Russia Readies Own Web To Survive Global Internet Shutdown

 

Russian authorities and major telecom operators are preparing to disconnect the country from the world wide web as part of an exercise to prepare for future cyber attacks, Russian news agency RosBiznesKonsalting (RBK) reported last week.

The purpose of the exercise is to develop a threat analysis and provide feedback to a proposed law introduced in the Russian Parliament last December.

Australia concerned about Chinese firm’s involvement in undersea cable project

 

Australia has expressed concern about a plan by a Chinese telecommunications company to provide high-speed Internet to the Solomon Islands, a small Pacific island nation with which Australia shares Internet resources. The company, Huawei Technologies, a private Chinese venture, is one of the world’s leading telecommunications hardware manufacturers. In recent years, however, it has come under scrutiny by Western intelligence agencies, who view it as being too close to the Communist Party of China.

Communist China calls for RED global internet governance

Attendees listen to a speech by China’s President Xi Jinping shown on a screen during the opening ceremony of the third annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen town of Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, China November 16, 2016. REUTERS/Aly Song

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping made a global rallying call Wednesday for countries to adopt Beijing style internet governance.

• Xi Jinping: “The development of the internet knows no international boundaries. The sound use, development and governance of the internet thus calls for closer cooperation.”
• Xi repeated China’s pledge to “promote equitable global internet governance” while upholding “cyber sovereignty.”
• This month: China’s parliament adopted a cybersecurity law critics say could shut foreign businesses out of various sectors in China.
• 40 international groups and technology organizations condemned the law which introduces sweeping surveillance measures.
• Beijing: law was designed to root out cybersecurity threats in “critical” industries.

China’s Secret Plan to Control the Internet | China Uncensored

Hi, welcome to China Uncensored, I’m your host Chris Chappell.

The Internet! Some of you watching may not have even been alive at a time when the Internet wasn’t everywhere. But I remember such a time. When computers were mysterious novelties, completely misunderstood by popular media.

Electric Dreams was popular, right? Anyway, the world has now changed in weird, wild ways. Because Internet.

FBI reports more attempts to hack voter registration system

There have also been ‘scanning activities,’ which could be preludes to attacks

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has found more attempts to hack the voter registration systems of states, ahead of national elections.

The agency had reportedly found evidence in August that foreign hackers had breached state election databases in Illinois and Arizona, but it appears that there have been other attempts as well, besides frequent scanning activities, which the FBI describes as preludes for possible hacking attempts.

China Could Control the Global Internet After Oct. 1

ICANN Chairman Steve Crocker speaks during the opening of the ICANN meeting in Singapore on Feb. 9, 2015. The U.S. plan to relinquish control of ICANN opens the door for China to have greater influence over the global internet. (Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images)

 

The handover of ICANN, the body that governs domain name registration, fits into a strategy by the Chinese regime to determine how the Internet is run

In November 2014, Li Yuxiao, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Cyberspace, stated, according to the state-run China Daily, “Now is the time for China to realize its responsibilities. If the United States is willing to give up its running of the internet sphere, the question comes as to who will take the baton and how it would be run?”

“We have to first set our goal in cyberspace, and then think about the strategy to take, before moving on to refining our laws,” he said.

Li’s comments were in response to news, also in 2014, that the United States would relinquish its remaining federal government control of the internet by ending its contract between the Commerce Department and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which is scheduled for Oct. 1.

U.S. court rules that FBI can hack into a computer without a warrant

The case involves the FBI arresting a child pornography suspect

A U.S. court has ruled that the FBI can hack into a computer without a warrant — a move which is troubling privacy advocates.

The criminal case involves a child pornography site, Playpen, that had been accessible through Tor, a browser designed for anonymous web surfing.

Terrorist groups acquiring the cyber capability to bring major cities to a standstill, warns GCHQ chief

Don’t ever think for a moment this is limited to Europe. Through SCADA/SCADAs vulnerability entire water systems can be shut down or poisoned, sewer systems can overflow. Medication doses can be changed, etc…

 

Terrorists and rogue states are gaining the capability to bring a major city to a standstill with the click of a button, the Director of GCHQ has warned.

In a rare public appearance, Robert Hannigan said the risk to cities like London would increase as more physical objects, such as cars and household appliances, are connected online – the so-called “internet of things”.

Russia Seeks China’s Help Controlling the Internet

Russia’s Safe Internet League met in Moscow last month with China’s powerful censors, including Fang Binxing. He is known as one of the creators of “The Great Firewall of China.”

The Safe Internet League is registered as a non-governmental organization. But it reportedly has links to important Russian officials.

Observers say the recent meeting shows that government officials in the two countries want to increase their control of the Internet.

Cyber Fraud At SWIFT – $81 Million Stolen From Central Bank

SWIFT (Wikipedia)

 

Swift, the vital global financial network that western financial services companies, institutions and banks use for all payments and transfer billions of dollars every day, warned its customers yesterday evening that it was aware of cyber fraud and a number of recent “cyber incidents” where attackers had sent fraudulent messages over its system and $81 million was apparently stolen from a central bank.

As reported by Reuters, the disclosure came as law enforcement agencies investigate the February cyber theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Swift has acknowledged that the scheme involved altering Swift software on Bangladesh Bank’s computers to hide evidence of fraudulent transfers.

Bloody Alliance (I)

BERLIN/RIYADH (Own report) – Saudi Arabia can use German technology of repression and skills provided by the German police for the suppression of its opposition, which last weekend culminated in a mass execution. In recent years, the German government has authorized the supply of telecommunication surveillance products to Riyadh, worth more than 18 million Euros. The German Federal Office of Criminal Investigation organized, among other things, training courses in counter-terrorism for Saudi Arabia’s GID intelligence service. Saudi Arabia even treats non-violent protests by its heavily discriminated Shia minority as “terrorism.” The German Federal Police is training Saudi border police officers within the framework of an official project, formally approved in 2009 by Germany’s Interior Minister at the time, Wolfgang Schäuble. According to reports, the training includes exercising the use of assault rifles and crackdowns on demonstrators. It has also been provided, at least temporarily, to members of the religious police force. This cooperation in repression is an element of a comprehensive economic cooperation guaranteeing German enterprises large sales and billions in contracts. Above all, it serves Berlin’s strategic Middle East policy objectives.

China exploits terror threat in West to gain access to foreign tech firms

China passed a new anti-terrorism law on Dec. 27 that critics say exploits fears of terrorism in order to extract sensitive information from technology companies.

Tech firms strenuously objected to the law that was unanimously passed by Beijing’s rubber-stamp parliament. The new law states that telecom operators and Internet service providers must “provide technical support and assistance, including decryption” to Chinese authorities in their investigations into terrorist activities.

Russia’s Kaspersky Labs signs deal with China Cyber Security Company as Beijing and Moscow call for end to US domination of internet

Russian software security giant Kaspersky Lab has formed a strategic partnership with a Chinese state-own company as Beijing and Moscow work more closely in policing their cyberspace.

The deal was signed on Wednesday at one of the panel meetings of China’s second World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province.

Russia ‘tried to cut off’ World Wide Web

In actuality, it sounds more like a dry run for when the lights go out worldwide after a large scale attack on America’s infrastructure. People will naturally see this as a communist “clamp down on freedoms” as the article describes, however, this could be a test of insulation as opposed to isolation. It would be simple case of making an attack, cutting off the internet and shielding yourself.

 

Russia has run large scale experiments to test the feasibility of cutting the country off the World Wide Web, a senior industry executive has claimed.

The tests, which come amid mounting concern about a Kremlin campaign to clamp down on internet freedoms, have been described by experts as preparations for an information blackout in the event of a domestic political crisis.

Web Wars: German Army to Enter Global Cyberwar – German Media

 

The Bundeswehr is planning to unfold its “offensive capabilities” in cyber warfare. A new strategy paper of the Ministry of Defense considers the Internet as a potential war zone.

The Bundeswehr is facing a major change of its strategy in cyber warfare. In addition to defense against cyberattacks, the German army is due to perform attacks on foreign states, DWN wrote, referring to a strategy paper of the German Ministry of Defense.

…

Germany faces increasing cyberattacks on its infrastructure. Therefore, according to German officials, the Bundeswehr should be responsible for “the defense against cyberattacks, which represent an armed attack on Germany” in the future.