AGency to Concentrate Intelligence Analysis; companies Reluctant to Tell Customers About Hacks; Personal Info of 180,000 Canadians Missing, Perhaps Stolen; East Coast Credit Card Fraud Ring Busted

Agency to Concentrate Intelligence Analysis

During his State of the Union address, President Bush announced the creation of the Terrorist Threat Integration Center, which will provide analysis of intelligence information gathered by the CIA, FBI, Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security and will be staffed by top counterterrorism officials from each of those agencies. According to a story in todays Washington Post, the plan came under immediate attack from some on Capitol Hill and from civil liberties groups who argued either that the plan did not go far enough or that it goes too far in removing the historic distinctions between foreign and domestic intelligence. And the move has been greeted with mixed reactions at the FBI, the Post says, where Director Robert S. Mueller III is struggling against internal resistance and technological obstacles to transform the bureau into an agency focused on detecting and thwarting terrorism. A ComputerWorld story from Jan. 29 on the Terrorist Threat Integration Center points out that this isnt the first time that such a proposal has been put forward. Rep. Curt Weldon, (R-Pa.), the vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called for the creation of just such a center in 1999 at the height of the U.S.-led NATO air war in Kosovo. And an advisory panel on the national response to weapons of mass destruction, led by former Virginia Gov. James S. Gilmore III, also recommended the creation of such an agency, ComputerWorld reports. Weldons plan built on the Armys data mining capabilities.Companies Reluctant to Tell Customers About HacksNew York Times explores the dilemma that faces companies that have been hacked: should they tell customers? The Times reports that many consumers believe they have a right to know if the safety of their personal information has been compromised.

Today’s

Personal Info of 180,000 Canadians Missing, Perhaps StolenToronto Star. ISM Canada, a subsidiary of IBM Canada that provides a variety of services including data management, disclosed last week that a personal computer hard drive with customer files had “gone missing” from its building in Regina, Saskatchewan. But, the Star reports, other companies client info may have been on the missing hard drive as well. ISM would not disclose which companies or agencies were affected. Its possible the hard drive has simply been misplaced, but local police told the Star they are treating the disappearance as a theft.

Co-operators Life Insurance Company has warned more than 180,000 customers across Canada about possible identity theft after the disappearance of a computer hard drive containing personal information, according to a story in todays

East Coast Credit Card Fraud Ring BustedYahoo.com last night, more than 30 Pakistanis face federal charges in an alleged credit-card fraud ring that investigators believe netted $5 million. U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said Wednesday that there may be “a loose connection” to terrorist activity. He said investigators learned of the ring when American Express contacted Fairfax County police in 2000 and reported that an unusual number of credit cards in the area appeared to be involved in fraud.

According to an AP report posted on