Opening Terrorists’ iPhones | Security Pivot to Violent Domestic Extremism | Vacant DHS Posts, and more

and calling them “subhumans, so up for a massacre” in a Telegram chat group. When talking on the phone, they are said to have used code words for weapons such as “battery” and “bicycle.

The Crusade against Pornhub Is Going to Get Someone Killed  (Samantha Cole, Vice)
In early February, a post by an extremist Christian group on the far-right social media platform Gab called for the death of a specific Pornhub executive…”Visually, [these] groups use neo-Nazi imagery, including swastikas, black sun (sonnenrad) symbols, and skull masks which neo-Nazi accelerationist groups have adopted,” Joshua Fisher-Birch, a researcher and content review specialist at the Counter Extremism Project, said. “Most of this propaganda is pretty ordinary visually in terms of online white supremacists, except that the individuals in the propaganda photos are women, and the text is explicitly anti-porn. Masked individuals posing with firearms also fits the pattern of propaganda released by neo-Nazi groups that have endorsed committing acts of violence.” Each of the groups posting these messages have low follower counts, in the single and double digits. “Both groups are absolutely troubling, but also extremely small in their online presence,” Fisher-Birch said. “It’s not entirely uncommon for small groups to surface in the online extreme right, and then become dormant after a few months. Of course, this doesn’t mean that these groups don’t pose risks, as these two certainly do, with their rhetoric and promotion of violence.

Key Homeland Security Positions Still Waiting to be Filled  (Deanna Garcia, Documentedny)
It’s almost been 100 days since President Joe Biden took office, but nearly 400 key positions in the federal government remain unfilled.

How will Homeland Security Pivot to Violent Domestic Extremism?  (Tom Temin, Federal News Network)
The Department of Homeland Security, by order of the Biden administration, is reportedly shifting resources to the challenge of what the administration calls violent domestic extremism. An expert on cyber warfare, surveillance, terrorism and whistleblowers explains how this can be done effectively.

Capitol Police Told to Hold Back on Riot Response on Jan. 6, Report Finds  (Luke Broadwater, New York Times)
Despite being tipped that “Congress itself is the target” on Jan. 6, Capitol Police were ordered not to use their most powerful crowd-control weapons, according to a scathing new watchdog report.

The FBI Wanted to Unlock the San Bernardino Shooter’s iPhone. It Turned to a Little-Known Australian Firm.  (Ellen Nakashima and Reed Albergotti, Washington Post)
Azimuth unlocked the iPhone at the center of an epic legal battle between the FBI and Apple. Now, Apple is suing the company co-founded by one of the hackers behind the unlock.