Fear of Another Attack in Indonesia; Computer Virus Cramps Pan-Am Games; Burglary by Modem; Privacy Rules Stymie Police

Fear of Another Attack in Indonesia

Another terrorist attack in Indonesia could be imminent, according to a story in todays Sydney Morning Herald, possibly timed to coincide with today’s sentencing of the accused Bali bomber Amrozi or next weekend’s national day holiday, Australias Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, warned yesterday. Indonesian security and police officials echoed the warning, as Indonesian police revealed that documents found in a terrorist hide-out during a raid three weeks ago showed that the area around the Marriott Hotel had been targeted for a future attack. The head of Indonesia’s police force admitted that his officers had recently lost their capacity to track suspected members of Jemaah Islamiah, believed responsible for the Marriott attack. He said, “In the past we could detect their position, their movements, through the [communication] devices they used. Now they don’t use them any more so we don’t know which target they have chosen.”Computer Virus Cramps Pan-Am GamesThe Register today. The unnamed virus interfered with the results service at the international sporting event being held in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. According to a Reuters report on the Games, a different type of security issue also affected some athletes. Because the United States suspended regulations allowing nationals of countries who would normally need visas to make international connections at its airports without them, The Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB) said that it had been forced to change travel plans for dozens of its athletes to travel to the Dominican Republic, sending them via Panama City instead of Miami. But it said it still had to find a solution for 120 members of its delegation already in Santo Domingo, whose return trip is routed via the United States and who do not have visas. Security fears continued with numerous reports in the media that members of the public were allowed to take firearms into venues simply by showing their gun permits to security staff, said Reuters

The 2003 Pan American Games this week have been disrupted by a computer virus, according to

Burglary by ModemNew York Times details the case of one identity thief, Juju Jiang, who for almost two years, used an arsenal of computers in his bedroom on the 14th floor of an apartment he shared with his mother to break into others. According to the federal agents who prosecuted him, the Times reports, Jiang had unwitting help from his victims: Customers at Internet terminals at 13 Kinko’s copy shops in Manhattan entered personal information that he gathered with software he had installed there to capture their every keystroke. Jiang, 25, pleaded guilty last month to computer fraud and software piracy. He was caught after one of his victims heard his own computer starting up and running by itself one night. The story unfolds how Jiang was caught and what has happened since. There have certainly been farther-reaching cybercrimes, with deeper impact, says the Times, but experts say the Jiang case is especially disturbing because it illustrates the potential damage that could be wrought by invisible spy tools.

A story in todays

Privacy Rules Stymie PoliceHartford Courant, police officers across the nation say they are being denied access to anyone, including crime victims and missing persons, who have opted not to be listed in hospital directories. Under HIPAA, hospitals must allow police to interview patients and must provide information about patients’ conditions when a serious crime has been committed or someone is suspected of a crime. But the law does not require hospitals to provide the information when there is no apparent evidence of a crime or in the case of a traffic accident. Police must now subpeona information that was routinely given in the past, such as how extensive are the injuries of a traffic accident victim, for example. Adding to the confusion, different hospitals and different staff members interpret the HIPAA restrictions differently.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which took effect in April, is slowing police investigations and, in some cases, impeding the prosecution of crimes, police officials say. According to a sory in todays