#foreign espionage

[dragoni]

Chinese hackers struck days before Helsinki summit

Chinese hackers launched a massive attack on internet-connected devices in Finland in an attempt to sweep up audio and visual intelligence ahead of President Trump’s summit there with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a private cyber analysis released Thursday.

‘China, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the audio from Trump and Putin's private meeting that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.’

The attacks on Finnish internet-connected devices originating from ChinaNet, China’s largest internet backbone, began spiking July 12, just four days before Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin met in Helsinki, claimed the analysis by the Seattle-based cybersecurity firm F5.

[dragoni]

McCain prefers Presidents who aren’t captured by Putin

[dragoni]

Bombshell intel leak reveals Russia cyber attack targeted voting software and election officials

“The NSA notes that the attacks could have had an impact on voting tallies.”

Putin’s patriotic hackers Making America Great Again. #RiggedElection

According to a report at The Intercept, an internal document at the NSA shows that Russian military intelligence “executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election.”

The Intercept notes the document is dated May 5, 2017, and states, “Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors … executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations.”

According to the Intercept,  the Russian hackers “focused on parts of the system directly connected to the voter registration process, including a private sector manufacturer of devices that maintain and verify the voter rolls. Some of the company’s devices are advertised as having wireless internet and Bluetooth connectivity, which could have provided an ideal staging point for further malicious actions.”

[dragoni]

Justice will have the last laugh

[therealistjuggernaut]

Russian Mob Leaders Sentenced to 25 Years for Murder-for-Hire Plot Backed by Iran

Two senior members of a Russian-Azerbaijani crime syndicate have been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for their roles in a murder-fo

[youthchronical]

China's MSS amplifies outreach to combat foreign espionage amid increasing tensions - Times of India

China’s top spy agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS), has recently intensified its public outreach to alert Chinese citizens to the pervasive threat of foreign espionage. This comes amid an increase in public activities, including the release of a dramatic video on National Security Education Day, illustrating the stealth and variety of tactics used by foreign spies, from disguises as…

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[l-in-c-future]

China’s foreign infiltration as security concern for Australia

Australia's embassy in Beijing is using a Chinese government agency to recruit senior staff into the consulate, with intelligence insiders warning this practice is the equivalent of paying China to "put spies into our consulates".

In November DFAT engaged the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions to recruit a head of mission senior adviser and interpreter, paying an annual salary of 340,916.33 yuan ($69,256.28) and requested a start date "as soon as possible". 

It comes after ASIO began investigating revelations the CCP had infiltrated the Australian, British and US embassies in Shanghai via a government-sponsored recruitment agency called the Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department. 

"China's role in the world today cannot be understood without reference to the wide array of malign activities that the Chinese Communist Party undertakes to influence our societies in ways that are covert, coercive and corrupting." -US State Department spokeswoman told the Australian.

The Australian's investigation, based on a leak of official CCP membership records from Shanghai — the first of its kind in the world — also revealed how CCP branches are embedded in global companies, including those holding sensitive defence contracts with the Australian and US governments. A data leak has uncovered at least ten Shanghai consulates have Chinese communist party (CCP) members in senior positions. A joint investigation by The Australian on Monday found at least 10 consulates in Shanghai have CCP members employed as senior political and government affairs specialists, clerks, economic advisers and executive assistants.

The Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department could be part of a "state-sponsored spy ring".

Reference: The Australian 15th December 2020 “ DFAT still using Beijing agency to recruit senior embassy staffers “

[l-in-c-future]

China’s foreign infiltration as a growing concern for business

The Shanghai Foreign Agency Service Department, systematically has been placing CCP members in the Australian, British, US and at least seven other consulates in Shanghai for more than a decade. Few democratic nations appear to have been immune to taking on CCP employees through the SFASD. Some, the records show, have been employed for more than a decade in the US consulate and even longer at the Italian and South African consulates. They have been working as senior political and government affairs specialists, clerks, economic advisers and executive assistants. A senior executive assistant who worked at Australia's Shanghai consulate and was involved in visits of parliamentary delegations has been listed as a CCP member. In Britain's Shanghai consulate, a CCP member works near MI6 intelligence officers operating under deep cover. The leaked database also shows a CCP member worked for the New Zealand consulate in Shanghai for four years as a policy adviser on trade and economics. Similarly infiltrated by CCP employees, as disclosed in the database leaked to the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China made up of 150 legislators from around the world, have been global companies such as Boeing, which has billions of dollars in international defence contracts, including with Australia; banks, including ANZ and HSBC; the Pfizer and AstraZeneca pharmaceutical companies developing coronavirus vaccines; and Western universities. 

In recent times, the frenzied bullying of the CCP "wolf warriors" has been on full display, not only in their malevolence towards Australia and democratic countries across the world but also in their brutal suppression of Hong Kong and attacks on India in the Himalayas.

The database underlines the need for diplomatic missions, global corporations, banks and others constantly to be mindful of the CCP members working in their midst.   Reference: The Australian 14 December 2020: China’s infiltration a growing concern for business