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Russian Election Meddlers Hurting Biden, Helping Trump, U.S. Intelligence Warns
Russia is turning to a familiar playbook in its attempt to sway the outcome of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, looking for ways to boost the candidacy of former President Donald Trump by disparaging the campaign of incumbent President Joe Biden, according to American intelligence officials.
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Some Firms Resisting Pressure to Take Sides in 'Chip War'
New research has revealed why German firms are refusing to join the United States’ tech trade war with China over semiconductor chips, a key component in modern electrical devices.
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Silicon Valley Steps Up Screening of Chinese Employees to Counter Espionage
Leading U.S. technology companies reportedly have increased security screening of employees and job applicants, which experts say is necessary to counter the cyber espionage threat from China. Applicantswith family or other ties to China are thought to be particularly vulnerable to pressure from the Beijing government.
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China-Backed Hackers Step Up Spying on Taiwan: Security Firm
Recorded Future said cyberespionage targeting Taiwan has intensified with a focus on its technology industry.
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European Populists Back Putin as They Roll Out Their Anti-Ukraine Positions
Vladimir Putin looks to be a big winner from the populist far-right gains in the recent European Parliament election. Russia inspires, encourages and funds extremist actors because they can disrupt democratic, liberal Western countries – and the more authoritarian the world is, the less likely it is that democratic voices within Russia will be supported by other nations. The rise of the populist far right is further evidence of not just the genuine angst brewing over cost of living and identity issues, but also of Russia’s expertise in psychological and information warfare.
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Spies Are Not Who You Think They Are
For the vast majority of the public, their perception of intelligence work has been shaped by the ever popular genre of spy fiction – Ian Flemin’s invention, James Bond, is but one example. This archetype, familiar from spy novels, films, and TV series, is completely misleading, and at the same time not entirely removed from the truth.
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U.S., Allies Warn China Aggressively ‘Headhunting’ Western Fighter Pilots
China’s military appears to be intensifying its efforts to recruit current and former Western fighter pilots, employing new and more intricate tactics to snare Western expertise. The end goal, according to the U.S. and its allies, is for China to better train its own fighter pilots while gaining insights into how Western air forces operate, something that could erode Western advantages or even give Chinese fighter jets a boost in case of a conflict.
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China Turns to Private Hackers as It Cracks Down on Online Activists on Tiananmen Square Anniversary
Chinese authorities restrict the flow of information online by banning search terms, scanning social media for subversive messages and blocking access to foreign media and applications that may host censored content. Control of online activity is particularly stringent around the anniversary of the protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989 that ended with a bloody crackdown on demonstrators by troops on June 4 of that year.
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O-RAN Is Overhyped as Avoiding Chinese 5G Influence
In recent years, countries have faced a stark choice between Chinese and Western suppliers to develop their 5G cellular network infrastructure. While Chinese suppliers such as Huawei and ZTE are not trusted because of their ties and legal obligations to China’s party-state, Western suppliers have struggled to compete on cost. The emergence of Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) technology has some promised, but the idea that O-RAN is a viable alternative to Chinese suppliers seems hollow.
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China's Digital Silk Road Exports Internet Technology, Controls
A Chinese initiative known as the “Digital Silk Road” is helping Southeast Asian nations modernize their digital landscapes. But rights groups say Beijing is also exporting its model of authoritarian governance of the internet through censorship, surveillance and controls.
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Analyzing the Characteristics of AI-generated Deepfakes
Most of the deepfakes generated by artificial intelligence (AI) that spread through social media feature political representatives and artists and are often linked to current news cycles. The findings of a new research are applicable to different fields, from national security to the integrity of election campaigns.
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Emerging Threats to the U.S. Financial System
In early 2021, a freewheeling, freethinking group of investors on Reddit plowed their money into GameStop, a video game retailer that several big hedge funds had bet against. The stock price shot up, some people made millions—and, to the delight of those on Reddit, the hedge funds had some very bad days. Researchers saw the GameStop story as a cautionary tale. If investors on Reddit could work together to move the markets like that, what could an adversary like China do?
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Chinese Nationalist Groups Are Launching Cyber-Attacks – Often Against the Wishes of the Government
China is often presented as a monolithic entity, entirely at the whim of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). However, the reality is more complex. Many Chinese cyber-attacks and other kinds of digital interference are conducted by Chinese nationalist groups.
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The Future of Cybersecurity
An expert in cybersecurity surveys a rapidly evolving world where technology is racing ahead of our ability to manage it, posing risks to our national security. With TikTok in the hands of 170 million Americans, cybersecurity expert Amy Zegart says it’s time to talk about consequences. Foreign access to all that data on so many Americans is a national security threat, she asserts.
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Truth and Reality with Chinese Characteristics
The Chinese Communist Party seeks to maintain total control over the information environment within China, while simultaneously working to extend its influence abroad to reshape the global information ecosystem. That includes not only controlling media and communications platforms outside China, but also ensuring that Chinese technologies and companies become the foundational layer for the future of information and data exchange worldwide.
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More headlines
The long view
Kinetic Operations Bring Authoritarian Violence to Democratic Streets
Foreign interference in democracies has a multifaceted toolkit. In addition to information manipulation, the tactical tools authoritarian actors use to undermine democracy include cyber operations, economic coercion, malign finance, and civil society subversion.
Romania, Foreign Election Interference, and a Dangerous U.S. Retreat
The Romanian election is but one example of recent foreign election interference incidents. The Russian interference in 2016 U.S. election led Congress, on bipartisan basis, and the relevant agencies in the executive branch, to make many changes to address this threat, but under the new administration, “the U.S. is now moving full steam ahead to completely destroy its defenses against that threat,” Katie Kedian writes. All of the positive U.S. government developments “have been dismantled or severely downgraded,” leaving “the U.S. public less informed and less safe from foreign interference.”