5:30 PM ET, Wednesday, September 20, 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 TOP STORIES:
U.S. to Announce New Ukraine Military Aid. A U.S. official said President Joe Biden plans to announce $325 million in new military aid for Ukraine when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visits Washington on Thursday. The official said the package is expected to include a second tranche of cluster munitions fired by 155mm howitzers, as well as TOW and AT4 anti-tank weapons, Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and Javelin anti-tank missiles. The official said the package will not include long-range ATACMS missiles, which Ukraine has long requested. The aid will be pulled from U.S. excess stocks through the Presidential Drawdown Authority. Reuters CNN
Garland Warns Against Defunding FBI, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday warned that it would be “catastrophic” if the FBI were defunded, responding to threats by Republican lawmakers to defund the agency. Testifying before the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, Garland said defunding the FBI would leave the U.S. “naked” to varying threats, malign Chinese influence and domestic violent extremists. He added that the Department of Justice’s job is “not to take orders” regarding “who or what to criminally investigate,” asserting that the department “works for the American people.” His testimony came amid Republican criticism of the department’s handling of the indictments of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Reuters Washington Post
Pentagon Award $240 Million for Regional Tech Hubs. Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks announced on Wednesday that the Pentagon is awarding $240 million to eight regional innovation hubs under its Microelectronics Commons program. The funds come from the CHIPS Act, with each hub receiving between $15 million and $40 million to develop technologies like electromagnetic warfare, secure computing, internet of things, artificial intelligence, 5G and 6G, and quantum. A defense official said the initiative aims to build a “robust pipeline” to deliver “new, world-leading microelectronics” made in the U.S., thus reducing reliance on overseas manufacturers. Breaking Defense
The Rise of China-Backed Cyberattacks. Hollie McKay writes on China's malicious cyber activities, which the Pentagon and experts have deemed the greatest threat to U.S. cybersecurity. In contrast to relatively less organized Russian cyber activity outsourced to cybercrime syndicates, analysts said China’s malicious cyber operations are more systematic and aggressive and are rapidly advancing. Stealing intellectual property and technology is a top goal of Chinese hackers, and U.S. critical infrastructure is also vulnerable to attacks. U.S. cyber authorities, in cooperation with partners, have moved to better deter and investigate Chinese cyberattacks and raise awareness of the threat in response. The Cipher Brief
UPDATES FROM THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the UN is at a “deadlock over matters of aggression” and cannot be relied on to address the Ukraine war as long as Russia retains its position in the UN Security Council, specifically with its veto power. He added that resolutions from the UN General Assembly show the world “clearly” recognizes Russia as the aggressor in the war. He then called for the UN General Assembly to strip Russia of its veto power on the Security Council.
Zelensky also presented Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan to the Council and invited others to support the proposal, which includes the full withdrawal of Russian troops from all Ukrainian territory.
Other world leaders have echoed calls for reform of the UN Security Council. Ghana’s President Nana Addo Dankwa said that the veto power of Russia and other major powers has made the council “ineffective.” Switzerland’s President Alain Berset said the Council should be reformed “for greater and better representation.”
The removal of Russia’s veto power is almost guaranteed to never happen. All five permanent members of the Council would need to approve the move, and Moscow would likely reject any effort to curb its veto power. The General Assembly can vote to expel a member state from the UN, but it has never happened. CNN Ukrinform Washington Post New York Times
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s justification for its invasion of Ukraine to the Council by saying the West staged a “coup” in Ukraine to install a pro-Western president. His comments offered a warped version of the anti-Russian Maidan uprising in Ukraine in 2014. Lavrov added that the pro-Western government in Kyiv is an American puppet that the U.S. could “command” to negotiate with Russia if it wanted. Lavrov also accused the U.S. of using the U.N. to target countries “who for one reason or another are inconvenient to Washington.” He also criticized U.S. military intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere. Lavrov also defended Russia’s veto power on the Council as “legitimate.” Zelensky left the Security Council chamber before Lavrov spoke. New York Times
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said that if Russia supports North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs, it will be a “direct provocation” and that Seoul and its allies will respond. He further criticized Russia for failing to fulfill its duties as a permanent member of the UN Security Council by invading another sovereign nation and accepting weapons from Pyongyang, which “blatantly violates” the Council’s resolutions. His comments came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met Russian President Vladimir Putin in eastern Russia, where they reportedly discussed an arms deal. Yoon also called on the UN to establish an international governing body on artificial intelligence. CNN Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden in New York on Wednesday, marking their first meeting since Netanyahu returned to power last year. The two leaders pledged to work towards normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which Biden said would be a “big deal.” Netanyahu agreed that such a deal would help Arab-Israeli relations and advance towards a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He added that the Palestinian Authority should have a say in such a deal, but that it cannot have veto power over parts of the agreement it disagrees with. The White House said the two leaders also discussed Iran’s nuclear program, the India-Europe infrastructure corridor, and violence in the occupied West Bank. Biden also urged Netanyahu to find a compromise on his government’s judicial overhaul plan in regard to the health of Israel’s democracy. Netanyahu tried to play down concerns and said Israel remains steadfast in its commitment to democracy. Reuters Axios Associated Press Haaretz Times of Israel Barron's
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also met with President Joe Biden in New York on Wednesday. The two launched an initiative on labor conditions and workers’ rights. They avoided openly covering areas of disagreement such as the Ukraine war and the U.S. embargo on Cuba. Associated Press Bloomberg Reuters
See more updates from the rest of today’s afternoon session in tomorrow morning’s report.
Review past highlights from the UNGA in today’s morning report and yesterday’s afternoon report, including remarks from President Joe Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
THE UKRAINE UPDATE:
On the Battlefield
Ukraine Hits Russian Command Post in Crimea. The Ukrainian military said it struck a Russian command post in Crimea on Wednesday morning. Ukraine’s Strategic Communications Directorate of the Defense Ministry said it was a command post for Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and that it was near the “temporarily occupied Sevastopol.” Ukraine has increased attacks on Russian military targets in Crimea over the last month. CNN
State of Play
Poland Summons Ukrainian Ambassador Over Grain Scandal. Poland’s foreign ministry summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to protest Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comments on Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia’s decision to extend a ban on grain imports from Ukraine. Zelensky told the UN General Assembly that Kyiv was working to preserve land routes for grain exports, but “political theater” around the imports was only helping Moscow. Poland protested against Zelensky alleging that some EU countries were feigning solidarity while indirectly supporting Russia. The three countries said the ban is meant to protect their farmers from a mass influx of grain and food imports from Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said Ukraine is losing $175 million a month due to the ban, with some estimating that Ukraine may lose up to $644 million by the end of the year if the ban continues. Ukraine has taken legal action on the issue, launching a lawsuit against Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia over the bans. Reuters CNN
THE CYBER AND TECH RUNDOWN:
Britain Passes Sweeping Online Safety Bill Requiring Proactive Content Monitoring. The British Parliament Tuesday passed the Online Safety Bill, a wide-ranging law that will impose rules including age-verification for pornography sites, measures to reduce hate speech, and child safety provisions. The bill is described as one of the most far-reaching efforts in the West to regulate online speech and has triggered heated discussion about the balance between free speech and controls on harmful content. The new legislation compels companies to initiate screening for objectionable material and decide on its legality rather than requiring action only after being warned of illegal content. Michelle Donelan, the British secretary of technology, described the bill as a “game-changing piece of legislation” that will advance the British government’s goal of making “the U.K. the safest place in the world to be online.” Online content promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disorders aimed at children is subject to restrictions. Pornography sites, social media platforms and other digital services must offer age-verification measures to prevent children from gaining access, which some groups have said will curtail available information online and undercut privacy. Wikipedia’s parent company has said it will be unable to comply with the law and may be blocked as a result. Lorna Woods, a professor of Internet law and participant in the bill’s drafting, said the legislation is based on the simple idea that “providers should consider the foreseeable risks to which their services give rise and seek to mitigate.” Responsibility for enforcing the law rests with Ofcom, the British regulator overseeing broadcast television and telecommunications, which must establish rules for policing online safety. New York Times TechCrunch The Record Cybernews
Commerce Secretary, Others Qualify Chinese Tech Prowess at House Science Hearing. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told a House Science Committee hearing on Tuesday that the U.S. has no evidence that Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant, can produce large volumes of smartphones featuring advanced chips. She told the House panel that China does not appear capable of manufacturing “seven-nanometer (chips) at scale," adding “I know that we are vulnerable. We buy all of those chips you’re talking about…none of them are made in America right now, which is why I’ve got to work like crazy every day to bring that manufacturing home.” The Commerce Department announced earlier in September that it is working to obtain more information "on the character and composition" of the chip that powers Huawei’s recently released Mate 60 Pro smartphone. Another witness at the House hearing, George Washington University political scientist Jeffrey Ding, qualified China’s ability to deploy AI and other technology innovations, noting that “its adoption rates and cloud computing, industrial software [and] related technologies…would all be in a similar category to AI, and those rates lag far behind the U.S.” Some Republican legislators believe the Commerce Department should halt all technology exports to Huawei and the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC), manufacturer of Huawei’s smartphone chip. Raimondo declined to comment on whether the department is considering ending all licenses for Huawei. Reuters Bloomberg South China Morning Post
Germany Considers Removal of Huawei, ZTE Equipment from 5G Networks by 2026. The German interior ministry is proposing curbs on the use of equipment manufactured by China’s Huawei and ZTE firms by domestic telecommunications operators in 5G networks. According to a strategy paper reviewed by Politico, the ministry underscored the “considerable structural dependencies” Germany has on the two Chinese companies. To avoid a repetition of the Nordstream case, the ministry argues, it is necessary to take action in the 5G telecommunications sector, which acts as “the 'central nervous system' of Germany as a business location.“ The interior ministry action comes in the wake of a review of Germany’s dependence on Chinese suppliers and involves staggered restrictions on Chinese technology, with all Huawei and ZTE components removed from 5G core networks by 2026. An additional proposal would reduce to 25 percent the amount of Chinese-supplied components in radio access networks (RAN) and transport networks by Oct. 1, 2026. Telecommunications providers were quick to criticize the proposals, and Huawei said in a statement that the actions would “inhibit innovation and significantly increase construction and operating costs for network operators." Deutsche Telekom said the proposed deadline was unrealistic and Telefonica Deutschland announced it would consider seeking damages and legal action. The interior ministry plans to present its approach to the cabinet next week, but that could be delayed due to political resistance. A telecoms consultancy survey reports that Huawei accounts for 59 percent of Germany's 5G RAN networks. Juergen Gruetzner, managing director of the VATM industry association, told Reuters 6-8 years would be required to complete a phaseout that would avoid extra costs. Reuters Politico
Chinese Businesses Face Wave of Phishing Campaigns Featuring New Malware. Chinese businesses are under attack by new strains of malware in phishing and social engineering campaigns designed to lure email recipients into clicking on malicious attachments. A study by the Proofpoint cybersecurity firm reports that 30 malware campaigns have been identified so far this year and feature use of “remote access trojan” (RAT) malware. A new strain detected by Proofpoint is dubbed ValleyRAT, which uses the ploy of emailed invoices to trick employees into inadvertently installing malware. Other campaigns monitored by Proofpoint also are conducted in Chinese via emails sent from Outlook or freemail addresses with URLs, or Excel attachments containing URLs. Opening the attachment leads to a zipped executable that installs “Sainbox,” which appears to be a new variant of Gh0stRAT. Purple Fox is another malware application used in at least three campaigns against Chinese speakers and which also was deployed to Japanese targets. Proofpoint believes the campaigns are being conducted by multiple threat groups whose overlapping activities indicate the hackers may be using the same infrastructure to distribute a variety of malware strains. Cybernews
Signal Messaging App Announces Quantum-Resistant Upgrade to Encryption Standard. The encrypted instant messaging app, Signal, has announced an upgrade to its cryptographic specifications that will withstand cyberattacks initiated by a future threat actor using quantum computers. The specification called, PQXDH, is described by Signal as “the first step in advancing quantum resistance.” The upgrade will equip Signal with a “layer of protection” capable of withstanding a quantum-enabled cyberattack that would break current encryption standards. One of Signal’s key benefits is the encrypted security and privacy it affords users. In anticipation of a coming era when current RSA Cryptosystem encryption will be rendered obsolete by quantum computing, new post-quantum cryptosystems are being created that “implement new one-way functions that cannot be advantageously reversed by a quantum computer,” according to Signal. The company lauded the work done by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for leading development of quantum-ready computer codes. Signal noted that because of NIST cryptographic research and innovations, “we now have stable options that have been created and vetted by a large community of experts.” Of four models recommended by NIST last year, Signal has selected CRYSTALS-Kyber, at least for the immediate future. “We will need to make further upgrades to address the threat of an attacker with a contemporaneous quantum computer,” the company said. Cybernews BleepingComputer
Homeland Security Council Recommends Ways To Harmonize Cyber Incident Reporting. A 100-page report released Tuesday by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) offers multiple recommendations on how the Federal government can revise and reorganize cyber incident reporting requirements impacting critical infrastructure operators. The recommendations are the work of the Cyber Incident Reporting Council (CIRC), which includes representatives of the National Cyber Director, Federal Trade Commission, and several Federal departments. The CIRC report underscored the complexity and overlap among the 45 reporting requirements administered by 22 Federal agencies. Part of the Biden administration’s cyber policy is harmonizing the array of requirements that have emerged over time from multiple agencies exercising different degrees of authority. Addressing this complexity, CISA Director Jen Easterly acknowledged that the need for reporting information “must be balanced with the burdens placed on industry” so that the requirements operate effectively. The value of the reporting requirements, Easterly said, is that the information they deliver “allows us to spot trends in real-time, rapidly render assistance to victims, and share information to warn other potential targets before they become victims.” The CIRC collaborated with 30-plus Federal agencies in drafting the recommendations, which are expected to influence the final form of CISA’s rule on cyber incident reporting expected next year. CyberScoop Bloomberg The Record
OpenAI Launches Multidisciplinary Red Team To Probe AI Models for Bias, Other Flaws. OpenAi, creator of ChatGPT, has launched a Red Teaming Network to help flesh out the company’s AI model risk and mitigation strategies. The network is made up of contracted experts representing research, computer science, and civil society organizations. Red teaming can detect race and gender biases in models like OpenAI’s DALL-E 2, or user prompts in ChatGPT that can be used to evade safety filters. OpenAI noted in a blog post that the network complements governance practices such as third-party audits. Network participants will use “their expertise to help red team at various stages of the model and product development lifecycle.” OpenAI says that Red Teaming Network members may engage with each other on general red teaming practices and findings outside of OpenAI work. The company said time commitments and specific AI models will be determined with members individually. OpenAI has enlisted a broad range of subject matter experts for the network, including backgrounds in linguistics, biometrics, finance and healthcare. TechCrunch
ELSEWHERE IN THE WORLD:
India Warns Nationals of Traveling to Canada. India has warned its nationals to exercise “utmost caution” if traveling to Canada. Ties between Canada and India have deteriorated rapidly over the murder of a Sikh separatist leader in Canada, who Ottawa has accused India of killing. Indian Prime Minister Modi has categorically denied Canada’s accusations. India’s foreign ministry warned its nationals, mostly students, to be aware of growing anti-India activities and hate crimes. India is currently the largest source of international students headed for Canada since 2018, with nearly one third of admitted Canadian residents from India. The U.S.has expressed deep concern over the quarrel and urged its two partners to cooperate and resolve the matter. Reuters
Haitian Gangs Call for Armed Overthrow of PM Henry. Some of Haitians most powerful gang leaders have begun to call for the armed overthrow of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The gang leaders also urged Haitians to take to the streets and protest against the unelected government, arguing that it has no legitimacy. Jimmy Cherizier, a former police officer who now chairs a coalition of gangs controlling the capital city Port-au-Prince, said that the gangs will launch a fight to overthrow Henry’s government “with weapons,” adding that Haitians who fled gang violence could soon return home and live in peace. Reuters
Okinawa Raises Alarm Over Japan’s Military Buildup. Japan’s recent military buildup is worrying residents of the Okinawa islands near Taiwan, their governor said Thursday. These recent concerns are signs of furthering tensions between the region and the central government. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida revealed plans in December to double Japan’s defense spending over five years to deter China from taking military action against Taiwan, which could endanger Japanese territory. Much of this buildup will be in Okinawa, which has been critical of the government in Tokyo for decades for allowing a large U.S. military presence on the islands. The Okinawa islands have high strategic value as they are close to Taiwan. Last year, Beijing fired missiles into the sea near Okinawa as former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. Many in Okinawa have been critical of the expansion of U.S. forces in the region and want Japan to move the U.S. troops and wider military buildup elsewhere. Reuters
OPINION
Financial Sector Cybersecurity is National Security: Tom Pfeifer, Executive Vice President from Booz Allen Hamilton, discusses solutions to strengthen cybersecurity of financial institutions, systems, and networks amid rising cyber threats. The Cipher Brief
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