Wednesday, March 15, 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:
In the Americas
Pentagon FY24 Budget Calls for Extensive Technology, R&D Support. The U.S. Department of Defense is requesting $145 billion in its fiscal year 2024 budget to support research and development (R&D) of critical technologies. The figure is $15 billion more than last year’s R&D request. The 2024 budget allocates $1.4 billion for the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program, a massive effort to improve connectivity across the DOD. It also puts $3.6 billion towards addressing critical vulnerabilities in microelectronics, casting and forging, batteries and energy storage, kinetic capabilities and strategic critical materials. Another $687 million will go to the Rapid Defense Experimentation Reserve, which aims to facilitate innovation to fill key technology gaps. $1.8 billion will fund artificial intelligence projects and $115 million will go towards driving private sector investment and collaboration in key technology areas. C4ISRNET
U.S. Cyber Command Gets First Full Budget Request. The Pentagon's fiscal year 2024 budget also includes the first full budget request for US Cyber Command. Budget documents say the request calls for $332.6 million for Cybercom’s headquarters, $129 million for procurement and $1.1 billion for research and development. The military services funded Cybercom until a 2022 decision to expand the cyber mission force’s budget authority as part of efforts to streamline the command’s cyber operations. DefenseScoop
CIA Comes to SXSW to Call for Recruits. CIA senior executives held a panel discussion at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival in Austin to call for more people to join the agency. The officials — David Cohen, deputy director of the CIA; Jennifer Ewbank, deputy director for digital innovation; Sheetal Patel, assistant director CIA’s Transnational and Technology Mission Center; and Nand Mulchandani, chief technology officer — promoted the agency’s mission by leaning into shared concerns over pervasive digital threats and shared interest in the role of technology. PCMag
Honduras Announces Plan to Seek Diplomatic Relations with China, Sever Taiwan Ties. Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Twitter that she had instructed Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina to officially seek the opening of diplomatic relations with China. The move comes as Honduras is negotiating for Chinese support in building a hydroelectric dam. China’s foreign ministry praised Castro for the decision and expressed hope that the pivot to Beijing will go through. Taiwanese officials warned Honduras against succumbing to Chinese pressure to cut off diplomatic ties with Taipei, adding that China is likely targeting Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the Americas ahead of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s visit to the region. If Honduras does open official diplomatic relations with Beijing, it would leave Taiwan with only 13 international diplomatic partners. Beijing’s official position is that countries which have diplomatic relations with China, cannot have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Deutsche Welle Reuters
Ecuador Lawmakers Launch Bid to Impeach President. Ecuador’s national assembly voted to declassify documents as part of an investigation into President Guillermo Lasso. The investigation is into allegations that Lasso was connected to potential corruption at public companies. Opposition leaders have attempted to use this to bring up impeachment charges against the President. The Ecuadorian government had no immediate comment but has previously said that the reports findings were based on conjecture. Lasso has denied any wrongdoing and says his office will fully cooperate with the investigation. Reuters
Western Europe
UK Cybersecurity Agency Reviewing TikTok Risks. TikTok’s woes continue across the Atlantic. Britain says its National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is assessing security risks related to TikTok. British Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said the NCSC is investigating security and privacy threats posed by the app and considering whether TikTok should be banned from government devices. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Monday that in regards to such a ban, Britain will “look at what our allies are doing,” suggesting that the UK will implement similar restrictions on the app as the US, Canada, Belgium and European Commission. TikTok says it would be disappointed in a ban, saying such a move would be influenced by actions of others and wider geopolitics and disregard efforts by the company to protect data of European users. Bloomberg Reuters The Guardian
Putin Says State Actor Behind Nord Stream Blasts. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that the Nord Stream explosions were conducted on a “state level.” He asserted that only a state actor could have deployed the specialists needed to carry out such an operation, dismissing U.S. intelligence suggesting that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the sabotage attacks as “complete nonsense.” Putin added that Moscow is not being kept up to date on Germany, Denmark and Sweden’s investigations into the blasts. On the Russian side, Putin said a ship from Russian energy giant Gazprom found an antenna-like object less than 20 miles from the site of the blasts and suggested it could have been used to signal an explosive device used on the pipelines. Al Jazeera Reuters
Central and Eastern Europe
Russian Fighter Jet Collides with US Drone Over the Black Sea. US military officials say that a Russian Su-27 fighter jet collided with an American MQ-9 drone over the Black Sea on Tuesday, forcing the US to crash the drone into the Black Sea. Two Su-27 jets reportedly intercepted the drone, with one of them striking the drone’s propeller. Both planes also allegedly dumped fuel on the drone, in attempts to disable it. U.S. Air Force General James Hecker has called the act, which the US says occurred over international waters, unsafe and unprofessional, saying it almost caused the Russian jet to crash along with the drone. Heckler added that the incident demonstrated a lack of competence on the part of the Russian pilots. Following the incident Russia’s Ambassador to the US said the US drone had ‘deliberately and provocatively’ approached Russian air space and that Moscow had sent fighters to investigate. He warned the US to stop flying sorties near Russia’s border. Media reports say this is the first known direct confrontation between the two countries since the start of the Ukraine war. CBS News Deutsche Welle New York Times South China Morning Post
Russian War on Ukraine Suffering Setbacks from Artillery, Ammunition Shortages. Western officials report that Russia’s campaign in eastern Ukraine is suffering due to shortages of artillery shells. The UK’s Defense Ministry said such shortages have likely caused extreme rationing of ammunition and reliance on older munitions among Russian forces on the frontlines. The ministry’s assessment comes after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered Russian arms makers to double production of precision-guided weapons and amid reports that Moscow is turning to alternative suppliers like North Korea for ammunition. Despite the reports of challenges to Russia’s ability to restock munitions, fighting in Bakhmut and other areas in eastern Ukraine remains fierce. However, some experts predict that, moving forward, Russia’s defense-manufacturing capacity will increasingly become a drag on its military campaign against Ukraine. Wall Street Journal
Asia
North Korea says Missile Launches Help Train for Missions At Any Time. North Korea said its launch of ballistic missiles on Tuesday was a “demonstration drill” aimed at training missile crews. North Korean state media said such drills will ensure every missile company will be able to “annihilate the enemy” at any time when needed. The latest missile launches came as the U.S. and South Korea conducted their joint “Freedom Shield 23” military drills. Al Jazeera Reuters
Pakistani Police Attempt to Arrest Former PM Khan. Pakistani police clashed with supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan as they attempted to arrest him on Wednesday. Police failed to arrest Khan due to resistance from his supporters and were later ordered by a court to withdraw and postpone efforts to detain Khan until Thursday. A Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant against Khan after he refused to appear in court on charges that he illegally sold state gifts he received while premier between 2018 to 2022. Khan has denied wrongdoing and said he signed an agreement to appear in court by March 18. CNN NPR Reuters
Middle East and Northern Africa
Top Iranian Security Official to Visit UAE. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani is expected to visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday. Iran’s state newspaper Etemad reports that Shamkhani will meet with his Emirati counterpart to discuss the status of negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal and other security issues. The report on the meeting comes as Iran seeks to repair ties with a number of Gulf countries, and less than a year after the UAE sent an ambassador back to Tehran. Bloomberg Reuters
Sub Saharan Africa
Blinked Meets with Ethiopian, Tigrayan Leaders. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ethiopian Foreign Minister Demeke Mekonnen, and is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed today in Addis Ababa. Blinken is also set to meet with leaders of Tigrayan forces. The meeting comes as the US and Ethiopia seek to repair relations following the two-year long civil war in the Tigray region. Al Jazeera France 24 Reuters
Senegalese Opposition Supporters Join Three Day Protests. More than 10,000 supporters of Senegalese opposition leader Ousamane Sonko gathered in Senegal’s capital of Dakar on Tuesday in the first of three days of organized protests. The protests come as Sonko faces a libel case and gears up to face incumbent President Macky Sall in the 2024 elections. Although he has not announced his plans to run, Sall is expected to run for a third term, which the opposition has called unconstitutional. Reuters
Cyber & Tech
OpenAI Releasing Powerful GPT-4 Artificial Intelligence. Microsoft backed startup Open AI announced that it will begin to release a powerful artificial intelligence model known as GPT-4. OpenAI, which also created ChatGPT, said that GPT-4 is another generative AI model that will be “multimodal,” which means that both text and images will help it produce content. Reuters
Google Unveils AI-Enabled Tools for Document Drafting, Email Summaries. Google unveiled on Tuesday a number of new artificial intelligence-enabled tools for its email and collaboration softwares. One such tool, dubbed a “magic wand” can be used on Google Docs software to draft and revise documents at users’ discretion, and will be able to summarize Gmail messages, create slide presentations, and more. Reuters
DOJ Antitrust Chief says AI Sector Under Regulatory Scrutiny. Amid the flurry of AI breakthroughs and product launches, the US Department of Justice’s antitrust chief Jonathan Kanter said Tuesday that his agency is closely looking at artificial intelligence developments. Speaking at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, which is full of panels covering the ongoing developments in AI, Kanter said AI is another tool that needs to be properly understood and monitored. His comments suggest that while the government has usually played catchup with industry and technology, the U.S. will work to regulate AI. Axios
CISA Tests New Ransomware Alert System. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) announced that it has developed a pilot program known as Ransomware Vulnerability Warning Pilot that will help identify vulnerabilities in critical infrastructure networks that hackers can exploit with ransomware. The program began on January 30, 2023, and so far has notified 93 owners and operators of critical infrastructure of vulnerabilities. BleepingComputer CyberScoop
LockBit Ransomware Group Claims Theft of SpaceX Data. The ransomware group LockBit says it stole sensitive files from SpaceX by breaching Maximum Industries, a contractor that provides waterjet and laser cutting services for the space giant. LockBit says it obtained around 3000 technical drawings by Space-X engineers on Maximum Industries’ networks and that it will auction them. Neither SpaceX or Maximum Industries have confirmed the theft. SecurityWeek
Ring Allegedly Hit by Ransomware Attack. An unwanted knock at the door. Vice’s Motherboard reports that the ransomware group BlackCat, also known as ALPHV, claims to have breached security system and camera company Ring. The group has threatened to leak data from the alleged theft if a cyber ransom isn’t paid, saying on its data dump site that “there’s always an option to let us leak your data.” Ring says it did not detect a breach of its systems but that a ransomware attack hit a third-party vendor. An Amazon source added that the company is working to address the issue. Vice
Ransomware Extortion Efforts Reaching ‘Ruthless Extremes.’ Ransomware is evolving and taking on more aggressive extortion behavior, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center annual crime report released this week. Though the total numbers were down from 3,729 ransomware complaints and $49 million in total losses in 2021, to 2,385 reports to $34.3 million in losses in 2022, the report noted an “increase in an additional extortion tactic used to facilitate ransomware.” It added that “the threat actors pressure victims to pay by threatening to publish the stolen data if they do not pay the ransom.” The change potentially signals a positive shift for combating ransomware, but also a more severe turn. Wired
Hacker Posts More D.C. Health Data Online, Including Information of 21 Congress Members. Twenty-one members of Congress reportedly had sensitive information exposed following the recent breach of D.C. Health Link, a healthcare insurance marketplace that serves U.S. lawmakers. The data sets included names, email addresses, dates of birth, home addresses, Social Security numbers, and details about insurance policies. By late Monday, the hacker promised more was to come. “More data exists, but will not be leaked for the time being,” a user named Denfur posted. “The use of it is something important. More than one database were (sic) exposed.” The exchange reported that 56,415 of its customers had their data stolen in the breach. CybersScoop
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