Espionage

What Is Volt Typhoon? A Cybersecurity Expert Explains the Chinese Hackers Targeting U.S. Critical Infrastructure
Volt Typhoon is a Chinese state-sponsored hacker group. The United States government and its primary global intelligence partners, known as the Five Eyes, issued a warning on March 19, 2024, about the group’s activity targeting critical infrastructure. The warning echoes analyses by the cybersecurity community about Chinese state-sponsored hacking in recent years.
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States Rush to Combat AI Threat to Elections
This year’s presidential election will be the first since generative AI became widely available. That’s raising fears that millions of voters could be deceived by a barrage of political deepfakes. Congress has done little to address the issue, but states are moving aggressively to respond — though questions remain about how effective any new measures to combat AI-created disinformation will be.
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Chinese Government Hackers Targeted Critics of China, U.S. Businesses and Politicians
An indictment was unsealed Monday charging seven nationals of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) with conspiracy to commit computer intrusions and conspiracy to commit wire fraud for their involvement in a PRC-based hacking group that spent approximately 14 years targeting U.S. and foreign critics, businesses, and political officials in furtherance of the PRC’s economic espionage and foreign intelligence objectives.
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Moscow Attack: Why Intelligence Agencies Share Information
Intelligence agencies are secretive, gathering information to bolster national security or help their governments make political decisions. But at times they share information with the intelligence services of an adversary, and when it comes to fighting terrorism, intelligence agencies are surprisingly generous about sharing information. The U.S. said it warned Russia of a potential attack like the one that took place in Moscow on March 22.
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U.S. Election: Turning Off TikTok Is a Big Risk for the Democrats
Popular social media platform TikTok stands accused of holding US data in China, fostering censorship, and spreading disinformation. Its popularity poses a dilemma for US politicians, but especially Democrats who have heavily relied on the app to reach its core base of young voters.
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Owners of China-Based Company Charged with Conspiracy to Send Trade Secrets Belonging to Leading U.S.-Based Electric Vehicle Company
Defendants allegedly conspired to send millions of dollars-worth of trade secrets to undercover law enforcement officers posing as potential customers.
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Russia Steps Up Spy War on West
Russia has successfully relaunched its spy operations against the West after hundreds of its operatives were ejected following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to analysts. They warn that the Kremlin is using a network of proxies to infiltrate European nations and carry out a range of intelligence operations.
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Artificial Intelligence Is Game Changer for Election Interference: FBI
U.S. security officials are bracing for an onslaught of fast-paced influence operations, from a wide range of adversaries, aimed at impacting the country’s coming presidential election. FBI Director Christopher Wray issued the latest warning in a meeting with security professional Thursday, saying that technologies such as artificial intelligence are already altering the threat landscape.
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Last of the ‘True Believers’ or Harbinger? Ana Montes and the Future of Espionage Against the West
Ana Montes was U.S. Intelligence’s ‘Queen of Cuba’. The Defense Intelligence Agency’s leading Central America analyst; go-to voice on Cuban intentions and capabilities; eldest daughter of a family dedicated to U.S. government service. She was also a Cuban spy her entire professional life. She was a ’True Believer’ –motivated not by material rewards but by commitment to Castro’s revolution and opposition to U.S. policy in Latin America.
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Research Espionage Is a Real Threat – but a Drastic Crackdown Could Stifle Vital International Collaboration
In 2024, China is a peer of the US in research and knowledge creation. We must be clear-eyed about threats to “research security”. But a one-eyed focus on China, and adopting a simplistic and heavy-handed approach to managing these threats, will only leave us worse off.
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How You Can Tell Propaganda from Journalism − Let’s Look at Tucker Carlson’s Visit to Russia
In the 1930s, the New York Times’s Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty wrote glowing reports about the achievements of the Soviet state while ignoring the Stalin dictatorship’s starvation of millions of Ukrainians. These days, conservative TV personality and former Fox News star Tucker Carlson is providing Vladimir Putin and his regime propaganda services similar to those Duranty offered Stalin – except that Carlson goes farther: narrating a series of reports extolling the glories of Russian society, culture, and governance under Putin, Carlson said that these achievements “radicalized” him “against our American leaders.”
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Cybersecurity for Satellites Is a Growing challenge, as Threats to Space-Based Infrastructure Grow
In today’s interconnected world, space technology forms the backbone of our global communication, navigation and security systems. As our dependency on these celestial guardians escalates, so too does their allure to adversaries who may seek to compromise their functionality through cyber means.
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The List Is Long: Russians Who Have Died After Running Afoul of the Kremlin
The list of influential Russians who have been killed or died in murky circumstances after opposing, criticizing, or crossing Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Kremlin, or the state is long. It has just gotten longer.
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Has Trust in the U.S. Intelligence Community Eroded?
Has trust in intelligence predictions and national estimates been degraded over time? If so, to what degree has trust been degraded? What internal and external factors have driven perceived or real changes in the relationship between policymakers and the IC?
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Feds Deliver Stark Warnings to State Election Officials Ahead of November
Federal law enforcement and cybersecurity officials are warning the nation’s state election administrators that they face serious threats ahead of November’s presidential election, as AI, ransomware attacks, and malicious mail could disrupt voting.
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