Category Archives: intelligence community (IC)

Biden orders US intelligence review of SolarWinds hack

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President Joe Biden has ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to provide him with an assessment of a suspected Russian hacking operation that breached multiple U.S. federal agencies and exposed glaring weaknesses in U.S. cyber-defenses, the White House said Thursday. The move highlights how responding to the sophisticated spying operation, which has exploited software made by federal contractor SolarWinds, will shape the early days of Biden’s administration. It was not immediately clear what the intelligence review would entail, but Biden has vowed to get a full understanding of the computer intrusions and their impact. “Even as we work with Russia to advance U.S. interests, so, too, we work to hold Russia to account for its reckless and adversarial actions,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters. Moscow has denied involvement in the hacking campaign. Biden has also tasked intelligence agencies with reviewing the extent of Russian interference in the 2020 election, […]

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Russia, Iran and China exploit Capitol Hill riot to push information operations, US intel concludes

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As America reels from the deadly Capitol Hill insurrection, Russia, Iran and China are using their state media mouthpieces to exploit U.S. divisions and further their interests ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration, according to a new U.S. intelligence analysis obtained by CyberScoop. The Jan. 14 intelligence memo produced by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security shows how U.S. adversaries wasted no time in amplifying scenes from the pro-Trump mob’s siege of the Capitol building. Russian state media has harped on the Jan. 6 riot’s “violent and chaotic nature,” while focusing on the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, according to the memo. One Russian “proxy” suggested that “Antifa,” a loose collection of left-wing activists, was responsible for the storming of the Capitol, the intelligence memo said. Some Republican lawmakers also have mentioned that baseless conspiracy theory. Iranian state media has zeroed in on calls for Trump’s removal from office […]

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Lawmakers throw cold water on splitting Cyber Command from NSA

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Although Pentagon officials have suggested in recent days that the nation’s offensive cyber arm should split away from the National Security Agency, Cyber Command is a long way from being ready to stand on its own, according to a bipartisan group of lawmakers. The proposal, which some DOD officials have been entertaining in the last several days, would separate out the command from the Department of Defense’s foreign signals intelligence agency, which it has been co-located with for 10 years in order to help it find its footing. Both the NSA and Cyber Command are currently run by the same leader, Gen. Paul Nakasone, and some critics say the Trump administration has been interested in separating the two in order to carve out a leadership spot for a political ally at the helm of the NSA before his time in the Oval Office expires, according to The Washington Post. But […]

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Senate Intelligence Committee wants DNI to investigate commercial spyware threats

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The Senate Intelligence Committee quietly approved a measure last week that would require the Director of National Intelligence to submit a report to Congress on the threats posed by foreign governments’ and entities’ use of commercially available surveillance software. The DNI’s report, which would be sent to Congress 180 days after the Intelligence Authorization Act for 2021 passes, would include information on how the U.S. — and other countries — can work to reduce the threats of commercial spyware, including through export controls, diplomatic pressure, trade agreements, and work with the technology and telecommunications sectors to better secure consumers’ software. The committee wants the DNI to specifically address the threat posed to U.S. citizens, in addition to those living abroad or employed by the U.S. government. The report request comes nearly one year after the United Nations Special Rapporteur David Kaye called for a moratorium on the creation and sale of […]

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Reality Winner seeks clemency for leaking NSA report on Russian hacking attempts

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Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner is asking President Donald Trump to grant her clemency after she was sent to prison for leaking government secrets about Russian hacking. Winner was sentenced in 2018 after she allegedly mailed classified information from the NSA to The Intercept that explained how Russian hackers sent spearphishing emails to a voting software supplier and local election officials prior to the 2016 elections. Winner pleaded guilty at the time, and was sentenced to more than five years, the longest-ever term imposed by a federal court in a case of leaked government information to the media. Winner and her lawyer, who has submitted a formal petition for commutation at the Department of Justice, are asking Trump to “do the right thing” and “forgive our truth tellers” in the midst of foreign attacks against the U.S. political processes. “Our country was attacked by a hostile foreign power,” Winner’s attorney, Alison Grinter, […]

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Trump administration wants private sector to do more to counter foreign intelligence efforts

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The Trump administration’s counterintelligence strategy, released Monday, aims for stronger collaboration between the intelligence community and the private sector on detecting and stopping foreign intelligence threats to U.S. entities. The plan, which President Donald Trump approved in early January, emphasizes a longstanding government argument that the private sector must do more to prevent foreign espionage. As state-sponsored hackers target more U.S. companies, corporate America should prioritize preparations to stifle similar attacks in the future, the director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center, Bill Evanina, told reporters at a briefing Monday. “A hostile nation state attack on a private U.S. company … is a counterintelligence attack on our nation,” he said. The NCSC is part of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Earlier on Monday the Department of Justice announced charges against four members of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army for allegedly hacking into Equifax to steal information about roughly 147 million Americans. Prosecutors also alleged […]

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The National Security Agency’s general counsel is leaving his position

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Glenn Gerstell, the National Security Agency’s general counsel, is leaving the agency, CyberScoop has learned. “It was truly an honor to be able to serve this agency and play a part in keeping our nation safe. This has easily been the best job I have had,” Gerstell said in an email. “My earlier private sector legal career was fulfilling, but nothing compares to the satisfaction of public service, especially confronting some of the most critical challenges facing our country – terrorism, aggression by overseas authoritarian regimes and cyber maliciousness.” After nearly five years spent advising two NSA directors, former NSA Director Adm. Michael Rogers and current NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, Gerstell will be a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) starting next month. There, he will write on “the role of technology, coping with a rising China and privacy in the digital era,” he said in the […]

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Improve controls on classified information, inspector general tells U.S. intelligence community

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The federal government should do more to protect its most sensitive information from potentially being deleted or leaked by insiders, according to a new report from the intelligence community inspector general (ICIG). The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) must “improve controls to efficiently and effectively manage and mitigate the risk that a trusted privileged user could inappropriately access, modify, destroy, or exfiltrate classified data,” the intelligence community inspector general, Michael Atkinson, writes in the report. The potential for trouble extends even to classified information that is restricted to a trusted few at the ODNI, the report says. The ICIG’s specific recommendations about how to address the issue, of course, are classified. The semiannual report, released Tuesday, details a number of ongoing intelligence community programs and audits meant to boost the cybersecurity of the ODNI and the intelligence community writ large, among them projects on overhauling the security clearance process and efforts […]

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U.S. files civil suit against Edward Snowden over new memoir

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The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit in civil court against former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, alleging he violated his non-disclosure agreements with both the NSA and CIA by publishing his memoir. In a suit filed Tuesday, the U.S. alleges that Snowden did not seek pre-publication review in accordance with obligations he signed while employed with and contracting for both agencies. Snowden’s book, “Permanent Record,” was released Tuesday. “The United States’ ability to protect sensitive national security information depends on employees’ and contractors’ compliance with their non-disclosure agreements, including their pre-publication review obligations,” Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division said in a statement. “This lawsuit demonstrates that the Department of Justice does not tolerate these breaches of the public’s trust. We will not permit individuals to enrich themselves, at the expense of the United States, without complying with their pre-publication review obligations.” […]

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