[iwar] Article

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2002-07-31 19:28:46
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Wed, 31 Jul 2002 19:28:46 -0700 (PDT)
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http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/31/opinion/31TRAY.html

This Delivery Guy Won't Spy By BUTCH TRAYLOR

VALDOSTA, Ga. -- I've been reading, with a great deal of concern, about
the Justice Department's proposed Terrorism Information and Prevention
System, under which ordinary men and women working for utility
companies, trucking services or the post office would be asked to report
any "suspicious" activities they see.

I'm a delivery guy. For 25 years I've worked as a Teamster, transporting
parcels all over South Georgia. I've seen some unusual things in my day
-- in my customers' homes and in some of their parcels, which
occasionally fall open to reveal strange (usually highly personal) items
-- but I've always felt it is just a little un-American to pay too much
attention to what my customers are doing or receiving. I worry about
whose definition of "suspicious" is going to be used.

The TIPS program, in fact, reminds me of Deputy Sheriff Barney Fife.
Growing up in the 1960's, my sister Marie and I would watch "The Andy
Griffith Show" every Saturday night. And every week, if there was even a
hint of crime or danger in Mayberry, the ever vigilant Barney was eager
to spring into action, lay a dragnet around the city, form a posse and
deputize everyone from Otis the town drunk to Floyd the barber. Always
on the ready, Barney would pull out his lone bullet, chamber it into his
side arm and inevitably fire it into the ground, barely missing his own
foot.

Now I see that the same people who last summer thwarted an F.B.I. field
office investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, the alleged 20th hijacker in
the Sept. 11 attack, want to enlist every goober who installs phone
lines or delivers pizza to be the next Ace Ventura terrorist detective.

It bothers me that those charged with defending our freedom would so
cavalierly foster such an atmosphere of fear and suspicion. It bothers
me to think that my postman might be paying more attention to where my
mail is coming from than to where it's supposed to go.

I have to admit that I didn't expect this ill-conceived program to
survive -- given critics as diverse as House majority leader Dick Armey
and Senator Charles E. Schumer. I thought this kind of thinking went out
with the fall of Communist nations like Czechoslovakia, where citizens
were encouraged to report on their neighbors and in some cases even
family members.

Attorney General John Ashcroft has shown great courage and determination
since Sept. 11, but with this latest effort he seems bent on purveying
fear instead of providing us with better security.

In the numerous episodes of "The Andy Griffith Show" that Marie and I
watched, Sheriff Andy Taylor's stable temperament was always there to
counterbalance Barney's overzealousness. That balance seems to be
missing in the TIPS program.

After the World Trade Center attack, my fellow workers and I -- along
with my company's management -- donated time and money to support the
victims of this crisis. We will be there for our country -- and our
customers -- anytime we are needed. But a program that asks people like
us to do surveillance is a dangerous overreaction. It threatens the
trust we've built in the communities we serve every day. After all, part
of being free in America is knowing that the people who live and work in
your neighborhood are not reporting on your activities. To surrender
that freedom is to give a victory to the terrorists who thought they
could intimidate an entire nation. As for me, I won't live in fear and I
won't foster it, either.

Butch Traylor works for United Parcel Service.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/internet/07/31/pentagon.hackers.ap/index.html

Military imposes limits on wireless devices Fear of hackers or spies
prompts latest security move

July 31, 2002 Posted: 11:26 AM EDT (1526 GMT) Military imposes limits on
wireless devices

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The wireless soldier may be getting some new strings
attached.

The Defense Department, concerned that hackers or spies might eavesdrop
on classified meetings or secretly track the locations of top United
States officials, is imposing new limits on its' workers use of the
latest generation of wireless devices inside military buildings.

The new rules will outline new restrictions on civilian and military
employees carrying cellular telephones, pagers and handheld computers
while working, even devices that employees bought themselves and carry
for their personal convenience at work, said John P. Stenbit, the
assistant defense secretary for command, control, communications and
intelligence.

Stenbit, who also is the Pentagon's chief information officer, disclosed
the upcoming rules Tuesday after a technology conference in Washington
focusing on security problems of wireless devices. Stenbit said the new
rules would be announced within a month.

In an earlier speech at the same conference, President Bush's top
cybersecurity adviser, Richard Clarke, said the technology industry was
acting irresponsibly by selling wireless tools such as computer network
devices that remain remarkably easy for hackers to attack.

The industry's most common data-scrambling technique designed to keep
out eavesdroppers, called the wireless encryption protocol, can be
broken -- usually in less than five minutes -- with software available
on the Internet.

"It is irresponsible to sell a product in a way that can be so easily
misused by a customer in a way that jeopardizes their confidential and
proprietary and sensitive information," Clarke said.

Clarke said government and companies need to explain to consumers ways
to keep their information secure over wireless networks. Some
recommendations will be included in a forthcoming report from the
administration on cybersecurity, which currently runs more than 2,800
pages. Classified conversations

Stenbit said the new rules would explain which equipment, such as
handheld Blackberry e-mail devices, may be used in different areas of
military buildings, including the Pentagon. Stenbit has complained to
colleagues about classified meetings being interrupted when electronic
bug-sweepers in specially designed conference rooms detect the presence
of cell phones and handheld computers. Classified conversations

Stenbit exhorts visitors, "Let's lose the devices," said one frequent
meeting participant, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Robert Gorrie, deputy director of the Pentagon's Defense-wide
Information Assurance Program Office, called it "a thorn in my side"
when military officers try to carry handheld wireless devices inside
such classified conference rooms.

Gorrie said the military won't ban wireless gadgets outright because of
their convenience but also won't let workers use them without clear
rules. "That would be a stupid thing to do," he said.

The new policy reflects increasing concerns among security experts about
the latest breed of devices, such as two-way pagers and wireless network
cards for handheld computers. Officials have previously worried that
cell phones, programmed to answer automatically and with ringers set to
silent, could be hidden inside a conference room and dialed to function
as low-tech listening devices. No phones

The newest wireless devices, which can send and receive e-mails and even
voice messages, also could be misused as eavesdropping devices, even
without the user's knowledge. And since the devices usually transmit
continuously, experts worry they could be used to trace a particular
user's location. They fear, for example, that a two-way pager assigned
to a top Defense Department official could reveal whenever that person
rushes to the Pentagon in the middle of the night. No phones

"They're recognizing the kinds of threats that are out there," said Art
Matin, president of McAfee Security, a software company. "That kind of
spark will accelerate people's focus on that risk."

Other U.S. agencies already impose some restrictions on wireless
technology. Visitors to the CIA's headquarters must leave cell phones in
the parking lot, and signs warn visitors to some offices at the National
Security Council not to bring cell phones inside.

Workers at the Defense Intelligence Agency must walk outside the
headquarters building to place a call on a cell phone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Attacks-Fake-IDs.html

Sept. 11 Fake ID Suspect Flees U.S. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:16 p.m. ET

PATERSON, N.J. (AP) -- A man who authorities said sold fake
identification to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers apparently left on a
flight to Egypt before authorities raided his home and businesses
Wednesday, officials said.

Mohamad El Atriss, an Egyptian immigrant, operated businesses in
Paterson and Elizabeth where he sold the IDs, said Passaic County
Sheriff Jerry Speziale.

Authorities raided his home and business Wednesday afternoon and were
told Atriss had taken a flight from Newark to Egypt, Speziale said.
Authorities were unsure if the flight left Tuesday or Wednesday.

Authorities contacted Interpol to tell them about Atriss, who had not
been on surveillance 24 hours a day, said Lt. Robert Weston of the
Passaic County sheriff's office.

Atriss sold a fake identification card to Khalid Almihdhar, who was on
Flight 77 as it hit the Pentagon, and one to hijacker Abdul Aziz Alomari
from Flight 11, which hit the World Trade Center, Speziale said.

Authorities said they had 75 fake IDs that Atriss generated and sold for
as much as $800 each, though they believed he made many more. The IDs
included international driver's licenses and New Jersey state ID cards,
neither of which legally exist.

Wednesday's raids followed a four-month investigation by sheriffs in
Passaic, Bergen and Essex counties, the Paterson police and the FBI,
Speziale said.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Paper Trail, began after police in
Bergen and Passaic counties starting finding similar fake IDs, Speziale
said.

Authorities were tipped to Atriss by a St. Paul, Minn., company after he
contacted it about paying cash for a high-speed copier machine capable
of embossing seals.

Atriss never bought the copier from Minnesota, but did contact a
Paterson company about a similar purchase, Speziale said. That company
also became suspicious when Atriss offered to pay cash for the machine
and they called the FBI, Speziale said.

FBI agents posed as merchants at the store and sold Atriss the copier,
Speziale said. Law enforcement authorities also purchased fake IDs at
Atriss' stores, known as All Service Plus, Overseas Development and
Trading Co. and Green Palm Investments.

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