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Top post for Indian cyber sleuth
Washington - September 16, 2003 - A top Indian cyber sleuth has been hired to help protect the United States against internet viruses, worms and other instruments of online attacks, the US Department of Homeland Security said on Monday. The new chief of cyber security, Amit Yoran, is owner of his firm Riptech Inc. He sold Riptech in 2002 to Symantec Corp., which makes the widely-used Norton anti-virus software. At Symantec, Mr. Yoran administered computer security systems in 40 different countries. In his new federal post, Mr. Yoran will seek to shorten the Government's response time to new online threats to within 30 minutes by the end of 2004, a Homeland security official said.
The Hindu - September 17, 2003
US reveals plans for global anti-terror databases
Washington - September 17, 2003 - The Bush administration unveiled plans on Tuesday for a master database of "known and suspected terrorists" that would be used globally. The FBI-run Terrorist Screening Centre will cull information from nearly a dozen watch lists to provide "one-stop shopping" for US consular officials, airport-workers, border agents and police. This will reduce communication gap. Prior to 9/11 attacks, though the CIA placed two of the future hijackers on its watch list, but they failed to notify FBI and immigration authorities. By the time other agencies were informed in August 2001, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawab Al-hazmi were already in US to hijack the flight that crashed into the Pentagon. Larry Mcfford, head of counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence at FBI, said on Tuesday that the new database "represents an evolution in our ability to identify potential terrorists and stop them before they can do us harm." The new database scheduled to be operational by December 1, 2003, will include names compiled by FBI, CIA, Homeland Security Department and State Department. The list will be controlled by FBI because of the bureau's long experience in running a nationwide criminal database used by local police.
The Indian Express - September 18,2003. |
