6:00 PM ET, Thursday, August 24, 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:
The Americas
U.S. to Host Ukrainian Pilots for F-16 Training. The Pentagon announced that the U.S. will host some Ukrainian F-16 pilot training. Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said flight training will start in October in Arizona and that participating pilots will begin English training next month. He said it is unclear how many pilots will be trained since they have yet to be selected, saying only that “several” pilots and “upwards of dozens” of maintainers will be involved. The announcement marks a shift from last week when U.S. officials said the U.S. would only train Ukrainian pilots if European training programs reached capacity. Breaking Defense CNN New York Times
U.S. Imposes Sanctions Over Forced Deportation of Ukrainian Children. The U.S. State Department sanctioned 13 individuals and entities reportedly linked to Russia’s forced deportation of Ukrainian children during the Ukraine war. One of the targeted entities is Artek, a Russian government-owned “summer camp” that places forcibly transferred Ukrainian children into “patriotic re-education camps” and prevents them from being returned to their families. The measures also target the advisor to the governor of Belgorod, the commissioners for children’s rights in the Kaluga and Rostov regions, and the chairman of the government of the Chechen Republic. Russia has acknowledged it is transferring thousands of children out of occupied areas in Ukraine, but claims it is protecting orphans and children in conflict zones. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children’s commissioner for their alleged role in the illegal deportations. Barron’s CNN Reuters RFE/RL
Brazil Doubling Fighter Air Fleet as Part of $10 Billion Military Investment. Brazil is planning to invest 52.8 billion reals ($10 billion) for military research and development and equipment acquisition. This measure is part of the government’s Growth Acceleration Program (PAC) established by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Spending for the PAC will reach 1.7 trillion reals in total, with defense being the key focus. The Brazilian government said PAC spending will go towards “cutting-edge technologies, enhancing national defense capability, and border monitoring.” A key part of the program is to double the size of the Brazilian Air Force’s Gripen fighter fleet with plans to produce and acquire 34 new jets. Defense News
Western Europe
Norway Sending F-16s to Ukraine. Norway has pledged to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced the move during a visit to Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s Independence Day. Norway is now the third nation to commit to giving the warplanes to Kyiv, following the Netherlands and Denmark. Norway has also pledged to train Ukrainian pilots on the jets. The Norwegian government did not disclose how many F-16s it will send, and the warplanes are not expected to reach Ukraine in time to support its ongoing counteroffensive. Associated Press Reuters
Central and Eastern Europe
U.S. Considers Missile Strike, Bomb Behind Downing of Prigozhin’s Plane. Western officials say they are considering several theories over what downed a private plane that was presumably carrying Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. Russian authorities say Prigozhin, Wagner commander Dmitry Utkin and eight other people were aboard the plane when it crashed, leaving no survivors. U.S. officials said a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment has found that the plane crash was intentionally caused by an explosion, though they did not offer definitive details on the apparent assassination plot. Some officials suggested a surface-to-air missile launched from inside Russia downed the plane, though the Pentagon later said it “doesn’t have any information” to suggest that right now. The Wall Street Journal reports that other officials believe a bomb on the aircraft or another form of sabotage caused the crash. Officials say information is preliminary and under review and that no conclusion has been reached. The Russian government said it is investigating the incident. Wagner-linked social media channels have claimed that a Russian military anti aircraft missile hit the plane. Associated Press Reuters Wall Street Journal The Cipher Brief
Putin Makes First Remarks About Prigozhin’s Presumed Death. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday broke his initial silence about the plane crash that presumably killed Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. He expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the crash and offered some praise to “Wagner Group employees” reportedly on the plane, saying that “there are the people who significantly contributed to our common cause of fighting the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine… We remember it, we know it, and we will not forget it.” Putin said he knew Prigozhin “for a very long time” and called him “a man of difficult fate” who had “made serious mistakes in life.” He added that he was a “talented man” who “achieved the results needed” both for himself and “for a common cause” when asked by Putin. He did not comment on what may have caused the crash, saying only that official investigations are ongoing and “will take some time.” CNN
Lithuania Announces New Ukraine Military Aid Package. Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defense on Thursday announced a 41-million-euro ($44 million) military aid package for Ukraine to mark the country’s Independence Day. The ministry said the package includes ammunition, rifles, maritime surveillance radar kits, generators, anti-drones and NASAMS missile launchers. The ministry added that Lithuania benefits from the aid since it offers “valuable lessons learned” and strengthens the Baltic nation’s defenses. Al Jazeera Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense
Asia and Oceania
BRICS Nations Looking at Local Currency Usage, Alternative Banking Systems. Li Kexin, Director General of the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Foreign Ministry of China, said on Thursday that BRICS nations should strengthen cross-border payment cooperation and study local currency cooperation tools and platforms to promote local currency settlement. His comments came at the BRICS members’ meeting in South Africa, where the use of local currencies to lessen dependence on the U.S. dollar has been a key topic. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who attended the summit in place of President Vladimir Putin, added that the bloc is planning to establish an alternative banking payment system to SWIFT, which Russian banks have been blocked from under Western sanctions following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Reuters
China Using Quiet Program to Attract Foreign Chip Talent. China has reportedly quietly revived a program to recruit overseas semiconductor experts and tech talent to bolster its domestic chip industry. China openly recruited elite foreign-trained scientists under the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP) for a decade until 2018. Beijing stopped promoting the program when the U.S. began investigating participating scientists over concerns that the TTP threatened U.S. technological progress. Sources say the revived version of the program is called Quming, which is overseen by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The program seeks to recruit scientists working in “sensitive” or “classified” technological areas. Unlike the TPP, Quming participants are no longer publicized, and the program is not listed on central government websites. The initiative reportedly offers perks to recruits like home purchase subsidies and a signing bonus of 3 to 5 million yuan ($420,000 to $700,000). The report on Quming comes as China moves to address worker shortages in its chip industry and navigate U.S. export restrictions and other measures targeting the sector, including the U.S. Commerce Department’s recent order prohibiting U.S. nationals from supporting the development and production of advanced semiconductors in China. Reuters
Middle East and Northern Africa
Turkish Attack in Iraq Kills 3 PKK Members. A Turkish army drone strike in northern Iraq reportedly killed three members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The counterterrorism services of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) confirmed the attack in Sidakan district, north of the regional capital Erbil, killed a PKK official and two fighters. The strike took place as Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met KRG Prime Minister Masour Barzani in Erbil. Neither official mentioned the strike, but Fidan referenced Ankara’s cooperation with KRG against PKK, which Turkey deems a terrorist organization. Al Jazeera
Cyber and Tech
NIST Seeks Real-World Testing in Roll-Out of First Quantum-Resistant Algorithms. Three of the four draft standards for quantum-resistant algorithms have been issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The algorithms, designed to withstand cyberattacks by quantum computers, have been released now so that they are ready for widespread use in 2024. NIST explained that the ongoing standardization process is the final step before the mathematical tools are integrated into organizations’ encryption systems around the world. NIST is requesting that cryptographers evaluate the performance of the three algorithms and submit their findings by November 22. Dustin Moody, leader of the NIST project, said feedback on the draft standards will help the agency to answer the questions, “do we need to change anything, and have we missed anything?” NIST also has begun work on a second set of “backup” algorithms, drafts of which will be published if they “make the grade.” Moody explained that only one or two would likely be selected from the second set, which will be designed for “general encryption” but based on different mathematical problems in case the first set falters. Cybernews
Massive Ransomware Encryption Cripples Danish Cloud Services Provider. CloudNordic, a Danish cloud services provider, has been hit by a massive ransomware attack that encrypted almost all the company’s customer data, making it irretrievable. The threat actors, who have not been identified, installed ransomware on CloudNordic’s websites, email servers, and customer systems. In an announcement, the company said it “cannot and does not want to meet the financial demands of the criminal hackers for ransom.” CloudNordic called in cybersecurity experts to determine what data could be retrieved but concluded that “it has proved impossible to recreate more data, and the majority of our customers have thus lost all data with us.” The company told customers that it cannot provide compensation for data losses and suggested they contact their insurance providers. Regarding the company’s future, the company announcement said, “at the moment, we are not bankrupt, but it may become a reality in the future.” CloudNordic explained that hackers gained full access when servers were relocated to another data center, which allowed attackers to exploit infected – but undetected — servers to penetrate management systems, backup systems, and secondary backup systems. Cybernews TechCrunch
New Hacktivist Group Launches Data Theft Attacks on NATO Country Systems. A new hacktivist group, KittenSec, has claimed that its attacks on government and private computer systems in NATO countries over the past month are motivated by a desire to expose corruption. A KittenSec member told CyberScoop, “we are mostly targeting anything we can see. We don’t care how hard it is. We always manage to own anything we see and want. But mostly because of corruption.” In late July, the group announced on Telegram it had hacked Romanian government systems and posted 36 GB of data, including emails and healthcare-related information. It claimed to have remove “personal info” from the posting and warned that the Romanian intrusion was “just the beginning.” Subsequently, KittenSec claims to have exposed data of over 13 million people in separate system hacks in Greece, France, Chile, Panama, and Italy. In a series of contacts with CyberScoop, KittenSec described itself as new, although it claimed linkages to other hacktivist groups, including ThreatSec and GhostSec. Although the group focused on Romania, a key NATO player in aiding neighboring Ukraine, KittenSec said it is not motivated by the conflict. The attack on Romania, KittenSec said, “has nothing to do with the war between Russia and Ukraine” and is in “retaliation against the countries of NATO for their attacks on human rights.” CyberScoop
Wargame Analysis of Taiwan Invasion Points to Potent Tech Options. Earlier this year, experts from the RAND Corporation and the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP) conducted a series of wargames focused on a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan. A distinctive feature of the RAND-SCSP approach was the deliberate involvement of commercial sector technologists, who helped examine near-term capabilities that might be introduced into a Taiwan conflict. In the last of three wargame exercises, participants evaluated key operational problems and selected 17 possible technological solutions from an initial field of over 80. The 17 possibilities broke roughly into three categories – those that promise significant advantage using existing technologies; those with quick impact based on information advantages over China; and those in which technologists directly assist military operations, as in Ukraine. Given that China’s targeting of Taiwan and other forces through a variety of sensors is a key threat, technological solutions include multi-domain drone “mimics,” “smart” sea mines, and optimizing decoy performance through algorithms. Communications and coordination of forces is another critical area, for which the wargame proposed solutions centered on real-time language translation, masking operational intent through use of an “uncommon operating picture” to obfuscate exact force location, and a shared cloud infrastructure. To enhance the mobility and survivability of combat troops and command centers, the exercise found potential in the use of secure, handheld devices that provide data feeds, computing power, and multiple displays to units on the move. Another solution in this area is military equipment or communications gear capable of using any available network path, to create robust and secure channels to defeat Chinese electronic warfare operations. Finally, for the highly urbanized environment, the wargame pointed to the value of “commercial combat suites” of widely used commercial applications by civilians to provide information on enemy troop movements, coordinating supplies, and identifying evacuation routes, all of which have been carried out effectively in Ukraine. BreakingDefense
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