Adversaries Can Shut Down U.S. Power Grids | Antifa Rioters Charged | How to Spot a Crisis Coming, and more

The escalating havoc caused by ransomware gangs raises an obvious question: Why has the United States, believed to have the world’s greatest cyber capabilities, looked so powerless to protect its citizens from these kind of criminals operating with near impunity out of Russia and allied countries?
The answer is that there are numerous technological, legal and diplomatic hurdles to going after ransomware gangs. Until recently, it just hasn’t been a high priority for the U.S. government.

Michael Lewis on How to Spot a Crisis Coming  (Jay Elwes, Prospect)
Michael Lewis has spent decades chronicling the life of US institutions. He tells Jay Elwes why the US’s shocking failures on Covid-19 could have been avoided.

Italy: Police Dismantle Antisemitic Neo-Nazi Group Planning NATO Facility Attack  (DW)
Italian police announced on Monday they had broken up an online neo-Nazi group dedicated to antisemitic and racist propaganda that encouraged young people to carry out extreme acts of violence against Jews and foreigners. Italian postal police and Carabinieri paramilitary police said individuals aged between 26 and 62 were allegedly involved in the group. What caused the crackdown? Twelve people were present on Facebook and Russian social network VK under the name, “Ordine Ario Romano,” which is believed to be a reference to the racist writings of fascist author Julius Evola, a Carabinieri police statement said. The group’s social media postings were “inspired by Nazi, antisemitic and Holocaust-denial ideologies, as well as by anti-Jewish conspiracy theories,” the statement added.  Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said the online network “exploited the fragility” of young people, and “[incited] youths to carry out extreme gestures.” Under investigation since 2019, the 12 suspects belonged to “an antisemitic and racist group particularly active on social media,” Lamorgese added. The crackdown included blacking out the networks website, which claims to have over 17,000 members, including many users abroad.

F.B.I. Investigates Cyber Attack That Targeted N.Y.C. Law Department  (Benjamin Weiser and Ashley Southall, New York Times)
An early clue that something was amiss with the computers at New York City’s Law Department — the 1,000-lawyer agency that represents the city in court — emerged on Monday when a lawyer for the department wrote to a federal judge in Manhattan, asking for a short delay in filing court papers because of “connectivity” problems. “No one is currently able to log on to the Law Department’s computer system,” the lawyer, Katherine J. Weall, wrote. Later in the day, city officials revealed the cause of the problem: They had been forced to disable the Law Department’s computer network on Sunday afternoon after detecting a cyber attack. That attack is now under investigation by the intelligence bureau of the New York Police Department and the F.B.I.’s cyber task force, the officials said. Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a NY1 television appearance on Monday evening that city officials were not aware of any information being compromised or a ransom demand. But he cautioned that the situation was “emerging.” “We’ll have more to say as we get more information,” he said. “So far we believe the defenses have held and the Law Department’s information was not compromised.” The hack was first reported by The Daily News.

Police Firearms Officer ‘Feared Terrorist’s Suicide Bomb Would Collapse London Bridge’, Inquest Hears  (Lizzie Dearden, Independent)
A firearms officer feared London Bridge would collapse if a terrorist detonated what appeared to be a real suicide vest, an inquest has heard. Senior Metropolitan Police commanders gave officers the authorisation to shoot Usman Khan dead because they believed he posed an imminent threat to life. The inquest into his death heard that police shot at the 28-year-old 20 times, in several bursts. Khan had been chased onto London Bridge after murdering two victims in a knife rampage at Fishmongers’ Hall on 29 November 2019. An inspector codenamed TC82, because of an anonymity order, told Monday’s hearing that Khan was believed to be reaching for what looked like a real suicide vest when the second barrage of shots were fired. TC82, who was a Tactical Firearms Commander in the control room during the attack, said that while watching live footage of the incident he believed Khan could be holding a trigger. “I feared the IED deonating,” he added. “Obviously because he’s on a bridge,that bridge could collapse and I could see members of the public walking – just going about their day-to-day business – underneath the bridge.

Granholm Admits Adversaries Capable of Shutting Down U.S. Power Grids  (Cameron Cawthorne, FOX Business)
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Sunday admitted that U.S. adversaries currently have the capability to shut down U.S. power grids with cyberattacks.
CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper asked Granholm whether she believed that U.S. adversaries pose a potential threat to U.S. power grids, prompting Granholm to respond, “Yeah, they do.”
“I think that there are very malign actors who are trying even as we speak. There are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally,” Granholm said. “The meat plant, for example. It’s happening all the time. This is why the private sector and the public sector have to work together  and this is what the president is doing.”

How FBI’s Fake Messaging App Snared Criminal Masterminds Across the Globe in History’s Biggest Crime Sting  (Roland Oliphant et al., The Telegraph)
It is the biggest and most sophisticated crime sting in history.
The FBI and Australian police operation to covertly distribute supposedly encrypted telephones amongst some of the world’s most powerful drugs trafficking networks had netted more than 800 suspects around the world by Tuesday morning.
They had also taken a haul of eight tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis, two tons of synthetic drugs, 250 guns, 55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. More is expected to follow.
The operation took immense technological craft.
But it also took traditional investigative ingenuity – including winning the trust of key informers, splashing hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs and expenses, and cutting deals for reduced sentences.

March of Tech Is Making Conflict More Likely  (William Hague, The Times)
The speed of innovation in space exploration, AI weaponry and cyberwarfare is outpacing our attempts to police it.
The escalating havoc caused by ransomware gangs raises an obvious question: Why has the United States, believed to have the world’s greatest cyber capabilities, looked so powerless to protect its citizens from these kind of criminals operating with near impunity out of Russia and allied countries?
The answer is that there are numerous technological, legal and diplomatic hurdles to going after ransomware gangs. Until recently, it just hasn’t been a high priority for the U.S. government.

Michael Lewis on How to Spot a Crisis Coming  (Jay Elwes, Prospect)
Michael Lewis has spent decades chronicling the life of US institutions. He tells Jay Elwes why the US’s shocking failures on Covid-19 could have been avoided.

Italy: Police Dismantle Antisemitic Neo-Nazi Group Planning NATO Facility Attack  (DW)
Italian police announced on Monday they had broken up an online neo-Nazi group dedicated to antisemitic and racist propaganda that encouraged young people to carry out extreme acts of violence against Jews and foreigners. Italian postal police and Carabinieri paramilitary police said individuals aged between 26 and 62 were allegedly involved in the group. What caused the crackdown? Twelve people were present on Facebook and Russian social network VK under the name, “Ordine Ario Romano,” which is believed to be a reference to the racist writings of fascist author Julius Evola, a Carabinieri police statement said. The group’s social media postings were “inspired by Nazi, antisemitic and Holocaust-denial ideologies, as well as by anti-Jewish conspiracy theories,” the statement added.  Interior Minister Luciana Lamorgese said the online network “exploited the fragility” of young people, and “[incited] youths to carry out extreme gestures.” Under investigation since 2019, the 12 suspects belonged to “an antisemitic and racist group particularly active on social media,” Lamorgese added. The crackdown included blacking out the networks website, which claims to have over 17,000 members, including many users abroad.

F.B.I. Investigates Cyber Attack That Targeted N.Y.C. Law Department  (Benjamin Weiser and Ashley Southall, New York Times)
An early clue that something was amiss with the computers at New York City’s Law Department — the 1,000-lawyer agency that represents the city in court — emerged on Monday when a lawyer for the department wrote to a federal judge in Manhattan, asking for a short delay in filing court papers because of “connectivity” problems. “No one is currently able to log on to the Law Department’s computer system,” the lawyer, Katherine J. Weall, wrote. Later in the day, city officials revealed the cause of the problem: They had been forced to disable the Law Department’s computer network on Sunday afternoon after detecting a cyber attack. That attack is now under investigation by the intelligence bureau of the New York Police Department and the F.B.I.’s cyber task force, the officials said. Mayor Bill de Blasio said during a NY1 television appearance on Monday evening that city officials were not aware of any information being compromised or a ransom demand. But he cautioned that the situation was “emerging.” “We’ll have more to say as we get more information,” he said. “So far we believe the defenses have held and the Law Department’s information was not compromised.” The hack was first reported by The Daily News.

Police Firearms Officer ‘Feared Terrorist’s Suicide Bomb Would Collapse London Bridge’, Inquest Hears  (Lizzie Dearden, Independent)
A firearms officer feared London Bridge would collapse if a terrorist detonated what appeared to be a real suicide vest, an inquest has heard. Senior Metropolitan Police commanders gave officers the authorisation to shoot Usman Khan dead because they believed he posed an imminent threat to life. The inquest into his death heard that police shot at the 28-year-old 20 times, in several bursts. Khan had been chased onto London Bridge after murdering two victims in a knife rampage at Fishmongers’ Hall on 29 November 2019. An inspector codenamed TC82, because of an anonymity order, told Monday’s hearing that Khan was believed to be reaching for what looked like a real suicide vest when the second barrage of shots were fired. TC82, who was a Tactical Firearms Commander in the control room during the attack, said that while watching live footage of the incident he believed Khan could be holding a trigger. “I feared the IED deonating,” he added. “Obviously because he’s on a bridge,that bridge could collapse and I could see members of the public walking – just going about their day-to-day business – underneath the bridge.

Granholm Admits Adversaries Capable of Shutting Down U.S. Power Grids  (Cameron Cawthorne, FOX Business)
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on Sunday admitted that U.S. adversaries currently have the capability to shut down U.S. power grids with cyberattacks.
CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor Jake Tapper asked Granholm whether she believed that U.S. adversaries pose a potential threat to U.S. power grids, prompting Granholm to respond, “Yeah, they do.”
“I think that there are very malign actors who are trying even as we speak. There are thousands of attacks on all aspects of the energy sector and the private sector generally,” Granholm said. “The meat plant, for example. It’s happening all the time. This is why the private sector and the public sector have to work together  and this is what the president is doing.”

How FBI’s Fake Messaging App Snared Criminal Masterminds Across the Globe in History’s Biggest Crime Sting  (Roland Oliphant et al., The Telegraph)
It is the biggest and most sophisticated crime sting in history.
The FBI and Australian police operation to covertly distribute supposedly encrypted telephones amongst some of the world’s most powerful drugs trafficking networks had netted more than 800 suspects around the world by Tuesday morning.
They had also taken a haul of eight tons of cocaine, 22 tons of cannabis, two tons of synthetic drugs, 250 guns, 55 luxury vehicles and over $48 million in cash and cryptocurrencies. More is expected to follow.
The operation took immense technological craft.
But it also took traditional investigative ingenuity – including winning the trust of key informers, splashing hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs and expenses, and cutting deals for reduced sentences.

March of Tech Is Making Conflict More Likely  (William Hague, The Times)
The speed of innovation in space exploration, AI weaponry and cyberwarfare is outpacing our attempts to police it.