Australian spy agency says it is facing ‘unprecedented’ espionage threat

 

The primary intelligence agency of Australia says its resources are overextended as the country faces “espionage and foreign interference [of an] unprecedented” scale. In its annual report to the Australian houses of parliament, which was produced on Tuesday, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) says it lacks resources to counter “harmful espionage” and “malicious activity” against the country. The unclassified report is published every year as a summary of a much longer classified report, which is shared with senior government officials and senior civil servants. It is endorsed by ASIO Director Duncan Lewis, who serves as Australia’s Director-General of Security.

Russia ‘to revive the KGB’ after Putin wins biggest majority

Russia plans effectively to revive the KGB under a massive shake-up of its security forces, a respected business daily has reported.

A State Security Ministry, or MGB, would be created from the current Federal Security Service (FSB) , and would incorporate the foreign intelligence service (SVR) and the state guard service (FSO), under the plans. It would be handed all-encompassing powers once possessed by the KGB, the Kommersant newspaper said, citing security service sources.

FBI Warns Nation-State Cyber Attacks Are Continuing

This will continue until America is either crippled beyond repair, or until America decides to abandon its “patch and pray” reactive measures that do almost nothing against future threats, and become proactive.

 

Government and private networks hit by sophisticated cyber espionage

Foreign government hackers are continuing to target U.S. government and private sector computer networks in sophisticated cyber attacks, the FBI warned in an alert sent this week.

“Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) cyber actors continue to target sensitive information stored on U.S. commercial and government networks through cyber espionage,” the FBI said in the May 11 notice.

The term “APT actor” is a euphemism for state-sponsored or highly sophisticated cyber attackers, usually involving connections to foreign militaries or intelligence services.

Germany wants foreign embassies to declare their spy employees

They want names to be able to either eliminate or minimize compromises to their own operations at home.

The Fourth Reich is regaining its grip not only on itself, but the entire European front. Soon enough, NATO will get the boot and you will see a European Army forming.

Sound laughable? Two years ago here it was mentioned Germany would rise again. Look where we are now: In the rise process. A few more people see it than the previous years while the majority are still blind to what’s directly under their noses.

Europe has been anchored to Germany once again, and not the other way around. If they will boldly fly military helicopters over US embassy consulates in Germany, they will indeed take whatever else they can. History does indeed repeat itself.

 

German authorities have asked that foreign embassies and consulates on German soil officially disclose the names of their personnel involved in intelligence work.

German newsmagazine Der Spiegel said that the German Foreign Office has been systematically contacting consular authorities from every foreign nation located in Germany. In each case, the foreign consular representatives have been issued formal requests to release “through official diplomatic channels” an exhaustive list of names of their intelligence operatives operating in Germany under diplomatic cover.

Britain ‘under attack’ in cyberspace

Britain is seeing about 70 sophisticated cyber espionage operations a month against government or industry networks, British intelligence has told the BBC.

GCHQ director Sir Iain Lobban said business secrets were being stolen on an “industrial scale”.

Chinese hackers took over NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals

As mentioned in a previous post where it was detailed that the US water system was under attack, this should not come as a surprise. It should also not come as a surprise that the power grid has been compromised, satellites have been compromised, the US Chamber of Commerce has been compromised, to name a few. There is a more lengthy history than what was mentioned dating back to the 1990’s and possibly during the 1980’s. You’d think this normally would raise alarm bells with the average citizen, but it doesn’t. All in all, the real issue at hand is the lack of preparation(s) by the US government in preventing another assault. Should some event such as the national power grid going offline happen, we are simply not prepared.

Chinese hackers gained control over NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in November, which could have allowed them delete sensitive files, add user accounts to mission-critical systems, upload hacking tools, and more — all at a central repository of U.S. space technology, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon by the Office of the Inspector General.

That report revealed scant details of an ongoing investigation into the incident against the Pasadena, Calif., lab, noting only that cyberattacks against the JPL involved Chinese-based Internet Protocol (IP) addresses.

Paul K. Martin, NASA’s inspector general, put his conclusions bluntly.

“The attackers had full functional control over these networks,” he wrote.

JPL is a jewel in NASA’s space technology crown.

…

“In 2010 and 2011, NASA reported 5,408 computer security incidents that resulted in the installation of malicious software on or unauthorized access to its systems,” his report states. “These incidents spanned a wide continuum from individuals testing their skill to break into NASA systems, to well-organized criminal enterprises hacking for profit.”

Other incidents “may have been sponsored by foreign intelligence services seeking to further their countries’ objectives,” he noted.

Full article: Chinese hackers took over NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, Inspector General reveals (Fox News)