UK - Members of a troubled town council have been told to put their phones in the kitchen during meetings because they suspect one of them is bugging their conversations.
The protocol has been introduced at Attleborough Town Council following suspicions that one of the councillors has been secretly recording discussions and leaking details...
The new protocol about phones being left in the kitchen next to the council chamber relates to ‘under the line’ parts of the meetings, where the public can be excluded and confidential matters discussed...
The rule has been introduced by council clerk Sharon Smyth, who claims “confidential information” was leaked following a meeting in April. more
Britain’s real-life spies have finally caught up with James Bond. MI6 has appointed its first female chief.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Sunday that Blaise Metreweli will be the next head of the U.K.’s foreign intelligence agency, and the first woman to hold the post since its founding in 1909. She is currently the MI6 director of technology and innovation — the real-world equivalent of Bond gadget-master Q.
A career intelligence officer, Metreweli, 47, steps from the shadows into the light as the only MI6 employee whose name is made public. She said “I am proud and honored to be asked to lead my Service.” more
After a recent grocery store clerk was appointed as an anti-terror chief, it can be revealed that a second young national security official was hired straight from the cash register—with disastrous results.
A U.S. intelligence worker charged with trying to leak state secrets to a foreign spy agency was hired as a 22-year-old with little professional experience outside the cash register at a local grocery store...
A cybersecurity graduate of Florida Polytechnic University, Nathan Vilas Laatsch is the second national security official in two days whom The Daily Beast has revealed to have virtually no professional experience other than working at a grocery store before being hired by a U.S national security agency at the age of 22.
Laatsch, now 28, a computer scientist with “top secret” clearance at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Virginia, was hired under the last Trump administration. He was arrested last week, accused of attempting to pass sensitive information to Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND). more
Turkish intelligence has dismantled a Chinese espionage network operating on its soil. This network had been conducting surveillance on Uyghur refugees as well as Turkish officials using advanced technology, particularly fake mobile towers.
Earlier this month, Turkish intelligence agents arrested seven suspects and discovered their vehicles outfitted with IMSI-catcher devices. These devices, which emulate genuine base stations, can intercept data, call logs, conversations, and other sensitive information from nearby mobile phones.
Intelligence sources indicate that some members of this espionage ring entered Türkiye as recently as March. However, a report last week disclosed that the network has been operational for the previous five years. more
‘Don’t be fooled by sweet talk,’ ministry says in social media post.
Chinese citizens should be on alert for friendly foreign faces who could be spies – from scholars who do not do research and tourists who do not sightsee, to lovers who only want information, the country’s top spy agency has warned.
In a post on its official social media account on Sunday, the Ministry of State Security said foreign spies might be hiding in plain sight, using various identities to carry out activities that threaten China’s national security.
It highlighted five deceptive identities commonly used by foreign spies: tourists who do not sightsee, scholars who conduct no real research, businesspeople who do not do business, investigation consultants who do not investigate, and “insincere lovers” who exploit relationships to gather information. more
The hiring team at Kraken, a U.S.-based crypto exchange, noticed immediately that something was off about “Steven Smith,” a would-be IT worker who applied for a software engineering job in early October.
But it wasn’t until they compared Smith’s email to a list of those suspected to be part of a hacker group that their suspicions were confirmed: Smith was a North Korean operative.
Kraken could have just tossed the application. Instead, Kraken’s chief security officer, Nick Percoco, decided to take a closer look at Steven Smith...
The interview was scheduled for Halloween, a classic American holiday—especially for college students in New York—that Smith seemed to know nothing about.
“Watch out tonight because some people might be ringing your doorbell, kids with chain saws,” Percoco said, referring to the tradition of trick or treating. “What do you do when those people show up?” Smith shrugged and shook his head. “Nothing special,” he said. more
Serious corporate espionage spying, or government surveillance operations; the preparation and execution of surveillance measures are very similar. Hear how a real operation is accomplished in this short podcast...
I WAS NEVER HERE
True spies work in all sorts of far-flung locales - but some assignments are closer to home. For Andrew Kirsch, a Special Operations officer with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, the suburbs of Toronto hold as much intrigue as Moscow or Baghdad. Vanessa Kirby joins Andrew on a nail-biting infiltration mission to unmask a home-grown terrorist, right in his back yard. Listen here.
P.S. This is why you will never know if your company Boardroom has been bugged by a pro. Learn more here.
Is today's US-EU alliance truly trusted? Who would have thought that today, nothing better illustrates what "trusted ally" really means than EU officials being handed burner phones before visiting the US to protect themselves from potential "espionage."
The Financial Times reported on Monday that European Commissioners and senior officials travelling to the IMF and World Bank spring meetings next week have been given the new guidance to take basic phones and laptops. "They are worried about the US getting into the commission systems," FT quoted one official as saying. "The transatlantic alliance is over," the report said, quoting another anonymous EU official. more
A network of companies linked to a Chinese tech firm has been attempting to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government employees. This campaign, uncovered by analyst Max Lesser, seeks to exploit the vulnerabilities of federal workers affected by mass layoffs.
While the companies involved remain obscure, the operation's methods resemble those used in previous Chinese intelligence activities. The U.S. government is aware of the potential risks and is urging former employees to remain cautious about such offers...
Lesser, who shared his findings with Reuters, warned that "the network seeks to exploit the financial vulnerabilities of former federal workers affected by recent mass layoffs." These recruitment efforts closely resemble previous tactics used by Chinese intelligence to obtain valuable information under the guise of employment opportunities.
A Web of Fake FirmsFour companies—RiverMerge Strategies, Wavemax Innovation, and two others—are allegedly part of this recruitment network. Their websites share overlapping designs, are hosted on the same server, and exhibit other digital connections, raising suspicions of a coordinated effort. Lesser’s research, along with Reuters' investigation, found that all four companies’ websites were hosted alongside Smiao Intelligence, an obscure Chinese internet services firm. more
A new exhibition at the National Archives in London will reveal the extent of MI5 operation to expose the British double agent...
Secret surveillance of Britain’s notorious double agent, Kim Philby, made public for the first time in archived documents, reveals how keenly the Security Service wanted to confirm or disprove early suspicions of his high-level treachery.
In daily bulletins submitted to MI5 in November 1951, undercover operatives describe how Philby, codenamed Peach, moved about London...
Philby, who later worked for the Observer as a Middle East correspondent, has been called the “Third Man” because he was suspected by both MI5 and the Americans of being the elusive double agent who had tipped off the two spies before they could be questioned, allowing them to flee to Moscow via France...
Philby finally fled to Moscow, handing over a written confession to his old MI6 friend, Nicholas Elliott. He had been accused by Flora Solomon, a former girlfriend, who said he had once tried to recruit her...
Philby spent 25 years in Moscow, instructing trainee spies in the techniques of “tradecraft”. When he died, in 1988, he received full KGB honours.more
Oleg Gordievsky, a Soviet KGB officer who helped change the course of the Cold War by covertly passing secrets to the UK, has died at home in England.
Gordievsky died on March 4 in England, where he had lived since defecting in 1985. Police said on Saturday that they are not treating his death as suspicious.
Historians consider Gordievsky one of the era’s most important spies. In the 1980s, his intelligence helped avoid a dangerous escalation of nuclear tensions between the USSR and the West. more
Mark Klein, a bona fide hero who risked civil liability and criminal prosecution to help expose a massive spying program that violated the rights of millions of Americans.
Mark didn’t set out to change the world. For 22 years, he was a telecommunications technician for AT&T, most of that in San Francisco. But he always had a strong sense of right and wrong and a commitment to privacy.
Mark not only saw how it works, he had the documents to prove it.
When the New York Times reported in late 2005 that the NSA was engaging in spying inside the U.S., Mark realized that he had witnessed how it was happening. He also realized that the President was not telling Americans the truth about the program. And, though newly retired, he knew that he had to do something. He showed up at EFF’s front door in early 2006 with a simple question: “Do you folks care about privacy?”more
A Chinese spy balloon that crossed over the United States in 2023 was packed with American technology that could have enabled it to spy on Americans, according to two sources with direct knowledge of a technical analysis conducted by the U.S. military.
The discovery of a satellite communication module, sensors and other tech from at least five American firms underlines the failure of U.S. efforts to restrict exports of technology that could have military uses to main adversary China as well as to countries such as Russia and Iran. It also raises questions over the role of private companies that sell their equipment globally in keeping control over the ultimate users of dual-use technology that can have defense applications as well as civilian uses.
A Chinese patent reviewed by Newsweek describes a communications system for exactly such a balloon as the one that crossed America, based on using a satellite transceiver from a U.S. company that the balloon’s controllers in China would use to communicate with it and that would send data back, and that is easily available online. more
From 2017, Scott Pelley’s interview with an FBI undercover agent who infiltrated Al Qaeda and helped thwart several terrorist attacks.
From 2011, Anderson Cooper’s report on FBI agent Lin Vecchio, who helped put away several notorious Mafia leaders, but also faced murder charges due to his association with an informant.
From 2017, Sharyn Alfonsi’s report on the use of jailhouse informants in Orange County, California.
From 2015, Steve Kroft’s report on Jack Barsky, a KGB spy from the Soviet Union who lived for decades in the United States without being detected.
From 2019, Pelley’s talk with a former American member of Al-Qaeda who provided valuable intelligence in order to avoid jail.
From 2001, Lesley Stahl’s report on Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent who was convicted of spying for Russia.
From 2024, Cecilia Vega’s report on the Americans spying for Cuba in the U.S.
From 2015, Stahl’s investigation into the controversial use of young confidential informants by law enforcement in dangerous and sometimes deadly drug cases.
From 2010, Pelley’s report on a Defense Department employee caught on tape selling secrets to a Chinese spy.
From 2022, Jon Wertheim's story on the Ritchie Boys, the secret U.S. unit bolstered by German-born Jews who helped the Allies beat Hitler.
From 2018, Cooper’s interview with Justice and FBI officials who reveal how they caught a former CIA officer spying for the Chinese.
And from 2017, Kroft’s interview with British author John Le Carré who has written several best-selling spy thrillers under the pen name David Cornwell. more
An investigation by a US federal advisory board into a sweeping digital espionage campaign, allegedly by Chinese cyber spies, has been shelved before it really got underway.
Members of the Cyber Safety Review Board are getting the boot as part of an early move by the Trump administration to dismiss participants in Department of Homeland Security advisory committees, according to multiplenewsreports and a person familiar with the matter.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. more
The British government has warned the country’s burgeoning private intelligence and security industry to stop doing work for hostile states like Russia, China and Iran.
In new guidance for security professionals published this week, the U.K. Home Office said such work risks breaking tough new national security laws — and could even see pros sent to prison for up to 14 years...
It suggests companies should “strongly consider” turning down work if a potential client works for a foreign state’s public sector, fails to provide sufficient information about their identity, or asks them to gather sensitive information. more
A Russian spy was living in a "typical seaside hotel" on the English coast crammed full of electronic surveillance equipment, a court has heard.
Orlin Roussev boasted to his controller that he was becoming like the James Bond character "Q" as he prepared his spying "toys" for kidnap and surveillance operations across Europe...
The Old Bailey was told a "vast" amount of technical equipment for "intrusive surveillance" was found at Roussev's address in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, which he described in messages as his "Indiana Jones warehouse"... a "significant amount of IT and surveillance equipment". It was stacked up in two storage rooms and an office used by Roussev, the court was told. more
The White House said the new findings reflect “a shift in key judgements,” calling for more research into injuries to American diplomats and intelligence officers stationed overseas.
A split has emerged among U.S. intelligence agencies over whether a foreign adversary may have been responsible for unexplained “Havana syndrome” injuries to American diplomats and intelligence officers stationed overseas.
A U.S. intelligence assessment released Friday revealed that two of seven spy agencies now say a foreign actor may have developed or deployed a weapon that caused the mysterious health incidents. Officials declined to reveal which intelligence services had shifted their view of the injuries, which first emerged in Havana, Cuba.
Five of seven intelligence agencies or departments echoed findings from 2023 and concluded that it was “very unlikely” that a foreign actor caused the medical symptoms that include vertigo, hearing loss, intense headaches, pain in the ears and blurred vision. Their conclusions were based in part on “sensitive intelligence reporting continuing to point away from foreign involvement,” according to the assessment. more
Threat intelligence analysts have now reported a surge in the activity of the Paper Werewolf cluster, also known as GOFFEE, which uses infected Microsoft Windows Word documents to launch mostly espionage-driven, credential-compromising attacks.
Like so many other attack campaigns, Paper Werewolf uses phishing emails and brand impersonation to distribute its malicious payload. These messages contain an encrypted Microsoft Word document that prompts the recipient to enable macros in order to read it. If they do this, then the content of the document is decrypted, and the malicious program is installed on their device. The threat intelligence analysts said that, in some instances, they observed the use of PowerRAT, a remote access trojan, enabling the attackers to execute commands and carry out reconnaissance. more
