Thursday, March 17, 2022
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
AMERICAN PREBUNKING: THE WRONG SIDE OF OF HISTORY: Who's to Say
America Needs a Better Plan to Fight Autocracy.
About the author: Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic, a fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and the author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.
All of us have in our mind a cartoon image of what an autocratic state looks like. There is a bad man at the top. He controls the police. The police threaten the people with violence. There are evil collaborators, and maybe some brave dissidents.
But in the 21st century, that cartoon bears little resemblance to reality. Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by networks composed of kleptocratic financial structures, security services (military, police, paramilitary groups, surveillance personnel), and professional propagandists. The members of these networks are connected not only within a given country, but among many countries. The corrupt, state-controlled companies in one dictatorship do business with their counterparts in another, with the profits going to the leader and his inner circle. Oligarchs from multiple countries all use the same accountants and lawyers to hide their money in Europe and America. The police forces in one country can arm, equip, and train the police forces in another; China notoriously sells surveillance technology all around the world. Propagandists share resources and tactics—the Russian troll farms that promote Putin’s propaganda can also be used to promote the propaganda of Belarus or Venezuela. They also pound home the same messages about the weakness of democracy and the evil of America. Chinese sources are right now echoing fake Russian stories about nonexistent Ukrainian chemical weapons. Their goal is to launch false narratives and confuse audiences in the United States and other free societies. They do so in order to make us believe that there is nothing we can do in response.
This is not to say that there is a conspiracy—some super-secret room where bad guys meet, as in a James Bond movie. The new autocratic alliance doesn’t have a structure, let alone an ideology. Among modern autocrats are people who call themselves communists, nationalists, and theocrats. Washington likes to talk about China and Chinese influence because that’s easy, but what really links the leaders of these countries is a common desire to preserve their personal power. Unlike military or political alliances from other times and places, the members of this group don’t operate like a bloc, but rather like a loose agglomeration of companies. Call it Autocracy, Inc. Their links are cemented not by ideals but by deals—deals designed to replace Western sanctions or take the edge off Western economic boycotts, or to make them personally rich—which is why they can operate across geographical and historical lines.
". . .We cannot merely slap sanctions on foreign oligarchs following some violation of international law, or our own laws: We must alter our financial system so that we stop kleptocratic elites from abusing it in the first place. We cannot just respond with furious fact-checking and denials when autocrats produce blatant propaganda: We must help provide accurate and timely information where there is none, and deliver it in the languages people speak. We cannot rely on old ideas about the liberal world order, the inviolability of borders, or international institutions and treaties to protect our friends and allies: We need a military strategy, based in deterrence, that takes into account the real possibility that autocracies will use military force.
{. }
We have the power to destroy this business model. We could require all real-estate transactions, everywhere in the United States, to be totally transparent. We could require all companies, trusts, and investment funds to be registered in the name of their real owners. We could ban Americans from keeping their money in tax havens, and we could ban American lawyers and accountants from engaging with tax havens. We could force art dealers and auction houses to carry out money-laundering checks, and close loopholes that allow anonymity in the private-equity and hedge-fund industries. We could launch a diplomatic crusade to persuade other democracies to do the same. Simply ending these practices would make life much more uncomfortable for the world’s kleptocrats. It might have the benefit of making our own country more law-abiding, and freer of autocratic influence, as well.
In addition to changing the law, we also need to jail those who break it. We need to step up our enforcement of the existing money-laundering laws. It is not enough to sanction Russian oligarchs now, when it is too late, or to investigate their enablers, when it is too late for that too. We need to prevent new kleptocratic elites from forming in the future. It must become not only socially toxic but also a criminal liability for anyone to handle stolen money, and not just in America.
Now is the time to organize a deep international conversation, with our allies all over the world, to assess what they are doing, whether they are succeeding, and which steps we all need to take to ensure that we are not building the autocracies of the future. Now is the time to reveal what we know about hidden money and who really controls it.
2. Don’t fight the information war. Undermine it.
Modern autocrats take information and ideas seriously. They understand the importance not only of controlling opinion inside their own countries, but also of influencing debates around the world. They spend accordingly: on television channels, local and national newspapers, bot networks. They buy officials and businessmen in democratic countries in order to have local spokesmen and advocates. . .
For three decades, since the end of the Cold War, we have been pretending that we don’t have to do any of this, because good information will somehow win the battle in the “market of ideas.” But there isn’t a market of ideas—or not a free market. Instead, some ideas have been turbocharged by disinformation campaigns, by heavy spending, and by the social-media algorithms that promote emotional and divisive content because that’s what keeps people online...
The building blocks already exist, even if they are not currently coordinated. All of these things belong together: U.S.-funded international broadcasting, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Voice of America, and the rest of the services now housed at the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM); the Global Engagement Center, currently in the State Department; the Open Source Center, a large media monitoring and translation service currently squirreled away in the intelligence community where its work is hard to access; research into foreign audiences and internet tactics; public diplomacy and cultural diplomacy. . .
In all of the foreign languages that we work, we need to shift from an era of bullhorn digital broadcasting to a new era of “digital samizdat,” mobilizing informed citizens and teaching them to distribute information. These tactics may not get to everyone, but they can be targeted at younger audiences, diasporas, and elites who have influence within their countries.
In this new era, funding for education and culture need some rethinking too. Shouldn’t there be a Russian-language university, in Vilnius or Warsaw, to house all of the intellectuals and thinkers who have just left Moscow? Don’t we need to spend more on education in Hindi and Persian? Existing programs should be recast and redesigned for a different era, one in which so much more can be known about the world, but in which so much money is being spent by the autocracies to distort that knowledge. The goal should be to ensure that a different idea of “Russianness” is available to the Russian diaspora, aside from the one provided by Putin, and that alternative outlets are available for people in other autocratic societies as well.
3. Put democracy back at the center of foreign policy.
. . .We need to think about victory, and how to achieve it, not only in this conflict but in the others to come, over the next years and decades."
READ MORE >> https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/russia-ukraine-senate-testimony-autocracy-kleptocrats/627061/
WAR-TORN YEMEN: A 7-Year Autocratic Saudi-Led Conflict Supported by America
Intro: Officials have described a looming catastrophe in the Middle Eastern country, which is entering its seventh year of conflict.
Yemen hunger crisis: $4.3bn needed, says UN
An estimated 19 million Yemenis will go hungry unless funds are raised, UN officials say ahead of a pledging conference.
At the beginning of the year, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to reduce food rations for eight million people due to a funding shortage, with households receiving barely half of the WFP standard daily minimum food basket. Now the shortage of funds is putting five million more at risk of slipping into famine-like conditions
Griffiths, the former UN special envoy to Yemen, said the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen may get worse, as wheat imports from Ukraine, which supplies some 40 percent of Yemen’s grains, may come to a halt.
“Ukraine is a breadbasket for many countries and needs to remain so,” said Griffiths, warning of the knock-on effects the Russian war on Ukraine may bear on other conflict areas that depend on the country’s wheat production.
Food assistance: 19 million in need
The fighting pits Iran-allied Houthi rebels, who control many of the country’s most populated regions including the capital Sanaa, against the internationally-recognised Yemeni government. A Saudi-led coalition backs the Yemeni government, and has led an air campaign against the Houthis since March 2015. . .
“Peace is required to end the decline,” said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly in a statement on Tuesday. “The parties to the conflict should lift all restrictions on trade and investment for non-sanctioned commodities. This will help lower food prices and unleash the economy.”
Yemen’s economy has collapsed amid a Saudi-led coalition blockade of its main ports, which is limiting access to food and fuel, as well as non-essential commodities entering the country. Parties to the conflict, including the Houthis and the Yemeni government, have also restricted the transfer of fuel and goods across the country.
At the beginning of the year, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) was forced to reduce food rations for eight million people due to a funding shortage, with households receiving barely half of the WFP standard daily minimum food basket. Now the shortage of funds is putting five million more at risk of slipping into famine-like conditions
Griffiths, the former UN special envoy to Yemen, said the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen may get worse, as wheat imports from Ukraine, which supplies some 40 percent of Yemen’s grains, may come to a halt.
“Ukraine is a breadbasket for many countries and needs to remain so,” said Griffiths, warning of the knock-on effects the Russian war on Ukraine may bear on other conflict areas that depend on the country’s wheat production.
Food assistance: 19 million in need
In a report published on Monday, the UN’s WFP, its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that the humanitarian situation in Yemen is poised to get worse between June and December 2022.
Some 19 million people are projected to be in need of food assistance, an increase from the current 17.4 million. Of these, 7.3 million people will be facing emergency levels of hunger.
The report also shows a persistently high level of acute malnutrition among children under the age of five. Across the country, some 2.2 million children are acutely malnourished, including more than half a million children facing severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition.
In addition, around 1.3 million pregnant or nursing mothers are acutely malnourished. New data also shows that the number of people experiencing famine conditions is projected to increase fivefold, from the current 31,000 to 161,000 in the second half of 2022.
“Peace is required to end the decline,” said UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen David Gressly in a statement on Tuesday. “The parties to the conflict should lift all restrictions on trade and investment for non-sanctioned commodities. This will help lower food prices and unleash the economy.”
. . .Food prices have more than doubled in 2021, while during the same period many salaries have not been paid and remittances have stagnated due to COVID-19.
“We need to inject liquidity, lift restrictions on imports and remove the blockade of the main ports as well as resume flights into the country,” said Griffiths. “While I understand there is a UN Security Council arms embargo and shipments need to be checked and inspected, we have to let in food and fuel.”
UN mismanagement
Answering questions about accusations of aid diversion by the Houthi rebels in Sanaa, and mounting criticism of UN funds mismanagement, officials acknowledged that they faced problems, but that they had to negotiate with authorities on the ground.
“There are obstacles and we are pushing to improve the operating environment,” said Deputy Director-General at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs Carl Skau, one of the organisers of the pledging conference. “However, humanitarian assistance is a lifeline and makes all the difference … the obstacles cannot be used as an excuse not to deliver aid.”
The UN response system has faced criticism, including from the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen, and former UN workers. This criticism has highlighted incidents where aid has allegedly been diverted by the Houthis in areas under their control, and did not reach the most vulnerable.
“We are aware of nine instances which are being investigated,” admitted Griffiths. “Delivering assistance is hard because of the detailed negotiations with all kinds of actors on the ground. But I don’t see a single crisis where this is not happening.”
So far only 60.9 percent of Yemen’s 2021 response plan, amounting to $3.9bn, has been funded, leaving a funding gap of $1.5bn. Amongst the top donors in 2021 were the United States, Saudi Arabia, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and the European Union.
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
ASIAN GIANT KILLER HORNETS:The murder hornet drones go wild for this sex pheromone chemical cocktail
Researchers Could Lure Murder Hornets to Their Deaths With Sex
The smell of hornet sex may be entomologists' best bet for culling these giant invaders.
"Birds do it, bees do it—even the wasps that kill bees do it. A clever team of scientists now has an idea to use the Asian giant hornets’ horniness against them, in hopes of stopping the invasive species from decimating U.S. bee populations. They’ve identified the sex pheromones of the queen and propose trapping the hornet drones that are lured in by the pheromones.
The (Vespa mandarinia) preys on bees, and its stings are pretty painful to humans (they can people who are allergic to their venom). The hornets are native to Asia but have recently spread into the U.S.; they were in Washington State in August 2020, and they’ve spread across the American northwest. This invasion is worrying, since the hornets can slaughter a honeybee hive in a matter of hours.
Recently, a team of entomologists caught a bunch of virgin giant hornet queens and their drones from colonies in Yunnan, China. They swabbed the queens’ sex glands and used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify pheromone compounds from six of the queens. The team’s findings were in Current Biology.
“We were able to isolate the major components of the female sex pheromone, a odor blend that is highly attractive to males who compete to mate with virgin queens,” said James Nieh, an entomologist at the University of California at San Diego and co-author of the recent paper, in an email to Gizmodo. “When these components or their blend was tested in sticky traps, they captured thousands of males.”
. . .
Bleeping Computer Updates Today + Latest Articles
BSI warns against using Kaspersky
Today, the BSI is warning German companies to replace Kaspersky AV and any other products from the firm with alternative software from non-Russian vendors.
As the BSI statement explains, antivirus software typically has higher-level privileges on Windows systems, maintaining a permanent, encrypted, and non-verifiable connection to the vendor’s servers for constant virus definition updates.
Furthermore, as real-time protection from almost all antivirus vendors can upload suspicious files to remote servers for further analysis, there is concern that antivirus developers could use their software to exfiltrate sensitive files.
While Kaspersky is likely trustworthy and ethical, it still has to abide by Russian laws and regulations, including allowing state agents to access private firm databases.
BSI is taking this further by suggesting that Kaspersky could be forced into aiding the Russian intelligence forces in carrying out cyberattacks or conducting espionage.
"The actions of military and/or intelligence forces in Russia and the threats made by Russia against the EU , NATO and the Federal Republic of Germany in the course of the current military conflict are associated with a considerable risk of a successful IT attack. A Russian IT manufacturer can carry out offensive operations itself, be forced to attack target systems against its will, or be spied on without its knowledge as a victim of a cyber operation, or be misused as a tool for attacks against its own customers."
BSI
To avoid panic moves like switching off protection without activating a replacement security product, BSI advises all organizations to prepare accordingly by first performing a complete assessment.
Also, whenever a switch to alternative security products takes place, loss of comfort, functionality, and even safety is expected, so a remediation plan to address all that must be developed.
This warning has already led to German organizations, such as Germany's Eintracht sports club, to no longer use Kaspersky's services.
However, Kaspersky believes that BSI's warning to remove Kaspersky products is a political decision rather than a technical assessment of their products.
A Kaspersky spokesperson shared the following statement with BleepingComputer regarding BSI's warnings, which we have shared in full below:
We believe this decision is not based on a technical assessment of Kaspersky products – that we continuously advocated for with the BSI and across Europe – but instead is being made on political grounds. We will continue to assure our partners and customers in the quality and integrity of our products, and we will be working with the BSI for clarification on its decision and for the means to address its and other regulators’ concerns.
At Kaspersky, we believe that transparency and the continued implementation of concrete measures to demonstrate our enduring commitment to integrity and trustworthiness to our customers is paramount. Kaspersky is a private global cybersecurity company and, as a private company, does not have any ties to the Russian or any other government.
We believe that peaceful dialogue is the only possible instrument for resolving conflicts. War isn’t good for anyone.
Our data processing infrastructure was relocated to Switzerland in 2018: since then, malicious and suspicious files voluntarily shared by users of Kaspersky products in Germany are processed in two data centers in Zurich that provide world-class facilities, in compliance with industry standards, to ensure the highest levels of security. Beyond our cyberthreat-related data processing facilities in Switzerland, statistics provided by users to Kaspersky can be processed on the Kaspersky Security Network’s services located in various countries around the world, including Canada and Germany. The security and integrity of our data services and engineering practices have been confirmed by independent third-party assessments: through the SOC 2 Audit conducted by a ‘Big Four’ auditor, and through the ISO 27001 certification and recent re-certification by TÜV Austria.
Kaspersky has set the industry benchmark for digital trust and transparency. Our customers can run a free technical and comprehensive review of our solutions, allowing them to:
- Review our secure software development documentation including threat analysis, secure review, and application security testing processes
- Review the source code of our leading solutions including Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS), our flagship consumer product; Kaspersky Endpoint Security (KES), our flagship enterprise product; and Kaspersky Security Center (KSC), a control console for our enterprise products
- Review all versions of our builds and AV-database updates, as well as the types of information which Kaspersky products send to our cloud-based Kaspersky Security Network (KSN)
- Rebuild the source code to make sure it corresponds to publicly available modules
- Review the results of an external audit of the company’s engineering practices conducted by one of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms;
- Review the Software Bill of Materials (SBOM) for Kaspersky Internet Security (KIS), Kaspersky Endpoint Security (KES), and Kaspersky Security Center (KSC)
Dozens of ransomware variants used in 722 attacks over 3 months
The ransomware space was very active in the last quarter of 2021, with threat analysts observing 722 distinct attacks deploying 34 different variants.
- March 15, 2022
- 05:40 PM
0
FBI warns of MFA flaw used by state hackers for lateral movement
The FBI says Russian state-backed hackers gained access to a non-governmental organization (NGO) cloud after enrolling their own device in the organization's Duo MFA following the exploitation of misconfigured default multifactor authentication (MFA) protocols.
- March 15, 2022
- 05:20 PM
- 0
New Linux botnet exploits Log4J, uses DNS tunneling for comms
A recently discovered botnet under active development targets Linux systems, attempting to ensnare them into an army of bots ready to steal sensitive info, installing rootkits, creating reverse shells, and acting as web traffic proxies.
- March 15, 2022
- 04:22 PM
- 1
Android trojan persists on the Google Play Store since January
Security researchers tracking the mobile app ecosystem have noticed a recent spike in trojan infiltration on the Google Play Store, with one of the apps having over 500,000 installs.
- March 15, 2022
- 03:55 PM
- 0
FTC to fine CafePress for cover up of massive data breach
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) wants to slap the former owner of the CafePress custom t-shirt and merchandise site with a $500,000 fine for failing to secure its users' data and attempting to cover up a significant data breach impacting millions.
- March 15, 2022
- 02:25 PM
- 0
Learn how to defend networks with this ethical hacking bundle
White-hat hacking is becoming more important to the security of networks and systems. The Complete 2022 PenTest & Ethical Hacking Bundle helps you develop those skills for $49, 97% off the MSRP of $1770.
- March 15, 2022
- 02:11 PM
- 0
Russia faces IT crisis with just two months of data storage left
Russia faces a critical IT storage crisis after Western cloud providers pulled out of the country, leaving Russia with only two more months before they run out of data storage.
- March 15, 2022
- 12:52 PM
- 0
Massive phishing campaign uses 500+ domains to steal credentials
Large-scale phishing activity using hundreds of domains to steal credentials for Naver, a Google-like online platform in South Korea, shows infrastructure overlaps linked to the TrickBot botnet.
- March 15, 2022
- 12:10 PM
- 0
-
Flash News: Ukraine Intercepts Russian Kh-59 Cruise Missile Using US VAMPIRE Air Defense System Mounted on Boat. Ukrainian forces have made ...
