Feds Probe IT Sector Links to al-Qaeda

Computerworld - Last week's raid of a Massachusetts-based software firm suspected of having links to al-Qaeda signals a broadening of the FBI's antiterrorism effort. Investigators are looking beyond nongovernmental organizations and charities to corporate America, including the IT industry, experts close to the investigation said.
Bringing to a close one phase of an ongoing investigation code-named Operation Greenquest, federal agents raided the Quincy, Mass., offices of Ptech Inc. early Friday to search for evidence that the company was involved in helping finance al-Qaeda operations. Government officials are also investigating the possibility that software Ptech sold to various federal agencies may have contained malicious code.
Denies Terrorist Links
In a statement released late on Friday, Ptech denied that federal agents conducted a "raid" of the company's offices, insisting that Ptech "granted access" to investigators and is cooperating fully. "The company categorically denies having any connection with any terrorist organization," the company said in the statement. "Ptech has been informed by government investigators that neither Ptech nor its officers or employees are targets of the government's investigation."
Ptech's clients include high-profile IT and consulting companies such as IBM Global Services, Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc., Motorola Inc., Sprint Corp. and The Mitre Corp.
"We are investigating the [situation] and are cooperating with authorities," said Jeffrey Gluck, a spokesman for IBM Global Services, which has teamed with Ptech to build IT architectures for its customers. "But it's still too early in the investigation to know, with any degree of certainty, exactly what the allegations are."
At least one Ptech client isn't taking any chances. Sue Yund, a spokeswoman for Alliant Techsystems Inc. in Edina, Minn., said the aerospace and defense firm's database administration group was using Ptech's architectural modeling software on a limited basis to plan its database design.
"Because of the situation involving Ptech, we disabled the software as of this morning," Yund said on Friday. "But we're confident that there is no risk of a security breach as a result of using the software."
However, it is Ptech's contracts with the Department of Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Defense that raise the most concern, say experts.
One of the most sensitive contracts in Ptech's portfolio includes support work for the DOE's plutonium cleanup effort at the Rocky Flats facility, once used to develop nuclear weapons.
Notra Trulock, former director of intelligence at the DOE, who was responsible for investigating incidents of Chinese nuclear espionage in the U.S., said he wouldn't be surprised if an al-Qaeda front company had managed to