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Passwords & User Names Stolen; World at War; Ebola Outbreak Spreads; Egypt Hopes to Extend Cease-Fire; Flash Flood in Las Vegas; Fallen Soldier's Family Honored

Aired August 06, 2014 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: OK, let's - then let's stop there at that.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But smaller (ph) companies too.

BOLDUAN: This is my problem with this whole thing. It's - we know that this is a big problem. What my problem is, is that the victims don't even really know yet -

BRETT LARSON, CNN TECHNOLOGY ANALYST: Right.

BOLDUAN: That they've been hacked.

HARLOW: A lot of them don't, and that is a huge problem. And it's not something that there's a direct answer or solution to.

LARSON: Right. But this -- it's a good news/bad news situation right here. The good news is, now we know. Now we know that this many e-mail addresses and this many websites have been hacked.

HARLOW: But we don't know who (ph) it is.

LARSON: And I know it sounds really awful. The bad news is, now it's time for all of the sites -- and normally the way this stuff kind of works out, we saw this with the Hartly (ph) virus, or the Heartleaf (ph) problem rather, is, now they're going to go alert all of these websites -

HARLOW: Right.

LARSON: Say here's the vulnerabilities, here's what we know, here's what we know we need to do to fix it so that then they can individually go to users and say, OK, yes, this did affect us. We fixed the problem that allowed this to happen. Now you need to change your user name and password.

HARLOW: I will say a good amount, large amount of the companies that were affected, we're told, have been notified and are in the process of have fixed it, fixed this.

LARSON: Right.

HARLOW: Hold Securities is letting the different companies know -

BOLDUAN: But don't the consumers need to know? HARLOW: Yes.

LARSON: Yes.

HARLOW: And for consumers, they can reach out to this company. And we're told, in the coming weeks, they're going to be able to alert consumers if they have been hacked by this specific hack.

BOLDUAN: Let's try to be helpful in short, if we can, rather than just pointing out the problem. What is - how - I mean change your password.

LARSON: Change your password. I mean - yes.

BOLDUAN: But is there any way to be secure anymore?

LARSON: It's less and less. They're - it's getting harder and harder. But hacks like this, I always say, are a good thing because - and when we bring them to the table, when we bring them to the public, it's a good thing because now we're more aware. You do have to be very vigilant in times like this. You've got to change your passwords. I know I feel like a broken record when I say this. You've got to make complicated passwords.

HARLOW: And don't you think you should have a different password for each and every account?

LARSON: Absolutely.

HARLOW: Which I don't have, which we should.

LARSON: I don't do it either.

BOLDUAN: Is there any app that can help you do it (ph).

LARSON: And I'm the tech guy and I don't - I don't -

BOLDUAN: Is there an app that helps -

LARSON: There is. There's a handful of them. There's Dash Lane (ph). There's One Password (ph). This is -- I find that software like that, it's an all or nothing. You have to be totally in it and install it on everything or totally out of it because it -

BOLDUAN: Which is the hard thing.

LARSON: Which is the hard part.

HARLOW: But you can save all of your passwords then on an app -

LARSON: Right.

HARLOW: Which is supposed to be secure. They are pretty secure. And then you don't have to worry about forgetting them.

LARSON: Exactly. HARLOW: Something that stood out with me that this guy said that runs a security firm, he said, we keep our own lives tidy, our own apartments tidy at homes. We do not keep our online lives tidy at all.

LARSON: Right.

HARLOW: And there are big consequences. Maybe not this time, but there are big consequences.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE) the next one (INAUDIBLE).

LARSON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: There are big consequences.

LARSON: Definitely. You'll get caught the next time.

BOLDUAN: Even if it - if it is - even if it's inconvenient, it needs -- you've got to do it.

HARLOW: Sure.

LARSON: Right.

BOLDUAN: That's the way we live today.

LARSON: You know what else is inconvenient, having your identity stolen.

BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly right.

LARSON: So let's look at this from that angle.

HARLOW: Just a little (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: That's a good point.

LARSON: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Brett Larson, Poppy Harlow, thanks, guys.

LARSON: Thanks.

BOLDUAN: And to see how you can protect yourself from being hacked, not only watching this segment, but you can also go to cnn.com/newday. We're going to put some tips on there for you.

Let's take a break. Coming up next on NEW DAY, the number of places in this world where war is raging will startle you. From the Middle East to Africa to Ukraine, what's going on? We're going to break down the global crises, what we're looking at.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: And we have some unbelievable weather caught on video. Mudslides carrying cars away. Yes, and even better, a rescue made in the nick of time. We have it all ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Doesn't it seem every day like there are new conflicts popping up somewhere in the world. We're in the middle of all of them. You've got the Middle East, you've got eastern Europe, you've got Africa, you have militants establishing new strongholds in Iraq and Lebanon, you have Russian troops building up along the border with Ukraine after all the sanctions and everything that was supposed to discourage that. And again, in the middle of all of it, the U.S. now with the body of a fallen major general heading home and more wounded troops after what just happened in Afghanistan in an apparent green on blue attack.

So the obvious question is, is the world on the brink? You know, what can we really do about it? And -- or you could look at it the other way and say, does it even matter at all? We're going to have Gideon Rose, our friend here at NEW DAY, the editor of "Foreign Affairs" magazine, take us through everything.

It's good to have you. We have a lot of work ahead of us my friend. So let's start in the Middle East, OK. We're dealing with what's going on immediately right now in Gaza. What does this conflict mean to the U.S. and how does it play into what's going on in the world right now?

GIDEON ROSE, EDITOR, "FOREIGN AFFAIRS" MAGAZINE: OK. Gaza, and the Arab-Israeli conflict more generally, it's kind of a constant. For the last half century and more -

CUOMO: Right.

ROSE: Every few years the Palestinians or the Arabs try to beat up Israel. Israel beats them back and then everybody pauses, licks their wounds and prepares for the next one a few years down the road.

CUOMO: Right.

ROSE: The Israelis call it mowing the lawn. That's what they did this time. And, unfortunately, that's what's going to happen here again, pause, and then a few years later it's going to erupt again.

CUOMO: You don't see this side as different this time?

ROSE: No.

CUOMO: All right. So now, something that we're not talking about because of the situation in Gaza, but probably means the most to us here at home, ISIS. They may call themselves the caliphate now. They may see them as a religious organization, but they are spreading like a virus and they're doing damage. That's what these red dots denote. What do we see?

ROSE: So what you're seeing here is essentially "Game of Thrones" in the Middle East. When the old Sunni authoritarian order breaks down in places like Iraq, where we toppled Saddam, or Syria, where the Assads are in trouble, or elsewhere, Libya, you have essentially chaos, sectarian violence, civil war, a breakdown of order. And so ISIS or the caliphate or whatever you want to call it -- or they call themselves, emerges here in the badlands of Syria, spreads to the badland Sunni areas of Iraq, stretches over to Lavant (ph). Essentially it's one group among many in this whole area, which is now kind of a badlands region with no central authority fighting for control.

CUOMO: Now, this is a problem. One of the things that ISIS has done, ISIS, the acronym used to stand for their wanting to put down a seat of control in Syria. They've now dropped that acronym because they want everything, they want to move. They're highly inimical to the U.S. as well. And, actually, I want to hop ahead for a second because we're not talking about ISIS enough. When we talk about North Africa, true, Gideon, that ISIS is playing there as well?

ROSE: ISIS is. But what you also have are sort of local Islamic militant or insurgent groups in Libya, Boko Haram and Nigeria and elsewhere and, you know, Mali is in here as well. So you have essentially a disorder and a lack of ability of governments to control their territories, sort of disorder and chaos, which is not the same thing as you have in some other regions where armed states are fighting each other.

CUOMO: Right. But when we see in one of the situations, let's take Libya, all right, they destroyed a fuel depot - the fuel depot there. They can't put out the fire because it's too dangerous because of the fighting. You're starting to see these local groups. They like brand identification. That's how al Qaeda became such a big brand. ISIS is the new brand, right?

ROSE: Well, these guys are actually franchisees of al Qaeda that are now striking off on their own. And so you have -- and they're taking route in areas where the local governments no longer have a monopoly on violence and can't provide order for the whole country.

CUOMO: Boko Haram shook up the U.S. when we heard about the 200 girls being taken. A lot of attention still being given to that story. We stay on it here, always hope. We believe now that some surveillance from the U.S. show that there may be groups of girls that were identified, hopefully there's hope to get them back. But another group that looks to ISIS as somewhat of a role model, something to think about for us back here at home. And then a secondary story that we were very hot on and now we're going to have to start paying attention to again, what's going on in Ukraine. Russia sizing up along the border. So much for sanctions, right?

ROSE: Well, not really, because this is actually a much more important and interesting thing I think than some of the chaos in the Middle East because what you have here is essentially the decline of a great power, Russia, which doesn't want to concede that it no longer has the right to an empire in its area. And so when Ukraine tried to move out and have better ties with Europe, the Russians said, no, you can't do that. They come in, they clamp down, they take Crimea, they're now trying to encourage sort of separatists in eastern Ukraine. And we're trying to say to them, you can't do this. You no longer have the right to determine what happens here. And that's the basic issue that's going on there. CUOMO: But it's really not so much of an open question, right? It is

clear that nobody has been able to deter Russia in any way.

ROSE: Well, no one's been able to deter Russia from what they've done so far. But what they've done so far is actually relatively small potatoes. They've taken Crimea, they're encouraging separatists in eastern Ukraine, but they haven't taken all of Ukraine and they haven't gone to NATO, which is the real thing we've guaranteed, saying you are no longer allowed to attack NATO. So the question is, how do you arrange a set of sanctions and penalties on sort of a ladder of punishments for Russia so that they essentially are given the signal to go back down to the ladder of escalation and retreat, rather than continue going up.

CUOMO: Well, clearly, the west has not figured that out yet. So the obvious questions that people are going to have when they watch this, one, is the world going to hell? Is this something that we're seeing now that is new and worse than ever or is this the nature of the world?

ROSE: I don't think the world is going to hell and, in fact, in bigger, broader terms, violence overall between states and even within states is dropping gradually over time. But what you're seeing is two things. One, a world ever more tied together with globalized media, economic connections, social media and so forth. So any story and any disorder that happens anywhere suddenly races to the top of the news. The second thing you're seeing is the U.S. pulling back a little bit from its overextension and so then it becomes a question of, do we really need to care? We spent a decade caring a lot about Iraq and Afghanistan. The question now is, can we let those areas go.

CUOMO: What's the biggest threat?

ROSE: I think the biggest threat is actually not even any of these but China and its growth because it's a raising power. After that, it's managing Russian decline.

CUOMO: But there's no ongoing conflict in China. You're defining conflict differently there. Not ongoing violence, but someone who represents a threat.

ROSE: The actual conflicts we're seeing now in their absolute terms are relatively small. The big dangers are a real major state on state war with another peer power. That's the only thing that would be comparable to the major conflicts we've seen in the past. And the only one I really worry about there is China.

CUOMO: So if the U.S. is struggling to get Russia to do what is believed to be the right thing when they're an economic strength, yes, they have gas and oil which petrifies Europe, but not known as an economic hedgeman (ph). China is. What does that mean in terms of how we size up against them.

ROSE: China is rising. On the other hand, we're still the dominant player and we're also tied to them and both of us benefit from interdependence. So the challenge is how you manage these relationships in a delicate way in which we're no longer just opposing economic weak people and allying with our friends who are economically strong. We are in mixed motive games with both Russia and China. And one of the things we do, actually, is we improve our technology and our own economy and get our own act together so we're in a stronger position to wage these ongoing conflicts.

CUOMO: And this is all a distraction to that unless they become trade partners, which we have not seen happen yet. And a great example that is Afghanistan. We know the major general lost his life, 34-year veteran, always trying to do the right thing, going and training different people. Do you believe that being in the graveyard of empires, which is what Afghanistan is known to many a historian, is a mistake, get out, you're going to see more of this than you are going to see of anything positive.

ROSE: Whatever I think, that's what we're doing. Essentially after a decade in Afghanistan and Iraq, we concluded, you know what, we've calmed things down, let's take advantage of this to get out. And the danger and the worry is that Afghanistan will follow Iraq after we leave into more chaos. Sort of like stopping a course of antibiotics when the symptoms go away but while the problem still is there.

CUOMO: Last question on the way out. ISIS, do they wind up being even worse than al Qaeda, because instead of just terrorist acts and, you know, cowardice and running away, they want to rule and they want to amass land and they want to be the Hamas to Israel, they want to be the United States that their whole manifesto is that we must go.

ROSE: No, not as bad as al Qaeda for two reasons. One is, the more that actually have territory, the more they have a stake that we can punish and the more that local actors balance against them. And the other thing is, they just don't have the skill and the capability to project power abroad the way al Qaeda did.

CUOMO: You defeated my premise very easily, Gideon Rose. You didn't even work for it. Hopefully you are right because that's the last thing we want to see. Thank you so much for the perspective here. Important questions.

ROSE: You got it.

CUOMO: Coming up on NEW DAY, caught on video. Take a look at this. This is Vegas, dry, desert, nope, flash floods, nothing to absorb it. They whisk cars down a road right -- not too far from the strip. Drivers are inside. What's going to happen? An amazing rescue, that's what. We'll show you it in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Alright, here we go with the five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA (voice-over): We start with number one. Talks on a long-term truce between Israel and Palestinian factions begin today in Cairo. Egyptian officials are reportedly trying to extend the cease-fire to Sunday. The state department is now sending a team to Cairo for support.

The family of Army Major General Harold Greene says America has lost a true hero. Greene was killed when an Afghan soldier opened fire in Kabul. More than a dozen people were wounded in that incident.

The Ebola outbreak is spreading and quickly. Saudi Arabia just reporting a man suspected of having the deadly virus has died. Earlier, Nigeria reported five new cases and two deaths.

Republican establishment has survived another challenge from the Tea Party. CNN is projecting that Kansas Senator Pat Roberts has beaten Milton Wolf, who is a distant cousin of President Obama in the state's GOP primary.

Meanwhile, the president today will join leaders from across Africa at a summit to build partnerships with U.S. businesses. Tuesday the president announced $33 billion in commitments from private companies.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PEREIRA (on camera): We do update those five things to know, so be sure to visit newdayCNN.com for the latest. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Thanks, Michaela.

Let's turn now to some terrifying weather caught on video near Las Vegas.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN (voice-over): A flash flood strong enough to wash away cars. Take a look at this. Leading to very dramatic rescue. The severe weather damaged homes and roads out west, even triggering a landslide in one area. Meteorologist Indra Petersons is here taking a look at more.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

BOLDUAN (on camera): We're talking about the desert. What is going on with the mudslides?

INDRA PETERSONS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's monsoons, monsoons, monsoons. You talk about the southwest, you really think about kind of dry, sunny conditions. But all it takes is a little bit of moisture, kind of creep in from the southeast and quickly the day can turn from sunny so scary.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look out! Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!

PETERSONS (voice-over): A dramatic Las Vegas rescue caught on tape.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as we heard him yelling -- UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out! Get out! Hurry!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The water just was on top of us before we knew it.

PETERSONS: As floodwaters rise, three airmen rush to rescue an elderly couple from their car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to, like, slam the door and tell the guy on the other side to grab her and take her out thereof.

PETERSONS: The men then forced to save one of their own.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just saw a head and an arm flying down the water, so I just kind of like alright I'm going to pull him up, hope I don't fall in.

PETERSONS: The powerful flash flood sweeping away car after car.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow, this is unreal, man.

PETERSONS: Aerial footage captures the damage that left people stranded and vehicles flipped upside down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have never seen it this bad, wow.

PETERSONS: In Utah, residents managed to flee just minutes before a land slide destroyed their home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's just so frightening to see someone you love and care about lose everything they have.

PETERSONS: The slide started slowly, displacing rock and dirt. Then knocking over a retaining wall and uprooting a tree and just moments later, the hill began to slide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really scary, frightening. They're just the best people and just heartbreaking.

PETERSONS: This morning at least three other homes remain in immediate danger as authorities work to contain the slide.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Last night all of these people came to the home at 10:30 and said no, you're fine, you can stay here.

PETERSONS: Neighbors outraged that they weren't warned of the danger sooner.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We weren't fine and people knew we weren't fine. People that have experienced landslides know what's happening!

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PETERSONS (on camera): Absolutely terrifying. The good news right now if you take a look in the west, we're seeing a lot of dry filling in. So they are going to get about a day or two to get things under control. But keep in mind, this is just what happens this time of year. It's only a matter of days before these thunderstorms roll back in. Kate and Chris?

BOLDUAN: Wow, right back out and on their way back in. Indra, thanks so much. Terrifying stuff for sure.

Coming up on NEW DAY, an incredible journey home. A tribute flag for a fallen marine lost on its way back from Iraq. You'll never guess where it was found. It's the Good Stuff and it's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Plenty of stuff going on in the world to worry about. Makes the Good Stuff that much more necessary and we have a good one today. An amazing gift purchased for just a few bucks, but for one gold star mom it means everything.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CUOMO (voice-over): Here is the story, nine and a half years ago marine Fred Maciel killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq. Now, the custom in the military is that the surviving brothers in arms sign an American flag in loving tribute and that's what they did. But somehow the flag disappeared, no one knew if it found its way home. And it turns out, his family didn't know it existed and that was it. The story ends. Wrong! Jump ahead earlier this month, a couple is shopping at a Texas flea market. They spot something in one of the bins, looks a little bit too special to be there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lady just said it's $5. She says it has been written on, you know that. I said yes, that's okay. I'll go ahead and buy it.

CUOMO: Now, you are a not supposed to write on a flag but this is a special kind of situation and they do write on it, okay? Now, it turns out that this had just somehow found its way there and the shopper, Walter Brown, whose own son is a marine, he knew that this flag hadn't been desecrated. It actually had been sanctified so he bought it. He then used the messages on it, he gets on social media, and he tracks down who the flag was intended for.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: That is something, unbelievable.

CUOMO (on camera): Yes, yes.

BOLDUAN: Wow!

CUOMO: Not only has he figured it out, he traced the names and he figured out from some of the guys that this is what they had done and about how Maciel had died. Not only does he return it, but they make sure that there is a special ceremony so that the flag doesn't just find its way home but that the family gets treated the way they should have all along. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I got peace in my heart. You know, I'm happy. You know, this is all for my son. Nobody forgot my son.

CUOMO (voice-over): Nobody forgot my son.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Sure did not. That is so powerful.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

CUOMO (on camera): We all love the troops, we all support the troops, but this is a beautiful demonstration of how they support themselves. Indra is married to a veteran, you know how tight that community is and how much this can mean to a family.

PETERSONS: Should have made its way home in the first place, but thank God for social media.

BOLDUAN (on camera): That long journey home, my goodness.

PEREIRA: I am so amazed. What a great story, Chris. I love it.

CUOMO: The Good Stuff. Plenty of news going on, let's get you to the "NEWSROOM" and Ms. Carol Costello.