2014: The Year Cyber Danger Doubled

As reported by ASIS 30 December, 2014

Former Michigan CISO Dan Lohrmann says 2014 saw cyber danger double, with ever more and larger cyberattacks, greater investments in cybersecurity, and growing public awareness of cyberthreats. Although 2013 was already a huge year for cyber issues, including the Edward Snowden leaks and the Target data breach, the big cybersecurity stories simply kept coming in 2014. Lorhmann points to numerous doublings in this realm, from reports at the costs of data breaches have doubled, military spending on cyber defense doubling, the number of cyber insurance policies doubling, and so forth. The government has been hit repeatedly, with the hack of the U.S. Postal Service only the most prominent such event occurring this year. Surveys show growing awareness of cybersecurity among the public, with a recent Gallup poll finding that having a phone or computer is now the second most-feared crime in America. All of the cyber news in 2014 came to a head with the Sony hack at the end of November, arguably the biggest cybersecurity story ever, which has grown from a leak of embarrassing emails and business secrets into an issue of national security and national pride. Lohrmann says the attention paid to cybersecurity will only increase in 2015, even as the Internet of Things and continuing trends such as cloud computing and mobile security continue to generate new threats and areas of concern……

Suspect Vessel Intercepted by Italian Authorities

ROME — Italian authorities took control Tuesday of a cargo ship carrying hundreds of migrants after the crew disappeared and set it on a programmed route to crash into a coast, officials said.

The alarm was first raised about the Moldovan-flagged Blue Sky M after a passenger sent a distress call earlier Tuesday when the ship was off Greece. Greek authorities scrambled a navy frigate and helicopter, but the captain said the vessel wasn’t in distress and didn’t require assistance.

The ship then headed on its own toward Italy. As it neared Santa Maria di Leuca, on the southernmost tip of the “heel” of boot-shaped Italy, Italian port authorities dispatched two helicopters as a precaution and boarded the ship with a team of six coast guard officials.

Coast guard spokesman Cmdr. Filippo Marini said the team took control of the ship after determining there was no crew to be found. He said the Italians “avoided disaster” by interrupting the programmed route that would have had the ship crash into shore.

He said the motor had been blocked, and that the Italian crew was trying to unblock it so that it could be safely brought into port.

Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees, most fleeing conflict or poverty in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, attempt to reach the European Union each year, most heading by sea to Italy or Greece.

The smugglers who organize the trips often abandon the ships before they reach shore to avoid arrest.

The operation came two days after a Greek-operated ferry caught fire between Greece and Italy with the loss of at least 11 lives, prompting a two-day search and rescue effort.

Bombing in Yemen kills more than 30

31 December – A suicide bomber killed over 30 people when he detonated himself at a cultural centre where students were celebrating the Prophet Mohammad’s birthday. At least 48 people were also injured, including many women and children and women. Medics and residents put Wednesday’s death toll at 33, saying that 20 bodies were transferred to al-Thawra hospital and 13 others were taken to another hospital. A local resident says that the death toll is likely to rise. The director general of the Ibb governorate where the blast occurred was among the dead. The governor, who was reported to have been wounded, has escaped unharmed. A second explosion was later reported outside al-Thawra Hospital. Authorities later said that security forces had been firing in the air to disperse residents who had gathered in front of the hospital.

No one claimed responsibility for attack, but it is similar in fashion to those conducted by terrorist group al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which has a heavy presence in Yemen. AQAP regards Shi’ites, the sect of Islam to which the Houthis belong, as heretics. The celebration, in the city of Ibb, was organized by the Houthis, the group that controls most of Yemen.

In a message of condolences to the victims’ families, President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi condemned “the terrorist and criminal” attack and instructed the government to ensure the wounded receive full medical attention.

Yesterday, unidentified gunmen killed army officer in south Yemen Tuesday, in the latest attack on military personnel. Captain Shaeq Mohammed Shaeq was shot with an assault rifle by gunmen on a motorcycle in Aden’s al-Qahera neighbourhood. Again, there has been no claim of responsibility for the attack; however it is consistent with a series of AQAP attacks on military personnel in recent weeks.

On Monday, two soldiers were killed and 11 wounded in a failed attempt to assassinate the commander of the First Military Region, General Abdul Rahman al-Hulaili, in southeastern Hadramawt province. AQAP claimed the attack, in which assailants detonated explosives planted on the roadside and opened fire as the general’s convoy passed.

In a separate attack on Monday in central Baida city, two gunmen on a motorbike shot dead intelligence officer Nasser al-Wahishi. On Sunday, a similar bombing targeted the commander of the 31st Armored Battalion, General Farej al-Atiqi, in the southern city of Aden. Atiqi escaped the bomb blast unscathed, but his driver was killed and two other bodyguards were wounded. A device that had been hidden in his car was detonated by remote control, army officials said.

Tensions have increased in Yemen since the Houthis captured the capital, Sana’a, in September. They have since expanded south and west of the capital. Yemen has been battling al Qaeda strongholds in the region while trying to cope with the Houthi advances. Further, the nation must protect its borders with the world’s top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and protect access to key shipping routes from the Suez Canal to the Gulf. Concerns have arisen that the nation could become a failed state as it struggles to recover following the ousting of veteran autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh in February 2012.

During the unrest, the military split between forces loyal to President Saleh and those backing General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, an Islamist-leaning general who had backed the uprising and went on to become a military adviser to current president Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Corruption, internal splits and competing loyalties in the army began before Saleh’s removal, and are now reaching a critical stage. The rift has weakened the army and contributed to the ease of Houthi acceleration in their mission to “drive out corruption”, and rise of AQAP militants. The current government must also contend with southern separatists who have been calling for a weekly civil disobedience day every Monday to demand independence.

AQAP Inspire Magazine dedicated to Bomb Making and Lone Wolf Attacks

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s latest publication of Inspire Magazine has been dedicated to urging lone wolf attacks and attacks on commercial passenger jets. The cover story, entitled “Destination airport, and Guess What’s on the Menu?” teaches about how to bomb passenger planes. The digital magazine was released on 24 December, the 5th anniversary of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s Christmas Day 2009 bombing attempt on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 as it was on its landing approach to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

A great deal of space is given to providing detailed instructions on how to build a new bomb AQAP purports can be “hidden” not only on aircraft, but also to blow up other targets with the intent of causing ripples throughout US and Western economies. The magazine lists a series of targets including the following airlines: American, United, Continental and Delta, British Airways, EasyJet, Air France and Air France KLM. The group also seeks “direct economic targets” and high-profile “economic personalities” like former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and “wealthy entrepreneurs or company owners” like Bill Gates. Of note, the magazine refers to Bernanke as the current chairman of the Federal Reserve, however he stepped down in February.

Issue 13 of Inspire is entitled “Neurotmesis: Cutting the Nerves and Isolating the Head.” The issue also focuses on instigating Muslims to carry out lone wolf attacks against the US, as is specifically stated in the letter by Yahya Ibrahim, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, who says, “Hereby, Inspire magazine is committed to arm Muslim individuals — as well as Muslim groups as is in this issue — in their Jihad on America.” He continues:

“Previously we have presented Muslims with different weapons, including bombs and tactics … Now we are obliged to give our ummah something special. Something unique that can easily be prepared at home — that is the reason we have taken a long period to produce this issue. Here, we give the Muslim ummah a bomb recipe that America fears it might reach the hands of other Mujahideen in other fronts. However, what America didn’t expect is that this recipe is going to be in the reach of all Muslims around the world,” Ibrahim said, noting, “It will circulate in the social media and Muslims will translate it into different languages. Some will be pleased and pass on the message; while others will be inspired and most importantly make the bomb.”

Another piece, “Open Source Jihad”, was written by “AQ-Chef,” who is believed to be Ibrahim Hassan Tali Al Asiri, AQAP’s premier bomb maker. The US Department of State issued a $5 million bounty for on him October 14, 2014. The article details ways to breach airport security, and provides a 37-page set of instructions on how to build “The Hidden Bomb.” The piece also provides various “field tactics” related to selecting targets and executing attacks. A section was dedicated to individuals who had previously attempted to blow up airplanes, including Ramzi Yusuf, Abdulmutallab and Richard Reid (the shoe bomber).

The author writes of failed attempts, stating, “Initially, what we faced as a main problem was: How can a lone Mujahid acquire the required explosive materials. For several months, we conducted a number of experiments. As a result we came up with these simple materials that are readily available around the globe, even inside America – and this is our goal. We spared no effort in simplifying the idea in such we made it ‘another meal prepared in the kitchen’ so that every determined Muslim can prepare.”

The magazine claims that the bomb “is 2.5x as powerful as ‘Umar Farouq’s bomb, and 3x as powerful as the military-grade F1Russian grenade.” AQ-Chef then provides “Field Tactics” for using the bomb to destroy a jetliner: “I assume you have now prepared your hidden bomb after you have been convinced by the importance of this operation both politically and militarily. What is left is identifying the target that will achieve the greatest success […] We have sketched the targets as a part of a complete program we have presented to the Lone Mujahid.” Suggestions include writing a public message prior to the “Martyrdom Operation” via email, and timing its delivery for after the operation.

AQ Chef says in an interview section of the magazine, “Unlike a lab, a kitchen is found in every house. Moreover, if a Mujahid can prepare a bomb from materials used in the kitchen instead of lab materials and use cooking utensils instead of lab apparatus, then we have a double success and we have overcome the security hurdle. Therefore, a larger number of Mujahideen can carry out Jihādi operations. You will notice in this issue specifically we have focused on the kitchen. Generally, we are trying as much as possible to move the lone Mujahid from the lab to the pharmacy and from the pharmacy to the kitchen.”

He adds that airport security imaging could detect the bomb but these devices are not available at all airports. Further, the bombs are not intended for use only in airports, but “they are also used in assassinations as the brothers clarified in their program (Neurotmesis).” He finishes menacingly, “Hereby, I call the National Transportation Safety Board, ‘Do not weary yourself of investigation, the US Department of Homeland Security will take over the job because of a simple reason: This jihadi work belongs to the ‘Global Lone Jihad Movement.’”

Pakistan Moves to End Policy on ‘Good Taliban’

After several months of moving away from supporting some jihadist groups, Pakistan may be making more substantial changes in the aftermath of the Peshawar school massacre. Pakistan’s security agencies have long used militant groups against India and Afghanistan. After the recent school massacre however, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif declared that the Pakistani government would no longer make a distinction between “good” militant groups, or those that help Islamabad achieve its foreign policy goals, and groups that do not. He added that militants “would be dealt equally with an iron hand.” Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said last Sunday that Pakistan was at war with militants, and asked citizens to help authorities in a countrywide crackdown. Authorities subsequently made several arrests in connection to the school attack. Sharif also lifted a seven-year-old moratorium on the death penalty for terrorist cases, which resulted in the prompt execution of six prisoners. Pakistan’s military controls security policy independent of the civilian government, so it is currently unclear how closely it will follow a zero-tolerance approach to jihadists.  The knee-jerk reaction and quick executions of condemned prisoners who were unrelated to the Peshawar attack will be seen as ill-conceived by some quarters and will fuel further plots for “spectaculars” in future.  The domestic policy debate in coming months will reveal whether the current outcry and related security forces and judicial activity is the start of a new era in anti-terror operations and internal security policy or simple state vendetta in response to public outrage to the targeting of so many innocent children.