FBI: MLK Day Parade Bomb Is 'Domestic Terrorism'

A bomb found on the route of a Martin Luther King Day parade in Spokane, Wash., was left in an act of "domestic terrorism," an FBI spokesman said today.

"Clearly the confluence of the parade route, the timing, the fact that the device was likely placed on that route roughly an hour before the parade ... falls squarely within the realm of domestic terrorism," Frank Harrill, the special agent in charge of FBI operations in Spokane, told TPM.

Harrill said the FBI isn't ready to assign any motive to whoever left the bomb. Nor do they have a suspect, he said, although the agency does have "a number of important, fruitful leads" from the public.

On Monday morning, about half an hour before the parade was to begin, three city workers found a backpack in a parking lot along the parade route, close to wear marchers would have assembled. They called the police, who sealed off several blocks, called in the FBI and rerouted the parade.

The backpack was packed with T-shirts and an incendiary device that "did appear to be viable" and could have caused multiple casualties, according to the FBI.

"This entire event and potential tragedy was averted by three alert citizens who confronted what they knew to be out of place, [leading to] an entire professional sequence of events," Harrill said.

Spokane Police were again today responding to reports of a suspicious package, this time a suitcase sitting on a sidewalk. A police spokeswoman said it does not appear to be another bomb, but they're taking every precaution.

"In this era, you can't ignore that," Harrill said. "It regrettably does require this kind of response because, occasionally, it will be something far more nefarious."

Coachella 2011's Dates & Line Up #celebrity #travel #coachella

Coachella 2011's Dates and Band Line-Up Have Hit the Net
Where: Indio, CA, United States

We haven't even made it through SXSW yet and already the music and culture scene is a-buzz with another festival: Coachella. For the uninitiated, Coachella is a weekend-long music party in the desert, nearest the town of Indio, California. It's the closest thing we have in these modern times to Woodstock, and the demographics are pretty much the same. So pack your mustache wax, your most thrift store-looking muscle tee and forget the sunblock, because the palest person who gets the most sunburned wins.

This year, the "Coachella Valley Music and Arts Fest," as it's formally called, will be held April 15-17 and the line-up of performers only dropped yesterday:

It's a rather excellent line-up, considering facts like Lauryn Hill hasn't been on such a major stage in a while so we're interested to see how crazy she gets. Also, Kanye West has announced retirement from rapping and yet he hasn't quite yet managed the retirement part. Maybe he'll bring more topless back-up dancers as he loves to do?

Buy festival passes now at Coachella's website, via Ticketmaster HERE. You've got two choices: a regular weekend-long wristband for $269 "+ $3 charity + $9 fac fee + service charges & shipping," or the $699 VIP package (plus the aforementioned fees), which means access to the VIP shaded areas, picnic tables, couches, extra restrooms, food & beverage vendors and a full cash bar. Plus "thousand of roses" in one of the VIP sections.

Whiskey in a Can!!

The dram in a can: Scottish whisky the way South Americans like it...

By Mark Howarth
Last updated at 9:12 AM on 17th January 2011

It is a sight that will have whisky connoisseurs spluttering into their drink – a dram in a can. A Panama-based company believes outdoor drinkers would prefer to crack open a tin rather than lug round a bottle of their favourite tipple.

Now bosses at Scottish Spirits – which retains an office in Glasgow – is testing out the novelty on its Caribbean and South American markets. But last night the Scotch Whisky Association said it would try to ban the cans for breaching international labelling rules.

A spokesman for the body said: ‘We are concerned that consumers may be confused whether or not the product is real Scotch and we will be investigating the matter further.’ Scottish Spirits launched the tins last week, the first time straight whisky has been sold in a can.

Chief executive Manish Panshal said: ‘We are really thrilled with the idea – it’s going to be a part of every lifestyle and occasion.‘The can is the perfect size to be shared between three people who can mix it with other things like cola. ‘It’s lightweight and portable and entirely recyclable, which is good news. It will be one of the hot picks for any outdoor activities.’ World-renowned expert Jim Murray – author of The Whisky Bible – admitted he was intrigued.

He said: ‘Obviously, this is not the traditional way to sell a dram but I’ve seen it on draught in Chicago and out of plastic sachets in Uganda, so it might catch on somewhere. It will certainly be cheaper than buying a big bottle and Scotch spends some of its life in metal containers during the distillation process anyway.

‘But you probably wouldn’t want it in aluminium cans for too long, because it would affect the taste. ‘And my biggest problem with the idea is that there’s no way of knowing what it is you’re buying – and this isn’t proper Scotch. ‘I taste around 3,000 types a year and I can honestly say I have never come across these brands.’

He added: ‘I can’t see it taking off here because a can would cheapen a product that Scots are rightly proud of. A tin of whisky could never make your heart skip a beat like a fine Scotch.’ Whisky in its more usual container. Scottish Spirits launched the tins last week, the first time straight whisky has been sold in a can

Whisky in its more usual container. Scottish Spirits launched their tins last week, the first time straight whisky has been sold in a can Scottish Spirits – which is canning its own-brand tipple and a blend called Sir Edwin’s – was censured by the Advertising Standards Agency last September. The watchdog ruled that its advertisements wrongly suggested it was a home-grown company selling Scotch.

A rival company made a complaint after spotting Scottish Spirits’ ads in a trade magazine. Scotch whisky exports are big business, with global sales three times those of its US rivals. But when it comes to the home front, the picture is less rosy for the spirit, whatever container it comes in. UK whisky sales slipped by 11 per cent between 2005 and 2009. There is little respite in sight. Sales are predicted to stay static at 6.5million cases until 2014, data from industry analyst International Wine and Spirits Research reveals.

The UK is the third biggest market for Scotch, after the US and France. But industry insiders claim there is no cause for alarm. Paul McLaughlin of food export quango Scotland Food and Drink said: ‘I don’t think this is a cause for concern because the key focus is on exports. The home market is not the be-all and end-all.’

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Car Theft by Antenna - Technology Review

Car Theft by Antenna - Technology Review
Researchers beat automatic locking and ignition systems.

* Thursday, January 6, 2011
* By Erica Naone

Car thieves of the future might be able to get into a car and drive away without forced entry and without needing a physical key, according to new research that will be presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium next month in San Diego, California.

The researchers successfully attacked eight car manufacturers' passive keyless entry and start systems—wireless key fobs that open a car's doors and start the engine by proximity alone.

Srdjan Capkun, an assistant professor of computer science in the system security group at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who led the work, says he was inspired to investigate the security of keyless entry and start systems after buying a car that had one. Capkun and Aurélien Francillon and Boris Danev, both researchers in the same institution, examined 10 car models from the eight manufacturers. They were able to access all 10 and drive them away by intercepting and relaying signals from the cars to their wireless keys. While they could relay the signals from the key back to the car as well, usually they did not need to because the key transmits its signals up to around 100 meters. The attack works no matter what cryptography and protocols the key and car use to communicate with each other.

Normally, when a wireless key is within a few meters of the right car, it detects a low-powered signal that causes it to issue a command that opens the car enable the ignition. The researchers used a pair of antennas to transmit these signals from the car to the key when the key was farther away, tricking the car into opening without the ordinary authorization. One antenna needs to be very close to the car, and one needs to be within eight meters of the key.
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The researchers came up with two versions of the attack. In one, they ran a cable from near the car to near the key and used it to transmit the signals. They conducted the other wirelessly. Francillon says that the materials for the wired attack cost about $50, and those for the wireless attack cost between $100 and $1,000, depending on the electronic components used.

The researchers tested a few scenarios. An attacker could watch a parking lot and have an accomplice watch as car owners as entered a nearby store. The accomplice would only need to be within eight meters of the targeted owner's key fob, making it easy to avoid arousing suspicion. In another scenario, a car owner might leave a car key on a table near a window. An antenna placed outside the house was able to communicate with the key, allowing the researchers then to start the car parked out front and drive away.

A car won't open or start if the signal from its key takes too long to arrive, so the researchers devised a way to speed communication between their antennas. Most relay attacks require the signals to be converted from analog to digital and back, which takes time. The researchers were able to keep the signals in analog format, which reduced their delay from microseconds to nanoseconds and made their attack more difficult to detect.

The researchers suggest things that car owners and manufacturers can do to protect themselves. Car owners can shield their keys when they're not in use, to prevent attackers from communicating with them. Alternatively, manufacturers could add a button to fobs that would allow owners to deactivate and reactivate them. Capkun worries, however, that these types of solutions detract from the convenience that makes passive keyless entry systems worthwhile.

Ultimately, he says, manufacturers will need to add secure technology that allows the car to confirm that the key is in fact nearby. "I don't see a way around it," Capkun says. His group is actively working on protocols that would accomplish this.

David Wagner, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley who has studied the cryptographic systems used in keyless entry systems, says the research "should help car manufacturers improve auto security systems in the future."

Wagner doesn't think the research ought to make car owners anxious. "There are probably easier ways to steal cars," he says. But, he adds, a "nasty aspect of high-tech car theft" is that "it doesn't leave any sign of forced entry," so if a thief did use this method to steal a car, he says, it might be hard for police and insurance companies to get sufficient evidence of what happened. Wagner believes that manufacturers, police, and insurance companies all need to prepare for this eventuality.

"Automobiles are a key example of a system that is pervasively computerized," so they need to be thoroughly examined to ensure they are secure, says Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Washington. Kohno helped form the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security, which is dedicated to identifying and solving security problems with car security systems before they cause problems in the real world.