Car Bomb Kills At Least 47 at Baghdad Police Station; Fingerprinting, Iris Scans Part of TSA Plan for Frequent Travelers; Worm Adds Sniffer Capability; Contractors Cash in on Air Force Upgrades

Car Bomb Kills At Least 47 at Baghdad Police Station

A suicide car bomb exploded outside police headquarters in Baghdad Tuesday morning, killing at least 47 people and injuring 114 others. According to a report by The New York Times, the attack was followed by a drive-by ambush northeast of the capital where gunmen killed 11 policemen and one civilian. Ayad Hussein, 24, who was at the police headquarters hoping to get a job interview described the scene tis way, “It happened all of a sudden. I flew into the air and landed on the ground. I saw body parts all over the place.”

For more details, read the full article in The New York Times.

Fingerprinting, Iris Scans Part of TSA Plan for Frequent Travelers

A story in the Los Angeles Times looks at the Transportation Security Administration’s security program for frequent travelers, whihc began at Los Angeles International Airport in July. Travelers who register with the TSA can bypass the long security screening lines that tend to gather during peak travel times. Registration required travelers to provide the TSA with information such as their names, addresses, Social Security, frequent-flier and driver’s license numbers. They also had to submit to criminal background checks, which included searches of the FBI’s database. Travelers also had electronic photographs taken of both index fingers and then of their irises. Officials say that at LAX more than 500 passengers have been screened.

For more details, read the full article in the Los Angeles Times.

Worm Adds Sniffer Capability

Virus writers have added a network sniffer to the latest variant of the SDBot worm series, reports The Register. According to the story, sniffers are used to monitor network traffic. But bundling a network sniffer with an auto-propagating worm makes it easier for hackers to gather usernames and passwords.

For more details, read the full article in The Register.

Contractors Cash in on Air Force Upgrades

The eight government contractors selected to update the Air Force’s communication systems are vying for specific task orders, according to a report in the Washington Post. Much of the work involves integrating networks and providing computer hardware to Air Force units.

For more details, read the full article in the Washington Post.