Cybersecurity

In case it slipped by you, on January 31 Global Cyber War II was initiated.

You may be wondering when was Global Cyber War I. Well the GCW-1 occurred back in 2013 when Anonymous declared a cyber war (as a protest against the NSA surveillance aka spying) activities and the imprisonment of Jeremy Hammond, a cyber activist. You can listen/view the full message at the following YouTube. Click here.

I inquired about the impact of GCW-1 and one inside source said it was hardly noticeable given all the other hostile cyber activities and crimes that were taking place during that same period.

Global cyber war III?

Navy

Leidos, a national security, health, and engineering solutions company, announced that its prototype maritime autonomy system for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)'s Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program recently completed its’ first self-guided voyage between Gulfport and Pascagoula, Mississippi.

The prototype maritime autonomy system was installed on a 42-foot work boat that served as a surrogate vessel to test sensor, maneuvering, and mission functions of the prototype ACTUV vessel. ACTUV seeks to develop an independently deployed, unmanned naval vessel that would operate under sparse remote supervisory control and safely follow the collision avoidance “rules of the sea” known as COLREGS.

Leidos Prototype Maritime System Completes First Self Guided Voyage

Special forces/ Providing “military support”

It’s one of the toughest commando units you’ve probably never heard of. The Kommando Spezialkräfte Marine is Germany’s answer to the U.S. Navy SEALs.

The KSM—or Navy Special Forces Commando in English—is a relatively recent designation for a special operations force with decades of experience.

The first West German military frogmen trained in southern France back in 1959. Which means the combat swimmers lay claim to being the longest-serving special forces unit within the post-war German military, on land and at sea.

German Combat Divers Are Busy on Land and Underwater

The Kommando Spezialkräfte Marine is one ofBerlin’s most elite units

Airport security/ Luggage check

Morpho (Safran), through its subsidiary Morpho Detection, announced a contract with the District Government of Upper Bavaria for the deployment of its high-speed CTX 9800 DSi explosives detection system (EDS) at Munich International Airport.

Once deployed, the computed tomography (CT)-based CTX 9800 will be used to screen all passenger checked baggage – referred to as Level 1 screening – for select high-risk flights. In addition, CTX 9800 will be used to help Munich Airport prepare for a full transition to Standard 3 explosives screening capabilities in accordance with approaching European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) mandates.

Munich Airport Selects Morpho’s CTX 9800 EDS For Hold Baggage Screening

Industrial security/ Access control

Vanderbilt Industries, a provider of state-of-the-art security systems,  announced Crider Foods, Stillmore, Ga. relies on Vanderbilt Industries SMS Access Control system to provide security for its large production and processing facilities. Tutela, Inc., out of Brunswick, Ga., is the integrator and installer on this long-running project.

Privately owned and operated, Crider Foods represents a commitment to quality, food safety and customer service. The Crider Foods Canning Facility was opened in Stillmore, Ga. after a fire destroyed their Augusta plant. In 2003, a “Fully Cooked” plant was added. Crider Foods is committed to being a leader in canning proteins and in its fully cooked operation. Crider is always investing in equipment and expertise to ensure continuous improvements.

Vanderbilt Industries Provides High-Level Security For Crider Foods

Aerospace/Drones

UASs are aircraft that do not carry a pilot aboard, but instead operate on pre-programmed routes or are manually controlled by following commands from pilot-operated ground control stations.

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 put greater emphasis on the need to integrate UASs into the national airspace by requiring that FAA establish requirements governing them. FAA has developed a three-phased approach in its 5-year Roadmap to facilitate incremental steps toward seamless integration.

However, in the absence of regulations, unauthorized UAS operations have, in some instances, compromised safety.

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS:

Efforts Made towardIntegration into the National Airspace Continue, but Many Actions StillRequired

Intelligence/Greece

Journalist Yiannis Roubatis on Saturday was appointed chief of Greece ‘s National Intelligence Service (EYP) following Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ decision.

Roubatis was born in 1948 in Ioannina and studied in the USA. He is a doctor of International Relations at the Johns Hopkins University.

He was Pasok’s eurodeputy from 1994-1999 and close associate to Pasok founder and former Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou.

In 1987 he published the book “The US in Greece 1947-1967″ based on his doctoral thesis for Johns Hopkins.

Journalist Selected to Head Greece’s Intelligence Service

R&D 

Israel is the world's fifth most innovative country, according to the 2015 Bloomberg Global innovation index.

South Korea topped the list, followed by Japan, Germany and Finland ahead of Israel, while the United States was just behind it at number six.

The index was comprised based on rankings in six sub-fields: Research and development, in which Israel ranked #2, manufacturing (#21), high-tech companies (#11), post-secondary education (#4) research personnel (#4) and patents (#31).

 Israel ranked 5th in Bloomberg innovation index

Intelligence/ NGA

Robert Cardillo took over as director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) on October 3, 2014. NGA collects, processes, and dispenses satellite imagery for national security purposes.and analyzes intelligence information through the lens of geography and maps.

It didn’t take long in office for Cardillo to be forced to deal with an embarrassing incident when, on January 26, 2015, an NGA employee mistakenly flew a drone onto the White House grounds. On the other hand, shortly after Cardillo took over, the NGA created a website to share images to help track the spread of Ebola in West Africa.

Cardillo is an Army brat; his father Richard is a West Point graduate and rose to the rank of brigadier general. Cardillo went to Cornell, graduating in 1983 with a B.A. in government.

Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency: Who Is Robert Cardillo?

Ukrainian crisis

Pro-Russian separatists have vowed to mobilise up to 100,000 fighters for their latest eastern Ukraine offensive as the US mulled sending weapons to Kiev's forces after the latest truce bid collapsed. 

Alexander Zakharchenko, leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the mobilisation would take place next week. 

"A general mobilisation is planned in the DNR in 10 days. Ten thousand men will be called up," RIA news agency quoted Zakharchenko as saying in the city of Donetsk, though he did not make clear how the mobilisation would be enforced. 

Ukraine rebels vow to mobilise 100,000-strong force

Predicting outcome

The intelligence community gathered no specific evidence of an impending genocide in Libya in spring 2011, undercutting Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s primary argument for using the U.S. military to remove Col. Moammar Gadhafi from power, an event that has left his country in chaos, according to officials with direct knowledge of the dispute.

Washington Times: Hillary Clinton's'WMD' Moment: U.S. Intelligence Saw False Narrative in Libya

Public security/ Predicting crowd behavior

Beijing is using a crowd analytics system to prevent stampedes at major commercial areas. It is hoped that the system will be rolled out nationwide.

Beijing has used the system, which was developed by the Beijing Municipal Institute of Labor Protection (BMILP), for five years.

The system provides real-time data on crowd density, distribution and flow and can identify crowd patterns that indicate potential danger.

So far, it has been installed at four popular tourist areas in Beijing -- Xi'dan, Shichahai, Dashilan and Tian'an Men.

 Beijing's crowd control system to be rolled out nationwide

Communication security/For  strong encryption

The recent hack against Sony Pictures is likely to have made companies of all sizes consider upping their cybersecurity measures. Perhaps, though, it’s also a different kind of wake-up call: a reason to think less about security, and more about privacy.

That’s the belief of Phil Zimmermann – the creator of email encryption software Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), and now president and co-founder of secure communications company Silent Circle – initially expressed in a blog post, and expanded on in an interview with the Guardian.

“Sony had all kinds of things: intrusion detection, firewalls, antivirus … But they got hacked anyway. The security measures that enterprises do frequently get breached. People break in anyway: they overcome them,” says Zimmermann.

PGP creator Phil Zimmermann: 'Intelligence agencies have never had it so good'

Corruption threat

On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor, turned to face the governor’s mansion in Sidi Bouzid—the capital of a hardscrabble farming province in central Tunisia—and set himself on fire. His last words, aimed at the government, were an anguished question: “How do you expect me to make a living?”

What drove Bouazizi to this desperate act was Tunisia’s culture of corruption. That culture started at the very top, with President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and his political cronies, and extended all the way down to local police, for whom extortion had become a way of life.

 Cronyism Kills: Here’s How It Happened in Tunisia

Defense security

Russia is reinforcing its military forces in all strategic directions due to the military and political situation, Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at the Defense Ministry’s board meeting on Friday.

Citing commander-in-chief and head of state Vladimir Putin's address to the nation in December, Shoigu noted that Russia did not plan to engage in a costly arms race but would secure defense capability in what was a markedly new environment.

"The task set by the head of state to prevent military domination over Russia will surely be fulfilled," the minister promised.

"To these ends, main effort should be focused on a higher quality of strategic nuclear forces, on reinforcing the military staff and capabilities of the army and the fleet, and on forming Aerospace Forces, a new arm of military force," Shoigu said. 

Russia to secure defense capability in new circumstances — defense minister

Intelligence

Last fall, the Washington Post reported that CIA was considering a massive reform of the National Clandestine Service and the Directorate of Intelligence. CIA Director John Brennan was considering combining much of the two directorates—responsible for clandestine human intelligence and analysis, respectively—into centers, like the existing Counterterrorism Center (CTC).Most observers have lauded the move as an innovative approach to intelligence reform that would exploit the synergy of analysts and operators working closely together. 

The uncritical reception shows that nearly fourteen years since the “national failure” of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the words intelligence reform seem to retain some magical character about the self-evident correctness of the cause.

4 U.S. Intelligence Assumptions That Need to Go

Economic security

President Obama says his proudest accomplishment is avoiding another Great Depression.

"I'm proud of saving the American economy, and we still have a long way to go," Obama told CNN'sFareed Zakaria GPS in an interview broadcast Sunday.

Obama said his team's policies stabilized the economy after the financial crisis of 2008, and laid "a new foundation to move forward."

He added: "That gives us now the capacity to tackle what was an overriding theme of my campaign way back in 2008, and that is to restore middle class economics and the capacity for people to get into the middle class."

Obama: 'I'm proud of saving the American economy'

International security

An exchange of lethal attacks during the past fortnight between Israel and Hezbollah has raised the risk that escalation of fighting between these old antagonists might be added to the intractable mess that Syria already is. Israel and Hezbollah have a long history of tit-for-tat reprisals, with the most conspicuous examples involving Hezbollah titting in response to Israeli tatting. The two major car bomb attacks by Hezbollah in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s, for example, were each a direct response to deadly actions that Israel had taken back in the Middle East a month or six weeks earlier.

  

Are Israel and Hezbollah About to Go to War?

Security cooperation

Member countries of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) may have different views and approaches on certain points, but there is no cooling of relations between them, CSTO Secretary General Nikolai Bordyuzha told a news conference in Moscow on Friday.

"I have not felt any cooling among the member states or their attempts to distance themselves from the CSTO processes," he said.

Currently, the organization comprises six members: Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

No cooling inrelations between post-Soviet security bloc members — CSTO secretary general

Ukrainian crisis

With Russian-backed separatists pressing their attacks in Ukraine, NATO’s military commander, Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, now supports providing defensive weapons and equipment to Kiev’s beleaguered forces, and an array of administration and military officials appear to be edging toward that position, American officials said Sunday.

President Obama has made no decisions on providing such lethal assistance. But after a series of striking reversals that Ukraine’s forces have suffered in recent weeks, the Obama administration is taking a fresh look at the question of military aid.

 U.S. Considers Supplying Arms to Ukraine Forces, Officials Say

Security cooperation

When legions of Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants poured across eastern Syria into western Iraq last summer, the Iraqi army evaporated, despite over $20 billion in U.S. training and equipment spent to build it over eleven years. Doubts have been raised about whether the U.S.-trained Afghan National Security Forces will effectively provide stability following the U.S. drawdown in Afghanistan. With such a questionable track record, why should the United States continue to invest in security cooperation with foreign militaries?

The Case for Security Cooperation Abroad

International security/ Flights of the Russian military aircraft

Yesterday FCO Permanent Under-Secretary Simon Fraser and I discussed Russian aircraft flights in the international airspace on 28 January.

The British side expressed concern over the fact that operations of Russian military aircraft allegedly caused disruption to the civil aviation in the area close to the UK-controlled airspace.

Western media coverage of this topic tends to focus on Russian military flights, omitting the fact that last year NATO military dramatically increased its airbourne missions along Russian borders. On 29 January British defence ministry spokesman answered a question on the UK Quick Reaction Alert aircraft launches in 2014. Contrary to some statements in media, official statistics show that Russia has not increased its military patrols in the Atlantic Ocean over the year.

Russian military flights: facts and myths

Economic security

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will hold a meeting on Monday on sustainable economic development and social stability. The government’s press service reported that the meeting will focus, in particular, on measures to support the mortgage housing loan market and issues of placement of the National Welfare Fund (NWF) money.

Medvedev to hold meeting on economy sustainable development

Military/ New instruments of war

The British military is to form a new specialist force in “non-lethal” forms of psychological warfare using social media such as Twitter and Facebook to tackle the “asymmetric battlefields” of the 21st century.

The brigade will number 2,000 and will be made up of regular troops from all three services, as well as reservists and civilians, British media report.

It will attempt to draw the best talent from the regulars and reserves and will also allow civilians with specialist skills to operate alongside their military counterparts.

New British army elite unit to hone social media and psychological warfare

International security/ At crossroads

​Saudi duplicity is backfiring royally. The architect of Abdullah's worst foreign policies Tuwaijri is gone, but does Abdullah's successor Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud have the guts to face Saudi Arabia's many nightmares? 

The death of King Abdullah in January 2015 confirmed the contradictions at work in Saudi politics. The architect of Abdullah's destructive policies, President of the Royal Court Khalid al-Tuwaijri, was immediately dismissed. Tuwaijri was the key player in foreign intrigues--to subvert the Egyptian revolution, to send in the troops to crush the uprising in Bahrain, to finance ISIL in Syria in the early stages of the civil war along his previous 'ally' Prince Bandar bin Sultan.

 Saudi elephants

International security/ Involvement into fossils games

In an interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Barack Obama acknowledged that the United States had "brokered a deal to transition power in Ukraine," thus admitting to the highest level of democratic impropriety imaginable.

Before we consider Obama’s stunning remarks, and how the Ukrainian people sold their country for a song, let’s rewind to November 2013, when then-President Viktor Yanukovich had shocked western capitals (and, more importantly, western markets) by suspending plans for an association agreement with the European Union.

Obama openly admits 'brokering power transition' in Ukraine

International security

Europe, which the EU is supposed to represent, is fighting a double war that could ravage it beyond recognition -- against Greece within its own borders, and against Russia in Ukraine.

An exhibition in Rome could not -- inadvertently -- be more graphic in defining the zeitgeist: "The Age of Anxiety -- from Commodus to Diocletian." Well, Roman emperors could barely imagine it would get much worse under the EU.

The tantalizingly tense face-off between Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem and new Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has set up the battlefield; the EU won't accept a "unilateral" Greece, and Greece won't accept a bailout extension or the diktats of the troika (EU, ECB, IMF).

Europe slouching towards anxiety and war

Travelling to ISIS stronghold

A woman from Canada, displaying staunch support to jihadists, has been tracked all the way from Toronto to the ISIS stronghold in Syria via Twitter geo-tagging. She even infiltrated hard to reach “enemy” territories, a Canadian intelligence group says.

According to a new report from the Canada-based open source intelligence research group iBRABO, one woman – identified only as “L.A.” – traveled from Canada to the frontlines of Islamic State-controlled territory, giving away her locations with every tweet, as she visited besieged cities in Syria and Iraq.

Female jihadist geo-tracked from Canada to ISIS frontline – report

International security/ Third appearance before Congress, an honor allowed previously only to Winston Churchill.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been "reaching out," as the New York Times delicately puts it, to Democratic leaders in the U.S. Congress who were blindsided by Republican House Speaker John Boehner's invitation to Netanyahu to address Congress March 3.

Netanyahu's office confirmed Thursday, according to the Times, that the Prime Minister had called Democrats and "other friends" in Congress in recent days, and that he "reiterated that the survival of Israel is not a partisan issue."

AIPAC usually handles "reaching out" for Israel when needed among power players in Washington. Not this time. AIPAC, according to a U.S. Jewish media source, did not know about the speech in advance of Boehner's invitation.

Pressure Grows to Delay or Drop Bibi's Speech

Standing trial for terror

Five British terror suspects are due to stand trial on charges of plotting an Islamic State-inspired attack on police officers and soldiers in London.

The five men have appeared at the Old Bailey in London via video link from separate high-security prisons around London.

Tarik Hassane, 21, of Ladbroke Grove, Suhaib Majeed, 20, of St John’s Wood, Nyall Hamlett, 24, of Notting Hill, Momem Motasim, 21, of Bayswater, and Nathan Cuffy, 25, of Notting Hill, were arrested in counter-terrorism raids in October.

One suspect is believed to have traveled to Syria to fight with Islamic State (also known as ISIS, or ISIL). According to the Guardian, the men were laughing and joking with each other as they appeared on court screens.

Terror suspects in court over ‘ISIS-inspired’ plot to target London police, soldiers

Sex abuse/Risky connections

Bill Clinton took repeated trips on the " Lolita Express"—the private passenger jet owned by billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein—with an actress in softcore porn movies whose name appears in Epstein's address book under an entry for "massages," according to flight logbooks obtained by Gawker and published today for the first time. The logs also show that Clinton shared more than a dozen flights with a woman who federal prosecutors believe procured underage girls to sexually service Epstein and his friends and acted as a "potential co-conspirator" in his crimes.

Flight Logs Put Clinton, Dershowitz on Pedophile Billionaire’s Sex Jet