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The rationale for Robert Mueller’s appointment as special counsel is that Russia conducted a cyberespionage attack — hacking — to interfere in the 2016 presidential campaign, and that the Trump campaign may somehow have “colluded” in this offense. Mueller has been at this for six months, and the FBI for a year before that. So isn’t it about time we asked: Could Mueller prove that Russia did it? Forget Trump. What about Russia? We have paid too much attention to the so-called collusion component of the probe — speculation about Trump-campaign coordination in Russia’s perfidy. There appears to be no proof...

When President Trump and President Xi Jinping meet for the first time next month, exploring avenues for further constructive cyberspace cooperation between China and the United States should be amongst the issues they discuss The arcane issue of cybersecurity has received front page media attention of late. Most recently, WikiLeaks published documents which purport to show, according to WikiLeaks, “the scope and direction of the CIA’s global covert hacking program.” The program is comprised of a “malware arsenal and dozens of ‘zero day’ weaponized exploits against a wide range of U.S. and European company products…which are turned into covert microphones.”...

(snip) Considering this deluge of aggressive and costly security breaches, it’s no wonder that some people are getting frustrated enough to contemplate striking back directly against our attackers. While giving cyber criminals a taste of their own medicine certainly sounds appealing, most forms of so-called "Strikeback" have no place in private business. ...... What’s Wrong With Strikeback?Unfortunately, direct strikeback measures have huge inherent risks:. Targeting: The biggest problem with strikeback is that the Internet provides anonymity, making it very hard to know who’s really behind an attack. It's all too likely that strikebacks could impact innocent victims. For example, attackers...

"IRAN SPY NETWORK 30,000 STRONG Pentagon report: Iranian intelligence linked to spying, terror attacks" SNIPPET: "Iran’s intelligence service includes 30,000 people who are engaged in covert and clandestine activities that range from spying to stealing technology to terrorist bombings and assassination, according to a Pentagon report." SNIPPET: "“MOIS provides financial, material, technological, or other support services to Hamas, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), all designated terrorist organizations under U.S. Executive Order 13224,” the report said. The spy service operates in all areas where Iran has interests, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Central Asia, Africa, Austria, Azerbaijan, Croatia, France,...

  "German Islamists Target Youth on the Internet" By Christoph Sydow 11/01/2012 "Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan." PHOTO CAPTION: "A growing community of German-speaking Islamists has developed on the Internet. Aiming to find new recruits, they glorify jihad and call for attacks on Germany. A new study warns that such online propaganda might foster a new generation of terrorists." SNIPPET: "International terrorist groups like al-Qaida recognized the importance of the Internet for recruiting new supporters early on." SNIPPET: "Intelligence services can also take advantage of the anonymity of Internet forums to deliberately plant false information or obtain insider...

SNIPPET: "New York City is the center of a public uproar as Internet blogger Pamela Gellar rises with an “anti-jihad” ad campaign." SNIPPET: "Gellar and her group are protesting the Jihad, which in definition is the religious duty of Muslims. According to the Dictionary of Islam, jihad is defined as “A religious war with those who are unbelievers in the mission of Muhammad . . . enjoined especially for the purpose of advancing Islam and repelling evil from Muslims.” The literal meaning of jihad, according to the British Broadcasting Network, “is struggle or effort, and it means much more than...

The House Intelligence committee isn't going so far as to say the Chinese government is trying to turn us into a nation of Manchurian Candidates by using Chinese-made smartphones. What it is saying, after a yearlong investigation, is that two Chinese telecommunications equipment makers, Huawei Technologies and ZTE, may, under the direction of the Chinese government, make the equipment they sell purposely vulnerable to cyber-security leaks. "We simply cannot trust such vital systems to companies with known ties to the Chinese state, a country that is the largest perpetrator of cyber espionage against the U.S.," said committee chairman Mike Rogers...

Brief thoughts/quotes from the last 11 years. "Looking away, not caring, or hoping for the best are not viable options in fighting terrorism (in general) and the global jihad (specifically). Terrorism must be fought head on 24/7 and preventing terrorism is far better than just reacting to one terror-related event after another." -Cindy (July 1, 2011) ~ "WHAT DID I LEARN from the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001? OPINION: I have learned that more Americans love America than the lame-stream media will ever let on. I have learned that America's military is the finest in the world. I have...

SNIPPET: "I. When considering the matter of jihadis online, remember that most of what we think we know is based on analyses of the comments made by an handful of vocal activists. The vast majority of jihadis online, be they on forums or social networking sites[i], say nothing. Skillful translations and insightful analyses by definition tell us little about this potentially lethal yet silent majority."

Note: The following text is a quote: Officials Warn of ‘Phishing’ Scams Targeting Troops By Lisa Daniel American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 10, 2010 – U.S. Strategic Command officials are urging renewed vigilance against Internet-based identity theft after detecting a widespread “phishing” expedition against servicemembers. Phishing is a term used to describe deceiving people into divulging personal information such as passwords or account numbers over the Internet. Beginning as early as May 2009 and lasting as late as March 2010, numerous fraudulent e-mails were sent to financial customers of USAA and Navy Federal Credit Union, Stratcom officials said in...

TORONTO, ON – The Information Warfare Monitor (Citizen Lab, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto and the SecDev Group, Ottawa) and the Shadowserver Foundation announce the release of Shadows in the Cloud: An investigation into cyber espionage 2.0. The report documents a complex ecosystem of cyber espionage that systematically targeted and compromised computer systems in India, the Offices of the Dalai Lama, the United Nations, and several other countries. Members of the research team are holding a news conference at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, April 6, to discuss their latest findings and to answer questions from the media....

Unidentified hackers are running an ongoing cyber-espionage attack targeting US military contractors Booby-trapped PDF files, posing as messages from the US Department of Defense, were emailed to US defence contractors last week. The document refers to a real conference due to be held in Las Vegas in March. Opening the malicious PDF file attached to the spoofed emails triggers an attempt to exploit an Adobe Reader vulnerability only patched by the software firm last Tuesday (12 January). The infection of vulnerable systems opens up a backdoor that connects to a server hosted in Taiwan, though the hackers who set up...

AMERICA needs to pay a heckuva a lot more atten tion to the cyberthreat. Now. Sure, the Pentagon is refuting a Wall Street Journal report last week that hackers pinched loads of data on the military's newest, high-tech fighter aircraft from contractors' computer networks via the Internet. But even if the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program wasn't actually penetrated by cyberspies, it's still a chilling wake-up call for the United States. The computer systems of the F-35 Lightning were penetrated "repeatedly," according to the newspaper, allowing cyber cat burglars to "copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to...

WASHINGTON — Computer spies have broken into the Pentagon's $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project — the Defense Department's costliest weapons program ever — according to current and former government officials familiar with the attacks. Similar incidents have also breached the Air Force's air-traffic-control system in recent months, these people say. In the case of the fighter-jet program, the intruders were able to copy and siphon off several terabytes of data related to design and electronics systems, officials say, potentially making it easier to defend against the craft. The latest intrusions provide new evidence that a battle is heating up...

A cyberespionage network, known as GhostNet, possibly operating out of China, is making use of malicious websites and phishing emails to take control of hundreds of sensitive government machines across 103 countries, researchers revealed this weekend. A pair of Canadian researchers at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto said GhostNet struck "high-value targets," such as foreign embassies and ministries, and even a NATO network. So far, some 1,300 computers have been infected by servers that trace back to China. The researchers, Ron Deibert and Rafal Rohozinski, released their 53-page report Sunday after 10 months of...

A China-based cyber spy network has hacked into government and private systems in 103 countries, including those of many Indian embassies and the Dalai Lama, an Internet research group said here Saturday. The Information Warfare Monitor (IWM), which carried out an extensive 10-month research on cyber spy activities emanating from China, said the hacked systems include the computers of Indian embassies and offices of the Dalai Lama.

China accused of 'cyber espionage' Chad Groening - OneNewsNow - 11/25/2008 6:00:00 AM ARTICLE SNIPPET: "According to an annual report from the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, the Beijing regime is speeding up its online espionage attacks and has been able to steal "vast amounts" of sensitive data from U.S. computer networks. Targets include the U.S. government, businesses, and defense contractors. The annual report also says China's space programs and satellite imagery are helping Beijing better target U.S. military forces." ARTICLE SNIPPET: "McGuire also believes president-elect Barack Obama needs to recognize that communist China is an enemy. "This is...

National Security: China continues to develop its cyberwarfare capabilities and hacks into the computer systems of foreign governments and corporations. So why are we considering a deal to show them how? The London Times over the weekend reported that Jonathan Evans, the head of MI5, Britain's domestic spy agency, sent a letter last week to 300 British executives and security chiefs at major corporations warning them they were under attack from "Chinese state organizations" over the Internet. These attacks involved Chinese "trojans" or software designed to hack into computer systems and feed back confidential data. It is the latest example...