Our picksU.S. Cyberattacks Iran | Despite Horrors, Jihadism Has Declined | DHS Cut Corners in Portland, and more

Right and Left-Wing Extremists Are Anticipating Election-Related Violence—From the Other Side, Report Finds (Patrick Tucker, Defense One)
Experts say that high tensions could lead to a combustible situation this week.

U.S. Undertook Cyber Operation against Iran as Part of Effort to Secure the 2020 Election (Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post)
U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency have taken recent actions to ensure that foreign actors do not interfere in the 2020 election, including an operation in the past two weeks against Iran, U.S. officials said.

Despite the Horrors in Vienna and Paris, Jihadism Has Declined (Economist)
But prisons are serving as a new incubator of extremism

Air Force Purchase of Chinese Drones Spurs Security Concerns (Brett Forrest and Gordon Lubold, Wall Street Journal)
The military uses drones for training and other purposes as lawmakers, experts warn of possible risks of data theft

QAnon’s Danger Rises with Divisive Election (Chris Mills Rodrigo, The Hill)
One of the most divisive presidential elections in U.S. history is likely to have a huge impact on QAnon, the sprawling conspiracy theory that has rapidly grown in the Trump era and is increasingly seen as a serious threat.

More Than One in Four U.K. Cyber Attacks Related to Covid-19 (Helen Warrell, Financial Times)
National center’s findings come days after US warned of threat to hospitals from hackers.

Helicopters Over DC Protesters Broke Regulations While Commander was Driving Home, DC Guard Concludes (Katie Bo Williams, Defense One)
The D.C. National Guard and Pentagon IG are fighting over who to blame for the dangerous incident that symbolized Trump’s militarized response.

How Microsoft Is Future Proofing against Cyber Risk (Cyberscoop)
Shifts in the way that enterprises and government organizations implement identity management technologies already were underway before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The sudden influx of remote work, however, has forced security personnel throughout the U.S., and the world, to accelerate plans to mitigate cyber risk.

Audit Finds DHS Cut Corners When It Sent Agents to Portland Riots (Stephen Dinan, Washington Times)
Department of Homeland Security officials cut too many corners when they deployed additional agents to Portland, Oregon, over the summer to quell riots near the federal courthouse, the department’s inspector general said in a new report this week, delivering the latest blow over the aggressive federal response.