The Cipher Brief

Iran's Digital War Machine Targeting U.S. Infrastructure

Despite strikes on Iranian command centers, Tehran’s cyber operators continue targeting U.S. healthcare, energy, water, and government systems through dispersed networks and proxy groups.

The first missile strikes hadn’t even cooled before Iranian-linked hackers were moving. When the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against [...] More

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Cipher Brief Experts bring context to today’s global events

The Bear and the Dragon: The Threat of Sino-Russian Opportunism and Intelligence Miscalculation

KREMLIN FILES/COLUMN: As Washington's attention continues to be diverted with an Iran unwilling to come to a comprehensive peace, a more dangerous [...] More

U.S. Donald Trump Meets With China's President Xi In South Korea

When a Charismatic and a Machiavellian Meet

ANALYSIS -- President Trump will visit Beijing later this month for the first time in almost a decade. As a former CIA clinical psychologist, I have [...] More

From Socialist Surge to Regional Realignment- Latin America’s Pink Tide Is Receding

Latin America’s Pink Tide Recedes as Economic Reality Fractures Socialist AllianceLatin America’s leftist front is hitting a wall. The momentum that [...] More

Proscribing the IRGC Will Make Britain Safer

Proscribing the IRGC Will Make Britain Safer

The United Kingdom must act to proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, before it’s too late. The IRGC must be proscribed before [...] More

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NOT EXACTLY ETERNAL JOY: The ping-pong defense didn't work. On May 3rd when Dead Drop last checked in on Lu Jianwang, AKA: "Harry Lu," he was on trial in Brooklyn federal court. His attorney was arguing that the six-story Chinatown building he ran was just a spot for Chinese diaspora members to renew their driver's licenses and play mahjong and table tennis. But a jury decided otherwise and convicted him of acting as an unregistered agent of the Chinese government. They also convicted him of obstruction of justice for deleting WeChat messages that prosecutors said contained orders from Beijing to silence and harass [...] More

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State Secrets

Former Australian Signals Directorate Director-General Rachel Noble joins State Secrets with Suzanne Kelly for a rare insider’s look at the cyber battles shaping modern national security. From China’s targeting of critical infrastructure to Russia, Iran, AI-enabled threats, offensive cyber operations and the power of the Five Eyes alliance, Noble explains why the next conflict may already be underway - inside our networks.

In this episode:

Why the Australian Signals Directorate is one of the Five Eyes’ most important cyber and intelligence partners
How China is pre-positioning inside critical infrastructure and telecommunications networks
Why cyber criminals and state-backed actors are increasingly blurring together
What Russia, Iran and China are teaching the world about cyber conflict
How AI is accelerating both cyber defense and cyber offense
Why private sector companies may now be the first line of defense in modern conflict
What citizens can do to strengthen national cyber resilience
Why intelligence agencies need to better explain their mission to the public

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