Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/258894345?client_source=feed&format=rss
prince johan friso windows 8 logo anguilla gone with the wind michael jordan checkers
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Magnitude 7.7 quake strikes off Canadian coast
Erica Avegalio, center, and her brother Albert Avegalio, right, load up on water and food at the Times Supermarket after learning of a tsunami warning Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Honolulu. A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked an island off the west coast of Canada. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally said there was no threat to the islands, but a warning was issued later Saturday and remains in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday. A small craft advisory is in effect until Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Erica Avegalio, center, and her brother Albert Avegalio, right, load up on water and food at the Times Supermarket after learning of a tsunami warning Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Honolulu. A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked an island off the west coast of Canada. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally said there was no threat to the islands, but a warning was issued later Saturday and remains in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday. A small craft advisory is in effect until Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Mike Nakamoto of Honolulu prepare's his client's boat moored at the Ala Wai Harbor to take it to deep water after learning of a tsunami warning Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Honolulu. A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked an island off the west coast of Canada. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally said there was no threat to the islands, but a warning was issued later Saturday and remains in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday. A small craft advisory is in effect until Sunday morning.(AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Tad Kanski of Newport Beach, Calif unties his family's sailboat moored at the Ala Wai Harbor after learning of a tsunami warning Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Honolulu. A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked an island off the west coast of Canada. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally said there was no threat to the islands, but a warning was issued later Saturday and remains in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday. A small craft advisory is in effect until Sunday morning.(AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Lyndon Fong of Honolulu fills up his gas tank after learning of a tsunami waring Saturday, Oct. 27, 2012, in Honolulu. A tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked an island off the west coast of Canada. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center originally said there was no threat to the islands, but a warning was issued later Saturday and remains in effect until 7 p.m. Sunday. A small craft advisory is in effect until Sunday morning.(AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) ? A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the west coast of Canada, but there were no reports of major damage. Residents in parts of British Columbia were evacuated, but the province appeared to escape the biggest quake in Canada since 1949 largely unscathed.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the powerful temblor hit the Queen Charlotte Islands just after 8 p.m. local time Saturday at a depth of about 3 miles (5 kilometers) and was centered 96 miles (155 kilometers) south of Masset, British Columbia. It was felt across a wide area in British Columbia, both on its Pacific islands and on the mainland.
"It looks like the damage and the risk are at a very low level," said Shirley Bond, British Columbia's minister responsible for emergency management said. "We're certainly grateful."
The National Weather Service issued a tsunami warning for coastal areas of British Columbia, southern Alaska and Hawaii, but later canceled it for the first two and downgraded it to an advisory for Hawaii.
Gerard Fryer, a senior geologist with the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, said the first waves hitting shore in Hawaii were smaller than expected.
Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said early Sunday that the Aloha State was lucky to avoid more severe surges after the powerful earthquake struck off the coast of Canada. Abercrombie said beaches and harbors are still closed statewide.
"We're very, very grateful that we can go home tonight counting our blessings," Abercrombie said.
The weather service also canceled a tsunami advisory for Oregon, leaving northern California as the only spot in North America still under a tsunami advisory.
Dennis Sinnott of the Canadian Institute of Ocean Science said a 69-centimeter (27 inch) wave was recorded off Langara Island on the northeast tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands. The islands are home to about 5,000 people, many of them members of the Haida aboriginal group. Another 55 centimeter (21 inch) wave hit Winter Harbour on the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.
"It appears to be settling down," he said. "It does not mean we won't get another small wave coming through."
Canada's largest earthquake since 1700 was an 8.1 magnitude quake on August 22, 1949 off the coast of British Columbia, according to the Canadian government's Natural Resources website. It occurred on the Queen Charlotte Fault in what the department called Canada's equivalent of the San Andreas Fault ? the boundary between the Pacific and North American plates that runs underwater along the west coast of the Haida Gwaii.
In 1970 a 7.4 magnitude quake struck south of the Haida Gwaii.
The USGS said the temblor shook the waters around British Columbia and was followed by a 5.8 magnitude aftershock after several minutes. Several other aftershocks were reported.
The quake struck 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Sandspit, British Columbia, on the Haida Gwaii archipelago. People in coastal areas were advised to move to higher ground.
Urs Thomas, operator of the Golden Spruce hotel in Port Clements said there was no warning before everything began moving inside and outside the hotel. He said it lasted about three minutes.
"It was a pretty good shock," Thomas, 59, said. "I looked at my boat outside. It was rocking. Everything was moving. My truck was moving."
After the initial jolt, Thomas began to check the hotel.
"The fixtures and everything were still swinging," he said. "I had some picture frames coming down."
Lenore Lawrence, a resident of Queen Charlotte City on the Haida Gwaii, said the quake was "definitely scary," adding she wondered if "this could be the big one." She said the shaking lasted more than a minute. While several things fell off her mantle and broke, she said damage in her home was minimal.
Many on the B.C. mainland said the same.
"I was sitting at my desk on my computer and everything just started to move. It was maybe 20 seconds," said Joan Girbav, manager of Pacific Inn in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. "It's very scary. I've lived here all my life and I've never felt that."
Residents rushed out of their homes in Tofino, British Columbia on Vancouver Island when the tsunami sirens sounded, but they were allowed to return about two hours after the quake.
In Hawaii, the tsunami warning spurred residents to stock up on essentials at gas stations and grocery stores and sent tourists in beachside hotels to higher floors in their buildings. Bus service into Waikiki was cut off an hour before the first waves, and police in downtown Honolulu shut down a Halloween block party. In Kauai, three schools used as evacuation centers quickly filled to capacity.
Fryer said the largest wave in the first 45 minutes of the tsunami was measured in Maui at more than 5 feet (1.5 meters), about 2 feet (60 centimeters) higher than normal sea levels. No major damage was reported.
In Alaska, the wave or surge was recorded at 4 inches (10 centimeters), much smaller than forecast, said Jeremy Zidek, a spokesman for the Alaska Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The quake was felt in Craig and other southeast Alaska communities, but Zidek said there were no immediate reports of damage.
_____
Associated Press writers Oskar Garcia in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mark Thiessen in Anchorage, Alaska, and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
Associated Pressguild wars 2 adrian gonzalez Jerry Nelson Foo Canoodle Isaac path Tropical Storm Isaac path
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Panasonic may be leaving the European mobile market
Panasonic may be pulling out of the European market, barely after they got back into it. There was an ambitious plan by the Japanese corporation to return to the mobile game after introducing the Eluga (see our hands-on) at Mobile World Congress. Panasonic had hoped for for 1.5 million units to be sold this year and then to build up on year-on-year.
Panasonic's plan didn't really take off after the Eluga -- which didn't really get a proper release -- produced lackluster sales. Panasonic appears to be cutting their losses now and pulling from Europe altogether. No word yet on what they'll do in other markets, but Panasonic's mobile strategy isn't looking promising at the moment.
Source: The Verge
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Ve4q3TXUYbc/story01.htm
courtney mercury retrograde bath salts heart shaped box lucid 2012 ncaa tournament bracket matterhorn
AP poll: Majority harbor prejudice against blacks
FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks to supporters at a campaign event at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, in Cleveland Ohio. Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not. Those views could cost Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some Americans' more favorable views of blacks. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
FILE - In this Oct. 25, 2012 file photo, President Barack Obama speaks to supporters at a campaign event at Cleveland Burke Lakefront Airport, in Cleveland Ohio. Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not. Those views could cost Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some Americans' more favorable views of blacks. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Racial attitudes have not improved in the four years since the United States elected its first black president, an Associated Press poll finds, as a slight majority of Americans now express prejudice toward blacks whether they recognize those feelings or not.
Those views could cost President Barack Obama votes as he tries for re-election, the survey found, though the effects are mitigated by some Americans' more favorable views of blacks.
Racial prejudice has increased slightly since 2008 whether those feelings were measured using questions that explicitly asked respondents about racist attitudes, or through an experimental test that measured implicit views toward race without asking questions about that topic directly.
In all, 51 percent of Americans now express explicit anti-black attitudes, compared with 48 percent in a similar 2008 survey. When measured by an implicit racial attitudes test, the number of Americans with anti-black sentiments jumped to 56 percent, up from 49 percent during the last presidential election. In both tests, the share of Americans expressing pro-black attitudes fell.
"As much as we'd hope the impact of race would decline over time ... it appears the impact of anti-black sentiment on voting is about the same as it was four years ago," said Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University professor who worked with AP to develop the survey.
Most Americans expressed anti-Hispanic sentiments, too. In an AP survey done in 2011, 52 percent of non-Hispanic whites expressed anti-Hispanic attitudes. That figure rose to 57 percent in the implicit test. The survey on Hispanics had no past data for comparison.
The AP surveys were conducted with researchers from Stanford University, the University of Michigan and NORC at the University of Chicago.
Experts on race said they were not surprised by the findings.
"We have this false idea that there is uniformity in progress and that things change in one big step. That is not the way history has worked," said Jelani Cobb, professor of history and director of the Institute for African-American Studies at the University of Connecticut. "When we've seen progress, we've also seen backlash."
Obama himself has tread cautiously on the subject of race, but many African-Americans have talked openly about perceived antagonism toward them since Obama took office. As evidence, they point to events involving police brutality or cite bumper stickers, cartoons and protest posters that mock the president as a lion or a monkey, or lynch him in effigy.
"Part of it is growing polarization within American society," said Fredrick Harris, director of the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University. "The last Democrat in the White House said we had to have a national discussion about race. There's been total silence around issues of race with this president. But, as you see, whether there is silence, or an elevation of the discussion of race, you still have polarization. It will take more generations, I suspect, before we eliminate these deep feelings."
Overall, the survey found that by virtue of racial prejudice, Obama could lose 5 percentage points off his share of the popular vote in his Nov. 6 contest against Republican challenger Mitt Romney. However, Obama also stands to benefit from a 3 percentage point gain due to pro-black sentiment, researchers said. Overall, that means an estimated net loss of 2 percentage points due to anti-black attitudes.
The poll finds that racial prejudice is not limited to one group of partisans. Although Republicans were more likely than Democrats to express racial prejudice in the questions measuring explicit racism (79 percent among Republicans compared with 32 percent among Democrats), the implicit test found little difference between the two parties. That test showed a majority of both Democrats and Republicans held anti-black feelings (55 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Republicans), as did about half of political independents (49 percent).
Obama faced a similar situation in 2008, the survey then found.
The Associated Press developed the surveys to measure sensitive racial views in several ways and repeated those studies several times between 2008 and 2012.
The explicit racism measures asked respondents whether they agreed or disagreed with a series of statements about black and Hispanic people. In addition, the surveys asked how well respondents thought certain words, such as "friendly," ''hardworking," ''violent" and "lazy," described blacks, whites and Hispanics.
The same respondents were also administered a survey designed to measure implicit racism, in which a photo of a black, Hispanic or white male flashed on the screen before a neutral image of a Chinese character. The respondents were then asked to rate their feelings toward the Chinese character. Previous research has shown that people transfer their feelings about the photo onto the character, allowing researchers to measure racist feelings even if a respondent does not acknowledge them.
Results from those questions were analyzed with poll takers' ages, partisan beliefs, views on Obama and Romney and other factors, which allowed researchers to predict the likelihood that people would vote for either Obama or Romney. Those models were then used to estimate the net impact of each factor on the candidates' support.
All the surveys were conducted online. Other research has shown that poll takers are more likely to share unpopular attitudes when they are filling out a survey using a computer rather than speaking with an interviewer. Respondents were randomly selected from a nationally representative panel maintained by GfK Custom Research.
Overall results from each survey have a margin of sampling error of approximately plus or minus 4 percentage points. The most recent poll, measuring anti-black views, was conducted Aug. 30 to Sept. 11.
Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political scientist who studies race-neutrality among black politicians, contrasted the situation to that faced by the first black mayors elected in major U.S. cities, the closest parallel to Obama's first-black situation. Those mayors, she said, typically won about 20 percent of the white vote in their first races, but when seeking reelection they enjoyed greater white support presumably because "the whites who stayed in the cities ... became more comfortable with a black executive."
"President Obama's election clearly didn't change those who appear to be sort of hard-wired folks with racial resentment," she said.
Negative racial attitudes can manifest in policy, noted Alan Jenkins, an assistant solicitor general during the Clinton administration and now executive director of the Opportunity Agenda think tank.
"That has very real circumstances in the way people are treated by police, the way kids are treated by teachers, the way home seekers are treated by landlords and real estate agents," Jenkins said.
Hakeem Jeffries, a New York state assemblyman and candidate for a congressional seat being vacated by a fellow black Democrat, called it troubling that more progress on racial attitudes had not been made. Jeffries has fought a New York City police program of "stop and frisk" that has affected mostly blacks and Latinos but which supporters contend is not racially focused.
"I do remain cautiously optimistic that the future of America bends toward the side of increased racial tolerance," Jeffries said. "We've come a long way, but clearly these results demonstrate there's a long way to go."
___
AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius contributed to this report.
___
Online:
http://surveys.ap.org
Associated Pressthe last lecture kim jong un josh powell madonna halftime show linsanity the alamo anencephaly
Yahoo! News - Latest News & Headlines
Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/yahoonewsroom
fox sports obama speech amber rose kindle fire drew peterson Art Modell Frank Ocean Gay
Today on New Scientist: 25 October 2012
Neil Armstrong's postcard from the moon
A postcard that went to the moon and back with Apollo 11 is up for auction - see its retro vision of the lunar surface here for free
Obama is still the best hope for science in the US
Americans who care about science and its wider benefits should back Obama for a second term, says geneticist and Democratic campaign adviser Andy Feinberg
Robots get around by mimicking primates
Robots that visualise their surroundings like primates do can step out into uncharted territory
Three-parent embryo could prevent inherited disease
Human eggs from two different women have for the first time been combined and then fertilised in a pioneering experiment
Pioneering Geron stem cell work may get back on track
The world's largest embryonic stem cell research programme could be given a new lease of life, as a bid is made for Geron's stem cell assets
Dinosaurs were sexy, airborne and very hungry
Dino sex chromosomes give men reason to smile, why four wings were good but two are better, and how T. rex dined on Triceratops
Molecules 'too dangerous for nature' kill cancer cells
Spotting the gaps common to all known genomes leads to molecules that kill cancer but not healthy cells
'Geoengineering' project was about salmon fishery
Controversial dumping of iron into the Pacific was done to boost salmon populations, not to hack the climate, says the project's chief scientist
Grid-scale battery could keep going and going...
A new design for grid-scale energy storage could help back up unpredictable sources of renewable energy
'Freeze ray' powder reveals ice-cream-shaped water
Watch how a new technique can preserve the deformed shape of a liquid as it bounces
What should we fear more: snakes or sedans?
The world around us has evolved more quickly than our instincts, argues biologist Glenn Croston in The Real Story of Risk
Confounded by Mars: Climate history thrown into doubt
The Red Planet was once warm, wet and life-friendly - or so we thought. The closer we look, the muddier the water becomes
Orphaned stars linger in dark matter haloes
Faint light from stars ripped from their homes during galaxy mergers may explain weird splotches in the infrared sky
rush limbaugh rush limbaugh dionne warwick patricia heaton arsenic and old lace leslie varez ward
Friday, October 26, 2012
Rice To Go ? Food and Drink News
Italy?s number one risotto rice producer ? Riso Gallo ? continues to meet the needs of today?s consumer with the launch of a new range. Although less time is being devoted to scratch cooking, time conscious consumers are still looking for a tasty meal solution that doesn?t have any nasty additives. The Riso Gallo Risotto Box is a speedy, high quality meal ready in under two minutes.
Riso Gallo has created a practical way to enjoy an authentic risotto in just 1 min 30 seconds. The innovative production process ensures a creamy and al dente risotto ? the rice and the sauce are cooked separately, each maintaining their organoleptic characteristics.
There are three flavours in the range; Chicken and Mushroom, Ham and Tomato and Four Cheese. The box, a 325g carton complete with disposable fork, is designed for one person and has an 18 month shelf life at room temperature.
Jason Morrison, Managing Director of Gallo UK, Ltd. has conducted numerous focus groups and analysed market trends in order to ensure the final range would satisfy current consumer needs. He says, ?Research conducted in the UK, concluded that consumers wanted a quick and convenient alternative to pasta and noodles, that was packed with protein and flavour.?
www.risogallo.com
?
Source: http://www.foodanddrinknews-online.net/2012/rice-to-go/
ferris bueller god bless america earned income credit super bowl commercials florida primary 2012 super bowl matthew broderick
UK spymaster's diary shows trans-Atlantic tension
FILE - This is a 1971 file photo of the late F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover. Overstaffed, overconfident and all too often over here. That's how a top British spymaster saw his American counterparts at the FBI and CIA, according to newly declassified diaries from the years after World War II. Friction between British spies and their American colleagues is a recurring theme in journals kept by Guy Liddell, the postwar deputy director of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, MI5. (AP Photo/File)
FILE - This is a 1971 file photo of the late F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover. Overstaffed, overconfident and all too often over here. That's how a top British spymaster saw his American counterparts at the FBI and CIA, according to newly declassified diaries from the years after World War II. Friction between British spies and their American colleagues is a recurring theme in journals kept by Guy Liddell, the postwar deputy director of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, MI5. (AP Photo/File)
This photo supplied by Britain?s National Archives shows files containing the diaries of Guy Liddell, former deputy director of the MI5 intelligence service. Liddell?s dairies for the years 1945-53 were made public for the first time on Friday Oct. 26, 2012. Overstaffed, overconfident and all too often over here. That's how a top British spymaster saw his American counterparts at the FBI and CIA, according to newly declassified diaries from the years after World War II. Friction between British spies and their American colleagues is a recurring theme in journals kept by Guy Liddell, the postwar deputy director of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, MI5. (AP Photo/National Archive)
LONDON (AP) ? Overstaffed, overconfident and all too often over here.
That's how a top British spymaster saw his American counterparts at the FBI and CIA, according to newly declassified diaries from the years after World War II.
Friction between British spies and their American colleagues is a recurring theme in journals kept by Guy Liddell, the postwar deputy director of Britain's domestic intelligence agency, MI5.
The diaries, published for the first time Friday by Britain's National Archives, show Liddell was frustrated by FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover ? "a cross between a political gangster and a prima donna" ? and skeptical of the brand-new U.S. espionage service, the CIA.
"In the course of time ... they may produce something of value," Liddell wrote of the CIA in September 1947 after a meeting with its deputy director, Edwin Kennedy Wright.
"There is a great deal of 'dissemination, evaluation and coordination,' but of course the thing that really matters is whether they have anything that is worth disseminating, evaluating, or coordinating," Liddell said.
Liddell also noted that Wright had told British intelligence officials that "in an American organization 500 people were employed to do what 50 people would do over here."
Archives historian Stephen Twigge said the trans-Atlantic relationship was marked by "a certain friction towards what the British might think of as the Johnny-come-latelies in the CIA."
Britain and the U.S. were staunch wartime and Cold War allies, but the intelligence-sharing relationship was sometimes troubled. It reached a low ebb after the conviction in 1950 of Klaus Fuchs, a German-British nuclear scientist charged with passing atomic weapons secrets to the Soviet Union.
Hoover, outraged by the security lapse and angered that Britain would not let the Americans interview Fuchs in prison, threatened to cut off intelligence cooperation.
Liddell accused Hoover of "unscrupulous" behavior.
"Hoover, finding himself in something of a jam, is obviously taking British security for a ride ... Hoover's next move was to go before some other committee and say that the British made a muck of the Fuchs case," he wrote.
Liddell called the American attitude "wholly wrong, stupid and unreasonable."
"It merely shows how utterly incapable they are of seeing anybody's point of view except their own, and that they are quite ready to cut off their noses to spite their faces!"
Twigge, however, said the Americans had a point ? "half the British secret service turns out to have been penetrated by Soviet intelligence."
The diaries cover a dark period for British intelligence, during which several senior agents were exposed as Soviet spies. Liddell was tainted by his friendship with Guy Burgess, one of the "Cambridge Spies" secretly working for the Russians.
The diaries show that Liddell doubted Burgess' guilt. "My own view was that Guy Burgess was not the sort of person who would deliberately pass confidential information to unauthorized parties," he wrote in 1950.
Liddell was shaken by the disappearance of Burgess and Donald Maclean, who defected to Moscow in 1951, and was himself questioned as a possible double agent. He retired from MI5 in 1953 and died of heart failure in 1958.
"As time has gone on it's pretty apparent he wasn't a Soviet agent," Twigge said. "Just unlucky in his friends."
A previous installment of Liddell's diaries, covering World War II, was declassified in 2002.
The new volumes reveal the life of a postwar spymaster to be extremely varied. Liddell attended the Nuremberg trials of senior Nazis, where he saw figures including Hermann Goering ? "one of the few who had much spunk left in him" ? and Rudolf Hess, who "appeared to be entirely indifferent to the proceedings."
Another entry recorded a briefing about a UFO sighting, of which Liddell was skeptical.
"The curious thing to me is that these flying saucers never seem to come to earth," he wrote, "but that, of course, might possibly be due to the very high speed at which they are traveling, if in fact they exist at all."
The diaries stray tantalizingly close to James Bond territory when Liddell is briefed on the potential for radio-controlled pigeons by MI5's pigeon expert, a man he describes as "the nearest thing to a pigeon that I have ever seen."
The expert describes how homing pigeons "go hay-wire" when there are sunspots.
"Sun spots are, of course, minute radioactive particles, though how they affect the pigeons' homing instinct nobody knows," Liddell wrote. "That gives some color to the suggestion that pigeons might be able to home (in) on an electric beam, in other words that you might have radio-controlled pigeons."
The diaries do not reveal whether MI5 pursued the idea.
___
Online: www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless
Associated Presswiz khalifa taylor allderdice mixtape reggie wayne taylor allderdice vincent jackson vicki gunvalson pierre garcon brown recluse spider
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Cybersecurity chief: Attacks on US banks tough to pin down
Cybersecurity getting increased attention from US government after a wave of Internet attacks on US banks. Pentagon blames Iran, but cybersecurity expert Gil Shwed says they could come from any developed country.
In this September file photo, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta speaks at a news conference at the Pentagon, in Washington. A wave of attacks on US bank websites has raised cybersecurity concerns among US government officials. The Pentagon blames Iran for the attacks.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP/File
EnlargeThe man often credited as being the father of Internet defense says it's still unclear where a recent wave of hacking attacks targeting the U.S. financial industry are coming from.
Skip to next paragraph' +
google_ads[0].line2 + '
' +
google_ads[0].line3 + '
Subscribe Today to the Monitor
Gil Shwed is the co-founder and CEO of?Check Point Software Technologies.?Many recognize him and the company's other co-founder, Marius Nacht, as the world's pioneers in cyber-security. Shwed developed his expertise designing systems for an elite technology unit in the Israel Defense Forces years before the internet became a daily part of our lives.
?Shwed said today "Iran is definitely capable of launching these kinds of attacks but so is just about any other developed country."
?In the last several weeks reports have surfaced that several major American banks have been hit by a wave of Internet-based attacks slowing down or temporarily cutting off service.? Officials at the Pentagon were the first to?point the finger at the government of Iran. Shwed agrees it is possible Iran is to blame but cautions it's very difficult to tell where attacks come from because they can be diverted over and over to cover up the actual source.
?Without admitting guilt, Iranian officials have boasted about their increasing capability to carry out such attacks.
?While the Islamic Republic of Iran is widely blamed, a group calling itself the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters Group has claimed responsibility. Their name comes from a Muslim leader that directed waves of murderous attacks targeting Jews living in the Middle East in the 1920s and 1930s.? The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters dubbed their internet attacks "Operation Ababil" (Ababil is Farsi for swallow ? the Iranian government also has a fleet of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles by the same name).
?In a statement filed on the internet late Tuesday night the group said, "Operation Ababil is retaliation in response of the organized insulting to the Prophet of Islam done by some arrogant western governments." The statement then again took credit for attacks on several American banks and threatened to carry out more.
On Wednesday, a New York Times report said Iranian hackers were also able to break into the?computer system of oil giant Saudi Aramco?earlier this year and wipe out almost three quarters of the data saved on the company's servers.
?There are signs the U.S. Government is starting to take these threats more seriously. Earlier this month Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta?sounded the alarm?on the nation's cyber-security saying "an aggressor nation or extremist group could gain control of critical switches and derail passenger trains, or trains loaded with lethal chemical. They could contaminate the water supply in major cities, or shut down the power grid across large parts of the country... a cyber-Pearl Harbor that would cause physical destruction and loss of life, paralyze and shock the nation, and create a profound new sense of vulnerability.''
Shwed echoed the Secretary of Defense's comments saying "the risk is absolutely there. But it isn't just government and infrastructure agencies that need to be on guard.? Every individual with a computer is at risk. These organizations, wherever they are, can infect tens of
thousands or even millions of computers."
Shwed added keeping your company or your individual computer or mobile device's security software updated is essential.
Despite the recent wave of cyber-attacks Check Point's stock has taken a hit in the last six months, it's down about 30 percent. Shwed blames the drop in large part to concerns over the European slowdown and the impact that will have on growth. But he optimistically says "the company is doing well whether profits increase 20 percent or decrease 20 percent." He also noted despite the recent downturn, shares are up almost 35 percent over the last three years.
devils dodgers rachel maddow gia la riots new jersey devils torn acl
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)