WORDPRESS SITES TARGETED BY MASS BRUTE-FORCE BOTNET ATTACK | US-CERT

US-CERT is aware of an ongoing campaign targeting the content management software WordPress, a free and open source blogging tool and web publishing platform based on PHP and MySQL. All hosting providers offering WordPress for web content management are potentially targets. Hackers reportedly are utilizing over 90,000 servers to compromise websites’ administrator panels by exploiting hosts with “admin” as account name, and weak passwords which are being resolved through brute force attack methods.
CloudFlare, a web performance and security startup, has to block 60 million requests against its WordPress customers within one hour elapse time. The online requests reprise the WordPress scenario targeting administrative accounts from a botnet supported by more than 90,000 separate IP addresses. A CloudFlare spokesman asserted that if hackers successfully control WordPress servers, potential damage and service disruption could exceed common distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack defenses. As a mitigating strategy, HostGator, a web hosting company used for WordPress, has recommended users log into their WordPress accounts and change them to more secure passwords.
US-CERT encourages users and administrators to ensure their installation includes the latest software versions available. More information to assist administrators in maintaining a secure content management system include:
Review the June 21, 2012, vulnerability described in CVE-2012-3791, and follow best practices to determine if their organization is affected and the appropriate response.
Refer to the Technical Alert on Content Management Systems Security and Associated Risks for more information on securing a web content management system
Refer to Security Tip Understanding Hidden Threats: Rootkits and Botnets for more information on protecting a system against botnet attacks
Additional security practices and guidance are available in US-CERT’s Technical Information Paper TIP-12-298-01 on Website Security.

IPHONE HELPED POLICE CAPTURE BOSTON BOMBERS

The driver of the SUV hijacked by the Boston bombers has spoken of how he escaped and helped police capture the bombers.

It has emerged that the brothers were planning to drive to New York and detonate their remaining explosive devices in Times Square. However, their plan began to fall apart when the brothers realised the SUV did not have enough gas to make it to New York, and the driver, who is being called “Danny”, explained how he was able to flee from the car whilst the older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was distracted by the satellite navigation device.

After Danny escaped he contacted police, and told them how he had left his iPhone in the car, to enable police to track the vehicle.

Police were able to corner the suspects within hours, in the Boston suburb of Watertown, where the elder brother was shot dead in the shoot out that ensued.

In further developments it has emerged that the Tsarnaev brothers mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, 46, was placed on the US watch list of potential terrorists in 2011, after security warnings from the Russian authorities. Since the Boston bombings Zubeidat Tsarnaeva has made emotional pleas to the media declaring her sons were innocent, and had been framed.

Read More: The Telegraph

PARIS RIOTS AFTER GAY MARRIAGE VOTE

Police fought running battles with protesters in central Paris last night after the French parliament approved legislation authorising same-sex couples to marry and to adopt children.
The vote, which made France the fourteenth country in the world to legalise gay marriage, was hailed by supporters as an epoch-defining commitment to equality. But it sparked fury among opponents.
As protest marches turned violent, stones, bottles and iron bars rained down on riot police units brought in to protect parliament.

via Paris riots after gay marriage vote | The Times.

SAND MANDALA “GATE OF HELL” PERFORMED IN NORMAN, OKLAHOMA

Screen Shot 2013-06-02 at 2.48.31 AMMay 20 2013 Sand Mandala in Oklahoma Norman Tornado hugeMay 20 2013 Severe Weather map Oklahoma Tornado

Tibetan Buddhist monks were invited to Norman Oklahoma to create a sand mandala. The Mandala of Wisdom, was created in St Stephen’s Methodist Church in Norman, before being dismantled on April 13th by the monks.

The monks came from the Drepung Loseling Monastery to create the mandala, they were also available for private healings, as well as blessings of homes and businesses.

St Stephen’s have hosted the monks annually for the last five years, church officials have said, “We accept every member of the community. We really see it as a privilege to have them here.”

When the “Gatekeepers” of the city, invite in the “Wrathful Deities” (destructive UFO beings) of the UNDERWORLD, who bring destruction, why does everyone act shocked, when destruction comes into the city, and their loved ones are killed?

Wasn’t that the point of “WELCOMING THEM” into the city?

If you don’t like the death and destruction these “WRATHFUL DEITIES” do in your cities, then STOP INVITING THEM…

Otherwise shut up and enjoy the death and destruction… and keep telling yourself it is global warming… and attack the very root of your own prosperity which is cheap energy… ha ha ha

Ignorance is bliss isn’t it?

Read More: The Oklahoma Daily

GLENN BECK SAYS WE ARE BATTLING PRINCIPALITIES AND POWERS – BUT WE HAVE GOD ON OUR SIDE

"This is not a conspiracy theory. We have the documentation. You want to play ball with us, Washington? Come on, bring it on, play ball! We are not afraid. We know exactly who we are dealing with. We are dealing with, quite honestly, principalites and power beyond our imagination. But we know who we have on our side. Bring it on."

FRANCE LEGALIZES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

The French parliament have voted today to legalize same-sex marriage. The bill was passed 331-225, and it is thought weddings could begin as early as June.

The vote was almost a foregone conclusion given that parliament has a Socialist majority, who along with their allies the Green party, had been pushing for the bill. President Hollande made same-sex marriage a key manifesto promise in last year’s election.

However, the nation is deeply divided over the bill,  with mass rallies in Paris over the last few weeks. The protests are expected to continue, as they seek to convince President Hollande not to sign the bill into law, or to remove the part of it, which currently will see gay couples given the right to adopt.

The leader of the right leaning party UMP has promised another large scale demonstration in Paris on May 26th, with UMP leader Jean-François Copé wanting to send a “message of very strong disapproval to the government.”

This morning, before the vote it was reported that, Claude Bartolone, president of the lower house, received a package containing gunpowder and a note saying, “Citizen Bartolone, with this letter we formally ask you to delay the vote on same-sex marriage…Our methods are more radical and direct than demonstrations. You wanted war, you’ve got it.” The message was sent by the group calling themselves Interaction of the Forces of Order.

Read More The Telegraph

TERRORIST PLOT UNCOVERED IN TORONTO

Canadian authorities announced Monday they have broken up an Al Qaeda-linked terror plot to attack a passenger train as it crossed over a bridge in the Toronto area. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that two suspects have been arrested on terrorism charges. Chiheb Esseghaier and Raed Jaser, who live in greater Montreal and Toronto — were conspiring to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack against Via Rail, but posed no immediate threat to the public.”It was definitely in the planning stage but not imminent,” RCMP Chief Superintendent Jennifer Strachan told reporters at a news conference.

via Al Qaeda-linked plot to attack passenger train broken up by Canadian, U.S. authorities | Fox News.

PARIS TO SEE LARGE SCALE PROTESTS AGAINST SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL

Tens of thousands are expected to take to the street of Paris today to protest against the government’s bill to legalise same-sex marriage and gay adoption.

The parliament are expected to pass the bill on Tuesday. The bill was one of President Hollande’s key manifesto promises.

This latest protest is expected to see between 30,000 to 50,000 protesters converge on the streets of Paris; a similar rally in March saw around 300,000 people attend.

Protesters are angered by the way the government has pushed the bill through parliament, using a fast track procedure, which means the bill has only received 25 hours of debate.

Another protest is planned for May 26th, to demand the bill be withdrawn and a referendum called on same-sex marriage.

Read More: France 24

BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECT CAPTURED


View Watertown, MA in a larger map

Tonight in Watertown, Mass., Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, was captured. He was found hiding in the backyard of a resident. Tsarnaev was apprehended just outside the area where police had been conducting door-to-door searches all day.

The Boston Police Commissioner, Edward Davis, said at a news conference Friday night, “A man had gone out of his house after being inside the house all day, abiding by our request to stay inside.  He walked outside and saw blood on a boat in the backyard. He then opened the tarp on the top of the boat, and looked in and saw a man covered with blood. He retreated and called us.”

Mr. Davis stated, “Over the course of the next hour or so we exchanged gunfire with the suspect, who was inside the boat, and ultimately the hostage rescue team of the F.B.I. made an entry into the boat and removed the suspect, who was still alive.” He said the suspect was in “serious condition” and had apparently been wounded in the gunfight that left his brother dead.

Yesterday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, were involved in a carjacking after shooting and killing a campus police officer at MIT, (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). A short time later, the brothers were involved in a gun battle in Watertown with police. A transit police officer was critically wounded in the shootout along with Tamerlan Tsarnaev whom was fatally wounded. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev ran over his older brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as he sped away and escaped the scene according to officials.

Read More: NY Times
Timeline: The Hunt for the Boston Bombing Suspects

FERTILIZER PLANT EXPLODES IN TEXAS LEAVING AT LEAST 15 DEAD

A blast at the West Fertilizer Plant, Texas, has left at least 15 dead, and 160+ injured. The blast was likened to a nuclear bomb exploding and has flattened up to 75 homes.

The plant was around 20 miles north of Waco, and the blast was felt in Dallas 65 miles away. The Mayor of  West said, “We’ve got a lot of people who are hurt, and there’s a lot of people, I’m sure, who aren’t gonna be here tomorrow. We’re going to search for everybody. We’re going to make sure everybody’s accounted for. That’s the most important thing right now.”

Firefighters responded quickly to the blast, however, reports say there are now four firefighters missing in the wreckage.

The chemicals used to make fertilizers are also used in explosives, and has been responsible for disasters in the past, like the AZF plant in Toulouse in 2001.

The blast comes two days before the 20th anniversary of the Waco fire in 1993, where David Koresh and his sect were holed up in a siege with the FBI. About 82 members of the sect and four federal agents died at Waco.

Read More: The Telegraph

USA REJECTS GUN CONTROL – OBAMA SADDENED

Background checks for gun purchases was voted down in the USA. Obama seemed to think background checks would have stopped the Sandy Hook shooting? Please tell us how? So we pass laws to appease emotional reactions instead of solving real problems? So now US prints money to purchase 1.4 billion rounds of ammo ?? Citizens react by back ordering 10 times the ammo they would have normally purchased. Ammo manufacturers dance with glee as they step up manufacturing, and after government intervention, 10 times the ammo will hit the streets in only a few months…
OBAMA ! OBAMA ! OBAMA ! Maybe we can get him to run for a third term? Stay Tuned…

SANDY HOOK VICTIMS SEATED NEAR EXPLOSIONS AT BOSTON MARATHON

The deadly blasts at the Boston Marathon opened not-so-old wounds for the siblings of last year’s Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims. Their family members had VIP seats near the site where the first of the twin explosions occurred.
A statement posted on the group’s Facebook page informed that the members of the Newtown Strong team which ran in the marathon were safe, because “all runners completed the race before the explosions happened.”
The team featured the mother of a girl who survived the Sandy Hook shooting.

via Compound tragedy: Boston Marathon blasts mar memorial for Sandy Hook victims — RT USA.