BND intelligence service is finding expectations of flexible working and taking a mobile to the office are affecting recruitment
James Bond was famously given the licence to kill by MI6, as part of his role as a British secret agent.
Today’s wannabe spies are more likely to ask for something else: permission to work from home – a cultural shift that has hit recruitment figures for Germany’s intelligence service.
Continue reading...Robert Shonov was reportedly detained in Vladivostok, site of his former employment, and is being held in Moscow
Russia’s FSB security service has charged a former employee of the US consulate in the far eastern city of Vladivostok with illegal covert collaboration with foreigners.
The state news agency Tass reported on Monday that Robert Shonov had been detained in Vladivostok and that “after interrogation, he was charged with committing a crime under Article 275.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (‘Cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state, international or foreign organization’)”, punishable by up to eight years’ jail time.
Continue reading...Michael Chong accused Trudeau’s government of turning blind eye while Chinese diplomat gathered information in Canada
A Canadian lawmaker has accused government officials of turning a blind eye to Chinese harassment of his family as pressure mounts on Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic politics.
The Globe and Mail reported that China’s intelligence agency had sought information about Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong “for further potential sanctions” over the Conservative MP’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses. The paper also reported that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was part of the harassment campaign.
Continue reading...Authorities can swoop over anything they deem relevant to national security in toughening of law already used against expatriates or Chinese contacts
China has drastically broadened its anti-espionage laws in amendments that legal experts warn could further heighten risk to foreign individuals and organisations operating in the country.
The amendments were passed by Beijing’s rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday afternoon. The long-foreshadowed changes broaden the law’s scope to encompass anything deemed by authorities to cover national security, and expand the search and seizure powers of authorities, as well as the implementation of entry and exit bans on individuals.
Continue reading...Moscow using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels to monitor potential sabotage targets, say broadcasters
A joint investigation by the public broadcasters of several Nordic countries alleges that Russia has established a state-run programme using spy ships disguised as fishing vessels aimed at giving it the capability to attack windfarms and communications cables in the North Sea.
The investigation quotes a Danish counter-intelligence officer who claims the sabotage strategy is designed to be implemented in the event that Russia and the west enter a full-blown conflict.
Continue reading...Cabinet Office secretary, Oliver Dowden, to issue national alert and urge companies to boost cybersecurity
Russian hackers organised along the lines of the paramilitary Wagner group are seeking “to disrupt or destroy” parts of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, a cabinet minister will warn at a cyber conference in Belfast on Wednesday.
Oliver Dowden, the Cabinet Office minister, will issue a national alert to key businesses amid growing international concern that as Russia struggles in Ukraine, an under-pressure Kremlin is searching for new ways to threaten the west.
Continue reading...The station, in New York’s Chinatown, was allegedly run by Beijing’s ministry of public security to track Chinese dissidents
The FBI has arrested two men accused of running a covert station for China’s police force in New York, and using it as a base to track Chinese dissidents living in the US.
The station, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was allegedly set up in February 2022 and operated by Beijing’s ministry of public security (MPS) as part of a campaign of transnational repression against Chinese pro-democracy activists and other political opponents around the world.
Continue reading...Documents allegedly leaked by Jack Teixeira show US knew of at least four balloons beyond one shot down in February
US officials were aware of up to four Chinese surveillance balloons, beyond one that flew over the continental US and was shot down in February, according to leaked top intelligence. One balloon flew over a US carrier strike group located in the Pacific Ocean, in an incident that was never reported.
The information comes from documents that were allegedly leaked by Massachusetts air national guard member Jack Teixeira that were first reported by the Washington Post.
Continue reading...Death of Freddie Scappaticci, who always denied he was mole, puts question mark over inquiry into his alleged crimes
The man said to be the British army’s most important agent inside the Provisional IRA has died, putting a question mark over the inquiry into his alleged crimes and the role played by security forces.
Freddie Scappaticci, a west Belfast former bricklayer who was alleged to have been a top mole known as Stakeknife, died and was buried last week, it emerged on Tuesday. He was in his 70s.
Continue reading...Defence secretary speaks to South Korean counterpart after leak suggesting US was spying on Seoul’s internal discussions on arms sales
The US is attempting to mend fences with key allies after leaked Pentagon documents claimed Washington had been spying on friendly countries including South Korea and Israel.
The US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, spoke to his South Korean counterpart on Tuesday as officials in Seoul denied the possibility that the president’s office could have been the source of leaks over South Korean arms sales to the US.
Continue reading...Classified papers said to contain details of military aid and battalion strengths before potential Ukrainian counteroffensive
The Pentagon is investigating a security breach in which classified war documents detailing secret American and Nato plans for supplying aid to Ukraine before its prospective offensive against Russia were leaked to social media platforms.
The top secret documents were spread on Twitter and Telegram, and reportedly contain charts and details about anticipated weapons deliveries, battalion strengths and other sensitive information, the New York Times reported. According to military analysts, the papers appear to have been altered in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed, citing how the modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow.
Continue reading...Pair of suspected ‘illegals’ are thought to have been a married couple living separate lives in Brazil and Greece
Halfway through a trip to Malaysia in January, Gerhard Daniel Campos Wittich stopped messaging his girlfriend back home in Rio de Janeiro and she promptly launched a frantic search for her missing partner.
A Brazilian of Austrian heritage, Campos Wittich ran a series of 3D printing companies in Rio that made, among other things, novelty resin sculptures for the Brazilian military and sausage dog key chains.
Continue reading...Sergey Cherkasov studied in US under false identity and is accused of working for Russian intelligence
US authorities have released new details about an alleged Russian spy who attempted to penetrate the international criminal court in The Hague, using a false identity developed over a decade.
An indictment made public on Saturday accuses Sergey Cherkasov, who US intelligence believes is an elite “illegal” operative of Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency. Cherkasov posed as Brazilian citizen Victor Muller Ferreira over many years.
Continue reading...Former national security adviser tells podcast ‘we didn’t feel we would get support’ from president during Russia investigation
Donald Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton, did not brief the president on suspicions Russia might be behind mysterious “Havana syndrome” attacks on US diplomats because he did not think Trump would support him.
“Since our concern was that one of the perpetrators – maybe the perpetrator – was Russia,” Bolton said, “we didn’t feel we would get support from President Trump if we said, ‘We think the Russians are coming after American personnel.’”
Continue reading...Nancy Faeser says Ukraine war has exacerbated German cybersecurity concerns
Germany’s interior minister has warned of a “massive danger” facing Germany from Russian sabotage, disinformation and spying attacks.
Nancy Faeser said Vladimir Putin was putting huge resources into cyber-attacks as a key part of his war of aggression. “The cybersecurity concerns have been exacerbated by the war. The attacks of pro-Russia hackers have increased,” she said in an interview with the news network Funke Mediengruppe published on Sunday.
Continue reading...Picture was taken from the jet as the balloon entered US airspace earlier this month, before it was shot down over the Atlantic
The Pentagon has released a selfie photograph snapped by the pilot of a U2 spy plane that was hurtling through the skies above the Chinese spy balloon as the US military pursued and shot it down off the coast of South Carolina earlier this month.
The image clearly shows the mysterious, silvery-white sphere of the balloon with panels dangling below it and, whether intended artistically or not, a striking sight of the shadow of the US aircraft cast against the balloon.
Continue reading...It comes as Anthony Albanese grilled on balance of power under Aukus after press club address. Follow the day’s news live
Chalmers highlights importance of sustainability of superannuation
Treasurer Jim Chalmers isn’t ruling in or out whether there will be any changes on superannuation tax concessions in the May budget.
I’ll tell you what I think. I gave a longish speech about this on Monday, where I said the priority [of] super is and should be nailing down the objective. For too long, the lack of an agreed objective has meant that our predecessors could mess with superannuation when it came to all kinds of ideological pursuits. We want to take that out of the system.
Ideally, we’d want to get some kind of broad agreement amongst the industry in the community … about what super is for, so that we can build from that. And as part of that speech, I pointed out the fact … that the cost of superannuation tax concessions will overtake the cost of the pension. That’s a fact.
Not necessarily.
I just think as part of a broader assessment of where our superannuation system is at and how we locked down the objective of super so that we can provide more certainty and security around its purpose, as part of that I acknowledged earlier in the week, that these concessions in the superannuation system, they’re not cheap. I don’t think it’s especially controversial to acknowledge that.
Well, as I keep saying, we haven’t changed their view. We haven’t taken any decisions.
We haven’t determined that.
Continue reading...Sam Patten, an American consultant later mired in controversy, exploited emails obtained by Tal Hanan’s team
In late December 2014, a team from Cambridge Analytica flew to Madrid for meetings with a handful of old and new contacts. A member of the former Libyan royal family referred to as “His Royal Highness” was there. So, too, was the son of a US billionaire, a Nigerian businessman and a private Israeli intelligence operative.
For Alexander Nix, the Etonian chief executive of Cambridge Analytica, and his new employee Brittany Kaiser, who networked like most other people breathed, there may have been nothing unusual about such a gathering.
Continue reading...‘Electronics and optics’ among wreckage of suspected surveillance craft shot down off South Carolina after recovery efforts end
The US has finished work to recover sunken remnants of the Chinese balloon shot down off the coast of South Carolina and the debris reinforces that it was for spying, officials have said.
The White House national security spokesman, John Kirby, said the wreckage included “electronics and optics” but declined to say what the US had learned from it so far.
Continue reading...US deputy secretary of state says Beijing is claiming ‘a gazillion balloons by the US over China … That is absolutely not true’
Diplomatic friction has worsened between the United States and China after Beijing claimed, without evidence, that US high-altitude balloons flew over its Xinjiang and Tibet regions, and threatened unspecified measures against US entities for undermining Chinese sovereignty.
Washington and Beijing are locked in a tussle over flying objects after the US military this month shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon over the coast of South Carolina. Beijing said it was a civilian research vehicle mistakenly blown off course, and that Washington overreacted.
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