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Hackers Make Bogus Buys on Apple Pay; The School Boy Who would become Jihadi John; Families Gather to Remember those on Flight 370; The Wonder List Goes to Galapagos Island; The Legacy of Selma
Aired March 06, 2015 - 10:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Jim Acosta, John Avlon -- thanks you so much.
Christine, you're going to stay with me because we're going to talk about ApplePay. Get this -- the hackers that struck at retail giants like Target and Home Depot are now taking stolen credit card data and cashing in at Apple Pay.
According to the "Wall Street Journal", the cyber thieves are preying on Apple's mobile payment system. So Christine, how exactly did this happen?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's a very low tech -- that low tech very insecure unsecure old credit card. Those credit cards you use at Home Depot and Target, that information was breached -- went out on the dark web. Someone bought it. Bad guys bought it. Goons bought it. They used it at Apple Pay to go to Apple stores to buy expensive things that they could return for the cash or -- that they could either return for the cash or they could go and they could sell on the black market.
So it's actually not the Apple Pay that was hacked so to speak. It was that original credit card, that old world credit card that we use that was where the weakness was and all of those breaches we've been telling you about all year, that information is out there for sale, your information. And these particular fraudsters according to "Wall Street Journal" got a-hold of it and used it.
What's interesting to me about this is that according to the journal, the banks and Apple are working quickly to close up these loopholes and make sure that they can verify extra verification steps. They'll close this up so it won't happen again but it does show shows you where your information is concerned, it's out there -- Carol.
For ten bucks somebody can become Carol Costello, you know, on the dark web. So that's still a real, real problem here.
COSTELLO: Ok. I'm depressed now.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Thank you -- I appreciate that.
Christine Romans, thanks so much. ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, a school boy playing among friends, who would have guessed he would someday become the face of ISIS? CNN's Atika Shubert is in London.
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This is the first video ever of him as a teenager. Are there any clues in it? We'll tell you when we get back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I would like you to take a look at this video. It's a picture of innocence, right? Look, just a typical teenage boy, right? But not for long. Several years after this, a teenager named Mohammed Emwazi would transform into Jihadi John, the face of ISIS' brutality. CNN's Atika Shubert is in London with more on this. Good morning.
SHUBERT: Good morning -- Carol. One of the most striking things about this video, which is the first video to come out of Mohammad Emwazi is how shy he appears in this video and to know what he becomes later.
Take a look.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT: Teenagers mess around with a basketball at a west London secondary school. One wearing a backpack shows off some fancy footwork but closer inspection of this amateur video reveals a now famous face.
Mohammad Emwazi confirmed by officials to be Jihadi John. The executioner who was always hidden behind swaths of black clothing in ISIS video. Here, too, the Kuwaiti-born, accused killer appears shy -- an attribute his former head teacher who identified him in this video also recalls.
JO SHUTER, FORMER HEADMASTER, QUINTIN KYNASTON ACADEMY: He was reserved. He didn't have a huge circle of friends but he had a few good friends. He was bullied a little bit because he was quiet and he was reserved. But generally he was fine.
JIHADI JOHN: Our knife will continue to strike the necks of your people.
SHUBERT: It was his distinctive British voice that led to Emwazi being identified. Since then a fuller picture is emerging. He's described as being a polite young man from a middle class family. Photographs as a student at London's Westminster University and more recently in Kuwait, a purported audio recording from 2009 released by a British Muslim advocacy group, Cage U.K.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you (inaudible) -- this is the wrong thing. What happened was wrong. SHUBERT: But for the people who knew him, it's difficult to fathom
that the football loving teenager they knew as Mohammad Emwazi has emerged as the man behind the mask.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SHUBERT: What investigators are now looking at is trying to trace back exactly what happened to him and how did he get into Syria and how did he go from being this teenager too shy to appear on this video to suddenly being the man who volunteered to carry out these brutal executions for ISIS -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Atika Shubert reporting live from London. Thanks so much.
It's been nearly one year since Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing. The flight was carrying 239 people when it disappeared last year and despite months of searching, not a single piece of wreckage has ever been found. Today in sites across Kuala Lumpur family and friends of those onboard are gathering, praying and singing songs in remembrance of those who were onboard. Loved ones gone with no chance to say good-bye.
Anna Coren is live in Kuala Lumpur, following the story. Hi, Anna.
ANNA COREN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi -- Carol. Vigils have been held this evening here in KL. There will be bigger ones on Sunday. That, of course, is the day that will commemorate the one- year anniversary since MH-370 disappeared with 239 people onboard.
Now we know that the search is still continuing in the southern Indian Ocean about 1,000 nautical miles off the coast of western Australia. An area some 23,000 square miles is being scoured, more than 40 percent of that area has been covered.
They believe they'll get through all of it by May. But of course for the families of those onboard, they are very fearful that if nothing is found, no debris is found in this particular area, the search will be called off.
Now, today we spoke to the chief of Malaysia Airlines and he believes that the search must continue. He also said that he defends the captain, the pilot of MH-370, Captain Zahari, saying that he does not believe he was responsible for that plane disappearing.
Take a listen to what he told us earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMAD JAUHARI YAHYA, MAYLASIA AIRLINES: It remains speculation. We do not suspect any one of our crew until there's such evidence -- you know, there's evidence as such. Captain Zahari is a very capable man. He's a 777 flight examiner. He's not an instructor. He's examiner of the fleets. We have no reason to suspect.
COREN: Carol, the airline's chief believing that it was an accident as to what caused MH-370 to go so far course and end n the southern Indian Ocean. He also says that very valuable lessons have been learned from this tragedy and as a result security protocols have been increased as have the flight tracking system for airplanes -- Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Anna Coren reporting live for us this morning. You can watch our "CNN SPECIAL REPORT, VANISHED: THE MYSTERY OF MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370", that airs tonight at 9:00 Eastern.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: In CNN's new series "THE WONDER LIST" Bill Weir travels the world to experience people and places that are disappearing. This week Bill heads to the Galapagos Islands to meet an endangered bird with quite the back story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BILL WEIR, CNN HOST: I am headed to a deserted island with a cold blooded killer.
This is cool.
People don't get to step on this.
CARL CAMPBELL: Not many people get to come here. Champion Island.
WEIR: His name is Carl Campbell. Big hearted in his love for animals but cold blooded in what he's willing to do to save them.
I hear the chirp.
CAMPBELL: Yes. So there's one just up here. We go a little bit further.
WEIR: He's right here.
He has brought me to this tiny haven to look for the one creature that inspired Darwin's ideas more than any other.
What's up, buddy? We came a long way to see you.
The Floreana mockingbird.
My goodness. Look at how chill he is. He (inaudible) us being here. He doesn't even seem to mind.
CAMPBELL: Yes. And when Darwin came here, he collected these guys with a stick.
WEIR: Just whacked them with a stick?
CAMPBELL: Just whacked them with a stick. That's how naive they are.
WEIR: They didn't know to fear man yet.
CAMPBELL: Didn't know how to fear anything. They don't really have any predators out here.
WEIR: And there's maybe 90 left in the world?
CAMPBELL: In the world total. This is one of the world's rarest birds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Wow. Bill Weir joins me now. So this little bird --
WEIR: Yes.
COSTELLO: Why is this so important to save?
WEIR: Well, it's one of the most influential species for Darwin. He was there but mostly it's just the idea that we broke this species and it's our responsibility to fix it, right. The problem is man and two of his friends, rats and cats, they're predators that are going after the eggs. And so in order to bring this bird back, they have a $10 million plan which involves spreading poison cereal, bombing an entire island convincing the farmers to move for months in order to try to bring this thing back.
We also looked at giant land tortoises, the big ones like the size of a Volkswagen, those were overhunted to death. Whalers and pirates would come and they put them upside down in the holds of their ships. They'd stay alive for a year, enjoy turtle stew and then those same sailors would put goats on the island so they have a mixture of meat when they sailed back. The goats destroyed the habitat.
And just a few years ago, Carl, the guy there -- the cold-blooded killer, used snipers and helicopters to shoot 250,000 invasive goats in order to save the last few giant tortoises.
This was such a mind-blowing sort of exploration of the lengths we're going to --
COSTELLO: The farmers -- the farmers were open to this?
WEIR: Yes.
COSTELLO: With the cats and the rats?
WEIR: That's what's being debated right now. They're not sure. They're like what is this going to do to the water supply? I love mockingbirds as much as anybody else, but I have cows and we want tourists. I have kids.
And so it's this incredible tug of war trying to decide how far are we willing to do? But really we're living through the sixth great mass extinction, the earlier ones were asteroids and ice ages. This one is our fault.
And it's an incredible question in how we play God deciding what creatures have to die in order for others to live.
COSTELLO: Ok. I have to ask you what was it like to be on Galapagos Island because that to me would be a dream?
WEIR: It was amazing. If you love animals this is the happiest place on earth. Because like you saw with that little bird and there were others like that, it was the same with sea lions and the marine iguanas. It's like being transported in another time. They don't know what we are. They don't know to fear us. So the scuba diving there blew my mind. And the visuals we have in this hour I think if you love the critters, you're going to like this.
COSTELLO: I can't wait. Bill Weir -- thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.
WEIR: Thanks -- Carol.
COSTELLO: You can see the rest of Bill's adventures on the Galapagos Island on "THE WONDER LIST with Bill Weir" this Sunday 10:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
Still to come in the NEWSROOM, the legacy of Selma, Alabama 50 years later. I'll talk to a man who was just 21 years old when he decided to take a stand for civil rights.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: They arrived in Selma, Alabama in March of 1965, pushing the fight for voting rights forward. They were met with horrific police brutality. In an event that will become known as Bloody Sunday and also become a key moment in the broader civil rights movement.
Tomorrow survivors will return to Selma along with others to commemorate the 50th anniversary of that day. Among them, President Obama, who is speaking out on Selma's legacy and what he hopes his daughters who will join him will learn.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Enormous change can happen just because a group of people decide that they're going to be willing to take risks on behalf of justice. And I also want the girls to understand that you don't have to have a high office. You don't have to have a fancy title or have great wealth in order to make a difference.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
COSTELLO: My next guest attended the third march in Selma which traveled the full distance from the city limits to the state capitol in Montgomery. His name is Mark Denbeaux. He's now a professor at Seton Hall University Law School but as a 21-year-old college student, Mark drove more than 700 miles with a group of friends to, in his words, bear witness. Denbeaux captured in this photo from march -- he's the tall guy back there in the glasses.
Mark Denbeaux joins me now from Selma. Good morning, sir.
MARK DENBEAUX, ATTENDED MARCH IN SELMA: Good morning. COSTELLO: When you see that picture of your young self, what would
you tell him?
DENBEAUX: What would I call -- you know, what would I call that son? I'm not sure I understood your question.
COSTELLO: What would you think of your young self for taking part in this march?
DENBEAUX: Ok. I must say that looking back on it the whole experience was so formative for me that I'm incredibly grateful. I came. It was very questionable whether we would come. It was decided at the last minute. It was difficult and tense in some ways. It was formative in every respect. I think about it almost every day.
COSTELLO: You say Dr. King motivated you and your friends to join the march in Selma. What was it Dr. King said that motivated you?
DENBEAUX: Well, he said two things. The march on Washington he asked everybody to go home to their villages and hamlets and to take steps to achieve the justice that was called for in the march on Washington. And then when Bloody Sunday happened in Selma, it was obviously a national disaster for the south but it was also a terrible violent assault on the few people who were here.
And after that, once the federal court gave permission for people to march, he asked for people to come from around the country in order to make it safe. Otherwise it was just these brave local people who would be isolated and injured. So ministers and college students and other people came.
COSTELLO: You said that --
DENBEAUX: I was one of them.
COSTELLO: -- you were one of them. On that day, you joined hands with a young black woman because you wanted to show unity between white and black. But you later came to regret that. Why?
DENBEAUX: Well, I think about that a lot, too. It's one of those times where you believe a little bit too much in the sort of rhetorical issues. The whole thing was perhaps the last major white and black civil rights demonstration and the idea always was black and white together. We happened to be going over the bridge two by two and there was a young black woman, I'd say 16 years old, walking next to me shy and quiet. People were shouting at us. And it seemed to me the right gesture to reach out and hold her hand. And I did and she was not especially enthusiastic but she wouldn't reject it
So we walked along for eight miles not talking with people shouting at us. I left feeling like I had done a significant act or gesture that was of some value. And in the car on the way back with my college friends I mentioned that and one of them said you're an idiot. I said why? He said because that was a big gesture by you but you were leaving Selma. She was going to live there. You have no idea what harm she was going to suffer because you insisted on carrying out the idea that black and white together would work because obviously the whites down here were vicious and violent and scary in every possible respect. And there was no reason to believe there wouldn't be retaliation and there obviously was. I would give a lot to know her name and whatever became of her.
COSTELLO: I don't know, maybe she's still in Selma somewhere and she's watching. I hope so. Mark Denbeaux, thanks so much for being here.
DENBEAUX: I would love that. I would.
COSTELLO: Me too because I'd love to hear the outcome. Thank you so much Mark for joining me. I appreciate it.
And thank all of you for joining me today. Happy Friday. I'm Carol Costello.
"AT THIS HOUR" with Berman and Bolduan next.
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