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Libya: From Lupus to Schizophrenia (Part III of III)

Those more recent developments further complicated Libya’s struggle with lawlessness and instability: Intense fighting has taken place between the LNA and the Benghazi Revolutionaries Shoura Council (BRSC) in Benghazi; between Al-Qaeda and IS in Derna; between Libya Dawn and LNA in central and western Libya; between Libya Dawn and IS in Sirte; between the PFG and IS in the oil-rich central region of Libya; and between the pro-Libya Dawn Tuareg and the pro-LNA Tabou in the Libyan Sahara. But the greatest concern for all- especially in the West- was the increasingly disconcerting presence of IS in Libya. IS had flourished in Syria and Iraq starting from 2014, the year that saw their lightning-and-thunder seizure of large areas of that part of the Middle East. The world was winded by IS’s fanatically ruthless efficiency before it felt squeamish at their cold-blooded butchery of defenceless civilians. Once IS began beheading Western hostages, Western powers reacted by launching a prolonged campaign of aerial bombardment of IS, coupled with extensive assistance to anti-IS forces in the Middle East in respect of intelligence, special forces, and logistics. Later, Russia entered the fray by actively supporting President Assad’s forces against his opponents, particularly IS and the Islamist An-Nusra Front. The resulting curtailment of IS in both Syria and Iraq led to an increasing transfer of many IS fighters to Libya. Those were estimated to be in the thousands (up from hundreds) and have been based mainly in Sirte, Qaddafi’s hometown, which they governed. IS’s presence in Sirte had principally been facilitated by masses of profoundly disgruntled Qaddafi supporters who had experienced defeat and humiliation at the hands of the anti-Qaddafi forces, something which is reminiscent of how many Sunni Iraqis had collaborated with IS after the former had been let down by the United States in the aftermath of their decisive contribution to the defeat of Al-Qaeda in Iraq in what became known as As-Sahwa (The Awakening), thereby exposing them to inhumane persecution by the Shi’ite government of Nuri Al-Maliki.

: Husam Dughman, Author and Political Analyst; Viewpoints; Posted On Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:49

Significant and life-long contributions to the industry recognised by BSIA Chairman’s Awards

Five individuals and teams have been presented with prestigious British Security Industry Association Chairman’s Awards to celebrate the significant contributions they have made to the ongoing success of the UK’s private security industry.

: THE EDITORIAL TEAM; The BSIA Page; Posted On Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:45

US Congress websites recovering after three-day DDoS attack

It has been reported that several websites owned and operated by the United States Congress are recovering from a three-day DDoS attack. The campaign began on July 17 when the websites for the Library of Congress began experiencing technical difficulties. A day later, the websites went temporarily offline. During the attack, Library of Congress employees were unable to access their work emails or visit any of the Library’s websites. It is reported that the attackers overcame the initial defence measures to escalate their campaign.

: SECURITY EXPERT; Talking Point; Posted On Thursday, 21 July 2016 15:41

After 7 Years, Enfal Keeps Changing Its Spots but the Danger Remains

The Enfal malware, first spotted in 2004, is more dangerous than ever given its ability to morph over time often enough to evade detection.

Recent analysis by the Verint Cyber Intelligence research team shows that Enfal is still evolving, continuing to elude detection from most antivirus and firewall protection technologies. Most recently, it’s added an API name obfuscation technique and configuration block encryption method to get past security protection.