News About Cyber Warfare

London (AFP) Oct 13, 2025 – Britain’s government vehemently denied Monday that it helped scupper a high-profile case involving two men accused of spying for China, as it comes under pressure over its stance towards Beijing. Charges against Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, were dropped last month, two years after they were arrested on allegations of collecting information which could be “useful to an enemy”. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government covets Chinese investment to spur a struggling economy and is pondering a request from Beijing to build a controversial new embassy building in London. The Sunday Times newspaper reported this weekend that national security adviser Jonathan Powell had pushed for the spying case to be withdrawn over fears it could prompt China to pull investment. Starmer’s spokesman told reporters on Monday the claim was “entirely false”. “There was no role for any member of this government, no minister, or special adviser, to take any decision in relation to this case. That is entirely for the CPS,” he said, referring to the Crown Prosecution Service, which operates independently of the government and police. CPS chief Stephen Parkinson said last week the case had been dropped because the government failed to provide evidence Beijing was a security threat. Parkinson, whose job Starmer once occupied, said prosecutors had tried “over many months” to get the evidence needed to proceed with the trial, but it had not been forthcoming from the government. To prove the case under the UK’s Official Secrets Act, prosecutors needed to show that the defendants were acting for an “enemy” — a country that threatened national security at the time of the offence. The alleged offences took place between December 2021 and February 2023, when the opposition Conservatives were in power. – ‘Unanswered’ questions – Starmer has blamed the case’s collapse on the previous government for not formally designating China a threat. Ties between Beijing and the Conservative government hit rock bottom before the party was voted out of office last year. Starmer has set about trying to reset relations with China, becoming the first British prime minister in six years to meet President Xi Jinping last year. Several senior ministers have made trips to China, with Starmer rumoured to be planning a trip. His government has also resisted calls from the Conservatives to put China on the enhanced tier of the so-called Foreign Influence Registration Scheme alongside Iran and Russia. The scheme requires anyone carrying out “political influence activities” on behalf of a foreign power to register with the government or face prosecution. Security minister Dan Jarvis said Monday: “This government is unequivocal, the first duty of the government is to keep people safe.” “We fully recognise that China poses a series of threats to UK national security,” he told MPs during a parliamentary debate. “Yet we must also be alive to the fact that China does present us with opportunities. It is the world’s second largest economy”. The arrests of Cash and Berry sparked concerns of a major security breach as Cash was revealed to be a parliamentary researcher reportedly sharing close ties with senior Conservative lawmakers. House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said he was “very angry and disappointed” about the collapsed case and was considering bringing a private prosecution against the two men. “It is of the utmost importance to me that all those who work in this parliament are able to undertake their activities securely,” he said, adding “it is this parliament that has been spied on. It is MPs’ offices that have been infiltrated”. “My job is to protect parliament. I feel we aren’t getting that protection.” Jarvis said Britain’s domestic MI5 spy service was issuing lawmakers and parliamentary staff with new guidance to protect them from possible foreign interference. The guidelines urged those at risk to regularly review privacy settings of online profiles and to “keep track of odd social interactions” such as approaches that involve “overt flattery”. The government is expected to announce soon whether it will allow China to build a sprawling new embassy near the Tower of London, which is has triggered concern among residents and human rights advocates.

Washington (AFP) Oct 15, 2025 – A prominent US scholar of India who was arrested after allegations of retaining classified documents and meeting Chinese officials is denying the charges against him, his lawyers said Wednesday. Ashley Tellis, 64, who held senior positions under former president George W. Bush and remained an unpaid advisor to the State Department, was arrested Saturday and faces up to 10 years in prison. “Ashley J. Tellis is a widely respected scholar and senior policy advisor,” his lawyers, Deborah Curtis and John Nassikas, said in a statement. “We will be vigorously contesting the allegations brought against him, specifically any insinuation of his operating on behalf of a foreign adversary,” they said. A criminal affidavit made public Tuesday said that Tellis went into the State Department late on September 25 and appeared to print from a secret document on US Air Force techniques. It alleged that Tellis met repeatedly with Chinese officials at a restaurant in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia, and that at one dinner he appeared to leave a manila envelope. The charges announced by the Justice Department relate to improper handling of documents rather than the meetings, with an FBI special agent saying a search found more than 1,000 pages of top-secret or secret documents in his house. Tellis has been a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a leading Washington think tank, which said Wednesday that he has been put on administrative leave. Tellis, a naturalized American originally from India, helped negotiate the Bush administration’s civil nuclear cooperation deal with India, a landmark step to closer relations between the world’s two largest democracies. But Tellis in recent years has emerged as a leading contrarian in Washington about India, saying that New Delhi’s interests were not aligned on a host of issues including Ukraine.

Washington (AFP) Oct 14, 2025 – A well-known US scholar on India who advised the US government was charged with retaining classified information and allegedly met Chinese officials, prosecutors said Tuesday. Ashley Tellis, 64, who has worked in or advised the US government for more than two decades, was found to have kept more than 1,000 pages of top-secret or secret documents in his home, a criminal affidavit said. Late in the evening of September 25, Tellis entered the State Department, where he served as an unpaid advisor, and appeared to print from a secret document on US Air Force techniques, the affidavit said. It said Tellis met multiple times with Chinese government officials at a restaurant in the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Virginia. At one dinner, Tellis entered with a manila envelope but did not appear to leave with it, and on two occasions the Chinese officials presented him a gift bag, the affidavit said. Tellis faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted on the charges of unlawfully holding documents, the Justice Department said. “The charges as alleged in this case represent a grave risk to the safety and security of our citizens,” said Lindsey Halligan, the US attorney for Virginia’s eastern district who has become known for pursuing charges against critics of President Donald Trump. The State Department confirmed that Tellis was arrested Saturday — the same day the affidavit said he was due to fly to Rome — but declined further comment due to the ongoing investigation. Tellis, a naturalized US citizen originally from India, is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and served in senior positions under former president George W. Bush. He helped negotiate the Bush administration’s civil nuclear deal with India that was seen as a landmark in building ties between the world’s two largest democracies. But in recent years, Tellis has become known as one of the most outspoken contrarians in Washington on the US courtship of India. In a recent essay in Foreign Affairs, Tellis said India was often pursuing policies at odds with the United States, pointing to its relations with Russia and Iran, and doubted that India would match China’s strength anytime soon. Trump in August slapped major tariffs on India over its purchases of oil from Russia. Lawyers for Tellis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

London (AFP) Oct 16, 2025 – China now poses a “daily” threat to Britain, the head of the UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 warned Thursday. China, along with Russia and Iran, has fuelled a dramatic rise in the threats to the UK from foreign states, according to Ken McCallum. The number of individuals being investigated for involvement in “state threat activity” had increased by 35 percent in the last year, he said. He added that agents were “routinely” uncovering plots from foreign states to carry out surveillance, sabotage, arson or acts of physical violence in the UK. In a speech at MI5’s London headquarters, the service’s director general also highlighted the “harassment and intimidation of opponents”, including pro-democracy activists. Asked whether China was a national security threat, McCallum said: “Question one is: do Chinese state actors present a UK national security threat? “And the answer is, of course, yes they do, every day.” McCallum revealed that MI5 had launched an operation to foil a foreign threat in recent days. “We’ve intervened operationally again just in the last week” against a “threat which connects back to China”, he said. His warnings come amid a row over the collapse of legal proceedings against two men accused of spying for China. Beijing has firmly denied the spying accusations as “a total fabrication” and “a vile slander”, adding that “China never interferes in other countries’ internal affairs”. “The so-called testimony released by the British side after the prosecution withdrew the case is filled with all sorts of groundless accusations against China,” a Chinese embassy spokesperson said. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government has faced accusations of killing the case to protect relations with China. Late Wednesday, the government published three statements it had provided to the Crown Prosecution Service to back the case against the two men. Multiple Western nations accuse Beijing of using espionage to gather technological information. They have also accused hacking groups backed by China of a global campaign of online surveillance targeting critics. The United States, Britain and New Zealand in March 2024 accused Beijing-backed hackers of orchestrating a series of attacks against lawmakers and key democratic institutions — allegations that prompted angry Chinese denials. What we know about Britain’s collapsed China spy caseLondon (AFP) Oct 16, 2025 – The head of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 warned on Thursday that China posed a “daily” threat to the country, as a bitter row developed over the collapse of a spying case. British lawmakers will now hold a formal inquiry into why prosecutors dropped the charges against two people accused of spying for Beijing, which has seen claims that the government in London deliberately intervened to scuttle the case. In fast-moving, and often confusing, events, here is what we know so far about the saga, which has heaped pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer and raised questions about the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). – What’s the latest? – The head of MI5, Ken McCallum, said in a speech on Thursday that Beijing poses a threat “every day” and voiced frustration that the case had been abandoned. “We’ve intervened operationally again just in the last week” against a “threat which connects back to China”, he said. Labour MP Matt Western told the House of Commons lower chamber on Thursday that parliament’s committee on national security strategy, which he chairs, will launch an inquiry “as soon as we possibly can”. There are “a lot of questions yet to be asked”, he said. – What is the background? – Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, were arrested in 2023, accused of collecting information which could be “directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy” between December 2021 and February 2023. The arrests sparked concerns of a major security breach as Cash was revealed to be a parliamentary researcher reportedly enjoying close ties with senior lawmakers from the Conservative Party, which was in power in the UK at the time. The men were charged under the Official Secrets Act in April 2024. Cash and Berry, a teacher, denied the accusations. The men allegedly gave politically sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence agent for about a year. Information included one MP being likely to withdraw from a Tory leadership race and another tipped for a Cabinet position in support for a certain foreign policy stance. The charges were dropped last month, with Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson alleging the UK government had failed to provide evidence that Beijing was a security threat. – What was the government’s response? – Starmer — himself a former DPP — has insisted the decision to drop the case was taken solely by the prosecution service, which acts independently of the government and police, and said he was “deeply disappointed”. The Conservatives have alleged that Starmer’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell pushed for the case to be dropped over fears that China could pull much-needed investment from Britain. Starmer vehemently denied this in parliament on Wednesday, calling the accusation “a red herring, a completely scurrilous allegation”. A few hours later, the government published three statements provided to the CPS over past months by Powell’s deputy Matthew Collins. One statement from Collins said Beijing conducts “large scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state’s interests and harm the interests and security of the UK”. They “threaten the UK’s economic prosperity and resilience and the integrity of our democratic institutions,” he added. But he also acknowledged it was “important for me to emphasise” that the government “is committed to pursuing a positive relationship with China”. Beijing has firmly denied the spying charges, with a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson saying: “We firmly oppose using so-called ‘espionage activities’ as an excuse to hype up, make issues, slander or smear.” – What is at stake? – The controversy comes as Starmer tries to boost ties with the world’s second-biggest economy and Britain’s economic growth stagnates. Under Starmer, Britain has struck post-Brexit trade agreements with the United States and India but not with its fifth-largest trading partner China. Britain imported around GBP 67 billion ($90 billion, 77 billion euros) worth of Chinese goods last year, with some GBP 19 billion going the other way, according to UK official data. It remains unknown exactly why prosecutors dropped the case and whether Starmer, who has been hit by political woes since his Labour Party won the July 2024 elections, could be in trouble.

London (AFP) Oct 15, 2025 – The UK government published evidence Wednesday it had submitted in now-collapsed legal proceedings against two men accused of spying for China, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer seeks to contain controversy over the failed case. Starmer’s government has faced accusations of killing the case to protect relations with China, and his Labour administration and the independent prosecutors have been rowing over why it failed to proceed to trial. The Crown Prosecution Service said the case collapsed because the government’s evidence did not show that China represented a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offences. Starmer, a former chief state prosecutor himself, has said the government was only able to submit evidence from the time of the alleged offences, which occurred between 2021 and 2023, when the Conservative party was in power. Earlier Wednesday, he told parliament he would publish “in full” the three statements prepared by deputy national security adviser Matthew Collins for prosecutors. The government published the witness statements online Wednesday evening. In the most recent statement, from August 2025, Collins told investigators the Chinese intelligence services are “highly capable”, and said they “conduct large scale espionage operations against the UK to advance the Chinese state’s interests and harm the interests and security of the UK”. “Chinese espionage operations threaten the UK’s economic prosperity and resilience and the integrity of our democratic institutions,” he said. – ‘Stench of scandal’ – The Conservative opposition blasted the release, however. “It is disappointing that it has taken significant pressure… to force this weak prime minister to publish this limited information — which falls short of what was requested,” a Conservative spokesperson said. “The China files must now be published in full and without delay. Until that time, the stench of scandal will hang around this government.” Starmer denied claims, pushed by the Conservatives, that officials privately lobbied for the charges to be dropped over fears a prosecution could prompt China to pull its investment in the UK. “Under this government, no minister or special adviser played any role in the provision of evidence,” the prime minister said. Charges against Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, were dropped last month, two years after they were arrested on allegations of collecting information that could be “useful to an enemy”. They had denied the accusations. Starmer told lawmakers he was “deeply disappointed by the outcome” of the case. “We wanted to see prosecutions,” he said. The UK leader has set about trying to improve relations with China, becoming the first British prime minister in six years to meet President Xi Jinping last year. His government covets Chinese investment to spur a struggling economy. It is also considering whether to allow Beijing to build a sprawling new embassy in London, which has triggered concern among residents and rights advocates.

Beijing (AFP) Oct 19, 2025 – China on Sunday accused the United States of conducting cyberattacks on Beijing’s national time centre that could have caused severe damage to critical financial and telecommunications infrastructure. Beijing has stepped up espionage warnings in recent years as relations with the United States and other Western nations have worsened. Chinese authorities found “irrefutable evidence” of efforts by the US National Security Agency (NSA) to hack the National Time Service Center, between 2022 and 2024, according to a statement published on the official Ministry of State Security WeChat account. The facility is responsible for coordinating clocks around the country used by everything from computer servers to train stations and power grids. The ministry accused the NSA of exploiting weaknesses in the messaging service of an unspecified foreign mobile phone brand in order to steal login credentials from employees at the time centre. The attacks could have jeopardised power grids, transport, and even space launches, the ministry said. Chinese authorities have since “severed attack chains, upgraded protective measures, and eliminated potential threats.” “In recent years, the United States has aggressively pursued cyber hegemony, repeatedly trampling on international cyberspace rules,” the ministry said in its statement. It urged Chinese citizens to be vigilant of foreign attacks and to report suspicious activity to the authorities. Western countries have accused hacker groups allegedly supported by China of conducting a global cyber espionage campaign against figures critical of Beijing, democratic institutions, and companies in various sensitive sectors. Washington said last year that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach at the US Treasury Department. Beijing at the time called the accusations “groundless”. “Ironclad evidence proves that the United States is the true ‘hacker empire’ and the greatest source of chaos in cyberspace,” the Chinese Ministry of State Security said Sunday.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 21, 2025 – As artificial intelligence drives an explosion in global data traffic, researchers have developed a new optical transmission system that could secure tomorrow’s data networks against quantum-era cyber threats while reducing energy use and boosting speed. Published in Advanced Photonics, the study introduces a quantum-secured data transmission architecture that minimizes digital signal processing (DSP) demands while achieving terabit-per-second data rates. The system is designed to meet the stringent speed, efficiency, and security requirements of AI-driven data center interconnects. “Our work paves the way for the next generation of secure, scalable, and cost-efficient optical interconnects, protecting AI-driven data centers against quantum security threats while meeting the high demands of modern data-driven applications,” the researchers state. At the core of the design is self-homodyne coherent (SHC) transmission, a method that sends a reference signal alongside the data stream. This configuration simplifies decoding and enhances sensitivity, stability, and overall system efficiency. Using this technique, the team achieved data rates exceeding 1.6 terabits per second with low power consumption and cost. For security, the system integrates quantum key distribution (QKD) to generate unbreakable encryption keys based on quantum mechanics. These quantum-generated keys are used with AES-256 encryption, offering protection even against future quantum computing attacks. Both classical and quantum signals travel through multicore fibers-optical strands containing multiple independent channels-allowing simultaneous data and key distribution without interference. The setup remains fully compatible with existing fiber-optic infrastructure. In laboratory experiments using seven-core fibers, classical data were transmitted using SHC while QKD secured the quantum channel. The researchers reported an average secret key rate of 229 kilobits per second and encrypted data transmission at 400 gigabits per second per core. A 24-hour continuous test across 3.5 kilometers of fiber simulated real-world conditions, maintaining an average secret key rate of 205 kilobits per second. The system generated about 583 encryption keys every second, consuming 1,440 session keys and successfully encrypting and decrypting 21.6 petabits of data in real time without errors. By combining advanced photonics and quantum cryptography, the team demonstrated a path toward secure, ultrafast, and energy-efficient optical networks capable of sustaining the rapid growth of AI applications such as autonomous vehicles and large language models. Research Report:Quantum-secured DSP-lite data transmission architecture for AI-driven data centers

New Delhi (AFP) Oct 23, 2025 – India has proposed sweeping new regulations to govern artificial intelligence, aiming to curb a surge in misinformation and deepfake videos in the world’s most populous nation. The Ministry of Information Technology announced the proposed amendments, citing “the growing misuse of technologies used for the creation or generation of synthetic media”. “Recent incidents of deepfake audio, videos and synthetic media going viral on social platforms have demonstrated the potential of generative AI to create convincing falsehoods,” a briefing note from the ministry issued late Wednesday read. “Such content can be weaponised to spread misinformation, damage reputations, manipulate or influence elections, or commit financial fraud,” it added. India has more than 900 million internet users, according to the Internet and Mobile Association of India. China has more internet users, but India is more open to US tech companies. The government has already launched an online portal called Sahyog — meaning “cooperate” in Hindi — aimed at automating the process of sending government notices to content intermediaries such as X and Facebook. “These proposed amendments provide a clear legal basis for labelling, traceability, and accountability,” it added, saying it would “strengthen the due diligence obligations” of social media intermediaries. Major AI firms looking to court users in the world’s fifth-largest economy have made a flurry of announcements about expansion this year. This month, US startup Anthropic said it plans to open an office in India, with its chief executive Dario Amodei meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. OpenAI has said it will open an India office, with its chief Sam Altman noting that ChatGPT usage in the country had grown fourfold over the past year. AI firm Perplexity also announced a major partnership in July with Indian telecom giant Airtel. pjm/tc X

Oslo (AFP) Oct 28, 2025 – The public transport operator in Norway’s capital said Tuesday that some electric buses from China have a serious flaw — software that could allow the manufacturer, or nefarious actors, to take control of the vehicle. Oslo’s transport operator Ruter said they had tested two electric buses this summer — one built by China’s Yutong and the other by Dutch firm VDL. The Chinese model featured a SIM card that allowed the manufacturer to remotely install software updates that made it vulnerable, whereas the Dutch model did not. “We’ve found that everything that is connected poses a risk — and that includes buses,” Ruter director Bernt Reitan Jenssen told public broadcaster NRK. “There is a risk that for example suppliers could take control, but also that other players could break into this value chain and influence the buses.” Ruter said it was now developing a digital firewall to guard against the issue. The national government said it was studying the issue. “We want to thoroughly assess the risks associated with having buses from countries we do not have security cooperation with,” Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygard told NRK. Yutong did not immediately react to a request for comment from AFP. Ruter operates roughly 300 Chinese electric buses in Oslo and the surrounding area, but it was unclear if any of them had the security flaw.

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 27, 2025 – Cybersecurity specialist Anvil Secure and the space logistics firm D-Orbit have jointly unveiled a comprehensive white paper addressing the application of cybersecurity measures throughout the lifecycle of satellite missions. The new publication centers on D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier, describing operational stages and providing strategic direction for manufacturers of small satellites. The guide recommends specific mitigations including encryption of radio communications, thorough validation of hosted payloads, and robust firmware protection from build through orbital deployment. Alberto Volpatto, Technical Director at Anvil Secure, emphasized the importance of integrating cybersecurity into established safety and reliability protocols, stating, “Space programs have always prioritized safety and reliability. This work is about making cybersecurity just as routine so product teams can focus on the controls that matter most.” The paper highlights methods for defending radio links, ensuring safe payload management, and maintaining hardware integrity to prevent tampering. Davide Avanzi, Head of Space Product Security for D-Orbit, commented, “ION is built for flexibility, which is why we’ve invested in processes that protect the platform while enabling hosted payloads and in-orbit experimentation. Our collaboration with Anvil reflects a shared commitment to bringing rigorous cybersecurity thinking into every phase of satellite operations.” Release of the white paper comes ahead of the ESTEC Security for Space Systems (3S) conference in the Netherlands, scheduled for November 4-6, 2025, where D-Orbit will organise the first European in-orbit capture-the-flag event with the mhackeroni team, supported by the ESA Security Cyber Centre of Excellence and the ESA Security Office. Research Report:Knockin’ on Space’s Door