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CNN Live Today

Search in Aruba; Protecting Kids; Wireless Security

Aired June 21, 2005 - 10:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And here's a look at what's happening "Now in the News."
President Bush and the prime minister of Vietnam mark a milestone. The two leaders met this morning, highlighting 10 years since the U.S. and Vietnam normalized relations. It's the first White House visit by a top Vietnamese leader since the end of the war 30 years ago.

A wildfire has shut down part of a major Arizona highway. Drivers along northbound I-17 at Black Canyon City are being forced to turn around and head back to Phoenix. I-17 is the main highway between northern and southern Arizona. The wildfire has burned about 1,200 acres since it started yesterday afternoon.

Fire investigators in Detroit are searching for the cause of this massive blaze that engulfed a century-old warehouse overnight. The historic Studebaker factory was partially vacant but did house several businesses. Two of the 150 firefighters battling the flames suffered minor injuries. The fire's mostly out, but still smoldering this morning.

Overseas today, authorities say a car bombing killed a former communist party official in Lebanon. Witnesses and security sources say George Hawi's car had just left a Beirut gas station when the bomb exploded. Hawi was a critic of Syria's power in Lebanon. He is the second anti-Syrian official to die in an explosion this month.

And now CNN.com is offering a whole new way to get the headlines. Just log on to our Web site and click on "Watch" to check out the most popular stories, everything from politics and sports to entertainment. And it's free on CNN.com.

And good morning, everyone. Welcome to CNN LIVE TODAY.

It is 8:00 a.m. in Phoenix, Arizona; 11:00 a.m. in Palm Beach, Aruba; and 6:00 p.m. in Bucharest, Romania. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, I'm Tony Harris, in for Daryn Kagan this morning.

Up first this hour, the search for a missing teen in Aruba takes a new turn. The mystery surrounding Natalee Holloway's disappearance is entering its fourth week. Now a search and rescue team from Texas is joining the effort to find her.

CNN's Chris Lawrence is in Palm Beach, Aruba, with the latest.

Good morning, Chris. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Tony.

The family has hired that private company from the U.S. to come in and help with the search. They've got law enforcement people with search dogs, they've got a sonar expert, and a few master divers all gearing up. And they'll be flying out later today and tomorrow.

Meantime, all three of the original suspects by the end of the day today will have been moved to the one prison on the island, which leaves only that fourth suspect still at a local jail.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LAWRENCE (voice-over): Suspect Steve Croes covered his face with cuffed hands as police brought him to court. A judge ordered him kept in custody for up to one more week while his ex-wife waited anxiously with their young son, convinced Croes is innocent.

JANET CROES, SUSPECT'S EX-WIFE (through translator): He's a charming person, a very good father and very hard working. I'm 100 percent sure he's not involved in this case.

LAWRENCE: Croes works as a deejay on this Aruba party boat. His boss says he's an able seaman, but wouldn't tell us whether the boat was out to sea the night Natalee Holloway disappeared three weeks ago. Prosecutors won't explain how Croes is tied to the case.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm sorry, I can't tell you.

LAWRENCE: But Natalee's family is still confident police are making progress.

GEORGE "JUG" TWITTY, NATALEE HOLLOWAY'S STEPFATHER: They know that the people they have in custody and the judge know more than they're saying. And it's a matter of, you know, bringing out the truth.

LAWRENCE: The judge is Paul Van Der Sloot, who was in no mood to talk as he rushed home from the police station last weekend. He was questioned two days in a row, but only as a witness. Van der Sloot's son Joran and two friends were seen walking out of a bar with Natalee the night she disappeared. All three are being held as suspects in the case.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where would you hide an object?

LAWRENCE: Natalee Holloway's family still hopes to find her alive. They've been searching this small island, looking for anything investigators may have missed.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

LAWRENCE: The family also sent a letter to prosecutors, basically asking to join in the prosecution's case as the victimized party. It's a common procedure under Dutch law that gives them more access to information about how the case is progressing. And it's automatic. Nobody even has to rule on it -- Tony.

HARRIS: CNN's Chris Lawrence. Chris, we appreciate it. Thank you.

It's hard to imagine how someone could just vanish on an island paradise about the size of Washington, D.C. CNN's Karl Penhaul took to the air and sea to show us what crews are up against in the search for Natalee Holloway.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Aruba's just a speck, 19 miles long, six miles wide and 20 miles from Venezuela. But once you get airborne you see the scale of the task facing search teams.

The high-rise hotel district where Natalee stayed, along the coast to the lighthouse, the possible route Natalee took with three young men now being held in connection with her disappearance. Beyond that, miles of soft sand dunes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not the first time that they have found bodies in the dunes here in (INAUDIBLE). But it has to do with people getting lost.

PENHAUL (on camera): When was the last time they found bodies in the dunes?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think on some island five years ago.

PENHAUL: And how long did it actually take to find the body?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was -- he was missing for probably about five years before that.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Teams have hunted here for signs of Natalee, but the wind and sand quickly obscure traces of anything that may be buried.

Beyond that, the sea stretches to the horizon. It's 690 miles due west to Panama. Any object that drifts off Aruba's west coast will eventually end up in Panama. We head out on the search and rescue boat to Manchebo Point, notorious because this is where two powerful ocean currents collide.

EFRAIN BOEKHUODT, SEARCH & RESCUE TEAM: Once you reach a certain point, really you'll get yourself in the current. And here is where most of the problems happen. Once you get in the current, you're going to drift about two miles an hour on a slow day.

PENHAUL: Any closer to shore, he says, and the surf could drag an object back to the beach. But here, with more than a mile and a half off Aruba's west coast, the water is more than 60 feet deep. We're going to test those currents.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three, two, one. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Man overboard.

PENHAUL: Here, you can feel a menacing undertow and a strong swell. Boekhuodt tells me if they leave me in the water long enough, I'll drift northwest a few miles, then due west out into open ocean.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

PENHAUL: But he says it would not be easy to sail a boat out this far at night to dump something.

BOEKHUODT: If you put your foot in the water at night, you're on radar.

PENHAUL: Back in the air, Aruba's north coast looks much more rugged, but the tides are predictable.

BOEKHUODT: Everything you throw here in the water in the north shore will always get back to the north shore. It will always get back to land.

PENHAUL (on camera): Where would you hide an object? Would you dump it in the sea or would you hide it on land?

BOEKHUODT: I would hide it on land.

PENHAUL: Unlike in the sand dunes, Croes (ph) says it would take several hours to dig a hole in the hard earth amid the rocks and cacti. You can, though, just make out the entrances to a handful of old gold mine shafts abandoned more than 100 years ago and now partly flooded with sea water.

(on camera): What kind of equipment would you need to get down into those? Would you need ropes?

BOEKHUODT: Ropes and somebody who will dare to go in there.

PENHAUL (voice-over): It's been three weeks to the day since Natalee vanished, and never finding out what happened to her is a possibility few dare to mention.

Karl Penhaul, CNN, Aruba.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Here in the states, searchers will head back to the Utah mountains today as the desperate search for an 11-year-old boy grows more urgent. Brennan Hawkins hasn't been seen since Friday. So far, crews are finding few clues to where he is or what might have happened.

Earlier, the boy's older sister gave a tearful thank you to those who have helped.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARIAH HAWKINS, BRENNAN HAWKINS' OLDER SISTER: The volunteers have been incredible. We couldn't have done it without them. We -- the outpouring of love from them has been incredible for us.

And they come from all over. We don't even know where they come from. And we want to publicly thank them, because without them we couldn't be doing this. And especially the Bardsleys. They -- Kevin, Garrett's dad, has pulled out all of his resources and...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Hard to watch. Yesterday searchers found three socks and a sandal in a river, but found out that they did not belong to the missing boy.

Protecting children from online sexual predators is the focus of a campaign launched on Capitol Hill this morning. Children's advocates joined with business and congressional leaders in the effort to make the Internet a safer place for kids.

CNN's Kimberly Osias is in Washington with the details -- Kimberly.

KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Tony.

Well, the idea here is to keep parents engaged and aware. Engaged by using some online tools, some really nifty things here.

Actually, one is an Internet Web site, aptly titled incredibleinternet.com. Now, it's state-specifics. So, for example, obviously you live in Georgia, Tony, it's different from where we are here in Washington, D.C.

We can click on to the state that you need, go all the way down. And then, of course, the laws are a little bit different, slight variance all over. Then it pulls up about 12 questions, probing parents about the level of Internet activity of their children.

One that particularly caught my eye was this one right here about the particular IMs, or the instant message names, that children use online. Now, some may be relatively obvious ones, like this one here, SexyTeen. And then there's a pop-up bar that comes down that says, "Whoa, obvious red light."

There's some that may not be quite so apparent, like this one says Cute14Girl. Could be innocuous enough, could be fine, or it could be an online predator, much more nefarious motives, trying to lure somebody into a relationship.

And speaking about numbers, I want to chat a little bit about some numbers released by the Department of Justice about how many children are actually involved and online. Some 24 million, in fact, staggering numbers.

Now, of those numbers, one in five receive actual sexual solicitation. Those are children age 10 to 17. And of those, only one in four actually tell authority figures.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CONRAD BURNS (R), MONTANA: Our children are most vulnerable because of the computer, and they're as vulnerable as our children who walk to school. That's why we created safe neighborhoods. That's why we have people that are aware of what goes on in our neighborhoods. And those children that walk to school are vulnerable also, but they're just as vulnerable in our own home, off of our own computer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OSIAS: There's also some public service announcements that are aimed at really hitting kids, hitting children a lot hipper, a lot more edgier. And if we can show you one of those right now, I actually took a look at it.

It's called the Evidence Bag. And what it is, is it -- actually, you can see a number of detectives going into a home or an apartment of an Internet relationship that has gone terribly, terribly wrong, taking a keyboard, taking computer dusting for fingerprints and the like. And the tag line reads "Stop a relationship. Think about it before it even happens."

Think about the end, Tony. So obviously really trying to raise awareness and make a difference here -- Tony.

HARRIS: Kimberly, we appreciate it. Thank you very much.

We're going to send you back to Chris Lawrence in Palm Beach, Aruba. Chris is standing by with new information on one of the men being held in the Holloway investigation -- Chris.

LAWRENCE: Well, Tony, we have been telling you about that fourth suspect, a deejay who worked on a local party boat named Steve Croes. Well, law enforcement sources close to the investigation now tell CNN that Croes came under suspicion because he told police that he saw the other three men drop off Natalee Holloway right here at this hotel on the night she disappeared three weeks ago. But the more police investigated and questioned those other three men, they found holes in that story, and that's why they arrested Croes last Friday -- Tony.

HARRIS: OK. Chris, one more time, for those of us who are a little slow, recap that, please.

LAWRENCE: Yes. Basically, you had three men arrested initially. You had the young Dutch teenager that hit it off with Natalee Holloway...

HARRIS: That's right.

LAWRENCE: ... the night that she disappeared. And you had the two brothers who were with him. They were seen leaving the club with Natalee.

Then you had a fourth suspect, Steve Croes. He was just arrested last Friday. There were a lot of questions about why he was arrested, why after these other three, and what connection he might have.

HARRIS: Right.

LAWRENCE: Now the law enforcement sources close to the investigation are telling us that police became suspicious of him because he initially told them that he saw those three men drop her off right here at the Holiday Inn, the hotel where we're standing right now. They found holes in the story, and so went in and arrested him last Friday.

HARRIS: And we still don't know what brought this Croes guy to the attention of the authorities, do we? Or do we?

LAWRENCE: No, we don't. We know that he worked on a local party boat here, ran booze cruises here out of Aruba as a deejay.

We did speak with his boss who said, "Hey, Steven Croes is a model employee."

HARRIS: Yes.

LAWRENCE: He said he's an able seaman. But he was not able to confirm with us whether that boat was actually out to sea on the night that Natalee disappeared.

HARRIS: OK. Good new information. Chris Lawrence, we appreciate it. Thank you.

Coping with cancer, that alone can be daunting. Then there are the treatments. A little later, we'll be speaking with a doctor and cancer patient on how to take the fear out of surviving cancer.

And one day you're in the National Guard in a small town in the U.S., the next you're guarding Saddam Hussein? We'll meet two of his guards a little later in the show. They'll tell us about their surprising relationship with the former dictator.

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HARRIS: Look at this, live picture from Phoenix, Arizona. Hot, hazy. I'd say muggy, but I don't know if there's a lot of humidity in Phoenix. It's dry heat, dry heat.

Ninety degrees we understand right now. Let's bring in Jacqui Jeras.

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HARRIS: Well, a lot of computer users love the freedom of wireless surfing. Well, but that freedom comes with a hidden risk. A live report on how to e-mail and shop online securely. Plus, an incredible assignment for two ordinary soldiers assigned to guard Saddam Hussein. We'll hear them talk about their candid conversations with the former dictator.

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HARRIS: The growth of wireless Internet connections makes it easier to go online anywhere, but the wireless Web is also an inviting target for thieves seeking to steal your personal information. We've been talking about that a lot over the last few days.

Technology Correspondent Daniel Sieberg is here with advice on protecting yourself when you go wireless.

Good to see you again.

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you, too, Tony.

And it is everywhere these days. But a lot of people don't realize that your wireless network or the wireless networks that you connect to out in the public are really just an open door waiting for a hacker to get in.

Now, we spent some time with an expert who showed us just how easy it is to potentially grab your information right out of the air.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG (voice over): It's a chance to cut the cords and surf the Web from a park or a cafe. Wireless Internet access is everywhere these days, with nearly 30,000 so-called hot spots in the U.S. alone. But with convenience comes a caveat.

RICHARD RUSHING, AIR DEFENSE: Understand that the information you're doing is very similar to standing up in the park here and shouting out all of the information. Would I normally do that?

SIEBERG: Richard Rushing makes his living by helping companies strengthen wireless networks.

RUSHING: User name, and here's the password.

SIEBERG: He says many people don't realize they can have all of their personal data stolen while checking out their checking account.

RUSHING: It's great to able to sit somewhere and work with no wires attached, no nothing attached. They don't really understand the risk of wireless.

SIEBERG: To illustrate how vulnerable wireless networks can be, Rushing sends an e-mail, then intercepts the entire contents of his message.

RUSHING: You should not be able to see this message.

SIEBERG: He could have done that to any of the dozens of people sitting nearby.

RUSHING: At any point in time, I can reach out and touch everyone's laptop that's at the hot spot. There's usually not any way of preventing that.

SIEBERG: And he says anybody with a little know-how and the right tools could break into the basic level of wireless security. There are even how-to video instructions online.

The bottom line? Rushing says imagine nothing is truly private.

RUSHING: A lot of the times that you really want to stay away from doing certain things at the hot spots that you would not normally do if you knew someone is going to be watching you.

SIEBERG: Basically, wireless offers a good chance to check out the baseball scores. But even if you're sitting all alone, it doesn't mean you are all alone. It may have no wires attached, but it still comes with strings.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: All right. So by now you may be a little paranoid. What else can do you?

Well, you might want to consider getting some additional security software, like a firewall program. There are lots of them out there. The key is that you need to use it and keep it up to date.

Also, be weary of what are called evil twins. Those are fake wireless hotspots that look like the real thing. It may even have the Web site to log on and everything else. So experts say it's a good idea to prepay for your wireless access rather than doing it when you get to the hotspot.

And beyond that, really consider what you're sending when you're there. It's just really not a good idea to send out all your banking information. Maybe just surf the Web, be kind of casual with it. And have fun, of course. I mean, it's convenient for everybody.

HARRIS: Yes.

SIEBERG: But you've got to think about the security measures as well.

HARRIS: Well, speaking of that, you know, we're using a lot of these wireless hookups and connections from our home computers.

SIEBERG: Right. Very popular. I know you've got one.

HARRIS: Yes.

SIEBERG: I do, too.

HARRIS: Yes. SIEBERG: But what you have to remember is that those do not come with security measures in place. When you set it up, you need to take an extra step and put that in place.

I could probably make your head spin with some of the acronyms, like WEP, WPA. The bottom line is, you need to do it and be pro- active.

At the very least, you can stop giving free wireless Internet access to all your neighbors, which is what you're doing if you don't secure your network. Then there's always the possibility that somebody could break in. So you really have to think about it when you go to set up your home network.

It's fun. It's great. And we all love it. But you really have to be careful.

HARRIS: Tapping into someone else's. OK. Daniel, we appreciate it. Thank you.

SIEBERG: All right.

HARRIS: So what's it like to guard a dictator? Two guards who watched Saddam Hussein for months in Iraq are sharing details on his life behind bars, things like his daily routine and some of his favorite foods.

Cheetos, Doritos. Yes, you'll be surprised by some of what they revealed.

That's next.

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