Saturday 08-13-11

RIC airport protester, federal officials present arguments in lawsuit

Authorities involved in the arrest of a protester who removed his shirt and pants at a security checkpoint at Richmond International Airport were doing their jobs and acted appropriately, a government attorney argued Wednesday in Richmond federal court.

Carlotta P. Wells, an attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, argued in favor of a motion to dismiss Aaron B. Tobey's lawsuit, which claims his constitutional rights were violated. Wells said Tobey had made his point by removing his shirt to display words from the Fourth Amendment written on his torso but went too far when he disobeyed a command to pass through a security scanner.

But Anand Agneshwar, an attorney representing Tobey in his lawsuit against airport and federal officials, said the 21-year-old Charlottesville man obeyed the commands of authorities. Agneshwar said it was the authorities who went too far by detaining Tobey for 90 minutes or longer with his hands cuffed behind his back.

"This was one long process to determine if this gentleman was a security risk," Agneshwar told U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson.

Hudson said he hopes to rule on the defendants' motion to dismiss in the next two weeks. The judge also set a trial date for Jan. 18.

Tobey claims that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Transportation Security Administration and airport officials violated his constitutional rights.

Tobey stripped to his socks and shorts Dec. 30 in a protest against airport security procedures and unreasonable searches and seizures.

He was taken into custody and charged with disorderly conduct, but Henrico County authorities dropped the charge.

Tobey eventually was allowed to continue on his flight to attend a family funeral.

The defendants argue in court documents that federal and airport officials were working together appropriately to ensure security at the airport during the busy holiday travel season.

"The TSA officers were clearly just following federal laws," said Wells, who argued for the federal defendants Wednesday.

Tobey's attorneys argue in court papers that the TSA agents and airport police "humiliated and punished him in direct retaliation for his protected act of peaceful protest, detaining and arresting him without probable cause, repeatedly searching his belongings, seizing and discarding certain of his personal effects."

The lawsuit alleges false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and violations of Tobey's rights under the First, Fourth, Fifth and 14th amendments. It seeks $250,000 in compensatory damages, legal fees and additional training for TSA employees.

See surveillance video footage of Tobey at the airport scanner here.

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/aug/11/tdmet01-ric-airport-protester-federal-officials-pr-ar-1231274/


Millions of Web pages are hacker landmines

Some 8 million Web pages, published mostly by smaller merchants and professional firms, have been hijacked this summer and set up to usurp control of the PCs of unsuspecting site visitors.

AVG
AVG says its free LinkScanner, part of the AVG security software suite, can protect users from malicious links.
That's the latest development in a new style of hacking sweeping across the Internet, according to research by website security firm Armorize.

"The misuse of numerous small sites is making the Internet a much more dangerous place," says Alena Varkockova, lab analyst at antivirus firm Avast. "Even the unimportant sites can do big harm when misused."

A single criminal gang using computer servers located in Ukraine is responsible for the latest twist in converting legitimate websites into delivery mechanisms for "driveby downloads," says Wayne Huang, chief technical officer at Armorize.

In a driveby download, malicious software gets inserted into the Web browser of any unsuspecting Internet user who simply has navigated to a hacked Web page.

With control of the visitor's browser, the attacker can easily install malicious software that silently harvests all account log-ons, identity data and payment card data. The PC is usually also slotted into a botnet; the bad guys then use it on an ongoing basis to spread spam, carry out hacktivist attacks and do other criminal activities.

Google and Microsoft say they continually scan for Web pages conducting malicious activities and issue warning pages in search results and via Google's Chrome and Microsoft's Internet Explorer browsers. They also provide free guidance and tools for website owners to diagnose and clean up problems.

But many of the infected Web pages won't get cleaned up anytime soon, as these wrongdoers use "myriad techniques to ensure their malicious software goes undetected," says Jon Clay, product manager at antivirus firm Trend Micro. Use of polymorphic infections that constantly change has become commonplace, says Clay.

Internet users can reduce their risk by keeping Web browser and antivirus updates current and avoiding use of Internet Explorer, since Microsoft's dominant browser is also the most intensively probed for security holes, says Adam Wosotowsky, senior analyst at antivirus firm McAfee. "I suggest using Firefox or Chrome," he says.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2011-08-11-mass-website-hacking_n.htm