NSA program reportedly helped US finger North Korea for Sony hacking

A program implemented by the National Security Agency to help the U.S. and its allies track the computers and networks used by North Korean hackers was critical in gathering information that led Washington to conclude Pyongyang was behind last year’s cyberattack on Sony Pictures.

The New York Times reported late Sunday that the NSA began placing malware in North Korean systems in 2010. Originally, the purpose of the surveillance was to gain insight into North Korea’s nuclear program, but the focus shifted after a large cyberattack on South Korean banks and media companies in 2013. 

In the case of the Sony Pictures hack, which knocked nearly the entire company’s system offline, investigators believe that the North had stolen the “credentials” of a Sony systems administrator, which enabled them to spend two months familiarizing themselves with Sony’s network and plotting how to destroy files, computers, and systems. The attacks themselves, which Sony first reported to the FBI Nov. 24, are widely considered to be in retaliation for the release of “The Interview,” a comedy that features an assassination attempt against Kim Jong Un. Pyongyang has repeatedly denied any involvement in the Sony hack.

Skeptics have cast doubt on the official story that North Korea was behind the Sony hack, with many suggesting a disgruntled current or former Sony employee was responsible. Earlier this month, FBI director James Comey said U.S. investigators were able to trace emails and Internet posts sent by the Guardians of Peace, the group behind the attack, and link them to North Korea.

Comey said most of the time, the group sent emails threatening Sony employees and made various other statements online using proxy servers to disguise where the messages were coming from. But on occasion, he said, they connected “directly,” enabling investigators to “see that the IP addresses that were being used to post and to send the emails were coming from IPs that were exclusively used by the North Koreans.”

A senior military official told The Times that the evidence against North Korea that was presented to President Barack Obama was so compelling that he “had no doubt” the Communist regime was responsible. The White House has imposed new economic sanctions against North Korea as a response to the cyberattack. 

The Times report quotes a North Korean defector as saying that country’s military first displayed interest in hacking in 1994, when it sent 15 people to a Chinese military academy to learn the practice. Two years later, the Reconnaissance General Bureau, Pyongyang’s primary intelligence service, created Bureau 121, a hacking unit that has a substantial representation in the northeast Chinese city of Shenyang. 

South Korea’s military claims that the North has a staff of 6,000 hackers dedicated to disrupting the South’s military and government. That estimate is more than double an earlier projection made by that country’s Defense Ministry. 

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NSA program reportedly helped US finger North Korea for Sony hacking

Passengers on smoke-filled DC subway reportedly waited 35 minutes for rescue

Jan. 13, 2015: A subway train departs the L’Enfant Metro Station in Washington. The NTSB is investigating an electrical malfunction that filled the station with smoke, killing one woman and sending dozens of people to hospitals. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Passengers on a stalled subway train that began filling with smoke at one of Washington D.C.’s busiest stations Monday afternoon were made to wait at least 35 minutes to be rescued.

The Washington Post, citing three District of Columbia officials with access to emergency dispatch records, reported that the delay was partially due to confusion about whether power to the track’s electrified third rail had been cut. 

The smoke resulted in the death of 61-year-old Carol Glover, of Alexandria, Va., while 83 other passengers were hospitalized, two in critical condition. Glover and many of the injured were on board a Virginia-bound train that stalled shortly after leaving the L’Enfant Plaza station. It was the first fatality on a DC Metro train since 2009, when a crash killed eight passengers and a train operator. 

According to the Post, the first report of smoke near the station came at 3:18 p.m. Monday. Two calls in the next six minutes from Metro Transit reported smoke in the station, and also reported that passengers were having trouble breathing. 

Four minutes later, at 3:28 p.m., the District’s fire department declared a “Metro tunnel box alarm,” code for fire in a train tunnel. The Post reports that the first firefighters arrived at the station three minutes later, at 3:31 p.m. Two minutes later, operators received their first 911 call from inside the train, from a passenger who said it was filling with smoke. 

Despite the quick initial response, emergency responders were not able to access the tunnel until 3:44 p.m., when Metro confirmed that power to the third rail had been shut off and it was safe to enter. One official told the Post that the next report from inside the train came at 4 p.m., when a paramedic reported being with a patient, though a text message from a passenger in the first of the six cars that the firemen reached indicated that emergency personnel reached the train at 3:48 p.m. 

Edward C. Smith, president of the D.C. firefighters union, told the Post that he believed the timeline showed a fast response. Other fire union officials told the paper that some personnel reported issues with their radios in the tunnel, forcing them to retreat closer to the station platform. 

The exact cause of the smoke is still being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, though NTSB investigator Michael Flanigon told the Associated Press the smoke started when something came into contact with the high-voltage third rail and caused an electrical arc. It is also not clear why the train stalled and was unable to move in the tunnel.

The Metrorail system, which connects Washington with the Maryland and Virginia suburbs, carries an average of 721,000 passengers each weekday. Smoke and fire are not unusual on the subway system, which opened in 1976 and still uses some original rail cars. Metro’s most recent safety reports showed 86 incidents of smoke or fire in 2013 and 85 through the first eight months of 2014.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Passengers on smoke-filled DC subway reportedly waited 35 minutes for rescue

Pro-Russian separatists destroy airport, reportedly kill 12 on bus in attacks across Donetsk

Jan. 13, 2015: In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, a man walks past snow covered with blood as he passes by a bus destroyed by a rebel shell at the checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine. (AP) (The Associated Press)

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry shows the inside view of a bus destroyed by a rebel shell at the checkpoint near the town of Volnovakha in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015. At least 10 civilians were killed and a further 13 wounded as the bus was hit by a pro-Russian separatists’ shell while passing through the checkpoint, local officials said. (AP Photo/Ukrainian Interior Ministry) (The Associated Press) The media surround British officials as they present ten armored vehicles from the British government to the OCSE special monitoring mission in Ukraine’s east, hit by a war conflict with pro-Russian separatists, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (The Associated Press) The media surround British officials as they present ten armored vehicles from the British government to the OCSE special monitoring mission in Ukraine’s east, hit by a war conflict with pro-Russian separatists, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (The Associated Press) The media surround British officials as they present ten armored vehicles from the British government to the OCSE special monitoring mission in Ukraine’s east, hit by a war conflict with pro-Russian separatists, in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2015.(AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) (The Associated Press)

Pro-Russian separatists unleashed a series of bomb attacks Tuesday in eastern Ukraine, leveling a key airport in Donetsk, killing 12 in an attack on a passenger bus and almost certainly dooming a short-lived cease-fire, according to reports.

A senior State Department official confirmed to Fox News that the separatists destroyed the government-held airport in eastern Ukraine Tuesday afternoon.

The facility has been “flattened” and the air control tower was “decimated,” the official said. “They are now fighting over rubble.”

Maria Ivanovna, a local retiree, told The Associated Press she has become desensitized to the blasts and drew an arc with her arm to show how shells fly over her home toward the airport.

“We will survive the same way we did after World War II. Ration cards for bread; 11 ounces for children; 800 grams for factory workers and 1,200 grams for miners,” she said.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said on Tuesday the bus attack was “egregious” and blamed Russia for helping to arm the separatists.

“We again call on Russia to fulfill its commitment under the Minsk Agreement, which includes ceasing its substantial military support to the separatists, restoring Ukrainian sovereignty over the international border between Ukraine and Russia, releasing all hostages, and working toward the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine,” Harf said.

Across Donetsk, the city that Russian-backed separatists call their capital, explosions and the sound of shells whistling overhead are again unnerving the local population. The holiday period was spent in relative tranquility after a new truce was called in December between government troops and Russian-backed militia. But by late last week, that uneasy calm was steadily unraveling.

In the single largest loss of life so far this year, civilians traveling on a commuter bus from Donetsk were killed Tuesday afternoon by what Ukrainians say were rockets fired from a Grad launcher in rebel territory. Regional authorities loyal to Kiev said the bus was passing a Ukrainian Army checkpoint at the time, putting it in the line of fire.

Leading rebel representative Denis Pushilin denied responsibility for the attack.

The warring sides are now trading accusations over who is responsible for the breakdown in the truce that led to Tuesday’s deaths.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that separatist attacks in recent days suggest an attempted onslaught to push back the frontline is under way. Separatist leader Alexander Zakharchenko says Ukraine’s armed forces unilaterally resumed hostilities and that his fighters would respond in kind.

An AP reporter over the weekend saw a convoy of around 30 military-style trucks without license plates heading for Donetsk, suggesting that new supplies were coming in for the rebels.

NATO’s top commander, Gen. Philip Breedlove, said Tuesday that there has been a continued resupply and training of rebel forces over the holiday period.

“Those continue to provide a concern and something that we have to be thinking about,” Breedlove said.

Ukraine and the West have routinely accused Russia of being behind such consignments. Moscow flatly rejects the charges, although rebel forces are so well-equipped with powerful arms that the denials have become increasingly hollow.

In the rebel-held Donetsk suburb of Makiivka, the thrash of outgoing mortars shakes still-inhabited neighborhoods on a daily basis. Separatists have consistently denied using residential areas for cover, but there are ample witness accounts undermining those claims.

Ukrainian responses to artillery lobbed out of Donetsk are woefully inaccurate and regularly hit houses and apartment blocks, often killing people inside. The separatist military headquarters in Donetsk said Tuesday that 12 people had been killed and another 30 injured in the preceding three-day period. It did not specify who had been killed.

There is little sign of life in Makiivka these days. People rush home from work or aid distribution points and occasionally come out of shelters to exchange information about where shells are landing.

A senior U.N. human rights official said this week that developments look poised to go in one of three directions — a frozen conflict, an escalation in violence or an evolution to sustainable peace.

“In case of frozen conflict, we will more or less continue to be seeing [the same] human rights violations that we have been facing so far,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. “But in case of escalation of hostilities, which is quite possible, we could also be seeing further internationalization of the conflict and far more human rights violations and suffering.”

The grimmest of outcomes appears most likely.

A hoped-for round of peace negotiations this week between the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France has been put on ice — possibly indefinitely.

Ukrainian military authorities talk like they are bracing for the long-haul and Tuesday laid out plans for a new round of mobilization.

Volodymyr Talalai, deputy head of the army’s mobilization planning, said recruits will be drawn from all regions of the country. He gave no figure for how many people will be mobilized, but said that the primary aim of the upcoming drive is to enable the rotation of forces.

Unremitting violence is radicalizing the mood. One resident of Donetsk’s Petrovsky neighborhood — one of the most intensely bombed — said she took up arms and joined the separatist army after a rocket hit a home in her neighborhood.

“A Grad landed … and people were killed and blown to bits,” she said, giving her name only as Vera. “How were we supposed to react? We are out here defending ourselves.”

Wearing a balaclava and cradling an automatic rifle, Vera said her 19-year-old son too wanted to sign up, but that she refused to let him.

“I told them I would rather go myself than let my child do it,” she said.

Fox News’ James Rosen and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Pro-Russian separatists destroy airport, reportedly kill 12 on bus in attacks across Donetsk

Son accused of killing hedge fund founder dad reportedly stands to inherit part of $1.6M estate

Thomas Gilbert Jr. allegedly shot and killed his millionaire hedge fund father Sunday after the two argued over the son’s allowance. (AP)

The man accused of killing his millionaire father in the older man’s Manhattan apartment earlier this month stands to collect an inheritance, according to the hedge fund founder’s will.

The New York Post reported that Thomas Gilbert Sr.’s will splits his $1.6 million estate between his wife, daughter, and son Thomas Gilbert Jr. The younger Thomas, 30, is due to receive quarterly payments from a trust established in his name until age 35, when he gets whatever amount is left in a lump sum. 

Gilbert Jr. has been indicted on murder and other charges in the Jan. 4 shooting in his father’s Beekman Place apartment, not far from the United Nations. Investigators believe that Gilbert confronted his father over a $200 cut in his monthly allowance. 

The Post reports that the will, filed Wednesday in Manhattan Surrogate’s Court, was written less than two years ago. It does not specify the amount of money contained in the trust fund. Court papers say that Gilbert Sr. had $50,000 in bank accounts, $477,000 in hedge funds, $1 million in private equity shares and $100,000 in tangible personal property at the time of his death. 

Legal experts tell the Post that Gilbert Jr. could lose his right to inherit if he is found to have committed “intentional or reckless killing” of his father. However, his defense attorney could petition to have the estate cover Gilbert’s legal fees. The younger man may also have a claim if he makes a successful insanity plea. 

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Son accused of killing hedge fund founder dad reportedly stands to inherit part of $1.6M estate

Washington Post journalist detained in Iran reportedly indicted

April 11, 2013: Jason Rezaian, an Iranian-American correspondent for the Washington Post, smiles as he attends a presidential campaign of President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

A Washington Post journalist detained in Iran has been indicted and will stand trial, Iran’s official news agency reported Wednesday.

The official IRNA news agency, quoting Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, said that Jason Rezaian, the newspaper’s bureau chief in Tehran since 2012, had been indicted. He is an Iranian-American who holds dual citizenship.

The news agency did not disclose what charges Rezaian, who has been held since July 22, faces. However, the report said he will stand trial in Iran’s Revolutionary Court, which mostly hears cases involving security offenses.

State Department spokesman Marie Harf said at a Wednesday afternoon briefing, “We’re looking into those reports” and added there was “no independent confirmation.”

Last October, Iran released Rezaian’s journalist wife, Yeganeh Salehi, an Iranian reporter for the Abu Dhabi-based English-language newspaper The National. She also had been held since July.

“We still do not know what charges the Iranian authorities have brought against our correspondent Jason Rezaian, but we hope the referral of his case to a Revolutionary Court represents a step forward toward Jason’s prompt release,” said a statement from Martin Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post. 

“This step gives Iran’s judiciary an opportunity to demonstrate its fairness and independence by determining that the charges are baseless. We call on Iran to make these charges public, to allow Jason access to a lawyer and to bring a swift and just resolution of a  six-month-long nightmare that has been extremely difficult for Jason and his family.”

The report by the official IRNA news agency came the same day as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif before talks with world powers resume over the Islamic Republic’s contested nuclear program.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the two events were connected, though Zarif earlier said he hoped the case against reporter Jason Rezaian could be “resolved.”

“We will have to wait for the judiciary to move forward, but we will try to provide all the humanitarian assistance that we could,” Zarif told journalists in Geneva. “We hope that this issue could be resolved but unfortunately there are judicial issues involved which the judiciary has to deal with.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report

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Washington Post journalist detained in Iran reportedly indicted

Maryland delays effort to recoup $55M for failed ObamaCare site - VIDEO: ObamaCare reportedly fading as midterm issue - Full Coverage: Midterm elections

FILE: Oct. 2, 2013: A man looks over the Affordable Care Act signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York. (REUTERS)

Maryland officials reportedly have agreed to delay court action seeking $55 million from the primary contractor for the state’s problematic ObamaCare website.

Officials from Maryland’s health care exchange in April fired the contractor, Noridian Healthcare Solutions, and vowed to seek court actions to recoup the money.

Both sides have struck a temporary deal so state officials can focus on the second year of ObamaCare enrollment that starts Nov. 15, according to The Baltimore Sun.  

A spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley told The Sun that officials are still “evaluating claims that we may pursue in litigation.”

The first ObamaCare enrollment, on Oct. 1, 2013, got off to a disastrous start, marked by an overwhelming public response that crashed the federal site, HealthCare.gov, and several state-run sites.

President Obama, angry and “frustrated” by the start of arguably his biggest legislative accomplishment, made sure the software problems were essentially fixed after the first several weeks by hiring industry experts to work around the clock to write better computer code and fix software bugs.

But at least two state-run sites — Maryland and Oregon’s — had to scrap their failed, multi-million dollar, online projects.

Oregon has moved online customers to the federal site after software bugs and other technical problems kept the state from fully enrolling a single customer online.

The problems and transition is estimated to cost state and federal taxpayers at least an additional $85 million — including $50 million to manually enroll thousands of customers and $35 million to Deloitte Consulting to salvage the faulty technology.

Maryland officials have decided to replace their technology, instead of fixing the system or like Oregon joining the federal exchange system.

They have hired Deloitte Consulting, which has successfully run the Connecticut exchange. The effort is expected to cost $43 million.

The decision also comes just weeks before Election Day for Democratic nominee for governor Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who was O’Malley’s point man for ObamaCare.

Maryland and contractor Noridian have blamed each other and subcontractors, including IBM, for the problems.

The decision to delay action also came amid an ongoing inspector general’s probe, which was requested in February by Maryland GOP Rep. Andy Harris.

“Millions of dollars were wasted because of a lack of oversight by Lieutenant Governor Brown, and now the state must try to recoup some of the money he allowed to be sent to companies who couldn’t deliver,” Harris told The Sun. “The federal investigation should provide critical information about how taxpayer dollars were wasted and whether fraud occurred.”

Justin Schall, Brown’s campaign manager, said: “It’s disappointing that congressman Harris would mislead the people of Maryland and play political games with a federal investigation.”

Thirty-six states are part of the federal exchange, and there are 14 state-run sites.

The president crafted the legislation to help an estimated 30 million uninsured Americans get coverage.

The administration reached its goal of enrolling 6 million people by its self-imposed March 31 deadline. And right now, 7.3 million people have enrolled in marketplace plans, paid their premiums and have access to insurance, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Maryland delays effort to recoup $55M for failed ObamaCare site - VIDEO: ObamaCare reportedly fading as midterm issue - Full Coverage: Midterm elections

Motive unclear in newlywed murder-suicide; prenup reportedly eyed

Detectives have yet been unable to determine what caused the fatal dispute between Kelly Ecker Samson, right, and George Samson, seen here in a photograph posted on Facebook.

Police have not indicated what the newlyweds had been arguing about prior to the shootings, but the couple reportedly began bickering over their prenuptial agreement during their reception. The argument became increasingly heated as the celebration moved to the couple’s mansion in Terre Haute, People.com reports. (MyFox8.com)

Investigators say it’s unclear what prompted an argument leading to the apparent murder-suicide of an Indiana couple just hours after their wedding over the weekend.

Vigo County Sheriff Greg Ewing said detectives have been interviewing wedding and reception guests of Kelly Ecker Samson, 50, and Dr. George Samson, 54, but have yet been unable to determine what caused the fatal dispute early Sunday following their Saturday evening nuptials.

“The investigation has revealed that there was a verbal argument between the couple toward the end of the reception, which carried over to the after-party at the couple’s home,” Vigo County Chief Deputy Sheriff Clark Cottom told the Indianapolis Star in an email. “Shortly after the last guest left at around 1:17 a.m., Kelly Ecker Samson called 911 reporting that her husband had threatened to kill her. There were a total of three very brief 911 calls, which in the first the caller disconnected.”

While on the phone, dispatchers reportedly heard what was thought to be multiple gunshots in the background. Police said George Samson, an anesthesiologist at a local hospital, shot his wife several times prior to fatally shooting himself once in the head with a .45-caliber handgun.

Ewing told the Tribune-Star that some guests told investigators the couple wasn’t talking with each other, but Kelly Samson declined to leave the house.

Vigo County Coroner Dr. Susan Amos told the Indianapolis Star that George Samson worked as an anesthesiologist at Union Hospital. He is also listed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives as a current federal firearms dealer.

Cottom did not specify what the newlyweds had been arguing about prior to the shootings, but the couple reportedly began bickering over their prenuptial agreement during their reception. The argument became increasingly heated as the celebration moved to the couple’s mansion in Terre Haute, People.com reports.

“We’re still gathering statements from the attendants,” Cottom told the newspaper.

Investigators found 90 to 100 guns — including rifles, handguns, silencers and fully automatic weapons — and a store of ammunition in the house. Ewing said the guns have been seized for safekeeping for now.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Motive unclear in newlywed murder-suicide; prenup reportedly eyed

Patricia Francis reportedly short-listed for ACP post

A Jamaican is among three candidates short-listed for the post of  Secretary-General of  the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping.    
A Caribbean Media Corporation report says she’s Patricia Francis, former Executive Director of  the International Trade Centre.    
The others are Guyana’s Brussels-based Ambassador to the ACP, Dr. P.I Gomes and Dr. Hamid Ghany, a senior lecturer at the St. Augustine campus of  the University of  the West Indies.
The Secretary General holds executive powers and heads the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat, which is the administrative and technical body of  the Group.    
The Secretariat, among other things, monitors the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement. 

Mrs. Francis first came to prominence as head of Jamaica‘s investment promotion and facilitation agency, JAMPRO.

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Patricia Francis reportedly short-listed for ACP post

Patricia Francis reportedly short-listed for ACP post

A Jamaican is among three candidates short-listed for the post of  Secretary-General of  the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping.    
A Caribbean Media Corporation report says she’s Patricia Francis, former Executive Director of  the International Trade Centre.    
The others are Guyana’s Brussels-based Ambassador to the ACP, Dr. P.I Gomes and Dr. Hamid Ghany, a senior lecturer at the St. Augustine campus of  the University of  the West Indies.
The Secretary General holds executive powers and heads the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat, which is the administrative and technical body of  the Group.    
The Secretariat, among other things, monitors the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement. 

Mrs. Francis first came to prominence as head of Jamaica‘s investment promotion and facilitation agency, JAMPRO.

Sign up for free email news alerts.

View the original article here

Patricia Francis reportedly short-listed for ACP post

Patricia Francis reportedly short-listed for ACP post

A Jamaican is among three candidates short-listed for the post of  Secretary-General of  the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping.    
A Caribbean Media Corporation report says she’s Patricia Francis, former Executive Director of  the International Trade Centre.    
The others are Guyana’s Brussels-based Ambassador to the ACP, Dr. P.I Gomes and Dr. Hamid Ghany, a senior lecturer at the St. Augustine campus of  the University of  the West Indies.
The Secretary General holds executive powers and heads the Brussels-based ACP Secretariat, which is the administrative and technical body of  the Group.    
The Secretariat, among other things, monitors the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement. 

Mrs. Francis first came to prominence as head of Jamaica‘s investment promotion and facilitation agency, JAMPRO.

Sign up for free email news alerts.

View the original article here

Patricia Francis reportedly short-listed for ACP post