Category Archives: foreign assistance

State Department pledges $8 million more in cybersecurity aid to Ukraine

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U.S. military assistance to Ukraine sparked an impeachment inquiry, but U.S. cybersecurity aid to the Eastern European country continues to flow, unimpeded and under the radar. The State Department on Tuesday announced an additional $8 million in cybersecurity funding for Ukraine, whose electric utilities sector has twice been struck by Russia-linked hackers in recent years. One of those cyberattacks, in 2015, plunged a a quarter of a million Ukrainians into darkness. Ever since then, Washington has tried to ramp up Ukraine’s cyberdefenses with funding and strategic advice, including through a project to help Ukraine develop a national cybersecurity strategy. Some of the new funding will be used for building out Kyiv’s legal and regulatory framework for improving cyberdefenses, the State Department said. The new money is on top of the $10 million in cybersecurity aid the U.S. previously pledged to Ukraine. MITRE Corp., a federally funded not-for-profit, has been contracted […]

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U.S. agrees to help Baltic states bolster grid cybersecurity

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The United States on Sunday agreed to work more closely with three Baltic countries to protect their electric sectors from cyberattacks. “We see a crucial role that U.S. could play in assisting the Baltic states with strategic and technical support,” reads the declaration from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and officials from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, according to multiple news outlets. The four countries will establish a platform for sharing cybersecurity expertise over the next six months, the AFP reported. The agreement is a recognition of the need to fortify energy infrastructure that could be a prime target for hackers in the event of geopolitical conflict. Russia’s neighbors are very familiar with that dynamic: Kremlin-linked hackers cut power in parts of Ukraine in 2015 and 2016. The U.S. announcement with Baltic states was short on specifics. Spokespeople for officials in all four governments did not respond to requests for comment. The document […]

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Congress must do more in fight against global cybercrime, advocacy group says

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In a speech to Interpol in November, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein lobbied other governments to do more to help Washington track down foreign cybercriminals. “By devoting appropriate resources to international cooperation efforts, we can properly address the increasing threat of cybercrime,” he said, adding later: “No nation should exempt itself from just and reasonable law enforcement cooperation.” Rosenstein was acknowledging that regardless of the Department of Justice’s investments in countering cybercrime in the United States, the department’s ability to put foreign crooks behind bars can rest, in part, on other governments’ cooperation in finding and extraditing them. That’s why, analysts say, it’s crucial to fund U.S. programs to boost foreign governments’ ability to crack down on hackers. A new advocacy effort from the think tank Third Way is trying to focus U.S. policymakers’ attention on making those programs more effective. “We think that the U.S. government should be […]

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State Department to double cyber defense aid to Ukraine

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The State Department will double the cyber defense aid it pledged to Ukraine last year to $10 million in an effort to bolster the security of an ally in the crosshairs of alleged Russian hackers, according to department spokesperson. Wess Mitchell, the assistant secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, made the announcement Wednesday after meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “The threat from Russia is real,” Nauert tweeted. “Our commitment to Ukraine is unbending.” A different department spokesperson declined to comment when CyberScoop asked how the new money will be used. The two countries held their first bilateral cybersecurity dialogue in Kiev in September, at which the United States announced $5 million in new cybersecurity assistance to “strengthen Ukraine’s ability to prevent, mitigate, and respond to cyberattacks.” The Ukrainian power grid has been a ripe target for hackers, who carried out advanced […]

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Congress’ new spending bill includes $100M to counter Russian information operations

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At least $100 million in funding specifically to counter Russian information operations will be available under a newly unveiled spending bill to keep the U.S. government running until the end of September. Dubbed the “Countering Russian Influence Fund,” the new initiative is designed to provide support to “civil society organizations and other entities” based in Europe, Eurasia and Central Asia. The inclusion of the provision comes just one day after President Trump once again downplayed the impact of Russian information operations on the 2016 presidential election during a nationally televised interview with CBS News. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence published a historic, declassified report in January accusing Russian intelligence services of hacking into the Democratic National Committee and email mailbox of top political strategist John Podesta in an effort to leak confidential messages that would discredit Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Congress must send the spending bill to Trump for his signature […]

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