Spamhaus, a nonprofit spam filtering organization, has been targeted by a cyber attack.

Steve Linford, chief executive for Spamhaus, told the BBC the scale of the attack was unprecedented. "We've been under this cyber-attack for well over a week.

"But we're up - they haven't been able to knock us down. Our engineers are doing an immense job in keeping it up - this sort of attack would take down pretty much anything else."

Mr Linford told the BBC that the attack was being investigated by five different national cyber-police-forces around the world.

He claimed he was unable to disclose more details because the forces were concerned that they too may suffer attacks on their own infrastructure.

The attackers have used a tactic known as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), which floods the intended target with large amounts of traffic in an attempt to render it unreachable.

The document, written by al-Qaeda planner Younis al-Mauretani, suggests planting recruits in jobs which could later be useful in attacks, such as oil or gas transportation, and directing supporters to study chemistry and physics. [...]

 Al-Mauretani identifies the massive petrochemical facility at Abqaiq in Saudi Arabia as a potential target for aerial attack.

The 17-page document includes a suggestion that al-Qaeda should use submarines to explore the layout of underwater gas pipelines, in order to mine them. This idea is given serious consideration in the document which notes that the pipelines have safety valves every 6 miles that need to be taken into account when planting mines. 

 

Once again, terrorists have targeted the vulnerable energy sector. 

Attackers bombed and disabled a pipeline carrying fuel oil from Iraq's largest refinery to a province north of Baghdad, the oil ministry said on Sunday.

 "A bomb attack led to an explosion in the 16-inch pipeline transporting fuel oil from Baji refinery to Nineveh province," said ministry spokesman Asim Jihad.

Victoria Espinel, the U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, announced the launch of a new strategy to protect intellectual property. She cited President Obama's State of the Union Address in which he said,  “we cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.”

The Strategy that we are releasing today coordinates and improves U.S. Government efforts to protect the innovation that drives the American economy and supports jobs in the United States. As the Strategy lays out, we are taking a whole of government approach to stop the theft of trade secrets by foreign competitors or foreign governments by any means – cyber or otherwise.

In his 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama emphasized the importance of securing our energy systems from cyber attacks. 

America must also face the rapidly growing threat from cyber-attacks. Now, we know hackers steal people’s identities and infiltrate private emails. We know foreign countries and companies swipe our corporate secrets. Now our enemies are also seeking the ability to sabotage our power grid, our financial institutions, our air traffic control systems. We cannot look back years from now and wonder why we did nothing in the face of real threats to our security and our economy.

And that’s why, earlier today, I signed a new executive order that will strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy.

But now Congress must act as well, by passing legislation to give our government a greater capacity to secure our networks and deter attacks. This is something we should be able to get done on a bipartisan basis.

The full text of the Executive Order

The Persistent Threat Detection System, or PTDS, is fielded by Program Executive Office Intelligence Electronic Warfare & Sensors, and personnel manning the systems fall under the 401st. 

"PTDS is a large aerostat tethered to a mooring platform, which is accompanied by a Ground Control Station," Lt. Col. Michael Parodi, product manager for Meteorological and Target Identification Capabilities, was quoted as saying in an article published Jul. 2, 2012. "The system is equipped with both visual and audio surveillance technology and acts as a force multiplier for commanders on the ground."

Parodi added that PTDS can be utilized to scan large areas for potential insurgent activity while interacting with various sensors to provide a complete picture of potential threats.

With the State of the Union approaching this evening at 9pm, Cybersecurity is sure to play a role. The Hill reports anticipation that the President will follow up the SOTU with an announcement on cybersecurity.

The White House is poised to release an executive order aimed at thwarting cyberattacks against critical infrastructure on Wednesday, two people familiar with the matter told The Hill.

The highly anticipated directive from President Obama is expected to be released at a briefing Wednesday morning at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where senior administration officials will provide an update about cybersecurity policy.

The executive order would establish a voluntary program in which companies operating critical infrastructure would elect to meet cybersecurity best practices and standards crafted, in part, by the government. 

Observers are expecting the president to briefly mention the need for the country to improve its defenses against cyberattacks during his State of the Union address on Tuesday. 

Armed men have hijacked a tanker carrying 5,000 tons of oil from a port in Ivory Coast. [...]

A total of five incidents were reported off Ivory Coast in 2012, up from one the previous year. In October, suspected Nigerian pirates seized a tanker carrying more than 30,000 tons of gasoline off the coast of Abidjan, the first reported hijacking in the country.

Anne Korin was interviewed on the attractiveness of the energy sector for terrorists: 

In mid-January, militants raided Algeria’s In Amenas gas field, sparking a crisis that ended with the deaths of at least 37 hostages. Anne Korin, co-director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, an energy security research organization, explained in an email interview why the oil and gas industry is an attractive target for terrorists.

IAGS' Dr. Gal Luft was interviewed in a report on the the relationship between energy security and oil costs.

Gal Luft, an energy expert, said cyber attacks are a growing concern for energy companies.

"As cyber terrorists realize the vulnerability, they may improve their technical sophistication and eventually develop capabilities that could wreak havoc in global oil and gas markets," said Luft.

So far, the most serious cyber attacks have been aimed at power grids  rather than at oil or gas production. Luft said, however, that could change.

Meantime, oil prices that spiked right after the Algeria attack remain high.