Collaborate Disseminate
Deception technology is no longer considered an overly complex cybersecurity solution designed only for the largest enterprises with infinite financial and operational resources. Deception is being adopted more broadly by companies of all sizes and in… Continue reading Deception Technology: Giving Companies Home Field Advantage
The company ProtectWise just published a long report linking a bunch of Chinese cyber-operations over the past few years. The always interesting gruqq has some interesting commentary on the group and its tactics. Lots of detailed information in the report, but I admit that I have never heard of ProtectWise or its research team 401TRG. Independent corroboration of this information… Continue reading New Report on Chinese Intelligence Cyber-Operations
In a stunning exchange Monday during a press conference between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the former KGB agent offered to host American law enforcement officials who are currently investigating foreign meddling in U.S. elections. The proposal comes after the Department of Justice last week indicted 12 active Russian military intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) before selectively leaking stolen material through a collage of websites during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump appeared to approve of the idea, calling it “an incredible offer” for members of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team to travel to Russia as part of their broad investigation into Russian interference in the elections. “[Putin] offered to have the people working on this case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people,” Trump said. Putin also said he would expect “reciprocity,” with Russian investigators allowed to […]
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After months of hints and restarts, Apple has included a key new security feature in the newly released iOS 11.4.1: USB Restricted Mode. The new mode restricts access to iPhones by USB devices and thereby aims to stymie the tools that law enforcement, intelligence agencies and private companies like Cellebrite use to crack iPhone security and look at the data inside. The new restricted mode is on by default. You can see it in the passcode settings on iOS devices where the setting for USB Accessories is by default off. After one hour, iOS blocks USB accessories connecting to the device through cable adapters to the phone’s Lightning port. Will this effectively shut out tools like Cellebrite and GrayShift‘s GrayKey? It’s too early to tell the long-term impact. When the feature was in beta several weeks ago, both companies previously told customers they can likely get around new security methods. Both also cautioned customers, […]
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A former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) official was caught providing secret military documents to the Chinese government, including what appears to be sensitive information about the locations of U.S. Cyber Command outposts and personnel, according to a newly unsealed Justice Department indictment. The case reveals an increasingly obvious counterintelligence battle between the U.S. and China as the two countries are spending billions on developing advanced cyberwarfare units. The arrest of Ron Rockwell Hansen, a 20-year Army veteran, marks the third publicly visible case in the last year of an American passing secretive documents to Chinese government-linked agents. Former Central Intelligence Agency case officer Jerry Chun Shing Lee was arrested in January for allegedly tipping off Chinese spies to the CIA’s human network inside the authoritarian regime. No longer employed by the government but still familiar with the U.S. intelligence community, Hansen possessed top-secret security clearances for both his civilian and active-duty work. He […]
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Experts say depriving Air Force funding for four-engine OC-135 surveillance planes is part of a GOP effort to force the US to withdraw from Open Skies, a 1992 arms-verification treaty. Continue reading Republicans Are Trying to Pull America Out of Another Global Treaty
On numbers stations…. Continue reading Numbers Stations
The Intercept has a long article on Japan’s equivalent of the NSA: the Directorate for Signals Intelligence. Interesting, but nothing really surprising. The directorate has a history that dates back to the 1950s; its role is to eavesdrop on communications. But its operations remain so highly classified that the Japanese government has disclosed little about its work even the… Continue reading Japan’s Directorate for Signals Intelligence
The White House has eliminated the cybersecurity coordinator position. This seems like a spectacularly bad idea…. Continue reading White House Eliminates Cybersecurity Position
Members of the White House’s National Security Council are pushing to rescind Presidential Policy Directive 20, an important policy memorandum that currently guides the approval process for government-backed cyberattacks, three current U.S. officials familiar with the matter tell CyberScoop. The effort is driven in part by a desire from some NSC staff to create a more streamlined channel for military leaders to get their offensive cyber operations greenlit, insiders familiar with the matter said. The sources spoke under the condition of anonymity to freely discuss sensitive national security matters. The move comes as lawmakers openly question whether U.S. Cyber Command, the nation’s premier cyber warfare unit, is hamstrung from responding to Russian meddling due to bureaucratic red tape. CyberScoop previously reported that multiple congressional committees are considering policies that could empower the military’s cyber mission. But the push for change faces resistance from the intelligence community and several other federal agencies involved in cybersecurity. Senior […]
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