China admits secretly (and oddly) hacking US infrastructure
Since 2021, the Israeli spyware manufacturer NSO Group has been on the US Department of Commerce Blacklist, which covers the business selling target hacking tools. However, a wired investigation found it The company appears to be working to make a comeback in Trump’s America now.hires a lobbying company with ties to the administration to make that claim.
As the White House continues to see massive U.S. federal government rage, remote and hybrid workers have returned to their offices in a coordinated effort. We’ve left important employees who don’t have the resources they need– Even reliable Wi-Fi. Elon Musk’s so-called government efficiency bureau (Doge)) This week we held a “hackathon” in Washington, DC. To work on the development of “mega APIs” that could serve as bridges between software systems for accessing and sharing IRS data more easily.
Meanwhile, this week’s new research shows that Misunderstood sexual fantasy-centric AI chatbots leak user chat The open internet reforms explicit prompts and conversations, in some cases, including explanations of child sexual abuse.
And there’s more. Each week we compile security and privacy news that we didn’t cover ourselves in depth. Click on the headline to read the complete story and stay safe.
At a US-China secret meeting, Beijing officials argued for credit for a wide range of hacking campaigns that violated US infrastructure and American officials, according to a source in the Wall Street Journal. Tensions between the two countries have escalated sharply in recent weeks due to President Donald Trump’s trade war.
At public and private conferences, Chinese officials are usually stubbornly denialing about all charges of offensive hacking. This makes it even more unusual for Chinese delegations to specifically confirm that long-standing attacks on US water operators, ports and other targets were the result of Taiwan’s policy support. Security researchers mention that the group activity was violated by actor Volt Typhoon.
Meanwhile, along with the FBI and Pentagon counter intelligence services, the National Anti-Intelligence and Security Center is An alert has been issued This week, China’s intelligence agency has been working to recruit current and former US federal employees by establishing connections under the guise of private organizations such as consulting companies and think tanks.
The U.S. Citizenship Office said Wednesday it is beginning to monitor immigrants’ social media activities for signs of anti-Semitic activity and “physical Jewish harassment.” An agency operating under the Department of Homeland Security said such actions could serve as a basis for “rejecting requests for immigration benefits.” The new policy applies to permanent residents in the United States and students and other affiliates of “institutions related to anti-Semitism activities.” The move comes as immigration and customs enforcement agencies are causing controversy over pro-Palestinian student activists over alleged anti-Semitic activities, including Mahmoud Khalil of Columbia and Le Mesa Ozruk of Tufts. Their lawyers deny the claim.
This week, President Trump ordered a federal investigation into Crisk Rebs, former director of the US cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency. an Presidential Order On Wednesday, Krebs’ security clearance was revoked and directed the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General to conduct a review. Krebs was fired by Trump During his first term in November 2020, Krebs publicly refuted Trump’s claims of election fraud in the year’s presidential election. The executive order alleges that by exposing false claims about elections during his time in office, Krebs violated the First Amendment ban on government interference in freedom of expression.
In addition to removing Krebs’ clearance, the order will cancel the clearance by anyone at the security company, the security company of Krebs’ current employer. The company this week statement “Aware of cooperation in reviewing security clearances held by our personnel” emphasized that the orders do not result in significant operational disruption as the company has only a handful of employees with clearances.
Dave Louver, director of NSA Cybersecurity, and Morgan Adamski, executive director of Cyber Command, will no longer speak at the prominent RSA security conference scheduled to begin in San Francisco on April 28th. Both appeared at last year’s meeting. Sources told NextGov/FCW that cancellation was the result of agency restrictions on essential travel. RSA usually introduces US national security and cybersecurity officials along with industry players and researchers. President Trump recently fired General Timothy Howe, who led both the NSA and the US Cyber Command.
