Russia says it uncovered U.S. operation to compromise Apple phones
June 2, 2023 1 Comment
RUSSIAN OFFICIALS SAID THEY uncovered a sophisticated espionage effort by the United States government, which targeted the smartphones of thousands of Apple users living in Russia, including foreign diplomats. According to the Russians, the operation was carried out by the National Security Agency (NSA), an American intelligence agency that specializes in gathering foreign signals intelligence and securing the United States government’s information and communication systems.
The source of the allegation is the Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s primary counterterrorism and counterintelligence agency. On Thursday, the FSB said that “an intelligence action of the American special services” had been uncovered by FSB officers with the assistance of the Federal Protective Service. Known in Russia by its initials, FSO, the Federal Protective Service operates federal emergency communications systems and provides personal security for high-ranking government officials.
According to the FSB, “several thousand Apple telephones” were targeted in the alleged NSA operation, including devices belonging to “domestic Russian subscribers”, as well as devices belonging to foreign diplomats stationed in Russia. The latter allegedly include diplomats from Israel, Syria and China, according to the FSB. The Russian agency also claimed that Russia-based foreign diplomats from North Atlantic Treaty Organization member-states had their phones targeted, as well as diplomats from former Soviet states.
In the same press release, the FSB accused the NSA and Apple of working in “close cooperation” with each other —an allegation that the Russian government has been making for several years. In a follow-up media statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused the United States of engaging in “hidden data collection” and dismissed Apple iPhones as “absolutely transparent”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov urged Russians to avoid using Apple products and lamented reports that one in three Russian government workers continue to utilize Apple products for their personal use. When asked by reporters if the Russian government had plans to outlaw the use of Apple products by government employees, Peskov responded that the Kremlin did “not have the power to even recommend that”, except for those government employees with access to classified information.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 02 June 2023 | Permalink
UKRAINE IS INCREASINGLY RELIANT on its close intelligence relationship with the United States, which has grown dramatically in depth and intensity since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, according to a new report. The 
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between leakers based on their motives. It does, however, distinguish between simple leakers and whistleblowers. If a US government employee uncovers evidence of abuse of power, or becomes aware of a specific and critical threat to the security of Americans, he or she is required to notify his or her superiors. If the latter refuse to take action, then the employee is justified under the law in taking all necessary actions to warn the public of impending peril. That is precisely the function of the 1989 Whistleblower Protection Act, which affords protection to insiders who expose abuses of authority, or a concrete and critical threat to public safety. 
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NSA, CIA senior officials address artificial intelligence threats and opportunities
October 2, 2023 by Joseph Fitsanakis Leave a comment
Nakasone (pictured) noted in his remarks that the US Intelligence Community, as well as the Department of Defense, have been using artificial intelligence for quite some time. Thus, artificial intelligence systems are already integral in managing and analyzing information on a daily basis. In doing so, such systems contribute in important ways to the decision-making by the NSA’s human personnel. At the same time, the NSA has been using artificial intelligence to develop and define best-practices guidelines and principles for intelligence methodologies and evaluation.
Currently, the United States maintains a clear advantage in artificial intelligence over is adversaries, Nakasone said. However, that advantage “should not be taken for granted”. As artificial intelligence organizational principles are increasingly integrated into the day-to-day functions of the intelligence and security enterprise, new risks are emerging by that very use. For this reason, the NSA has launched its new Artificial Intelligence Security Center within its existing Cybersecurity Collaboration Center. The mission of the Cybersecurity Collaboration Center is to develop links with the private sector in the US and its partner nations to “secure emerging technologies” and “harden the US Defense Industrial Base”.
Nakasone added that the decision to create the Artificial Intelligence Security Center resulted from an NSA study, which alerted officials to the national security challenges stemming from adversarial attacks against the artificial intelligence models that are currently in use. These attacks, focusing on sabotage or theft of critical artificial intelligence technologies, could originate from other generative artificial intelligence technologies that are under the command of adversarial actors.
Last Wednesday, the CIA’s Raman discussed some of the ways that artificial intelligence is currently being put to use by her agency to improve its analytical and operational capabilities. Raman noted that the CIA is developing an artificial intelligence chatbot, which is meant to help its analysts refine their research and analytical writing capabilities. Additionally, artificial intelligence systems are being used to analyze quantities of collected data that are too large for human analysts to manage. By devoting artificial intelligence resources to the relatively menial and low-level tasks of data-sifting and sorting, the CIA enables its analysts to dedicate more time to strategic-level products.
At the same time, however, the CIA is concerned about the rapid development of artificial intelligence by nations such as China and Russia, Raman said. New capabilities in artificial intelligence, especially the generative kind, will inevitably provide US adversaries with tools and capabilities that will challenge American national security in the coming years, she concluded.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 02 October 2023 | Permalink
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with artificial intelligence, CIA, Lakshmi Raman, News, NSA, NSA Artificial Intelligence Security Center, NSA Cybersecurity Collaboration Center, Paul Nakasone, United States