Excerpts: Russia preempts massive cyberattacks. Terror charge for Iranians
filming Israeli embassy in Kenya. Israel grants visitation visa for Jordan
prisoner's sibling 2 December 2016

+++SOURCE:Naharnet(Lebanon)2 Dec.’16:”Russia Says Foreign Spies Plotted Huge
Cyberattacks”,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Russia preempts massive cyberattacks

FULL TEXT:Russia on Friday[2 Dec] said it had uncovered plans by foreign
intelligence services to carry out massive cyberattacks this month targeting
the country's financial system.

The FSB security service said in a statement that it had received
information on "plans by foreign secret services to carry out large-scale
cyberattacks from December 5."

It said the planned attacks were aimed at "destabilising Russia's financial
system including the activities of a number of major banks."

The FSB said it was taking "the necessary measures" to "neutralise the
threats to Russia's economic and information security."

The claim came Moscow-based security giant Kaspersky said in November that a
massive cyberattack had hit at least five of Russia's largest banks.

Kaspersky said those attacks used devices located in 30 countries including
the United States.

Russia's largest lender, state-controlled Sberbank, acknowledged it had been
hacked but said its operations had not been interrupted.

However Russia has been blamed for several major hacking operations, with
Washington in October formally accusing Moscow of trying to "interfere" in
the 2016 White House race with online attacks hitting US political
institutions.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday[29 Nov] said cyberattacks from
Russia had become so common they were now a "part of daily life."

The British intelligence agency MI5 has also warned that Russia is becoming
more aggressive and using cyberattacks to promote its foreign policy abroad.

The FSB did not say which countries' secret services were involved in the
latest plot against Russian banks but alleged the attacks would use servers
and "command centres" located in the Netherlands belonging to Ukrainian
hosting company BlazingFast.

Anton Onopriychuk, director of the Kiev-based company, told AFP it provides
"services for protection against cyberattacks, not for attacks."

"As yet no one has contacted us about this, neither the FSB or clients,"
Onopriychuk said, adding that the company would investigate.

The FSB said that "provocative publications" about a crisis in the Russian
banking system were planned to appear on social media networks, blogs and
mobile phone text messages.

SourceAgence France Presse


+++SOURCE:Naharnet(Lebanon)2 Dec.’16:”Terror Charge for Iranians Filming
Israeli Embassy in Kenya,by Agence France Presse
SUBJECT:Terror charge for Iranians filming Israeli embassy in Kenya

QUOTE:”Two Iranians have been charged with planning a terrorist act after
their arrest for filming the Israeli embassy in the Kenyan capital this
week.”

FULL TEXT:Sayed Nasrollah Ebrahimi and Abdolhosein Gholi Safaee were charged
and remanded in custody by a Nairobi court on Thursday[1 Dec.] alongside
their Kenyan driver Moses Keyah Mbogah.

The three were charged with being "in facilitation of a terrorist act" after
"taking video clips of the Israeli embassy using mobile phones", the court
heard.

The men were arrested by anti-terrorism police after filming outside the
Israeli embassy on Tuesday[29 Nov], allegedly while driving in an Iranian
embassy car. They denied the charges in court on Thursday[1 Dec].

Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu told the court the three had also been to Kamiti
Maximum Security Prison outside Nairobi where they had visited two other
Iranians, Ahmad Mohammed and Sayed Mousavi, who were serving a 15-year
sentence for possessing explosives after being found guilty in 2013.

Kenya has been hit by a long string of attacks by Islamic militants, many of
them Al-Qaeda-linked.

In 2002 Al-Qaeda jihadists bombed an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa and
attempted to shoot down an Israeli passenger jet using a missile.

Al-Qaeda is an extremist Sunni group, while Iran is mainly Shiite Muslim.

Ebrahimi, Safaee and Mbogah will appear in court again on December 6 for a
bail hearing.


+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 2 Dec.’16:”Three siblings of Jordanian jailed in
Israel receive visas to visit him”,by Merza Noghai

SUBJECT:Israel grants visitation visa for Jordanian prisoner’s sibling.

FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Three siblings of Muneer Merie, a Jordanian prisoner in
Israel, on Wednesday[30 Nov] received visas from the Israeli embassy in
Amman to visit him, Muneer’s brother Shaheen said on Thursday[1 Dec].

“A brother and two sisters will visit Muneer on Monday[5 Dec],” Shaheen told
The Jordan Times.

Shaheen observed a hunger strike near the Foreign Ministry for 21
consecutive days, demanding that officials secure a visit to his brother
Muneer, who was recently attacked by prison guards.

The assault on Muneer reportedly took place when guards at the Jalbou Prison
implemented an inspection on his cell before dawn, violating a “deal” with
prisoners to carry out such a procedure during the day.

Shaheen, an engineer, said that he finished his strike on Wednesday[[30 Nov]
under medical supervision after his siblings received the visas.

Muneer was arrested in April 2003, and is serving five life sentences on
charges related to dispatching some men to carry out attacks in Adora
settlement in the West Bank’s Hebron.

“The visit is scheduled to last for two hours, where my siblings should be
able to see Muneer without a glass barrier,” Shaheen said, noting that this
is the first visit to see their imprisoned brother.

There are currently some 25 Jordanian prisoners in Israel, six of whom are
serving life sentences, including Muneer.

The five other prisoners serving life are Abdullah Barghouthi (67 life
sentences), Marae Abu Saeedeh (11 life sentences), Hisham Kaabi (four life
sentences), and Mohammad Rimawi and Hani Khamaiseh, each of whom is serving
one life sentence

============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA