IDF bans WhatsApp
The IDF has
banned the use of WhatsApp, the popular messaging application for smartphones that was purchased by Facebook last week, in all operational contexts. The reason: Fear that it will cause information to fall into the wrong hands.
The IDF Information Security Department issued tough guidelines
Wednesday night prohibiting soldiers from using popular messaging
application Whatsapp on their smartphones to convey IDF-related
information, according to Army Radio. WhatsApp is a cross-platform mobile app which allows users to exchange messages without having to pay telecom charges.
According to the broadcast, the IDF has agonized over whether or not
to allow smartphones on base, over concerns about the potential for
serious security leaks.
The branch notes that seemingly innocuous chatter over a WhatsApp
group can easily reveal enough intelligence information to prove
dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands. The Office of the Chief of
Staff finalized the new guidelines, which prohibit using the app in any
operational context.
"Out of concern that information revealed in a WhatsApp group could
reveal critical information about the IDF and its operations,
assessments were carried out to determine the security risks of the
situation by the Information Security Department, and new guidelines
were issued," the IDF stated. "In accordance with Information Security
Department policy, there is a ban on using WhatsApp for operational
needs."
I won't tell you what I think of WhatsApp except to say that I don't use it.
Labels: IDF, security
Here we go again: Claim Arab cameraman was strip-searched at US Ambassador's July 4 party
A cameraman for the US sponsored
al-Hura network was allegedly
strip-searched by Israeli security before being admitted to the UN Independence Day party on Thursday night. Both US Ambassador Dan Shapiro and Prime Minister Netanyahu have thus far refused to comment about the story.
The Arab satellite channel had coordinated with the Israeli prime
minister's office to cover the event on behalf of the international
media. But when cameraman Samer Jallad arrived, he said he was detained
for questioning, ordered to remove his shoes and sit in the sun for more
than half an hour, and then taken to a room where he was forced to
remove his pants for a body inspection. He said he was held for more
than 90 minutes before he was permitted to enter.
It
was the latest in a string of incidents in which Israeli security have
used heavy-handed tactics against Arab journalists, a practice Israel
has defended as necessary for security. Jallad, who said he has covered
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on many occasions, is a Palestinian from East Jerusalem who holds full Israeli residency rights and has a government-issued press card.
The
Foreign Press Association, which represents international media in
Israel, called on the U.S. Embassy to condemn the incident.
"We
find it especially shameful that a staffer of a U.S.-funded network
would be the victim of racial profiling at an official U.S. event
celebrating American Independence Day," the FPA said. "Such treatment
goes against the core values of freedom and equality that the U.S. seeks
to uphold."
Ambassador
Dan Shapiro refused to comment and only said he had no knowledge of the
incident. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office had no immediate
comment.
I wonder whether
this had something to do with the fear of an attack.
Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Dan Shapiro, Fourth of July, security, suicide bombers, US embassy in Tel Aviv
F-16 engines stolen from IAF base
The IAF has recently discovered that
'several' F-16 engines have been stolen from one of its bases. 'Arabs assisted by someone on the inside' are suspected (Hat Tip:
Aryeh Z).
Senior IAF sources said that the thieves who stole the engines had to
have been assisted by someone within the base. This determination is
based, among other things, on the fact that there was no damage to the
base's perimeter fence. This leads investigators to believe that the
thieves went in and out through the gates. They must have done this with
a large vehicle, since the engines weigh over 1.5 tons and are more
than 15 feet long.
No suspects have been arrested yet in the theft, which is the first
of its kind in the IAF's history and marks a low point in its ability to
secure its own bases. The most likely possibility is that the engines
were stolen by Arab metal thieves, weapons dealers or terror-related
agents.
You might be asking - as I did - how someone could steal an engine that weighs over 1.5 tons and that is over 15 feet long. If you read the whole thing, you will discover that there were several similar audacious thefts over the last few months.
What could go wrong?
Labels: F-16, IAF, security
Islamic Jihad obtains IDF documents
Maybe the IDF doesn't stress it enough. Or maybe we still have too many technological bimbos. If you're in the IDF, please do not post information about your unit on Facebook or post its documents to Google Docs.
The picture above is an SMS sent by Islamic Jihad to IDF soldiers during Operation Pillar of Defense. There were thousands of them. On Monday,
it got worse.
A day after the IDF
confirmed that Islamic Jihad
sent text messages to thousands of reserve soldiers during Operation Pillar of Defense,
several Palestinian media outlets released seven documents that,
according to the terror group, include personal and confidential details
of more than 100 Israeli soldiers.
The published documents include the soldiers' full names, army
ID numbers, their roles (such as "medic" or "sniper"), cell phone
numbers and dates of birth.
Additional documents
published by Islamic Jihad's armed wing, which were translated into
Arabic, belong to a certain IDF division and include details on a
grenade launching training course and a farewell tour in honor of former
Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai.
According to Islamic
Jihad, the documents were drafted in 2012. The terror group said the
documents were obtained by its intelligence division.
Roi, one of the soldiers whose details appear in the documents,
told Ynet that the details were accurate. "Maybe one of the soldiers in
my reserves unit uploaded the list onto Google Docs. You need a code to
enter, but it is easy to decipher," he said.
Hey folks - the web is not secure. Just like we have intelligence, they have intelligence. Don't be foolish.
Labels: IDF, Operation Pillar of Defense, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, security
If they had done this in Israel....
If an Israeli government official had done anything like this in Israel, the chattering classes would have been up in arms. But it really was
the right thing to do under the circumstances (Hat Tip:
Memeorandum).
One hotel worker whose duties involve going to all the hotel's floors said he was preparing for his shift Friday when his supervisor told him to steer clear of the eighth and ninth floors, where Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his delegation had booked rooms.
"I said, 'Why?'â" said the worker, who is Muslim and wanted to remain unidentified to protect his job. He said his supervisor told him, "They're Israelis there, and they don't want no face-to-face with Muslims."
The hotel's general manager, Amanda Hyndman, said the hotel rearranged some shifts and told some workers not to come in after a routine State Department background check found "irregularities" in the checks of 12 employees.
"We don't know the reasons why," Hyndman said, adding that not all the people on the list were Muslim. She said she did not know whether any Muslim employees were allowed to work on the eighth and ninth floors over the weekend.
After receiving a letter Tuesday from the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, Hyndman said the hotel planned to investigate the incident. "We uphold our policies of anti-discrimination," she said.
An official at the Israeli Embassy said that "as a policy, the embassy does not discuss the logistical arrangements for visiting Israeli officials."
A State Department official said routine background checks are conducted on people who "may have access to, or be working in, the vicinity of the official we are protecting." The official said that "at no time do these checks include questions regarding religious or political affiliation" and that the same standards are applied for for all delegations.
If you can't request that certain people be kept away from the people you're protecting, how can you secure them?
But you can bet that this will be added to the 'Islamophobia' statistics in the US.
Labels: Ehud Barak, Mandarin Hotel, security
Obama to bankrupt US treasury by traveling for the next two years
On Wednesday, Jake Tapper tweeted his more than 73,000 followers (yes, I'm envious) to tell us all that it was not true that President
Obama's trip to India is costing $200 million per day.
Still, luxuries like
this do not come cheap (this undoubtedly costs a little more than Michelle's trip to Spain over the summer), and I have to wonder if every trip Obama takes for the next two years is going to include this type of coverage. If it does, the cost could be quite significant (Hat Tip:
Sunlight).
Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi.
He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.
Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed.
Obama is expected to fly by a helicopter -- Marine One -- from the city airport to the Indian Navy's helibase INS Shikra at Colaba in south Mumbai.
From there, he will drive down in Lincoln Continental -- the Presidential limousine -- to the nearby the Taj Hotel.
Two jets, armed with advanced communication and security systems, and a fleet of over 40 cars will be part of Obamas convoy.
Around 800 rooms have been booked for the President and his entourage in Taj Hotel and Hyatt.
I don't recall other Presidents doing this. In the time I've lived in Israel, Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush came here (George H.W. Bush never did) and I can tell you that neither the entourage nor the security were anywhere near this. I know that there was a terror attack in Mumbai two years ago. If it's not safe, maybe he shouldn't be going there.
Labels: Barack Obama, entourage, Mumbai, security, Taj Mahal
Airport security starts before you get into the building
Even I learned something new from this one.
I've told you all many times how good the security is at Ben Gurion Airport and how it's all done through profiling. This article talks about that too. But I misunderstood the purpose of stopping people before you ever enter the airport complex.
Until today, I thought the idea was that they stop you at a checkpoint that looks like a toll booth after you get off the highway but before you enter the airport complex so that security can see how you react to questions, and pull over anyone who arouses suspicion. Yes, they do pull people over. But there's more to it than that. Nachum Liss of the Airports Authority explained it to 50 '
security experts' from around the world this week.
Liss said that heightened screening of passengers and carry-on luggage in international airports has pushed terror organizations to look for other vulnerable areas to attack at airports. He said many of the world's airports do not properly secure their perimeters.
"We need to protect our back door as well," said Liss, offering a look at an advanced technique the Israelis are working on.
The visitors, including experts from the U.S. and Europe, watched as security officers staged a live simulation, stopping three armed "terrorists" who broke through a rear gate.
Then they observed an unmanned vehicle patrolling the airport perimeter by remote control — a technology soon to be introduced at the Israeli airport.
Routine security procedures start far away from the terminal.
Before even entering the airport, all cars are stopped for a security check by armed guards. Cameras scan license plates to match them with a database of suspicious vehicles. Security officials said it's one of the many security filters passengers pass before boarding flights, some of them unknown to the passengers and many others still kept secret.
The Israeli airport's spokesman's unit said the main terminal is equipped with 700 closed-circuit cameras and is fortified against explosions. The large glass wall at the front and even the trash cans inside are bombproof, they said.
I wish I felt as safe in other airports as I do here.
Labels: Ben Gurion Airport, profiling, security
