering the girl in a grisly and unprecedented incident that shocked many Russians.

Police wrestled the woman to the ground outside the Oktyabrskoye Pole metro station in northwestern Moscow on February 29, moments after she pulled the head from a bag.

Internet-posted video of the horrific scene shows a woman dressed in black and wearing what looks like an Islamic head scarf. Media reports cited witnesses as saying she was heard shouting “Allahu Akbar.”

According to Russia media, the woman has been identified as 39-year-old nanny Gyulchekhra Bobokulova, a native of the former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan in Central Asia. Moscow police said she has been taken in for psychiatric examination.

In online video of the incident, the woman could be heard shouting in Russian with a Central Asian accent.

She said: “I am a terrorist. I will die, but you all will be punished.”

Police confirmed that Bobokulova was carrying the head of a 4-year-old Russian child she had been hired to babysit.

Russian media reports referred to the victim as Nastya M.

What is believed to be the child’s decapitated body had been discovered earlier by firefighters sent to put out a fire at the child’s Moscow home.

The local branch of the federal Investigative Committee said it suspects the babysitter waited until the parents and an older child had left the apartment before killing the child and starting the fire.

According to Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, Bobokulova also shouted, “I hate democracy.”

Iran Elections: Heated Media Debate Over ‘Decisive’ Victory

By Farhad Daneshvar

Despite the fact that polling time in Iran ended 48 hours ago, heated debate between conservative and moderate newspapers still continue with claims of “decisive” victory.

While conservative and hardline newspapers claim making big gains across the country, the papers affiliated with moderates and reformists have concentrated on the overwhelming results achieved in Tehran in the first elections since the Islamic Republic clinched a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranians voted on Friday in elections for the 290-seat parliament and the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a powerful clerical body that appoints the country’s supreme leader.

Although the outcome of the polls in most of the cities remains unclear, according to the latest reports published by the interior ministry the List of Hope, a pro-Rouhani coalition of moderates and reformists has won a landslide victory in Tehran, securing the capital city’s all 30 seats in parliament.

Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani and his key ally Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have already polled resounding vote for the Assembly of Experts with most ballots counted.

Therefore, it appears that several important conservative candidates from Tehran have failed to secure any seats in the clerical body and also parliament.

Conservatives claim victory

Nevertheless, the conservative and hardline media outlets have refused to make any mentions of the failed candidates insisting anti-Rouhani members will form the majority in the new parliament and the assembly.

“Iran voted in the favor of conservatives,” the hardline Vatan-e Emrouz newspaper claimed in a bold front page banner headline on Feb. 28.
“The outcome of the counting of the votes across the country suggests conservatives won securing 60 percent of the votes for parliament,” Vatan-e Emrouz added.

The hard-line daily Kayhan, which is seen by many as a mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also says the conservatives have gained a “decisive victory” in the elections across the country.

“Political experts and activists say the failure of the economic policies of the [Rouhani’s] administration and its lack of attention to address the livelihood problems of the nation caused the reformists’ defeat,” Keyhan added.
Moderates hail victory

In a striking contradiction, the reformist and moderate media have hailed the victory of the List of Hope suggesting the massive vote in the favor of pro-Rouhani candidates shows the nation’s support for the plans of the pragmatic Rouhani.

The Qanoon newspaper carried a front-page report announcing a “conclusive victory” of reformists and moderates allies of Rouhani in Tehran.

The Qanoon also carried a photo of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rouhani. A caption on the photo reads people voted in the favor of the presidents’ thoughts.

Reformist newspapers including Sharq and Ebtekar hailed the victory of the List of Hope in Tehran. Ebtekar went on to say the nation believed in moderates publishing a commentary headlined “people responded to hardliners by their votes”.

In its commentary, Ebtekar urged the President Rouhani’s administration to peruse his economic plans and improve the economic situation of the nation predicting the new parliament will back the president’s administration.
High turnout & sense of pride
Meanwhile IRIB, the Iranian public broadcaster, remained impartial in its dealing with the outcome of the elections.

There is a sense of pride on Iran’s state-run TV and radio channels broadcasting patriotic music videos adding color to rolling coverage of the high turnout of the nation in the elections, a move aimed at showing the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic.