TD bank cyber attack


TD Bank says it was the victim of a targeted denial-of-service cyber attack that knocked its website and mobile banking app temporarily offline Thursday.

The bank says most services were restored within hours and the security breach did not compromise clients’ accounts or personal data.



Spokeswoman Barbara Timmins added that ATMs, the Easy Line telephone banking service, Internet brokerage WebBroker and branch functions were not impacted.

She did not comment on who may have been behind the denial-of-service attack, where hackers flood a target with a wave of requests that cause the target’s computer servers to crash under the load.

The attacks often use thousands of individual computers to forward the request, with the TD attack part of a wider phenomenon that has seen financial institutions targeted, often in the U.S. and increasingly involving mobile applications.

In September, for example, a group called Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Cyber Fighters claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on the websites of institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

The group said the banks were targeted in retaliation for what it called their online publication of an anti-Islam video.

Jeff Brueggeman, vice president, global public policy and deputy chief privacy officer at U.S.-based wireless network operator AT&T, said the increasing frequency and intensity of state-sponsored and other cyber attacks raises costs for all stakeholders, including consumers.

A participant in a forum called Cyber Dialogue held in Toronto this week, he added that attacks on mobile services could be the next wave of cyber warfare.

Jennifer Lopez Chris Brown


Chris Brown & Jennifer Lopez Making Hot Music In Studio — PIC


Jennifer Lopez‘s music career was reinvigorated by her stint as a judge on ‘American Idol’ and her lava-hot dance collabos with fellow Latino Pitbull.

Well, she’s ditched ‘Idol’ and perhaps she has done the same with Pit (at least for one song), as she shared a photo of herself in the studio with Chris Brown and even added a “#makinghistory” hashtag.


Ladies and gentlemen, we have a J. Lo and Breezy collabo in the works and there’s photographic evidence.

Say what you will about Breezy’s temper, but the dude does feature on a lot of tracks, and to great success. He could be just the sexy boost a J. Lo club banger needs. It’d freshen up her formula.

She also tweeted that it’s Album 10 and that she’s the #samegirl, so if you count her studio albums and remix releases, it appears that this collabo is for her next record, as opposed to his… we think! The tweet is so heavy on the hashtags, but since she sent the photo out into the Twitterverse, we’re thinking it’s all about her and her record.

Does Rihanna need to worry, since La Lopez is draped all over her man, looking all sexified in a pretty pink sweater and a bright swipe of lipstick? Nah. They’re just having some studio fun.

Also pictured is Cory Rooney, a songwriter and producer who has worked with everyone from Lopez’s ‘Idol’ replacement Mariah Carey to her ex Marc Anthony, and on La Lopez’s  major hits, like ‘Jenny From the Block.’

J. Lo and Breezy — what a dynamite team.

Christian Bale comb-over

Christian Bale Sports a Wicked Comb-over on the Set of His New Film

Holy Male Pattern Baldness, Batman!

"The Dark Knight" star Christian Bale was spotted on the set of his next film, and he's apparently traded in his cowl for a comb-over. For the film, which is set in the 1970s, Bale was photographed on location in Boston with stringy hair trying (and failing) to cover up a bald dome. His conman character also has a full beard, and it looks like Bale has packed on some pounds for the role. The rose-tinted aviator glasses and velvety blue suit also give away that the film takes place firmly in the disco era. Take a look at the photo:

Christian Bale comb-over
Christian Bale comb-over

Bale isn't the only actor who is changing up their hair for the movie. His costar Bradley Cooper was photographed on the set with his hair in pink curlers, and lead actress Amy Adams was snapped wearing a zebra-striped shower cap. And the Boston Herald caught Jeremy Renner filming with a sky-high pompadour. The other lead in the movie, Jennifer Lawrence, was spotted looking fairly normal, albeit bundled up for snow. So her hat may just be hiding a radical 'do of her own.

It's a high-powered cast brought together by director David O. Russell, who has a stellar track record for getting great performances out of his actors. Bale won an Oscar for his work with Russell on "The Fighter" (unlike this role, Bale lost a significant amount of weight for that movie). Amy Adams also scored a nomination for that film. And Russell's most recent project, "Silver Linings Playbook," earned an Oscar for Jennifer Lawrence and a nod for Bradley Cooper.

The film currently doesn't have a title, but it is said to be about the "Abscam" sting operation the FBI conducted in the late '70s and early '80s that lead to the conviction of several members of Congress and a U.S. Senator. Look for the film to hit theaters around Christmas.

Keyword : Christian Bale comb-over

Tim Tebow breakup

Tim Tebow, Camilla Belle Break Up: Report


Tim Tebow has had better weeks.

One day after Jets coach Rex Ryan announced that he was bypassing Tebow and replacing Mark Sanchez with Greg McElroy, US Weekly reported that he had broken up with actress Camilla Belle after two months of dating. A source told US Weekly that the relationship "just didn't work out."


Reports of Tebow and Belle's relationship began back in October when the two were said to have been "overly affectionate" at an event in Jacksonville, Fla.

When the displaced Sanchez and Eva Longoria broke up in the middle of the season, TMZ reported that the two called it quits because Sanchez was always in a bad mood due to the Jets' struggles.

Perhaps that may have been the case with Tebow and Belle.

The Jets were eliminated from the playoff chase on Monday night after another loss riddled with embarrassing moments. The next day, coach Rex Ryan revealed that Sanchez won't be starting in Week 16. But he didn't choose Tebow to start, despite being the back-up quarterback for most of the season. Instead, Ryan named McElroy as the starter against the San Diego Chargers.

Adam Lanza haircut


The Sandy Hook gunman worshiped the devil and had an online page dedicated to Satan, a former classmate revealed, as his childhood barber recalls Adam Lanza never spoke and would stare at the floor every time he had his hair cut.

Lanza's worshiping page had the word 'Devil' written in red, Gothic-style letters against a black background, Trevor L. Todd told The National Enquirer, something which he said was 'weird' and 'gave him the chills'.  

The FBI are trying to piece together his smashed up hard drive to see if his online footprint will reveal any motive for the killing, but they strongly believe he made use of devil-worshiping and suicide sites and boasted of his murder plans on message forums.

Adam Lanza's childhood barber Bob Skuba revealed today that Nancy Lanza stopped bringing her son in for haircuts a few years ago so he thought he had moved away from the area.

He told CNN that Adam would never speak or even look at him any time he came in for a cut, which was every six weeks for years.

'It’s just weird that I actually touched him. I'd tried to joke with him,' Skuba said. 'He wouldn’t even look at me. He would just be looking down at the tiles the whole time.

'I wish I would have killed him then. Or he should have killed himself a long time ago. He would have saved us all the trouble.

'I should have slit and stabbed him by accident. It would have been a lot better for those people.'
Cutting Adam Lanza’s hair 'was a very long half an hour. It was a very uncomfortable situation', stylist Diane Harty said. 

She said that she never heard his voice even once and that Nancy, a divorcee, also hardly spoke - only to tell Adam what to do as he would not listen to anyone else.

t also emerged today that the chief medical examiner in the massacre is enlisting the help of a geneticist to see if they can find a biological motive behind why the 'troubled genius' shot dead 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.
Dr H. Wayne Carver says he wants to know if there is any identifiable disease associated with the behavior of the shooter, especially as Asperger's syndrome - which Adam is thought to have suffered from - is not associated with violent behavior.

'I’m exploring with the department of genetics what might be possible, if anything is possible,' Dr Carver said. 'Is there any identifiable disease associated with this behavior?'
He is also awaiting toxicology results.

Lanza's mental state is vital as to why he may have committed one of the worst mass shootings in American history.
Mary Ellen O’Toole, a retired FBI profiler and behavioral scientist, said seeking an answer in Adam Lanza’s biology is worthwhile.

'I think it’s great to consider if there’s something here that would help people understand this behavior,' she said.

'There will be other important clues contained in the reports detectives prepare about the crime scene and their interviews with witnesses.

'Some of that information may help behavioral scientists answer the key question: Why?'
One thing is apparent from the evidence made public so far, she said. The assault on Sandy Hook Elementary was not an impulsive act,' she said. 'This was well thought out.'

The planning could have gone on for days, weeks or months, she said.

Another working theory is that he was angry that his mother was planning to commit him to a psychiatric facility because he was becoming too difficult for her to handle alone.

Given his decision to kill his mother Nancy while she lay sleeping in her bed at their Connecticut home and then drive to his former elementary school to purposefully kill innocent children, there had to be a strong connection in his mind between his anger and the school.

Nancy, 52, was thought to volunteer at Sandy Hook Elementary School, and so the theory extends to the fact that Adam felt he loved those children more than she loved him, since she was planning to send him away.

A friend told the New York Post that Nancy was overwhelmed.

'It was really hard for her as a single mother. It’s hard enough raising an autistic child, just me and my wife. I couldn’t imagine doing it alone,' said Rich Collins, 54, a Lanza family friend who has an autistic son, Jeffrey, 17.

'I think it’s important to get the part of the story out — that an unmarried woman was trying to raise an autistic child on her own. I think she needed more support.'

Fox News quotes a neighborhood figure, whose father works as the pastor of an area church, as saying that the 20-year-old shooter found out that his mother was in the legal process of having him committed and was upset.

That news, coupled with his jealousy of the time she allegedly spent with a group of kindergarteners at Sandy Hook, is thought to have served as the basis of the killing.

A number of factors are still unconfirmed in the theory, and it appears that they may remain as such for some time. 

Records of conservatorship filings, which Nancy Lanza would have needed to make in order to commit her son since he is over 18-years-old, are sealed by the courts so if any such filings were made they will not be released publicly.

'Adam Lanza believed she cared more for the children than she did for him, and the reason he probably thought this (was the fact that) she was petitioning for conservatorship and wanted to have him committed,' Joshua Flashman told Fox News.

One of the biggest questions remaining ever since the shooting was reported on Friday was Nancy's connection to the school which was clearly singled out as a target by Adam.

The majority of his shooting was limited to the reception, where he forced his way into the building and killed those standing in his way, and then to a single first grade classroom.

Those children are thought to be the ones that Nancy grew close with during the last academic year, when they were in kindergarten.

Initial reports immediately after the shooting claimed that Nancy was a full time or even substitute teacher at the elementary school, though as the chaos of the day slowed, school officials said that she was not on any records of having worked there in any formal capacity.

That option leaves the possibility open that she volunteered her time with the young children, though school board member Cody McCubbin could not confirm that role when asked by MailOnline.
That was echoed by Lillian Bittman, a former school board member who told the Wall Street Journal: ‘No one has heard of her. Teachers don’t know her.’

Though the court records will never back up the claim that Nancy was trying to have her son committed, her actions do lend credence to the idea because she had spent much time over the course of this year traveling to different schools to find a suitable place to send Adam.

Former babysitters of Adam's said that she warned that she could never turn her back on the young boy, meaning that when she went to visit prospective schools, Adam was either with her or very aware of the fact that she had gone shopping for his next home.

In a Facebook conversation between Nancy and her former sister-in-law Marsha, Nancy revealed that she had wanted to downsize from her $1.4million home in Newtown.

'I am still in the same place but getting to the point where I may want a smaller house. I travel a lot, spend time with friends, work with a couple of charities,' she wrote in one of the messages.

Keyword : 
Adam Lanza haircut

Google Dead Sea Scrolls

Google launches Dead Sea Scrolls online library

More than six decades since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls — and thousands of years after they were written — Israel on Tuesday put 5,000 images of the ancient biblical artifacts online in a partnership with Google.

Google Dead Sea Scrolls
Google Dead Sea Scrolls

The digital library contains the Book of Deuteronomy, which includes the second listing of the Ten Commandments, and a portion of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis, dated to the first century B.C.
Israeli officials said this is part of an attempt by the custodians of the celebrated manuscripts — often criticized for allowing them to be monopolized by small circles of scholars — to make them broadly available.

"Only five conservators worldwide are authorized to handle the Dead Sea Scrolls," said Shuka Dorfman, director of the Israel Antiquities Authority. "Now, everyone can touch the scroll on screen around the globe."
Last year, Google partnered with the Israel Museum to put five scrolls online.

The scrolls, considered one of the most significant archaeological finds of the 20th century, are thought to have been written or collected by an ascetic Jewish sect that fled Jerusalem to the desert 2,000 years ago and settled at Qumran, near the shore of the Dead Sea. The hundreds of manuscripts found in caves near the site have shed light on the development of the Hebrew Bible and the origins of Christianity.

Google says the new digital library took two years to assemble, using technology first developed by NASA. The multimedia website allows users to zoom in on various fragments, with translations and Google maps alongside.

Google hopes to further expand its project. Two months ago Google launched a "Cultural Institute," a digital visual archive of historical events in cooperation with 17 museums and institutes around the world.

"We're working to bring important cultural and historical materials online and help preserve them for future generations," said Yossi Matias, head of Google's Research and Development Center in Israel. "Our partnership with the Israel Antiquities Authority is another step toward enabling users to enjoy cultural material around the world."

1927 school bombing

1927 school bombing : 1927 School Bombing Resurfaces In Wake Of Sandy Hook Shooting Aftermath

Last weeks massacre in Newtown, Conn., which claimed the lives of 20 students and six adults, has registered as one of the worst mass shootings in American history.

Forever etched into the minds of men, women and children around the United States, the tragedy took place when a deranged gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School. The act has sparked mass mourning, outrage and debate worldwide.

But while the tragic event has gone down as one of America’s worst school shootings, the country has unfortunately seen comparable massacres with even higher body counts.

1927 school bombing
1927 school bombing

On May 18, 1927, three bombs went off at the Bath Consolidated School in Bath Township, Mich.. The explosion claimed the lives of 38 elementary school students, two teachers and four other adults. At least 58 other people were injured.

Reports from the incident, now known as the Bath School Disaster, indicate that most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age).

As the investigation into the Bath School Disaster moved forward, it was revealed that the bomber was the school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe.

Kehoe, 55, reportedly spent months placing explosives inside the school as well as rigging his car and his house with explosives and shrapnel.

Once Kehoe blew up his own house, he used a detonator to blow up part of the school. He then blew up the truck, killing himself and several other including a child who survived the first blast.

Investigators later found more than 500 pounds of unexploded dynamite under the school. Kehoe had intended to kill hundreds of people, mostly students, but his wiring was faulty.

When comparing the Bath School disaster and the Sandy Hook shootings, the two are similar in several facets.

Before Kehoe enacted his plan to blow up the school he attacked and killed his wife. Police believe that Sandy Hook shooter Adam Lanza killed also attacked a loved one, his mother, before he went on his rampage.

Comparisons can also be made in the heroics that took place in both incidents.

Reports from the Bath School disaster indicate that School Superintendent Emory Huyck performed heroically, rescuing children and adults from the disaster scene.

After about 30 minutes, Kehoe reportedly drove up to Huyck and motioned him over to his truck before setting off a blast that killed them both and several others.

According to an eyewitness from the Sandy Hook Shooting, school principal Dawn Hochsprung was in a meeting regarding a student at the time of the shooting. When shots rang out, the witness said the principal ran toward the gunfire in an effort to stop Lanza, but was fatally shot.

The most recent, combined with outrage leftover from the Aurora shootings, which took place earlier this year, has increased the awareness for stricter laws on gun control.

While it has not even been a week since Sandy Hook, several lawmakers have promised to introduce or reintroduce gun control legislation, ranging from a reinstatement of a federal ban on assault weapons to banning the sale of high-capacity magazines.

But as the debate is nothing new among American citizens, there are some who will always remains skeptical as to the effect it will have on violence in our country.

"You can make as many laws as you want it will NOT change people who want to hurt others,” reader Steve Lahey commented on CNN.com.

Keyword :  1927 school bombing