Espionage – Page 12 – Blazingcatfur

CSIS says 2020 was a banner year for espionage operations targeting Canada

Canada’s spy agency says 2020 saw the highest level of foreign espionage and foreign interference directed at Canadian targets since the end of the Cold War.

“The fluid and rapidly evolving environment caused by COVID-19 has created a situation ripe for exploitation by threat actors seeking to advance their own interests,” said Canadian Security Intelligence Service Director David Vigneault in his agency’s 2020 report, released today.

“In 2020, CSIS observed espionage and foreign interference activity at levels not seen since the Cold War.”

by Blazingcatfur•April 13, 2021April 13, 2021•0•Canada, Espionage

Google exposes nine-month counter-terror hacking op by ‘friendly’ government, raising questions about what makes an ally

A Google hacking team has exposed — and shut down — an expert counterterrorism hacking operation by a supposed US ally. While the report hid most details, it raised troubling questions on what constitutes an ally in cyberspace.

The tech giant’s Project Zero and Threat Analysis Group hacking teams uncovered and ultimately put an end to a counter-terrorism operation being run by a US ally, according to MIT Tech Review, which detailed the internal struggle at Google over whether to publicize the incident and what it implied for future cyber-espionage

by Blazingcatfur•March 27, 2021March 26, 2021•0•Espionage, USA

Canada expelled eight foreigners for terrorism or spying in 2020

Eight foreigners suspected of espionage, subversion or terrorism were removed from Canada last year, according to the federal government.

The department of Public Safety would not reveal the countries that the individuals were acting on behalf of, citing privacy laws, nor the specific nature of their activities in Canada.

“However, we can tell you that in 2020, the CBSA [Canada Border Services Agency] removed eight individuals deemed inadmissible on security grounds,” Public Safety spokesman Tim Warmington said in a statement. “Removal on security grounds may include persons who are found inadmissible for espionage, subversion, terrorism and/or for membership in groups involved in such activities.”

Only 8?

by Blazingcatfur•March 25, 2021March 25, 2021•0•Canada, Espionage

Time to End Hostile Powers’ Influence Operations at American Universities

For years, they’ve been taking money under the table from China, Qatar, and elsewhere.

American universities are awash in foreign money, with at least $12 billion in gifts and contracts reported from 2013 through June 2019. Research by Congress and the Department of Education (DoE) demonstrates that no one knows exactly how much foreign support academe has received or to what ends it has been used. Acting in concert, the Biden administration and Congress could end this influx of dark money by requiring universities to be transparent in their reporting of any foreign support.

Instead, Joe Biden has just ensured that Americans will remain in the dark regarding a major source of those funds: China.

by Blazingcatfur•February 17, 2021February 17, 2021•0•"China - Communist Slave State", "Joe Sleazebag Biden", Batshit Crazy Socialist Commies, Batshit crazy Universities, Espionage, USA

As China’s Big Tech Hits America, Biden Signals Surrender

On February 11, the Justice Department asked the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to put on hold its review of the Trump-era ban on WeChat, the popular Chinese messaging app.

This request came a day after the administration asked the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia for a similar hold on the case considering the Trump ban on the Chinese mobile video-sharing platform TikTok.

Lower U.S. courts had previously enjoined the enforcement of the Trump bans. WeChat users and TikTok had sued to block enforcement. Trump banned the apps because they were, he correctly contended, collecting “vast swaths” of data and censoring Americans.

by Blazingcatfur•February 17, 2021February 17, 2021•0•"China - Communist Slave State", Espionage, USA

China Used Secret Microchip to Spy on US Computers

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Defense found thousands of its computer servers sending military network data to China — the result of code hidden in chips that handled the machines’ startup process.

In 2014, Intel Corp. discovered that an elite Chinese hacking group breached its network through a single server that downloaded malware from a supplier’s update site.

And in 2015, the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned multiple companies that Chinese operatives had concealed an extra chip loaded with backdoor code in one manufacturer’s servers.

by Blazingcatfur•February 15, 2021February 15, 2021•0•"China - Communist Slave State", Canada, Cyber War, Espionage, USA

State actors have done ‘significant harm’ to Canadian companies, says head of spy agency – Trudeau’s Liberal government not named leading many to question report’s integrity

The head of Canada’s spy agency said today Canadian companies in almost all sectors of the economy have been targeted by hostile foreign actors — and named Russia and China as two of his main sources of concern.

“The threat from hostile activity by state actors in all its forms represents a significant danger to Canada’s prosperity and sovereignty,” said David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, in his first public speech in three years.

“Our investigations reveal that this threat has unfortunately caused significant harm to Canadian companies.”

Russia and China are certainties but how could he forget to include Trudeau’s Liberals?

by Blazingcatfur•February 10, 2021February 10, 2021•0•"China - Communist Slave State", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Espionage, Russia, WTF?

Shipped Deadly Viruses to China: Scientists let go from National Microbiology Laboratory amid RCMP investigation

Justin Trudeau Xiangguo Qiu Keding Cheng – Everybody say Xi!

Two Canadian government scientists escorted from the National Microbiology Laboratory amidst an RCMP investigation and internal review have been let go from the Public Health Agency of Canada, CBC News has learned.

“The two scientists are no longer employed by the Public Health Agency of Canada as of Jan. 20, 2021,” Eric Morrissette, chief of media relations for Health Canada and PHAC, confirmed in an email late Friday.

“We cannot disclose additional information, nor comment further, for reasons of confidentiality.”

Sources say members of the lab’s special pathogens unit were called to a meeting on Thursday and told that Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, will not be returning to work. They were not given an explanation.

by Blazingcatfur•February 7, 2021February 7, 2021•0•"Canada's China Class", "China - Communist Slave State", Canada, Canada's Corrupt Liberal Government, Canada's Corrupt Political Class, Espionage, WTF?

UK expelled Chinese journalists ‘working as spies’

Three journalists who were allegedly working as spies for China were asked to leave the UK last year.

Their departure, first reported by the Daily Telegraph, came because they had arrived under journalism visas but were believed to be working for the Ministry of State Security, part of China’s intelligence apparatus.

Their departure was low-key and did not come in the past few months.

The Home Office declined to comment on the reports.

by Blazingcatfur•February 5, 2021February 5, 2021•0•"China - Communist Slave State", Espionage, UK

Is Russia targeting CIA spies with secret weapons?

Marc Polymeropoulos woke up in his hotel room with his head spinning and ears ringing. “I felt like I was going to vomit. I couldn’t stand up. I was falling over,” he recalls. “I have been shot at numerous times and this was the most terrifying experience in my life.”

Polymeropoulos had spent years in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan as a senior officer of the CIA fighting America’s war on terrorism. But that night in Moscow he believes he was targeted by a secret, microwave weapon.

by Blazingcatfur•February 2, 2021February 2, 2021•0•Espionage, Russia, USA

CSIS warns Canadian universities about Alibaba’s online platform

Canada’s spy agency warned Canadian universities in August to be wary of using Chinese technology, including a service offered by e-commerce company Alibaba to help students based in China take online Zoom classes in this country.

Alibaba, which has come under close scrutiny from China’s ruling Communist Party after its billionaire founder, Jack Ma, ran afoul of President Xi Jinping, provides an accelerated virtual private network server so students in China can attend Zoom classes without lag. Alibaba’s “Alibaba Global Accelerator” service is marketed as a solution to avoid network congestion and reduce delays in communication.

by Blazingcatfur•January 28, 2021January 28, 2021•0•"China - Communist Slave State", Canada, Espionage

Suspected RCMP secrecy breach fallout upgraded to ‘severe’: newly released documents

OTTAWA — New documents show Canada’s cyberspy agency was so alarmed by the potential fallout from an alleged secrecy breach by a senior RCMP employee that it revised a damage assessment to “severe” from “high” in the days after his arrest.

Cameron Jay Ortis was taken into custody in September 2019 for allegedly revealing secrets to an unnamed recipient and planning to give additional classified information to an unspecified foreign entity.

by Blazingcatfur•January 26, 2021January 26, 2021•0•CSIS, Espionage, RCMP

Former FBI official says he had to call RCMP to arrest Jeffrey Delisle in Russian spy case

Former FBI official says Canada’s spy catching system caused delay, angst in Delisle case

“…CSIS watched Delisle pass top-secret information to Russia for months without briefing the RCMP. The spy agency, acting on legal advice, opted to keep its investigation sealed for fear of exposing sources and methods of the intelligence trade in open court proceedings.

“Someone had to call Canada’s cops. Strangely, that task went to me,” says Figliuzzi, who led the FBI’s counter-intelligence division as an assistant director.”

by Blazingcatfur•January 17, 2021January 17, 2021•0•Canada, CSIS, Espionage, RCMP, Russia, USA

Finding the Russian Moles

Espionage is an old story. Long ago Moses dispatched twelve spies to explore the land of Canaan as a future home for the Israelite people. They reported they had found a land flowing with milk and honey. On December 8, 2020 it was disclosed that individuals, almost certainly Russian, had hacked the U.S. security firm Fire Eye, only one of the many targets compromised in the cybersecurity industry. It soon became apparent that foreign hackers had attacked both governmental and unofficial organizations. A large-scale espionage campaign has breached the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Departments and other government agencies. Microsoft and customers were compromised, and emails had been stolen from U.S. private sector companies. The victim of a highly sophisticated targeted attack, Orion Platform, the server of the network management system Solar Winds, which produces software for the U.S. government and private companies, was breached.

by Blazingcatfur•December 31, 2020December 30, 2020•0•Espionage, Russia, USA

George Blake, notorious cold war double agent, dies aged 98

The former British spy and Soviet Union double agent George Blake has died at the age of 98.

The RIA news agency reported that Blake died in Russia, citing the country’s SVR foreign intelligence agency. “We received some bitter news – the legendary George Blake passed away,” it said.

Blake was the last in a line of British spies to operate secretly for the Soviet Union, exposing the identities of hundreds of western agents across eastern Europe in the 1950s and humiliating the intelligence establishment when his work was discovered at the height of the cold war.

by Blazingcatfur•December 26, 2020•0•Espionage