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5:30 PM ET, Monday, October 30, 2023

The Cipher Brief curates open source information from around the world that impacts national security. Here's a look at today's headlines, broken down by region of the world:  

ISRAEL AND HAMAS WAR

Israeli Soldier Held Hostage by Hamas Freed in Israeli Ground Operation.  Israel’s military and Shin Bet intelligence agency report that an Israeli soldier taken hostage by Hamas has been freed in Israel’s ongoing ground operation in Gaza.  The military said the soldier has undergone medical checks and that she is “doing well.”  Israeli officials said they are committed to securing the release of the over 200 remaining hostages believed to be held by Hamas.  Axios Reuters Times of Israel

Saudi Defense Minister Visits Washington.  Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman arrived in Washington on Monday to meet senior Biden administration officials on Monday.  Sources say the visit has been long scheduled, but KBS’s trip comes amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.  The White House said KBS met with National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan to discuss defense ties between Washington and Riyadh.  Sullivan reportedly reiterated the U.S. commitment to protecting partners from threats in the region, including non-state actors backed by Iran, and praised the recent de-escalation of the conflict in Yemen.  The White House said the two also discussed the situation in Gaza, building off of President Joe Biden’s recent phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman.  Sullivan and KBS affirmed the need to increase humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza, avoid expansion of the Israel-Hamas conflict, and work towards a sustainable peaceful resolution between the Israelis and Palestinians.  KBS is also reportedly meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.  Saudi Arabia has condemned the targeting of civilians in Gaza amid Israeli air strikes on the territory following the Hamas attacks.  The White House

Israel’s El Al Stops Flying Over Oman in Bangkok Route.  Israel’s El Al Airlines said Monday that it has temporarily ceased flights over Omani airspace in its route to Bangkok for safety reasons. In February, El Al became the first Israeli airline to use the new air corridor over Saudi Arabia and Oman after Muscat and Riyadh allowed Israeli civilian overflights. A spokeswoman for El Al said that there was no specific threat to El Al aircraft but the airline opted to revert back to a route over Saudi Arabia instead of over Oman. This change increases the Bangkok flight time from 8 hours to 11. She added that El Al is seeking a new route over Oman and has asked officials for approval. This comes as Israel has increased security on all of its transport networks since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.  Reuters Times of Israel

Putin Calls Meeting Over Dagestan Airport Mob. Russian President Vladimir Putin called a meeting of security and law enforcement officials on Monday, the day after a mob stormed an airport in the southern region of Dagestan. The mob stormed the tarmac of the airport in Makhachkala, a predominantly Muslim region, after a plane from Israel landed.  Over 20 people were injured in the incident and at least 60 people have been detained following the unrest. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the security meeting will discuss “attempts by the West to use the events in the Middle East to divide the (Russian) society,” adding that the incident was caused by “outside interference, including information influence from outside.”  According to Mediazona, local Telegram channels had said before the unrest that “refugees from Israel” were coming to Dagestan.  Associated Press

Expert Perspective: Israeli Objectives on New Ground Offensive.  Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and Cipher Brief Expert Admiral James Stavridis (Ret.) said on Sunday that the main objectives of Israel’s ground operation in Gaza are securing the release of hostages held by Hamas, destroying Hamas’s physical infrastructure in Gaza, and capturing or eliminating the leadership of Hamas.  Moving forward, Stavridis warned of the risk of vertical escalation, noting attacks on U.S. forces in the region and U.S. retaliation, as well as the prospect of wider missile attacks by Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Israel.  Stavridis said while there is still a “low probability” of a regional widening of the Israel-Hamas conflict, it is still important to watch out for Iran and Hezbollah.  USA Today

THE UKRAINE UPDATE

Russia Bolstering Forces Around Bakhmut, Switched from Defense to Offense.  Ukraine’s military reports that Russia has bolstered its forces around the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and that Russian troops in the area have shifted from a defensive to an offensive posture.  Volodymyr Fityo, head of communications for Ukraine's ground forces command, said the Ukrainian military is not surprised by the development, saying that intelligence has shown that Russia is preparing to try and retake positions around Bakhmut that were liberated during Ukraine’s counteroffensive.  Fityo added that Ukraine has been “preparing, strengthening our defensive positions, engineering fortifications and pulling up reserves” in anticipation of new Russian offensive operations.  Fityo did note that Russian forces appear to be particularly active around the Ukrainian-held northeastern town of Kupiansk, where Russia has the numerical superiority.  The Ukrainian General Staff also maintains that its forces remain on the offensive near Bakhmut and that they repelled Russian attacks near the town of Klishchiivka, south of Bakhmut, and Synkivka, north of Kupiansk.  Reuters

Russia Claims Missile Downed over Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that its air defenses shot down eight Storm Shadow missiles launched by Ukraine at Russian-occupied Crimea on Monday.  Mikhail Razvozhaev, the head of Sevastopol's Russian occupation government, claimed that air defenses shot down two aerial targets over the city and that debris from the incident injured a man near a local railway.  He did not mention what projectiles were purportedly intercepted over the port.  Smoke was reportedly seen over the Gollandiya district of Sevastopol, which hosts several military facilities.  Explosions also reportedly occurred in the western Crimean city of Saky, followed by electricity cut-offs to the city.  Ukraine has not commented on the reported attacks, which come after a series of increasingly destructive attacks on Russian military targets on Crimea.  Kyiv Independent

Slovakia PM Offers Conditions for Approval of Ukraine Aid.  Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico set conditions for his approval of future aid to Ukraine.  The conditions include ensuring that E.U. funds would not be “misappropriated” — touching on his previously expressed concerns over corruption in Ukraine, which he reiterated in his post — and a request that some of the collective E.U. funding be used "to restore Slovak infrastructure in border areas and to support Slovak companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine."  Fico had campaigned against the possibility of Slovakia providing any more future military aid to Ukraine. Slovakia’s previous government has provided Ukraine with artillery, fighter jets, and other support in the past. As of now, Slovakia will continue sending humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.  Kyiv Independent 

THE CYBER AND TECH RUNDOWN

MIT Article Underscores Three Notable Elements of Biden Executive Order on AI.  The new Biden administration executive order (EO) on artificial intelligence is over 100 pages long, but there are select features that already are being singled out for special attention.  The MIT Technology Review today highlighted “the three most important things you need to know” and their potential impact, starting with the new rules for labeling AI-generated content.  The article draws attention to the Commerce Department’s development of guidelines for AI developers to use as they create labeling and watermarking tools, which the White House expects federal agencies to adopt.  Second, the Review takes up the question of just how enforceable the EO will prove to be.  While noting the EO overall emphasizes best practices rather than enforcement mechanisms, the article points out that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will issue detailed standards for “red team” testing meant to stress models in order to reveal vulnerabilities and flaws before they are released.  While the red team test standards are voluntary, it was noted that NIST’s previous standards work has documented the accuracy and bias of some AI systems, such as facial recognition.  Finally, initial reaction to the EO is outlined, with the Review noting that major tech companies have largely welcomed it.  Microsoft President Brad Smith assessed the EO as “another critical step forward in the governance of AI technology” while Google global affairs president Kent Walker said his company welcomes the opportunity to work with government “to maximize AI’s potential—including by making government services better, faster, and more secure.”  Some concerns have been expressed, including by Margaret Mitchell, Hugging Face chief ethics scientist, who said “the biggest concern to me in this is it ignores a lot of work on how to train and develop models to minimize foreseeable harms.”  MIT Technology Review The White House

Canada Bans WeChat, Kaspersky Applications on Government Mobile Devices.  Canada on Monday banned from use on government mobile devices the China-made WeChat messaging app and the antivirus program sold by Russia-based Kaspersky Lab.  A Canadian government agency that oversees public administration, while announcing the move based on privacy and security risks, said that government information has not been compromised.  According to the oversight agency statement, Canada’s chief information officer concluded that the Chinese and Russian apps “present an unacceptable level of risk to privacy and security.”  The statement also noted that the ban was implemented to ensure Canadian government “networks and data remain secure and protected and are in line with the approach of our international partners."  Kaspersky responded to the action by stating that no evidence had been provided on the risks of its products, adding the allegations are "highly unsupported and a response to the geopolitical climate rather than a comprehensive evaluation of the integrity of Kaspersky’s products and services."  WeChat did not immediately respond to a request for comment.  Reuters

MOVEit Breach Impacted Over 600,000 Email Addresses at Pentagon, Justice.  A report by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reveals new details about a compromise of the MOVEit file transfer software that included giving hackers access to email addresses of over 600,000 employees of the Defense and Justice Departments.  Federal cybersecurity officials had earlier confirmed breaches of government systems without detailing the scope of the attacks or the agencies impacted.  The OPM report said the threat actor, largely reported to be the Clop ransomware gang, accessed government email addresses, links to government employee surveys administered by OPM, and internal OPM tracking codes.  In addition to DoD and Justice employees, impacted staff included the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, and Defense agencies and field activities.  Justice and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment.  So far, more than 2,500 organizations worldwide have been affected by the MOVEit vulnerability.  Bloomberg

Russia Announces Domestic Malware Scanning Service To Replace Google Application.  A Russian digital and communications official has reported the country’s plan to launch a malware scanning system similar to the VirusTotal service owned by Google.  Commenting on the country’s decision, Alexey Vishnyakov, the head of malware detection at the Russian company Positive Technologies, explained that the ability of  U.S. authorities to access VirusTotal’s user data might make use of the platform unlawful in the Russian Federation.  Alexander Shoitov, deputy digital development and communications minister, said that the Russian application will be called “Multiscanner,” and is under development by Russia’s new National Technology Center for Digital Cryptography.   A Multiscanner website is already online with a site notice explaining that the service is under reconstruction.  Kaspersky, AVSoft and Netoscope are listed among the application’s partner firms.  Shoitov said Multiscanner will be fully operational in 2025 with capabilities to remotely check files and links using static analysis and perform behavioral analysis on suspected malware in virtual controlled sandbox environments.  The Record Cybernews

ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD

Asia and Oceania

China Lauds U.S. World War Two Veterans.  China honored Mel McMullen and Harry Moyer, two American World War Two veterans, on Monday as part of efforts to improve strained ties between Washington and Beijing.  McMullen and Moyer are among the few surviving members of a U.S. military command called the Flying Tigers, which helped China battle Japan during World War Two.  Their visit to China is the latest diplomatic step ahead of a possible meeting between President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month.  Associated Press

China Says Philippine Ship ‘Illegally Entered’ Waters Near Scarborough Shoal.  China’s military said on Monday that a Philippine ship “illegally entered” waters near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and urged the Philippines to immediately stop such provocations.  The statement marked a rare warning from the Chinese military towards the Philippines in the region since such warnings mostly target U.S. warships in the area.  Recently, China and the Philippines have had several confrontations in the South China Sea including a recent collision between a Chinese coast guard vessel and a Philippine boat, which Beijing and Manila blame each other for.  Reuters

Middle East

Rockets Target Iraqi Air Base Hosting U.S. forces.  Four Katyusha rockets were fired at Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base, which hosts U.S. and other international forces, in western Iraq on Monday.  It is currently unclear if there were any casualties or damage to the base.  Rockets were fired 15 miles north of the base.  Iraqi security forces have launched a search for the attackers.  There has been an increase in attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict.  Reuters

The Americas

Venezuelan Court Suspends Results of Opposition Primary.  Venezuela’s Supreme Justice Tribunal, the country’s top court, on Monday suspended the results of an opposition presidential primary.  The decision comes despite a deal between the government and opposition that allows each side to choose its presidential candidate for planned elections.  The ruling could lead to retaliation from the U.S., which lifted some sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector in exchange for the electoral deal.  The U.S. State Department said previously that it would reinstate the sanctions if the government of President Nicolas Maduro does not lift bans on some opposition candidates, free political prisoners, and release “wrongfully detained” Americans by the end of November.  Reuters Bloomberg

Africa

Sudan’s RSF Claims Seizure of Airport.  Sudan’s paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) said on Monday that it had seized the Belila airport in the state of West Kordofan, west of Sudan’s capital of Khartoum, from the Sudanese military.  The RSF claimed that the airport had been used by the army to launch warplanes.  Employees of the Belila oilfield, which produces much of Sudan’s oil output, reportedly had to be evacuated due to the fighting.  The RSF and Sudan’s army have also reportedly been battling in the western cities of El Obeid and El Fasher.  Reports on the continued fighting come as U.S.- and Saudi Arabia-sponsored negotiations between the warring sides take place in Jeddah.  Reuters

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