Internet Nuke Bomb Ready To Blow (Update)

The Swapper have been warning about this since last summer when the mysterious Stuxnet worm was discovered at several critical energy and water supply facilities around the world. However, research by Symantec have later reveled that 60% of the infections are found inside Iranian borders. The threat from cyber space has risen to the top of the list over potential global risks in 2011, alongside pandemic diseases and terrorism. The internet, once seen as the solution to all of mans problems, have instead become one of the most severe threats to all of us.

“The primary involvement of states in cyber security, as both protagonists and principal targets, fundamentally changes the nature of the risk.”

Eurasia Group

By the end of 2010 McAfee Security counted 60.000 new pieces of malicious software being released on the internet every day, the hacker attacks on Java platforms (used in practically every security system, including online banks and the Pentagon) rose by 1.200% last year, and for the first time ever the value of theft of digital assets exceeded the theft of physical assets. And for Stuxnet; that’s only the beginning.

More than 100 foreign intelligence organizations are trying to break into US networks, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn wrote in the September/October issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Some already have the capacity to disrupt U.S. information infrastructure, he says.

The US government’s main code-making and code-cracking agency now works on the assumption that foes may have pierced even the most sensitive national security computer networks under its guard, Reuters reports.

“There’s no such thing as ‘secure’ any more,” Debora Plunkett of the National Security Agency said last month, amid US anger and embarrassment over disclosure of sensitive diplomatic cables by the web site WikiLeaks.

“The most sophisticated adversaries are going to go unnoticed on our networks,” she said.

Plunkett heads the NSA’s Information Assurance Directorate, which is responsible for protecting national security information and networks from the foxhole to the White House.

“We have to build our systems on the assumption that adversaries will get in,” she told a cyber security forum sponsored by the Atlantic and Government Executive media organizations.

The United States can’t put its trust “in different components of the system that might have already been violated,” Plunkett added in a rare public airing of NSA’s view on the issue.

“We have to, again, assume that all the components of our system are not safe, and make sure we’re adjusting accordingly.”

The NSA must constantly fine tune its approach, she said, adding that there was no such thing as a “static state of security.”

And the US is not the only nation struggling to keep its sensitive data safe.

According to Iain Lobban, head of GCHQ, the UK’s core infrastructure is under constant attack. He says thousands of targeted emails are hitting the systems every month, planting worms that cause “significant disruptions.”

Mr. Lobban’s claims are supported in a national security report, naming cyber attacks as a top threat to the UK, alongside pandemic diseases and terrorism, according to the PC Pro Magazine.

A Global Threat

“Cyberspace is contested every day, every hour, every minute and every second,” the British security expert says.

The international risk analysis company Eurasia Group put cyber security at number 3 amongst the top 10 risks of 2011.

“For the past decade, increasingly technologically capable hackers and organized crime organizations have elevated cyber security as a business risk, but not as a political risk. The centralization of data networks, both in energy distribution (the move to the smart grid) and information technology more broadly (the shift to cloud computing) are now metastasizing the cyber risk, and governments are becoming more directly and actively involved in playing both offense and defense in cyberspace. The primary involvement of states in cyber security, as both protagonists and principal targets, fundamentally changes the nature of the risk. The new roles of governments and their antagonists bring geopolitics and cyber security together in three different ways,” Eurasia writes.

(Link to full report below).

Java Systems Under Heavy Fire

One of the main components in practically every security system today is the Java platform, produced by Oracle.

So it’s no wonder that attacks on the Java system increased by more than thousand percent in 2010.

“The number of attacks against flaws in Java has jumped by 1.000% – even outstripping attacks against vulnerabilities in Adobe PDF’s,” Microsoft says.

The attacks against Java code – not the Java script – rose from 500.000 at the beginning of last year to about 6 million in the last quarter of 2010.

Even if Oracle have manged to patch the vulnerabilities in Java, the have the same problem as Adobe – people forget to update their software.

And on top of that; Java is a piece of software that’s used in almost everything, it runs in the background, making more visible components work, PC Pro Magazine points out.

“How do you know if you have Java installed, or if it is running?” researcher at Microsoft Malware Protection, Holly Stewart rightfully asks.

(If you want to know more about Java, click the link below.)

1 in 3 Companies Exposed To Data Theft

According to the latest issue of Kroll Annual Global Fraud Report, suggest that the theft of digital assets has overtaken that of physical stock for the first time ever in 2010.

A Survey, conducted in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit, indicates that the numbers of companies reporting theft of information has risen sharply – from 18% to 27,3% – in 2010.

“There’s a growing awareness among thieves of the intrinsic value of intellectual property,” Kroll vice president, Robert Brenner explains.

The survey also suggest that 88% of the  participating companies had been victim of some kind of fraud over the past year, nearly half of them are now fearful of expanding globally because of the cyber threat.

The experts emphasize that the numbers probably not are 100% accurate.

However, the message is pretty clear.

(Download the report below)

The Most Scary Thing

I guess most of you have heard about the Stuxnet worm/virus/malware in the news by now, and are familiar with the speculations that the extremely sophisticated malware might be some kind of cyber weapon, developed by government related scientists somewhere.

I sounds like a plot in James Bond movie – but the truth might be even more vicious.

Davey Winder

According to experts is not unlikely to be a prototype of the first ever cyber-weapon-of-mass-destruction.

Davey Winder, award-winning journalist, business consultant and security expert, explains:

“So what do we know about Stuxnet and the SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems?  Well, we know that Stuxnet is designed to be disseminated via USB sticks, and that it was developed to exploit specific zero-day vulnerabilities in the Windows operating system. To expand on that a little, Stuxnet actually exploits no fewer than four zero-day Windows vulnerabilities, a statement that alone should set the hair on the back of any security analyst’s neck prickling. Zero-day vulnerabilities are extremely valuable to the shady world of both hackers – where a zero-day is a kudos-generating device – and to criminals where zero-day equals pay-day. It’s relatively rare to see a single exploit being used in a piece of malware, and totally unheard of to see four expended in such a way.”

“Ask yourself, why would anyone waste three highly valuable zero-day exploits in a single piece of code when one would most likely do the job? Security experts recognize that this isn’t the modus operandi of the average hacker, nor the average criminal,” Winder writes in a recent article.

Personally, I believe that Stuxnet 2.0 is already out there – it just hasn’t been discovered yet.

The Internet Nuke Bomb

According to trend analyst, Gerald Celente, CEO and founder of Trends Research Institute, will cyber wars cause stir and come to fore in 2011.

And. as Eurasia, he is concerned about the government’s involvement.

.

Here are some of the other highlights in Mr. Celente’s predictions for the year to come:

• Every citizen in 2011 will realize that we are in the “greatest depression”
• In 2011, the game’s gonna run out
• Digital money, not worth the paper it’s not printed on
• The youth of the world has mountains of debt to climb, and no way to get to the top
• The greatest fear that governments have is freedom of speech
• Your growth industries are the gangs
• Crackdown on crime will lead to crackdown on liberties
  
• Drones flying over your city looking in windows
• The more government loses control, the harder they crack down

–

You may not take all of Gerald Celente’s forecasts equally serious, but many of the situations he describes is. in fact, common human behavior, observed in times of crisis since the collapse of the Roman empire thousands of years ago and up to our time.

At the latest count by McAfee Security Lab, about 60.000 pieces of malicious software is released on the internet every day.

And here’s how the last six months of 2010 looked like from the security software producer Kaspersky‘s point of view:

.

Perhaps it’s time to upgrade?

 

Blogger Templates

Related by The Swapper:

• Cyber Criminals Attack Critical Water, Oil and Gas Systems
• The REAL Weapon of Mass Destruction
• Report: Details On China’s Internet Hijacking
• Hey, You HFT Bashers! Are You Ready For This?
• “Artificial Intelligence” To Be Implemented In HFT
• The Ultimate Trading Weapon
• A Hompage For The Homeless
• WikiLeaks: The Diversion of A Decade?

Reports and Research:

• KROLL Annual Global Fraud Report 2010/2011.
• Eurasia Group. Top Risks of 2011
• REPORT TO THE PRESIDENT AND CONGRESS DESIGNING A DIGITAL FUTURE
• US Homeland Security. Report January 2011.
• Kim Jong-il and me: How to build a cyber army to attack the US
• Java Everywhere
• IBM: “Addressing IT governance, risk and compliance (GRC) to meet regulatory requirements and reduce operational risk in financial services organizations”
• IBM: “IT service management in an uncertain economy:”
• Kiyohiko G Nishimura (Bank of Japan): Electronic trading and financial markets

.

Related Articles:

• Government’s Greatest Fear Is Freedom of Speech (lewrockwell.com)
• Gerald Celente Is Worried (lewrockwell.com)
• America’s Going Fascist (lewrockwell.com)
• From Currency Wars and Trade Wars to Real Wars (lewrockwell.com)
• Gerald Celente’s Top Predictions for 2011 (rt.com)
• Stuxnet attacks on Iran creating a backlash – Pakistan Patriot (news.google.com)
• Expert warns of cyber attack on National Grid (independent.co.uk)
• Leading computer expert warns of cyber attack on National Grid (independent.co.uk)

WikiLeaks: The Diversion of A Decade?

There’s a lot serious stuff going on in the world at the moment. But somehow the center of attention is a young man who has managed to piss of some politicians and generals by publishing documents that proves what most people already know – or at least suspected. The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now subject to the most intense manhunt by international authorities since Osama bin-Laden for having sex without a condom. The fact that a stack of reports have been issued, warning about further deterioration of the global economy, currency wars, political instability and exploding social unrest, seems to be mostly overlooked. Am I the only one to  think it’s a little peculiar?

“The WikiLeaks saga is trying its best to offer distraction, but the crisis in the euro zone remains impossible to ignore.”

Robin Bew

It’s been a strange, almost surreal, weekend. Personally I’ve been fighting off a couple of attempts to hack into my computer system, and never in the 15 years I’ve been online have I ran into so many error messages when trying to load pages on the internet. What makes it even more strange is that the WikiLeaks frenzy is happening at the same time as EU and NATO is conducting its first ever cyber war exercise, the US launch a massive operation to seize close to hundred file-sharing web sites and thousands of hackers all over the world gathered at an event organized by Google, Microsoft, NASA and the World Bank.

And all this have been planned long time ahead. The latest release of documents from WikiLeaks was also notified months in advance.

So was the scheduled release of several economic forecasts for 2011 last week. However, these have more or less been drowned in the avalanche of more or less (un)important Wiki-stories filling up both mainstream and alternative medias.

So, I think it’s time to get the focus back where it belongs; on the developments of our global economy, as the Eurogroup meet for another crisis meeting this Monday and Bloomberg reports that the euro’s worst is yet to come.

“The WikiLeaks saga is trying its best to offer distraction, but the crisis in the euro zone remains impossible to ignore. With fears of contagion increasing, our ViewsWire service examines scenarios under which countries might exit the single currency,” chief economist Robin Bew at The Economist Intelligence Unit writes in an email to subscribers. Adding: “We think the euro will ultimately survive, but significant political and economic hurdles will have to be overcome, with Portugal now likely to follow Ireland and Greece in requesting emergency EU/IMF funding.”

Last week EIU released a bunch of reports, based on separate analysis on each topic.

You have to look very hard to find something positive to hold on to. In fact, I can’t remember having read anything like this from The Economist in a very long time.

This is the headlines:

• Sovereigns default as public debt spirals out of control
• New asset bubbles burst, creating renewed financial turbulence
• Tensions over currency manipulation lead to a rise in protectionism

• Developed economies fall into a deflationary spiral
• Economic upheaval leads to widespread social and political unrest
• The global economy experiences a double-dip recession as stimulus fades

• The euro zone breaks up
• The Chinese economy crashes

The EIU label the three first predictions with “High Probability,”  the next three as “Moderate Probability” and the two last are seen as “Low Probability”.

As I’ve been pointing out since the financial crisis became visible to most people, we are in fact dealing with a three-part crisis; the financial, the environmental and the social.

There three problems are connected, they interact with each other, feeds on each other, making each other stronger – and it’s impossible to solve one without solving the others.

Robin Bew writes:

“The UN climate summit under way in Cancún, Mexico is highly unlikely to produce a global accord on emissions cuts, though modest gains, such as on forest protection, remain possible.”

Well, the possibility of rescuing a few trees is not gonna make much difference.

As for the social (poverty) crisis, Economist Intelligence Unit concludes:

“The risk is that instability becomes systemic, with political crises in certain countries affecting others through contagion or through the actions of populist new regimes seeking to assert themselves. Potential widespread disruption poses a considerable downside risk to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global economic forecasts.”

That’s right. Sovereign debt problems isn’t the only thing that is contagious.

“The Economist Intelligence Unit‘s baseline global forecast assumes some increase in social and political unrest, but with serious fallout largely avoided. If economic circumstances were to worsen again, however, there is a danger though that incidents of unrest turn into far more intense and long-lasting events: armed rebellions, military coups, civil conflicts and perhaps even wars between states. In such circumstances, a repetition of the pressures that transformed global politics in the 1930s, though a far-removed worst-case scenario, could not be dismissed.”

In other words: If the economy gets worse, we may face a World War II scenario.

Now, take a look at the top three scenarios again…

First: Sovereign debt

“There are considerable concerns about the sustainability of public debt positions in a number of countries. Heavily indebted sovereigns – including developed economies, notably in the euro zone – could struggle to raise private financing even at higher interest rates, and some could default.”

“The US and the UK also face drastically increased fiscal deficits. They could moderate their debt burdens through inflation and devaluation but this risks undermining their bond markets, and the resultant spike in bond yields could force an acceleration of fiscal tightening, with highly negative implications for economic recovery.”

“Emerging-market defaults would create some ructions more widely, but as developed-country sovereign bonds have traditionally been considered risk-free, developed-country defaults in particular would wreak havoc on investor psychology. Banks would face write-downs on their government debt portfolios, and financial-sector guarantees by governments that default would be exposed as worthless.”

(Forecast: High probability, high impact, risk level 16)

Second: New Asset Bubble

“A flood of cheap money from stimulus measures, in particular carry trades drawing on record-low interest rates in the US, prompted a strong rally in a range of assets in the second half of 2009 and in 2010, particularly emerging-market stocks and bonds, but also in risky asset classes such as equities, high-yield bonds and commodities more broadly.”

“New bubbles could continue to grow for a considerable period of time, potentially several years, during which they will help to boost growth in the economies concerned. But they would burst suddenly, and still-fragile risk appetite could be a factor in this – a decline in risk tolerance could see investors pull their money out of emerging-market assets. Indeed, the rally in asset markets has been subject to periodic reversals in 2010 as concerns about the outlook for the global economy have re-emerged.”

“New asset bubbles may be vulnerable to painful corrections as central banks in emerging markets tighten monetary policy, fiscal stimulus is withdrawn, and the weak foundations of recovery become apparent. The resultant dislocations, including a shock to banks and a renewed rise in risk aversion, would reinforce and deepen a new economic slowdown.”

(Forecast: High probability, high impact, risk level 16)

Third: Currency Manipulation

“Tensions are rising over attempts by some countries to weaken their currencies, and the US and China remain at odds over the value of the renminbi. A global “currency war” would raise the danger of protectionist responses.”

“Tensions over exchange-rates have risen in recent months. The US Congress has been holding hearings on China’s exchange-rate policy, with a view to potential legislation to punish China for what the US regards as a mercantilist strategy of keeping the renminbi artificially low. A growing cohort of other countries are also worried about the strength of their currencies, including Brazil, Switzerland, Japan and South Korea. Market interventions by policymakers in some countries to weaken their currencies prompted Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, to warn of an “international currency war”.”

“Given the closely integrated nature of the global economy, governments will find it difficult to close off many aspects of trade, even if they want to. But trade disputes are likely to increase as populist policies clash with countries’ international obligations.”

(Forecast: High probability, high impact, risk level 16)

All eight summaries are uploaded on Scribd.

By the way – here’s the latest WikiLeaks stories:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested in UK (BBC)

Feds block workers from WikiLeaks (CNET.com)

MasterCard pulls plug on WikiLeaks payments (CNET.com)

Swiss Bank Closes WikiLeaks Founder’s Bank Accounts (RadioFreeEurope)

WikiLeaks‘ Swedish servers come under attack again (The Herald Tribue)

Barack Omama Is More Dangerous Than WikiLeaks (American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research)

WikiLeaks Releases List of “Vital” US Facilities (Slate.com)

Google refuses to disclose whether they’d allow users to repost Wikileaks‘ State Department cables (The Atlantic)

Related by The Swapper:

• The Guardian Site Crashed During Assange Chat, WikiLeaks Removed From The Internet
• Here’s What You Get For Blogging About Chinese Banks
• US Governor, Canadian Official, Sarah Palin; Call For Assassination Of Julian Assange
• WikiLeaks With 5 GB File On Bank of America
• WikiLeaks Under Massive Cyber Attack
• Julian Assange: Journalist, Activist or Informant?
• Swedish Police Drop Rape Charges Against Julian Assange
• US Credit Card User Under Surveilance Without Court Approval
• The REAL Weapon of Mass Destruction

Related Articles:

• WikiLeaks’ Minimal Impact (realclearpolitics.com)
• WikiLeaks stirs debate on info revolution (theglobeandmail.com)
• WikiLeaks whistle blows time on the old game (newstatesman.com)
• You: WikiLeaks all over (nation.com.pk)
• WikiLeaks Founder Continues Morphing Into Movie Villain (politics.usnews.com)
• WikiLeaks: Pakistan Establishment A US Puppet (themoderatevoice.com)
• WikiLeaks summary: Monday, December 6 (telegraph.co.uk)
• Clinton uses WikiLeaks disclosures to draw a laugh (sfgate.com)

EU Respond To Cyber Threath Alarm

EU’s anti-cyber-crime agency ENISA will start working with Europol to track down hackers and the creators of botnets like Conficker and Stuxnet, the EUobserver reports. A new law is about to be adopted, making the setup of these zombie networks illegal. The EU commission says it does not want to terrify people but notes that the Stuxnet could be used to sabotage a nuclear plant.

“To anyone who thinks that cyber-attacks are an abstract concept, I would say that for millions of people each year there are already direct practical consequences.”

Neelie Kroes

During a press briefing in Brussels Thursday, the EU commission for Home Affairs highlighted the creation of two large-scale cyber weapons in the past two years as examples of the increasingly dangerous environment on the Internet, citing internal alerts from British, French and Germany military intelligence.  In January and February last year the Conficker prevented French fighter planes from taking off, in addition to  shutting down the British and German army websites.

The so-called Conficker botnet has since 2008 installed malicious software on an estimated 12 million personal computers worldwide turning them into “zombies,” capable of collectively sending 10 billion spam emails a day without the owners’ knowledge.

The massive spamming can be used to steal money, blackmail banks or other firms with the threat of a shutdown or to get hold of classified information.

Conficker in January and February 2009 prevented French fighter planes from taking off and shut down British and German army websites.

The Stuxnet botnet is designed to take over the control systems of industrial plants, including nuclear installations, in order to sabotage operations.

It has reportedly affected facilities in China and Iran prompting speculation on the involvement of Israeli and US secret services.

A former US National Security Agency officer, Charlie Miller,  estimates that a hostile foreign power, given just €86 million ($105 million) and a team of 750 spies and hackers, could launch a devastating cyber attack on the EU.

In Miller’s worst case scenario, the 27 EU countries would wake up one day to find electricity power stations shut down, phone and internet communications disabled, air, rail and road transport impossible,  stock exchanges and bank transactions frozen, crucial data in government and financial institutions stolen and military units cut off from central command or receiving fake orders.

Celia Malmstrøm

“I don’t want you to walk out of here totally terrified, but just to give you an idea that there is a threat,” EU Commissioner for Home Affairs, Cecila Malmstrom, said at the press briefing in Brussels, on Thursday, according to the EUobserver.com.

“To anyone thinking that cyber-attacks are an abstract concept, I would say that for millions of people each year there are already direct practical consequences. When your money is quietly stolen from your bank account or your country is shut down – as happened to Estonia in 2007 – the threat suddenly becomes very real,” EU’s Information Society Commissioner, Neelie Kroes,  said at the same event.

*

5 Years In Prison For Cyber Crime Attempt

The Malmstrom-Kroes package, presented today,  gives new powers to the EU Crete-based European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA), as well as new anti-cyber-crime legislation that could put people in jail for years.

Ms. Kroes wants ENISA to work with Europol (the EU version of Interpool) and Frontex (the EU’s Warsaw-situated border security agency) in forensic operations to track down the people behind cyber attacks.

ENISA will also to set up an EU-wide alert system on the cyber attack threat level, and a Computer Emergency Response Team inside the EU institutions.

The agency’s mandate has up until now been limited to research on security of e-commerce.

The Malstrom directive draft, approved by the commission today,  is aimed to obligate the EU countries to criminalize the creation of botnets, and to collect and share cyber-crime data.

It will also demand that member states punish cyber criminals and the “instigation, aiding, abetting and attempt” of cyber crimes with up to five years in prison.

Ms. Kroes says she hopes the new measures will be in place by 2012, and that she is “rather hopeful” of success after the first contacts with the members of the EU Parliament and member states who will have  to give the new developments a green light.

Related by the Econotwist:

Europe: Cyber Criminals Attack Critical Water, Oil and Gas Systems

Hackers Steal CO2-emission Permits Worth $4bn

Another Carbon Fraud Raid Reveals Firearms, Piles Of Cash

EU Demand Explanation On US Plan To Monitor Money Transfers

Julian Assange: Journalist, Activist or Informant?

*

Related Articles

• Cybercriminals Launch New Era of “Geek Terror” (businessinsider.com)
• US demands right to snoop the world (go.theregister.com)

Julian Assange: Journalist, Activist or Informant?

The Wikileaks.org is back in focus after another massive publications of classified documents, and  series of TV performances by the website‘s founder and editor in chief, Julian Assange. He promotes his business as “scientific journalism.” The former criminal computer-hacker encourage whistle-blowers and other informants to leak secrets to the public website in the name of freedom of speech, and the principles of a free press.

“My greatest fear is that we will be too successful too fast and won’t be able to do justice to the material.”

Julian Assange

Julian Assange

When I was a kid, we were taught that  squealing on friends and neighbors was wrong. It was a very important lesson Norwegians learned under the German occupation during World War II when many peoples, and several resistance groups, lives depended on it.

Back in the late 90’s, the director of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, (and my boss at the time), Einar Førde refused to run a governmental TV commercial that promoted the police’s “tip-off-phone” for drug crimes.

Mr, Førde’s argument was that encouraging people to squeal on each other, anonymously, could have more negative effects than benefits.

I believe he made a wise decision.

Einar Førde died in 2004, but left behind a big bundle of wisdom. Some it expressed in – now famous – quotes, like;

“The society isn’t exactly characterized by common sense.”

That’s why the critics of Wikileak may have point; some things might not be suitable for publishing.

The Age of The Whistle-blower

Julian Assange, said yesterday that the organization is working through a “backlog” of further secret material and was expecting a “substantial increase in submissions” from whistle-blowers after one of the biggest leaks in US military history.

Speaking in London after his website published more than 92,000 classified military logs relating to the war in Afghanistan, Assange said that he hoped for an “age of the whistle-blower” in which more people would come forward with information they believed should be published.

Assange said that the site, which currently operates with a small dedicated team but has a network of about 800 volunteers, had a “backlog” of more material which only “just scratched the surface”.

While he would not be drawn into commenting on the nature of the material, he said that the organization held “several million files” that “concern every country in the world with a population over 1 million”.

He said the site had undergone a “publishing haitus” since December during a period of re-engineering.

Assange suggested a clear step-up of operations and said that there were difficulties in changing from a small to large organisation while ensuring it would still be able to work in a secure way.

“My greatest fear is that we will be too successful too fast and won’t be able to do justice to the material,” he said.

Contagious

He also said that from past experience the organization was expecting more material to add to the backlog.

He told the audience that after the site leaked details of one incident that killed 51 people in Afghanistan, “we received substantial increase in submissions”.

“Courage is contagious,” he added. “Sources are encouraged by the opportunities they see in front of them.”

He then added that a further 15,000 potentially sensitive reports had been excluded from today’s leak and were being were being reviewed further. Some of this material would be released once it was deemed safe to do so, he said, adding  that the majority of this material was threat reports and that it included more than 50 embassy cables.

Assange’s plans will cause concern in government agencies, which argue that the site’s leaks are “irresponsible” and pose a threat to military operations in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Assange, however, said that the site have applied “harm minimization” procedures before publishing material.

I guess they wouldn’t have established a “harm minimization procedure” if they didn’t think it would be needed.

Detained In Kuwait

If the “harm minimization procedures” will help 22 year old US Army Specialist, Bradley Manning, doesn’t Assange say anything about.

The US soldier was arrested last month after the release of a classified video showing a 2007 helicopter attack that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.

According to Wired Magazine is may also be Manning who have leaked the recent published documents on Afghanistan.

WikiLeaks released 90,000 classified documents about the war in Afghanistan, Sunday, and again the website ran on overload, as US officials fired massive accusation attack on the site for putting the nations security in danger.

Monday, the mysterious Julian Assange, who usually is almost as easy to get hold off as Osama bin-Laden, appeared on the Larry King Show on CNN, talking about the Afghanistan files:

Convicted Criminal

Julian Assange was once a physics and mathematics student, that turned into on of the worlds most famous computer  hackers.

In the early 90’s he was convicted of attacks on the US intelligence, and publishing a magazine which inspired crimes against the Commonwealth.

Wikileaks was founded in 2006. Julian Assange now sits on its nine-member advisory board, and have become a prominent media spokesman on its behalf.

This is how he’s being characterized:

“One of the most intriguing people in the world”

“Internet’s freedom fighter”

“Extremely cynical”

“Assange is serving our democracy and serving our rule of law precisely by challenging the secrecy regulations, which are not laws in most cases, in this country.”

Wikileak have won a bunch of media awards, among others, the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award (New Media) and the 2008 Economist Index on Censorship Award.

Assange brags about that Wikileaks has released more classified documents than the rest of the world press combined, saying:

“That’s not something I say as a way of saying how successful we are – rather, that shows you the parlous state of the rest of the media. How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press combined? It’s disgraceful.”

It’s certainly true that the financial press failed in front of the financial crises, and its true that the traditional medias more or less have abandon their role as news providers.

But Mr. Assange and Wikileaks are still walking on a thin line.

*

Related articles by Zemanta

• A rare glimpse of Julian Assange (newstatesman.com)
• WikiLeaks: Group vows to put more documents online (thenewstribune.com)
• Defending the Leaks: Q&A With WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange (time.com)
• Expect more submissions from whistleblowers, says Wikileaks founder (newstatesman.com)
• WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (time.com)

Gerald Celente: "The Great Crash Has Occurred"

Last year trend researcher Gegard Celente predicted that the global economy would collapse in 2010. In an updated commentary, posted on his blog site, he says that the bailout of Greece is only at temporary fix, and that before the end of 2011 everyone will see that the great crash of 2010 has occurred.

“It’s underway, they can’t stop it from happening.”

Gerald Celente

“One of our top trends of 2010 is the crash of 2010 , we have forecasted in December of 2009 that the global economy is going to collapse , and one of the primary reasons behind it is going to be a currency crisis , it’s underway they can’t stop it from happening,” the CEO at Trends Research Institute says in his latest commentary. Celente also warns against more terror attacks.

“What’s going on in Greece with the IMF and the Economic Monetary Union bailout it’s against the Maastricht agreement,” the forecaster points out.

“They are not supposed to be doing this , this is only a temporary fix it is not going to work , so as this fails we gonna see another crisis pile up upon it we are seeing before the new year of 2011 begins everyone will know that the crash of 2010 has occurred.”

Yesterday the riots in Greece over harsh new austerity measures left three bank workers dead and engulfed the streets of Athens, as angry protesters tried to storm parliament.

The protesters also hurled Molotov cocktails at police and torched buildings, police responded with barrages of tear gas.

Gerald Celente says that the protests are protesting the too big to fails.

More Terror To Come

Months prior to the release of the Trends Journal’s “Top Trends for 2010” – on radio, TV, in Trend Alerts® and press releases – Gerald Celente forecast a new wave terror strikes against the United States.

He predicted the time, the place, the who and the how.

The “time” would be 2010. The “place” would be public and symbolic. The “who” would, in all probability, be a lone wolf of Pakistani origin or heritage. The “how” would be low-tech or high – whatever the method or means, the rationale would be would be the same: revenge.

Celente asked, “Who among the 200,000 Pakistanis living in America will decide to exact revenge for murdered relatives or drone-bombed villages back home?”

(See: “Terror 2010,” Trends Journal®, Winter 2010)

And the connections Celente spelled out long ago between the Obama administration’s $7.5 billion “Af-Pak Strategy” and its terror consequences, have not yet been made or acknowledged by Washington or by the American media.

In the Summer 2009 Trends Journal® he wrote that the military policy resulting in thousands of Pakistani deaths and three million civilians forced to flee their homes could only intensify anti-American hatred.

“Suffering Pakistanis now added to the already swelled ranks of Muslims seeking to avenge the tens of thousands dead and hundreds of thousands mutilated by America in the ongoing Afghan and Iraq Wars.”

In the Winter 2010 Trends Journal®, Celente also predicted that any terror attempt, whether it succeeded or failed, would be instantly turned into “terrortainment,” and the predictable cast of pundits, politicians, experts and commentators would issue their predictable pronouncements: The evil-doers are evil. The barbarians are barbarous and they hate us for our freedoms; there is nothing we can do about it except to further heighten “security”.

Sure enough, among the gaggle of reactions to this newest event was the all-time favorite hollow promise trotted out whenever terror strikes: “We will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice,” intoned US Attorney General, Eric Holder.

And sure enough, as predicted, the motivation behind this (and every other) terror attack would be misrepresented in the three-ring political, pundit and media circus.

There was little introspective attention paid to the connection between America’s military role in Pakistan and the explosive-laden SUV in Times Square.

(It’s kinda ironic that the Times Square incident happened at the same time Nassim Taleb launched the second edition of his famous book, “The Black Swan”.)

True to form, as with terror incidents past, the authorities counseled citizens to “remain vigilant”. Citing the constant threat of terror, they demanded increased funding for tighter security measures – which will doubtless include further abrogation of Constitutional rights, all under the guise of assuring anti-terror “protection,” Celente says.

Related by the Econotwist:

2010 Analysis: Warns Against Social Unrest

Norway’s Prime Minister Fears Social Unrest

Update: 1920-similarities

“A Breakdown In Our Values”

Germany In Favour Of Creating European Army

U.S. Marines Launch Major Offensive In Afghanistan

China: “Mother of All Black Swans”

U.S Pilot Crash Plane Into IRS Building

Wars Filling Norwegian Order Books

Wave Of Protests To Hit Troubled E.U. States

Athens Burning: Police And Protesters In Violent Clash

Greek Protesters Start Blowing Up Banks

“The Economics Of War Unfolding Now”

Athens: Banks On Fire – Thee Dead

*

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Breakup of the US (lewrockwell.com)
• Gerald Celente Survives Chile Earthquake (livingstrongandhappy.blogspot.com)
• Gerald Celente, Neo-Survivalist (lewrockwell.com)
• Corrupt From Top to Bottom (lewrockwell.com)
• Congress Is a Criminal Syndicate (lewrockwell.com)
• Prepare for the Worst (lewrockwell.com)
• It’s Not a Recovery, It’s a Cover-Up (lewrockwell.com)
• Greek Teabaggers Riot Over ObamaCare, Killing Three (minx.cc)
• NY Bomb Suspect Charged Over Terror Plot (news.sky.com)
• What To Do in a Crisis (lewrockwell.com)

Wars Filling Norwegian Order Books

The U.S. military is ordering more and more products from the Norwegian company Kongsberg Gruppen, newspaper Dagens Næringsliv reports.

“The frame of the eight billion is utilized fully, and the U.S. Army has increased the scope further that can give orders  for between three and four billion kroner.”

Walter Qvam

“We started 2010 with a nearly 20 billion order backlog. We now expects to increase staffing in the group as a whole,” President and CEO of Kongsberg Gruppen Walter Qvam says to the newspaper.

Last year more military provider operating income by almost 25 percent.

The U.S. military uses the Norwegian products to warfare in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

A framework agreement with the Americans from 2007 of eight billion for the purchase of remote-controlled weapons stations in the vehicle, has become a pure order, writes DN.

“The frame of the eight billion is utilized fully, and the U.S. Army has increased the scope further that can give the order for between three and four billion,” Qvam says.

Source: DN.no

Related by the Econotwist:

U.S Pilot Crash Plane Into IRS Building

2010 Analysis: Warns Against Social Unrest

Norway’s Prime Minister Fears Social Unrest

Update: 1920-similarities

“A Breakdown In Our Values”

Germany In Favour Of Creating European Army

China: “Mother of All Black Swans”

Related articles by Zemanta

• U.S. Army to give long-serving Humvee honorable discharge? (autoblog.com)
• Want to know how the Obama/Emanuel administration is spending the US taxpayer dollars? Same way the George Bush did. (iflizwerequeen.com)