News About Cyber Warfare

Nancy, France (AFP) Oct 21, 2024 – A trial opened in a French conference centre on Monday, with more than 20 defendants accused of defrauding 1,300 individuals with fake cryptocurrency and diamond investment schemes, as well as swindling top football clubs. Some 28 million euros ($30 million) were allegedly stolen in the case, dubbed “red card” because of the dozen football clubs among the plaintiffs. Some 850 of the victims are represented at the trial which had to be moved to the conference centre in the eastern French city of Nancy because there were too many for a traditional court. Hearings are set to last four weeks. The defendants, between 28 and 73, are accused of running websites offering fraudulent investment opportunities in diamonds or cryptocurrencies between 2016 and 2018. One person handed over 400,000 euros believing they were investing in diamonds and what was advertised as a “diamond savings plan”. Some investors lost big chunks of their savings or even contracted loans to invest, attracted by a promise of large annual returns, said Colman, a law firm representing around 100 plaintiffs. “We believe this trial marks a strong signal in the fight against international financial fraud,” the firm said in a statement. The accused opened 199 bank accounts in 19 countries to receive and transfer funds, according to investigators. Some 2.8 million euros were recovered and could be used to compensate victims. A side business for the alleged fraudsters was swindling money out of French football clubs. Individuals based in the southern city of Marseille and in Israel pretended to be agents acting on behalf of professional players. They said the players had changed their banking details and salaries should be sent to the new accounts. Around 10 top clubs were targeted, with Sochaux, Angers and Toulouse falling for the scam and handing over around 60,000 euros. The 22 defendants — including three who are still at large and are being tried in absentia — have varying degrees of implication in the fraud, prosecutors said. About 12 are charged with “criminal conspiracy”, notably for allowing their names to be used to open bank accounts through which funds were channelled across Europe and to Israel. Others are accused of “fraud committed in a gang”, most of them for building fake websites or ordering fake diamonds.

Washington DC (UPI) Oct 23, 2024 – Israel’s military said it uncovered documents that it says proves six journalists with the Middle East-based news source Al Jazeera are operatives with Hamas and other Palestinian-linked terror squads. However, a New York-based international journalism association was skeptical of Israel’s accusations against the journalists. On Wednesday, the Israeli Defense Forces said documents recovered in the Gaza Strip — including spreadsheets, training course lists, telephone and salary records — “unequivocally prove” that six journalists with Al-Jazeera were operatives who also functioned as members of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist syndicates. The IDF named Anas Al-Sharif, Alaa Salama, Hossam Shabat, Ashraf Saraj, Ismail Abu Amr, and Talal Aruki as the accused. In May, the Israeli government banned Al Jazeera from the country because of its coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza. The ban was extended, too. “These documents are proof of the involvement of Hamas terrorists in the Qatari media network, Al Jazeera,” Israel’s military said in a statement. Israel claimed the accused staff journalists are “spearheading” propaganda for Hamas by using Al Jazeera’s global platform. It’s alleged that al-Sharif was head of a rocket launching squad. Salameh, IDF officials claimed, was deputy head of a propaganda outfit and a sniper. And al-Sarraj, according to the IDF, was a member of an Islamic Jihadist military unit while Abu Omar had been a training company commander previously wounded in an IDF airstrike several months prior. It’s also alleged that al-Arrouqi was a team commander in a Hamas batallion. On Wednesday, the international Committee to Protect Journalists took to social media to say it was aware of the IDF’s accusations against the Al Jazeera reporters and it voiced skepticism over the IDF claims. “Israel has repeatedly made similar unproven claims without producing credible evidence,” the New York City-based nonprofit posted on X close to noon. The global Al Jazeera network has fiercely denied Israel’s claims and accused the IDF of targeting Al Jazeera staff working in Gaza. In January, the Israeli government iclaimed that an Al Jazeera staff reporter and a freelancer killed in an airstrike also were Hamas operatives. That was followed a month later by accusations that another Al Jazeera journalist who had been wounded in a different IDF strike was a Hamas leader, as well. According to the CPJ, Israel was responsible for the July killing of Al Jazeera correspondent Ismail Al-Ghoul. However, Israel’s military “previously produced a similar document, which contained contradictory information, showing that Al-Ghoul, born in 1997, received a Hamas military ranking in 2007 — when he would have been 10 years old,” the journalist watchdog group added on Wednesday. This follows an incident in May this year when Israeli officials wrongly detained journalists it incorrectly believed were working for the Israeli-banned Al Jazeera news broadcaster

Washington (AFP) Oct 21, 2024 – “Breaking” news, screamed an online post by a conservative American influencer as he pushed disinformation about Kamala Harris, illustrating how journalism lingo has been co-opted as a tool to amplify election falsehoods. The misuse of the term, typically deployed by media outlets to relay major news developments, is part of a persistent assault on reality across tech platforms that researchers say have relaxed their guardrails against false information in a crucial election year. It is yet another disinformation trend undermining trust in traditional media — already at historic lows, surveys show — alongside the proliferation of fake “news” sites and the growing tactic of attributing false information to legitimate media outlets. Disinformation peddlers “commonly use terms like ‘breaking’ in an apparent attempt to convey legitimacy,” Sam Howard, politics editor at the watchdog NewsGuard, told AFP. “This tactic has had a conspicuous role in false US political narratives that have spread in 2024.” In a recent viral post to his 2.8 million followers on X, the former Twitter, right-wing influencer Benny Johnson wrote: “BREAKING: Univision accidentally broadcast proof that Kamala used a teleprompter at her town hall.” He posted a clip of Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential contender, at the event in Las Vegas, which briefly showed a teleprompter with words on it before it turned off. AFP’s fact-checkers debunked the false claim, which spread to other platforms such as Facebook and TikTok; the town hall host confirmed that the teleprompter had only displayed his introduction in Spanish. – ‘Charlatans’ – “BREAKING: Texas Secretary of State directs poll workers to accept NON CITIZEN driver’s licenses as ID to vote,” said another viral post on X debunked by AFP. Federal law prohibits anyone without US citizenship from voting in presidential elections. This month, multiple accounts on X posted the “breaking” news that Jamie Dimon, the influential chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, had endorsed Donald Trump. The Republican nominee also posted a screenshot containing the falsehood on his Truth Social platform. Dimon denied the claim, with his spokesman telling US media the banker had not endorsed any candidate. So far this year NewsGuard has identified 36 false narratives related to the upcoming election that were promoted by individuals using the term “breaking,” Howard said. That is more than a quarter of the total false narratives tracked by the group. “Journalists report breaking news by interviewing sources, checking data, verifying facts and updating coverage as needed,” said Dan Evon, lead writer with RumorGuard, a site that helps debunk viral disinformation. “On the other hand, charlatans — many of whom claim to be doing citizen journalism — co-opt journalism lingo to push out baseless speculation or fabrications in mere seconds.” The nonprofit News Literacy Project, which runs RumorGuard, said it has so far gathered at least 72 examples of social media posts that use mainstream journalism terms such as “breaking,” “developing,” and “exclusive” as a way to spread false information about the election. – ‘Slow your scroll’ – The blizzard of falsehoods reflects a new normal in the age of information chaos, which researchers say is stoking distrust in the mainstream press. Trust in mass media has touched a “record low,” according to a Gallup survey released this month, with only 31 percent of Americans saying they have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence in the press. Further eroding the trust, researchers say hundreds of fake sites masquerading as “news” outlets have proliferated in recent months. The sites — which mimic local news outlets and are largely enabled by cheap, widely available artificial intelligence tools — appear to be fueling an explosion of polarizing or false narratives about the election. In another troubling trend, online influencers have been attributing false information to credible news outlets. This month, conservative influencers shared a screenshot of a headline attributed to The Atlantic magazine, which suggested Harris may need to “steal” the election to save democracy. AFP’s fact-checkers found the headline had been fabricated. RumorGuard’s Evon said using journalism terms to crank out falsehoods was a popular tactic but relatively easy to spot and debunk despite the potential to go viral. “Remember to check your sources,” he said. “Look for evidence and slow your scroll on social media to allow time for credible information to emerge.”

Madrid, Spain (SPX) Oct 25, 2024 – GMV has secured a contract from the European Space Agency (ESA) to lead the CyberCUBE mission, a key component of ESA’s Cybersecurity Operations Centre (CSOC) Cyber Evolutions program. The mission, managed by a GMV-led consortium that includes GMV’s Romania team as the prime contractor and GMV Spain, along with Alen Space, aims to strengthen the cybersecurity of space assets. The consortium will manage the entire lifecycle of the mission – from design to launch, operation, and the initial phase of operations (LEOP). This mission is crucial in ensuring that future space-based operations are resilient against cyber threats. CyberCUBE is set to validate the CSOC’s radio frequency (RF) capabilities and demonstrate advanced data analysis tools that identify and counter cyber threats. GMV will deliver an in-orbit operational laboratory with onboard cyber capabilities, offering a platform for developing and testing cryptographic functions and key management strategies while collecting important security data. The mission will also provide ESA with a flexible and cost-effective platform to test new cybersecurity technologies in space, helping to mitigate risks and accelerate the adoption of these solutions for future ESA missions. GMV’s responsibilities cover the entire mission lifecycle, which includes overseeing the flight segment with a 3U cubesat bus developed by Alen Space. The cubesat will carry reprogrammable processing capabilities and a core payload dedicated to cybersecurity monitoring. The satellite is expected to remain in orbit for at least one year, collecting data on space vulnerabilities and resilience. On the ground segment, GMV will provide components such as the Alen Space Mission Control Center integrated with GMV’s focussuite COTS product and a representative flatsat. ESA’s CSOC will manage mission data, process raw information, and conduct cybersecurity analysis. GMV will also supervise the launch and ensure the cubesat reaches its designated orbit, which allows regular communication with ESA’s primary antenna at the European Space Security and Education Centre (ESEC) in Redu, Belgium. After successful commissioning and LEOP, control of the CyberCUBE satellite will be transferred to ESA for routine operations. The mission’s results will help shape future cybersecurity strategies, and potential mission extensions will be considered depending on its performance. The satellite will be decommissioned at the end of its operational life in accordance with ESA’s Space Debris Mitigation Policy.

Washington (AFP) Oct 25, 2024 – Chinese hackers have targeted phones used by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate J.D. Vance, US media reported Friday. The New York Times, quoting people familiar with the matter, said the hacking attempt appeared to be part of a wide-ranging intelligence collection effort by Chinese hackers. The newspaper said it involved the infiltration of Verizon phone systems and investigators were seeking to determine whether any communications data was taken. A person familiar with the matter said the campaign of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz was also targeted. Rich Young, a spokesman for Verizon, told AFP: “We are aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several US telecommunications providers to gather intelligence.” The Times said the Trump campaign was informed this week that the former president and Vance were among a number of people inside and outside government whose phone numbers had been targeted. Western cybersecurity experts believe the hacking was carried out by a Chinese group known as “Salt Typhoon,” the newspaper said. The Washington Post said the hacking campaign is believed to have compromised the phones of two staffers on the Trump-Vance campaign. The FBI declined to comment on the reports that Trump’s and Vance’s phones had been targeted. But the FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a joint statement that the “US government is investigating the unauthorized access to commercial telecommunications infrastructure by actors affiliated with the People’s Republic of China.” “After the FBI identified specific malicious activity targeting the sector, the FBI and (CISA) immediately notified affected companies, rendered technical assistance, and rapidly shared information to assist other potential victims,” they said. “Agencies across the US Government are collaborating to aggressively mitigate this threat and are coordinating with our industry partners to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” they added. The United States charged three Iranians last month with involvement in a hacking effort targeting the Trump campaign. In 2016, a hack of Democratic National Committee emails — blamed on Russians — exposed internal party communications, including about candidate Hillary Clinton.

Washington (AFP) Oct 27, 2024 – The United States on Thursday ordered the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to step up use of artificial intelligence to advance national security, in the first such strategy to counter threats from rivals such as China. The new National Security Memorandum, which comes a year after President Joe Biden issued an executive order on regulating AI, seeks to thread the needle between using the technology to counter its military applications by adversaries and building safeguards to uphold civil rights, officials said. “This is our nation’s first ever strategy for harnessing the power and managing the risks of AI to advance our national security,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington. “We have to be faster in deploying AI and our national security enterprise than America’s rivals are in theirs. They are in a persistent quest to leapfrog our military and intelligence capabilities.” The United States seeks to develop national security applications of AI in areas like cybersecurity and counterintelligence in an effort to curb the risk of a “strategic surprise” from its rivals, a senior Biden administration official told reporters. “Countries like China recognize similar opportunities to modernize and revolutionize their own military and intelligence capabilities,” he said. “It’s particularly imperative that we accelerate our national security community’s adoption and use of cutting-edge AI capabilities to maintain our competitive edge.” Last October, Biden ordered the National Security Council and the White House chief of staff to develop the memorandum as he issued an executive order that aimed for the United States to “lead the way” in global efforts to manage the risks of AI. The order, hailed by the White House as a landmark move, directed federal agencies to set new safety standards for AI systems and required developers to share their safety test results and other critical information with the US government. – Calls for ‘transparency’ – US officials expect that rapidly evolving AI technology will unleash military and intelligence competition between global powers. American security agencies were being directed to gain access to the “most powerful AI systems,” which involves substantial efforts on procurement, a second administration official said. “We believe that we must out-compete our adversaries,” the official told reporters, adding that most of the memorandum is unclassified, while also containing a classified annex that primarily addresses adversary threats. The memo, he said, seeks to ensure a swift adoption of the technology in a responsible way, with the government releasing a framework document alongside the plan that provides guidance on “how agencies can and cannot use AI.” In July, more than a dozen civil society groups such as the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) sent an open letter to Biden administration officials, including Sullivan, calling for robust safeguards to be built into the memo to protect civil liberties and ensure transparency into how intelligence agencies were deploying AI. “It is critical that uses of AI are subject to democratic accountability notwithstanding legitimate needs for secrecy,” Samir Jain, the vice president of policy at the CDT, said on Thursday. Calling on the White House and Congress to ensure oversight, he added: “We cannot rely on national security agencies to grade their own homework.”

Washington (AFP) Oct 28, 2024 – The administration of President Joe Biden has finalized curbs on US investments in sensitive technologies like semiconductors in China that pose a threat to national security, the Treasury Department said Monday. The new rules, which take effect on January 2 next year, will prohibit US-headquartered firms, citizens, and permanent residents from engaging in transactions involving cutting-edge technology like semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), and quantum computing, the Treasury announced in a statement. Investors will also be required to inform the Treasury about investments in some less advanced technologies “that may contribute to the threat to the national security of the United States,” the statement added. This will include investment in legacy semiconductors, a senior administration official told reporters on Monday. “Artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and quantum technologies are fundamental to the development of the next generation of military, surveillance, intelligence and certain cybersecurity applications,” Treasury assistant secretary for investment security Paul Rosen said in a statement. “This final rule takes targeted and concrete measures to ensure that US investment is not exploited to advance the development of key technologies by those who may use them to threaten our national security,” he added. The rules are the result of an executive order signed by Biden last August aimed at restricting certain US investments in sensitive high-tech areas in China, including in Hong Kong and Macau. In response, China’s foreign ministry called the executive order an attempt to “engage in anti-globalization and de-sinicization,” adding that Beijing was “strongly dissatisfied” and reserved the right to safeguard its interests.

Beijing (AFP) Oct 29, 2024 – China confirmed on Tuesday it had detained a South Korean citizen for alleged spying, as Beijing ramps up vigilance against perceived threats to national security. South Korea’s Yonhap news service, citing diplomatic sources in Seoul, reported Monday that Chinese authorities had held the man in his 50s since late last year. It said Chinese prosecutors had formally detained him “a few months ago” under a revised anti-espionage law, marking the first time that a South Korean national had been targeted in such a case. Beijing’s foreign ministry confirmed on Tuesday that a South Korean citizen was arrested “on suspicions of espionage by relevant Chinese authorities in accordance with the law”. “Relevant authorities have… provided the necessary expedience for (South Korean) embassy officials to perform their consular duties,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a regular news briefing in Beijing. He gave no details of the man’s identity or his alleged crimes. According to Yonhap, the unnamed man works for a semiconductor company in China and was living in the eastern city of Hefei at the time of his detention. Chinese authorities reportedly suspect him of leaking sensitive information on semiconductors, the powerful microchips that are a frequent source of trade tensions between Beijing and Western competitors. China’s amended anti-espionage law came into force in July 2023, widening the definition of spying and banning the transfer of any data related to what authorities define as national security. For years, Beijing has traded mutual allegations of espionage with countries including the United States, Britain, Canada, and Japan.

Riga (AFP) Oct 31, 2024 – Latvia on Thursday sentenced a taxi driver to seven years’ jail for passing images and information about NATO troops to a ring accused of spying for Russia. According to the Latvian security services, Sergejs Sidorovs “used his discreet appearance and his profession as a taxi driver to move around and take photos of NATO ships and cargo unloaded in the port of Riga, as well as to spy on NATO bases and their multinational personnel”. The Riga court heard that in March 2023 Sidorovs passed on reports of various NATO activities around Riga as he was hired at the airport to drive military personnel to two bases, among other acts. The taxi driver also handed over information about a test range for NATO and Ukrainian drones, and asked his staff for instructions on how to design a bomb to blow up an oil terminal in the Latvian capital. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a group of Kremlin sympathisers set up a network in Latvia called “Baltic Anti-Fascists” on the Telegram social media network, accused of bringing together volunteers willing to collect sensitive defence information. The “Baltic Anti-Fascists” are currently the subject of separate proceedings before the Latvian courts. After the sentence was announced on Thursday, Sidorovs limited himself to saying that he would “try to appeal the verdict”. Finnish prosecutors charge Russian with Ukraine war crimesHelsinki (AFP) Oct 31, 2024 – Finnish authorities on Thursday charged a Russian citizen over alleged war crimes in Ukraine in 2014. The Nordic country’s Deputy Prosecutor General Jukka Rappe filed the charges against Vojislav Torden — a commander of the Russian neo-Nazi paramilitary Rusich group — with the Helsinki District Court on Thursday. Torden is suspected of committing five war crimes in Ukraine in 2014, resulting in the deaths of 22 Ukrainian soldiers, and of seriously wounding four others, Rappe told AFP. “In three of the cases Ukrainian soldiers were killed or wounded and the two other charges are about some other kind of breach of the laws of war,” the prosecutor said. In a statement, Finland’s National Prosecution Authority said the charges also related to actions “contrary to the laws of war… and the treatment of wounded and killed enemy soldiers”. The suspect, who was detained at Helsinki’s airport in July 2023, has denied the crimes. Finland’s supreme court has ruled that Torden, formerly known as Yan Petrovsky, could not be extradited to Ukraine due to the risk of him suffering inhumane conditions in prison there. Earlier in October Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) completed a comprehensive probe launched in December 2023, suspecting Torden of several war crimes in autumn 2014 in eastern Ukraine. The investigation involved close cooperation with Ukrainian prosecutors and security services as well as Europol, the International Criminal Court and Eurojust — the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation. Finland has adopted “universal jurisdiction”, a legal principal allowing it to bring charges on its soil for suspected crimes committed anywhere in the world. A date for the trial has yet to be set by the court but Rappe said he expected it to begin in November.

San Francisco (AFP) Nov 1, 2024 – Silicon Valley, a stronghold of Democratic politics, is experiencing a shift as more voices, seemingly emboldened by Elon Musk, have openly declared their support for Donald Trump. The South African-born tech mogul is leading this change, committing nearly $100 million to the Republican’s presidential campaign, while leveraging his X social media platform and personally campaigning in crucial swing states to aid Trump’s White House bid. “Musk is revered by a lot of people in Silicon Valley,” said tech entrepreneur and author Vivek Wadhwa, who teaches at Carnegie Mellon University. “More people on the right are just saying ‘Look, we’re fed up, we’re going to vote for Trump,’ and they’re doing it fearlessly and are impacting the opinion of others.” Musk’s embrace of Trump has amplified ideological currents that have long existed quietly in the California tech scene, best represented today by Peter Thiel, a conservative investor who worked with Musk at PayPal 25 years ago. PayPal veteran David Sacks, a college friend of Thiel’s, co-hosted a high-profile fundraiser for Trump in San Francisco in June and spoke at the Republicans’ nominating convention. Nick Pinkston, founder and CEO of Volition, noted that many conservative voices, led by Thiel, have always been present, guided by libertarian principles. “Some of those people were already conservative, and now they’re given more license to speak,” he said. According to Pinkston, who closely follows tech-world politics, this group has grown disillusioned with today’s version of democracy and sees Trump as a ticket to less government and lower taxes. – ‘It’s gone too far’ – Trump secured only 34 percent of California’s vote in 2020 — and just 12.7 percent in San Francisco — but recent developments have given voice to anti-progressive sentiment. A perceived, if statistically nonexistent, rise in crime, and the city’s strict Covid-19 regulations, which led to the temporary closure of companies like Tesla, drew bitter criticism, with Republicans slamming San Francisco as out of control. “San Francisco is far more left than the rest of the country, and many people think it’s gone too far,” said Sheel Mohnot, a Fintech investor. “We have a lot of problems — crime, homelessness, et cetera — and people are just wanting to pivot hard against that.” These Silicon Valley conservatives argue that progressive policies focusing on diversity, inclusion and LGBTQ+ rights have come at the expense of addressing crime and taxes, and advancing innovation. “People are fed up with the extremism of the proclaimed progressives, how they have made San Francisco a complete mess and chased out companies such as Tesla,” Wadhwa said. Pinkston insisted that most tech workers remain relatively apolitical but vote Democratic in presidential elections. “The typical worker is a centrist Democrat,” he said, and not part of a group “that spends a lot of time thinking about women, for sure.” Abortion rights, protected in California but abolished or sharply limited in many American states, are a major theme of Democrat Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign. For Lawrence Quill, professor of political theory at San Jose State University, the start-ups of the early days of innovation have grown up. “In the 1970s and ’80s, technology companies…thought of themselves as revolutionaries, good guys.” “That simplistic view of morality is hard to maintain in a global marketplace,” he said, adding, “Consider the issues surrounding Apple and Google doing business in China.” – Many techies still lay low – While some billionaire tech leaders, notably including Musk, have been outspoken, most are avoiding political involvement. Trump’s relationship with this group has been contentious. During his presidency, he frequently criticized Amazon, allegedly denying the company a major defense contract due to his animosity toward founder Jeff Bezos. Bezos recently prohibited the Washington Post, which he owns, from endorsing any presidential candidate, while Amazon CEO Andy Jassy reportedly initiated informal discussions with Trump. Other tech giants are similarly distancing themselves from politics and trying not to offend Trump. Mark Zuckerberg has stopped election-related philanthropy, while his company Meta has modified its algorithms to reduce political content. Trump claims to have received calls from Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Apple CEO Tim Cook. But as their bosses lay low, opponents to Musk and Trump still outnumber their fans among “techies.” “Objectively, ‘you’ are the biggest threat to democracy in America today,” Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun replied to a Musk post last week. “You are an oligarch who bought himself a huge megaphone so he could use it to support a would-be dictator, and to discredit…all the institutions necessary for a functioning democracy,” he added.