Hacker News with Generative AI: Espionage

MI5 files suggest queen not briefed on spy Blunt in royal household for 9 years (theguardian.com)
The late Queen Elizabeth II was not told for almost 10 years that Anthony Blunt, a surveyor of the queen’s pictures and a member of the royal household, had confessed to being a Soviet double agent, previously secret security files suggest.
History, Royal Family, Espionage, Intelligence, United Kingdom
6 points by bookofjoe 3 days ago | 0 comments
DOJ confirms FBI operation that mass-deleted Chinese malware from US computers (techcrunch.com)
U.S. authorities have confirmed that they disrupted the operations of a Chinese state-backing hacking group, which infiltrated millions of computers worldwide to steal data as part of a years-long espionage campaign.
Cybersecurity, Government, China, Espionage
37 points by alp1n3_eth 3 days ago | 18 comments
Chinese cyber-spies peek over shoulder of officials probing real-estate deals (theregister.com)
Chinese cyber-spies who broke into the US Treasury Department also stole documents from officials investigating real-estate sales near American military bases, it's reported.
Cybersecurity, Government, Espionage, Real Estate, Military
6 points by LinuxBender 7 days ago | 2 comments
How Chinese Hackers Graduated from Clumsy Corporate Thieves to Military Weapons (msn.com)
Cybersecurity, China, Hacking, Military, Espionage
4 points by MilnerRoute 12 days ago | 0 comments
Chinese cyber-spies reportedly targeted sanctions Intel in US Treasury raid (theregister.com)
Chinese spies who compromised the US Treasury Department's workstations reportedly stole data belonging to a government office responsible for sanctions against organizations and individuals.
Cybersecurity, Government, China, Espionage, Intel
7 points by penda 15 days ago | 0 comments
How China turns members of its diaspora into spies (economist.com)
AMONG EXILED Chinese dissidents, Tang Yuanjun was well known. He had participated in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and landed in prison as a result. He later defected to Taiwan, swimming to one of its outlying islands from a fishing boat. America granted him asylum and he settled in New York, becoming the leader of Chinese pro-democracy groups. But in August 2024 he was arrested by the FBI.
Espionage, China, Politics, Diaspora
228 points by cwwc 20 days ago | 220 comments
Russian-Linked Oil Tanker Suspected of Sabotage Was Brimming with Spy Equipment (twz.com)
The Eagle S – a tanker ship carrying Russian oil and suspected of severing the Estlink 2 power cable running under the Baltic Sea between Finland and Estonia – was reportedly brimming with spy equipment.
Russia, Espionage, Maritime Security, Sabotage, International Relations
13 points by tomohawk 21 days ago | 4 comments
China turns members of its diaspora into spies (economist.com)
AMONG EXILED Chinese dissidents, Tang Yuanjun was well known. He had participated in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and landed in prison as a result. He later defected to Taiwan, swimming to one of its outlying islands from a fishing boat. America granted him asylum and he settled in New York, becoming the leader of Chinese pro-democracy groups. But in August 2024 he was arrested by the FBI.
China, Espionage, Diaspora, Politics, International Relations
13 points by walterbell 21 days ago | 1 comments
A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a Chinese espionage campaign: WH (apnews.com)
A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday.
Cybersecurity, Espionage, China, Telecoms, US Government
16 points by ssahoo 21 days ago | 0 comments
Cable-cutting tanker seized by Finland 'was loaded with spying equipment' (lloydslist.com)
Espionage, Shipping, International Relations, Finland
590 points by nabla9 21 days ago | 561 comments
Ex-Mossad Agents Reveal How They Turned Hezbollah's Devices into Bombs (twz.com)
Key details of the Israeli intelligence service’s operation targeting members of Hezbollah with exploding pagers and walkie-talkies in September have been revealed.
Espionage, Intelligence, Hezbollah, Israel, Security
21 points by thenaturalist 23 days ago | 21 comments
Man Who Ran Secret Police Office in New York Admits He Was Chinese Agent (nytimes.com)
A man pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday to charges that he had worked as an unauthorized agent of the Chinese government, running a police outpost in Lower Manhattan as part of an effort to quash criticism of Beijing.
Espionage, China, New York, Law, Politics
11 points by ____H____ 29 days ago | 1 comments
Russia takes unusual route to hack Starlink-connected devices in Ukraine (arstechnica.com)
Russian nation-state hackers have followed an unusual path to gather intel in the country's ongoing invasion of Ukraine—appropriating the infrastructure of fellow threat actors and using it to infect electronic devices its adversary’s military personnel are using on the front line.
Cybersecurity, Ukraine, Russia, Military, Espionage
4 points by LinuxBender 37 days ago | 0 comments
China's Salt Typhoon recorded top American officials' calls, says White House (theregister.com)
Chinese cyberspies recorded "very senior" US political figures' calls, according to White House security boss Anne Neuberger.
Cybersecurity, China, US Politics, Espionage, National Security
66 points by rntn 39 days ago | 16 comments
Animals in Espionage (cia.gov)
At CIA, we find inspiration in all kinds of places, including nature. From robotic catfish to real-life spy birds, animals and their look-alikes have helped Agency officers perform a variety of critical duties, including eavesdropping, intelligence gathering, security, covert communications, and photo surveillance.
Espionage, Animals, CIA, Technology
36 points by carlos-menezes 40 days ago | 20 comments
Welrod (wikipedia.org)
The Welrod is a British bolt-action, magazine-fed pistol with an integrated silencer which was devised for covert operations during the Second World War by Major Hugh Reeves at the Inter-Services Research Bureau (later Station IX).
Weapons, History, Military, Espionage
12 points by rolph 41 days ago | 4 comments
Badass Russian techie outsmarts FSB, flees Putinland (theregister.com)
A Russian programmer defied the Federal Security Service (FSB) by publicizing the fact his phone was infected with spyware after being confiscated by authorities.
Cybersecurity, Russia, Espionage, Technology, Politics
7 points by galaxyLogic 42 days ago | 3 comments
Spies jumped from one telco to another in a way 'I've not seen in my career' (theregister.com)
While Chinese-government-backed spies maintained access to US telecommunications providers' networks for months – and in some cases still haven't been booted out – T-Mobile US thwarted successful attacks on its systems "within a single-digit number of days," according to the carrier's security boss Jeff Simon.
Cybersecurity, Telecommunications, China, Espionage
6 points by LinuxBender 44 days ago | 0 comments
UK uncovers crypto laundering scheme for gangsters and Russian spies (ft.com)
Cryptocurrency, Crime, Russia, UK, Espionage
13 points by cannibalXxx 44 days ago | 1 comments
Florida Man Who Spied on Verizon for China Gets 4 Years in Prison (gizmodo.com)
A former Verizon employee who fed information to Chinese security agents about his employer, Chinese hacking operations, and pro-democracy activists living in the U.S. was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday.
Espionage, China, Verizon, Cybersecurity, Law Enforcement
14 points by indigodaddy 48 days ago | 2 comments
Fugees Founder Pras Michél Speaks Out: 'I Never Wanted to Be a Spy' (variety.com)
It was a scene ripped from a John le Carré novel.
Music, Celebrities, Espionage
123 points by mutexjp 51 days ago | 83 comments
Spies hack Wi-Fi networks in far-off land to launch attack on target next door (arstechnica.com)
One of 2024's coolest hacking tales occurred two years ago, but it wasn't revealed to the public until Friday at the Cyberwarcon conference in Arlington, Virginia. Hackers with ties to Fancy Bear—the spy agency operated by Russia’s GRU—broke into the network of a high-value target after first compromising a Wi-Fi-enabled device in a nearby building and using it to exploit compromised accounts on the target’s Wi-Fi network.
Cybersecurity, Hacking, Russia, Espionage, Wi-Fi
20 points by romperstomper 56 days ago | 1 comments
Man Charged with Conspiring to Illegally Export US Aviation Components to Russia (justice.gov)
An official website of the United States government
International Relations, Espionage, Government, Technology, Russia
8 points by sandwichsphinx 56 days ago | 0 comments
Spies Jumped from One Network to Another via Wi-Fi in an Unprecedented Hack (wired.com)
In a first, Russia's APT28 hacking group appears to have remotely breached the Wi-Fi of an espionage target by hijacking a laptop in another building across the street.
Cybersecurity, Espionage, Hacking, Russia, Wi-Fi
140 points by impish9208 57 days ago | 54 comments
California Man Sentenced for Acting as an Illegal Agent of the PRC and Bribery (justice.gov)
John Chen, 71, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Los Angeles, was sentenced today to 20 months in prison for acting as unregistered agents of the PRC and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a plot to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong — a spiritual practice banned in the PRC.
Politics, China, Law Enforcement, Espionage
6 points by impish9208 58 days ago | 1 comments
Chinese ship investigated over 'sabotaged' Baltic Sea internet cables (telegraph.co.uk)
Swedish investigators are looking into the movements of a Chinese vessel in the Baltic Sea after two internet cables were severed in what some Western leaders suspect was an act of sabotage.
Cybersecurity, International Relations, Infrastructure, Espionage
4 points by toss1 59 days ago | 0 comments
Agent Blue – Arsenic-Laced Rainbow [pdf] (11thrru.org)
Toxicology, History, Cold War, Espionage, Chemical Weapons
38 points by limit499karma 59 days ago | 15 comments
Russian spy ship confirmed to be operating near cables off Dublin (rte.ie)
A Russian spy ship has been operating near subsea cables in the Irish Sea just north of Dublin in recent days, according to vessel tracking data and military sources.
Russia, Espionage, Military, Ireland, Cybersecurity
17 points by austinallegro 63 days ago | 1 comments
Fisker EVs Hired an IT Spy Who Funneled Millions to N. Korea's Missile Program (torquenews.com)
A report from Automotive News (by subscription) reveals that Fisker Inc., the Ocean SUV electric car manufacturer located in Manhattan Beach, California, hired an IT worker who was a spy for the North Korean government to steal money for its missile program.
Espionage, Automotive, North Korea, Electric Vehicles
134 points by rmason 73 days ago | 113 comments
US Government memo shows Ethel Rosenberg was not a spy but executed her anyway (bloomberg.com)
The children of convicted Soviet spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg spent more than half their lives hunting for a smoking gun document that would prove their mother's innocence. They said their quest is now over.
History, Cold War, Espionage, Justice
33 points by ck2 77 days ago | 29 comments