Incidents of Cyber threats

[Farid Bazmi]

There are some of cyber threat incidents in library, which through my lis/facebook friends have been sent to me and some are available on the net. These shows either the computer of the library are hacked or the computer is used for illegal criminal activities.

Some Case Study & Scenerion

• The Library of Congress is the world's largest Library, archiving millions of books,  photographs, maps and recordings. U.S. officials have previously said many attempts to penetrate its networks appear to come from China.
• Every year, hackers steal enough data from U.S. government agencies, businesses and universities to fill the U.S. Library of Congress many times over, officials say. (Lockheed Martin, Pentagon's officials)
• 
  "Investigators tracing the activities of the hijackers determined that, on four occasions in August of 2001, individuals using internet accounts registered to Nawaf Al Hazmi and Khalid Al Mihdar - 9/11 hijackers - used public access computers in the library of a state college in New Jersey, He testified that computers in the library were used to review and order airline tickets on an internet travel reservations site. " (Ken Wainstein, US attorney for the District of Columbia)
• A  man charged with conspiring to provide material support to terrorists claims that the FBI obtained evidence against him illegally when an agent went into the Chestatee Regional Library in Dawsonville, Georgia, to record his activities at a library computer. that “public libraries are not safe havens for terrorist-related activity,” (U.S. Attorney David Nahmias)
• Crime and misdemeanours affect every type of library and information service and the staff who work in them. Vandalism, mutilation, defacement, theft, abuse, harassment, violence, arson and other criminal activities need to be confronted, measured and understood by today's librarians and information scientists.  (Michael Chaney, Ed. Security and Crime Prevention in Libraries)
•  
  A man, 21, was seen acting suspiciously while using the internet at Rouse Hill Public Library. The man again entered the library to use its computers and police said he accessed a number of chat rooms to view, download and distribute child abuse images. Hills police arrested the man on Saturday at his place of work in Rouse Hill. A search warrant was executed at the man’s Rouse Hill home and a number of items were seized by police.
• 
  The man was taken to Castle Hill Police Station where he was charged with nine offences, including six counts of possess/distribute child pornography and three counts of use carriage service to access child pornography.
• 
  This is unbelievable.  In a nutshell, London Ontario's Central Library had a patron arrested for viewing child Pornography.  As a result it applied Internet filters.  But empty legal threats were made, so the Library "quietly removed" the filters.  Result?  Another patron arrested for the exact same reason.
• 
  A 17-year-old boy, arrested for allegedly creating a fake profile through library’s computer of the chief minister on the social-networking site, Facebook, The boy posted cartoons and objectionable photographs featuring several senior politicians using  the same profile.
• A Norwegian museum is desperately seeking the services of a hacker after the only person who knew the password protecting its electronic library died. The creator of the library developed a catalogue of 1,600 books and documents before he passed away. Ottar Grepstad, the museum's director, sent out an appeal on national radio for hackers to help museum employees access the valuable information. The Norway Post claims the museum has already been contacted by several hackers. The hackers' CVs are being sorted to find the most likely candidates to crack the password.
• There are fears that personal bank details may have been stolen after ‘snooping devices’ were found plugged into public computers at libraries in Wilmslow. Police after the little appliances were spotted attached to keyboard
  sockets at the back of two machines in Wilmslow and Handforth libraries. it is not known how long they had been there. It is now dire people may have had details of their bank accounts, passwords and other personal selective
  information stolen. They are fundamentally a fraud device and have been applied in a good deal of massive frauds before." (Nathan Evans, manager of Fathom IT in Wilmslow)

           Kindly give your suggetions on faridbazmi@rediffmail .