• Germany Foils Russian Plot to Assassinate German Arms Company Chief

    German politicians have voiced horror over a report that Russia planned to murder a German arms company boss. US intelligence is said to have uncovered the plot against Rheinmetall chief Armin Papperger.

  • Pulp Fiction: People, Not Paper, Are Leaking States Secrets

    The intelligence community must embrace emerging information technology and abandon paper-based products. Getting rid of paper, however, would not fix the underlying problem. Instead of restricting paper, the U.S. counterintelligence community must risk a forward posture of machine learning and AI adaptation to detect disclosures and espionage before it happens.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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?

  • 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.