Category Archives: Espionage

Russia report: UK MPs condemn ‘utterly reprehensible’ delay

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Failure to establish key scrutiny committee is also criticised as ‘unprecedented underhand behaviour’

The government’s apparent refusal to release a report into Russian infiltration in the UK and to delay establishing a key scrutiny committee has been condemned as unprecedented and “utterly reprehensible”.

The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has not met since before the general election in December – – its longest break since it was established in 1994 – and critics say the government has sat on the committee’s report into Russian interference for nine months.

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Australia is under cyber-attack from ‘state-based actor’, Scott Morrison says

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Australian prime minister says widespread assault on political and private sector organisations has been going on for months but is increasing in frequency and scale

A wide range of political and private sector organisations in Australia have come under cyber-attack carried out by a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor”, the Australian government has revealed.

Scott Morrison disclosed the far-reaching attacks at a media conference in Canberra on Friday, while his defence minister declared that malicious cyber activity was “increasing in frequency, scale, in sophistication and in its impact”.

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French billionaire claims he spied on ex-president for security agency

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Xavier Niel, co-owner of Le Monde, says he worked for French security services in 1980s

A French billionaire has said he spied on a former president and on the car giant Renault for the country’s security agency.

Xavier Niel, a co-owner of Le Monde newspaper, claimed that as a teenager in the 1980s he worked for the state internal security services when they were interested in hacking, which was then a relatively new technique.

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We need geeks, not James Bonds, for post-Covid world, says French spy chief

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Cybersecurity is ‘alpha and omega’ of global security, says DGSE director, in callout to young people ‘connected to technology’

The French secret service wants to recruit geeks rather than budding young James Bonds as it adapts to new demands in the post-coronavirus world, its technical director has said.

In rare public comments, Patrick Pailloux said there was a danger that many young tech-savvy French people did not consider themselves suitable for the stereotypes of France’s directorate-general for external security (DGSE).

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Belgium confirms inquiry into Malta-China spy threat

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Investigation centres on claims Beijing has spied on EU from Malta’s embassy in Brussels

Malta’s ties to China have come under the spotlight after Belgium’s intelligence services confirmed they have been investigating suspicions that Beijing has been spying from the country’s embassy opposite the European commission’s headquarters in Brussels.

A spokesman for Belgium’s homeland security service, the Veiligheid van de Staat, made the unusual disclosure about the existence of the inquiry after the French newspaper Le Monde reported on the suspected espionage by the Chinese state.

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Harry Dunn lawyers say documents expose ‘scandalous’ Foreign Office cover-up

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Family of motorcyclist killed near US base to receive crucial papers after seeking review

Lawyers representing the family of 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn are poised to receive a series of crucial documents which they believe will help their legal case to expose a “scandalous cover-up” by the Foreign Office.

The development comes after documents showed that a senior Foreign Office diplomat had sent a text message to a US Embassy counterpart saying they should “feel able” to put suspect Anne Sacoolas on the next flight back to the States.

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WhatsApp: Israeli firm ‘deeply involved’ in hacking our users

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NSO Group allegedly connected to hacks of 1,400 people including human rights activists

WhatsApp has alleged in new court filings that an Israeli spyware company used US-based servers and was “deeply involved” in carrying out mobile phone hacks of 1,400 WhatsApp users, including senior government officials, journalists, and human rights activists.

The new claims about NSO Group allege that the Israeli company bears responsibility in serious human rights violations, including the hacking of more than a dozen Indian journalists and Rwandan dissidents.

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Prague mayor under police protection amid reports of Russian plot

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Zdenêk Hřib says there is ‘risk to my life’ as magazine alleges he was poisoning target

The mayor of Prague has said he is under police protection from a “risk to my life”, with one Czech investigative outlet reporting he had been targeted in a Russian poisoning plot.

Zdeněk Hřib confirmed on Monday that police had placed him under protection several weeks ago after identifying a threat against him, but declined to say whether had been been targeted by Russia or reveal the nature of threat.

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NSO Group points finger at state clients in WhatsApp spying case

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In court filing, Israeli spyware company says it does not operate technology it provides

An Israeli spyware company that has been accused by WhatsApp of hacking 1,400 of its users, including journalists, human rights activists, and diplomatic officials, has blamed its government clients for the alleged abuses, according to court documents.

NSO Group – whose technology is reported to have been used against dozens of targets including Pakistani intelligence officials, Indian journalists and exiled Rwandan political activists – also claimed in legal documents that the lawsuit brought against the company by WhatsApp threatened to infringe on its clients’ “national security and foreign policy concerns”.

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Revealed: Saudis suspected of phone spying campaign in US

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Exclusive: Whistleblower’s data suggests millions of tracking requests sent over four-month period

Saudi Arabia appears to be exploiting weaknesses in the global mobile telecoms network to track its citizens as they travel around the US, according to a whistleblower who has shown the Guardian millions of alleged secret tracking requests.

Data revealed by the whistleblower, who is seeking to expose vulnerabilities in a global messaging system called SS7, appears to suggest a systematic spying campaign by the kingdom, according to experts.

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UK government discloses existence of body monitoring foreign spies

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Cross-Whitehall team set up in 2017 in response to growing threat of foreign interference

The UK government has established a cross-Whitehall body to monitor the threat from foreign spies, it has been revealed.

The Joint State Threats Assessments Team (JSTAT) was set up in 2017 in response to the growing threat of espionage and subversion by foreign powers.

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UK ministers will no longer claim ‘no successful examples’ of Russian interference

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Change of official line is first admission that Kremlin may have distorted UK elections

Ministers have been told they can no longer say there have been “no successful examples” of Russian disinformation affecting UK elections, after the apparent hacking of an NHS dossier seized on by Labour during the last campaign.

The dropping of the old line is the first official admission of the impact of Kremlin efforts to distort Britain’s political processes, and comes after three years of the government’s refusal to engage publicly with the threat.

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Woman in Russian ‘sex spy’ scandal fights deportation from Canada

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Ottawa judge to hear case of Elena Crenna, who denies allegations she shared classified information with Russian officials

A woman at the centre of a three-decades-old Russian “sex spy” scandal is fighting her deportation from Canada, denying allegations she ever shared classified information with Russian officials.

An Ottawa judge was due on Wednesday to hear the case of Elena Crenna, a Russian American woman who married the former Canadian civil servant David Crenna.

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CIA controlled global encryption company for decades, says report

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Swiss government orders inquiry after revelations Crypto AG was owned and operated by US and German intelligence

The Swiss government has ordered an inquiry into a global encryption company based in Zug following revelations it was owned and controlled for decades by US and German intelligence.

Related: Joe Biden leaves New Hampshire early as Democrats vote in primary – live

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Saudi Arabia ‘planned to spy on Khashoggi’s fiancee in UK’

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Exclusive: US agencies believed kingdom intended to monitor Hatice Cengiz after journalist killed

US intelligence authorities urged British counterparts to keep a close eye on Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, after they became aware of a plan by Saudi Arabia to keep her under surveillance in the UK last year, according to western intelligence sources.

The US believed the kingdom had the “ambition and intention” to monitor Cengiz in London last May, seven months after Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain papers so the couple could marry.

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US man held in Russia on spy charges has detention extended

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US embassy called last week for Russia to free former marine Paul Whelan, detained in 2018

A Moscow court has extended the detention of the former US marine Paul Whelan until 29 March on espionage charges, the Interfax news agency has reported.

Whelan, who holds US, British, Canadian and Irish passports, was detained in December 2018 and accused of spying.

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US Navy bans TikTok from mobile devices saying it’s a cybersecurity threat

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Users who don’t remove the Beijing-based app will be blocked from Navy Marine Corp intranet

The United States Navy has banned the social media app TikTok from government-issued mobile devices, saying the popular short video app represented a cybersecurity threat.

Related: US 'investigating TikTok as potential national security risk'

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One dead in shooting at Russian intelligence agency in Moscow

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Unidentified man fired on reception of Federal Security Service and was later shot dead

One person has been shot dead after an unidentified gunman opened fire on the office of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s main intelligence agency, in the heart of Moscow.

According to Russian media reports, the man attacked the reception of the Lubyanka building, home to the FSB and its communist-era predecessor the KGB. The victim was described as a traffic police officer. Other FSB guards were injured in the shooting, with two in a critical condition, officials said.

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US covertly expelled Chinese officials who drove on to military base – report

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The US government covertly moved to expel two officials from the Chinese embassy earlier this year after they drove onto a military base, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The newspaper reported that one of the two officials is believed to be an intelligence officer operating under diplomatic cover.

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Labor condemns ‘disgraceful’ Westpac as Hartzer stands down – politics live

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Westpac chief executive’s resignation draws little sympathy on all sides of politics. All the day’s events, live

And here is another indication of where question time is headed:

Last week, a bank broke money laundering laws 23 million times.

But instead of going after them, the Liberals are going after unions – trying to take away their right to exist.

This Government hates working people. We'll fight them every step of the way. pic.twitter.com/9vMhFquk4W

A group of north Queensland dairy farmers are on their way to Canberra to express their frustrations at what is happening within their industry.

That’s at the same time the Nationals are trying to get ahead of Pauline Hanson, who may have come late to the issues, but certainly has been running full steam ahead since becoming aware of it.

David Littleproud, the drought minister, some time ago said he fixed the supermarket [milk price] problem. He said he thumped his chest, waved his fists at them, and demanded they put their milk prices up.

Well, we know that solution lasted about five minutes.

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