Category Archives: NSA

One of America's top spy chiefs vowed that the U.S. will hit back at foreign nations attempting to interfere in the 2020 presidential election, a warning delivered days after fresh charges of Russian hacking against the West.

"We're going to act when we see adversaries attempting to interfere in our elections," General Paul Nakasone, director of the National Security Agency and head of U.S. Cyber Command, said Monday during an event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army.

Nakasone's comments come after reports of Russian hacking once again surfaced last week, with the U.K., U.S. and Canada accusing Russia of attempting to steal international research to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Britain also accused Russia of attempting to interfere in the country's general election last year, by disseminating documents relating to trade talks with the U.S. Russia rejected the charges.

In a sign of the rising concern about election-year threats, top congressional Democrats said Monday that they want FBI Director Christopher Wray to provide all House and Senate members a classified and "defensive counter-intelligence briefing" before August regarding foreign efforts to interfere in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

In a letter to Wray, lawmakers including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees said that "we are gravely concerned, in particular, that Congress appears to be the target of a concerted foreign interference campaign, which seeks to launder and amplify disinformation in order to influence congressional activity, public debate, and the presidential election in November."

Aides to the lawmakers declined Monday to provide specifics on the threats mentioned in the letter.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Monday condemned President Donald Trump's "failure to act" and said in a statement that he was putting "the Kremlin and other foreign governments on notice."

"This is a violation of our sovereignty," Biden said on MSNBC. "And if in fact it occurs there will be response in kind."

NSA efforts to secure the November election include broadening its interagency partnerships and studying the techniques of U.S. adversaries, Nakasone said in his speech.

"We're going to know our adversaries better than they know themselves," he said.

The 2018 U.S. midterm elections demonstrated the country's enhanced "agility" across government agencies, Nakasone said, adding that the NSA's capabilities were now "battle-tested."

The cyber chief also addressed the ongoing debate over 5G technology as countries across the world assess the role of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

"Part of the 5G conversation has been, do nations want to entrust the security of what will likely be the most important platform for their communications to nations that do not share their values?" he asked. "We're in an era of great-power competition. We see it every day in cyberspace."

Link:
NSA head vows to strike back at nations meddling with U.S. vote - San Antonio Express-News

Reality Winner, an NSA whistleblower imprisoned for leaking secrets about Russian interference in Americas 2016 elections, has tested positive for Covid-19 and says guards are mocking infected prisoners at FMC Carswell, the Fort Worth all-womens prison where more than 500 inmates are now confirmed positive.

The officer went out of her way to come to my room and say, I just wanted to congratulate you on your positive results. Winner wrote in an email sent early Monday to her sister Brittany.

Winner, who is serving a 63-month sentence, has repeatedly denounced inadequate cleaning and isolation practices in FMC Carswell, the US federal governments only specialized medical prison for female prisoners with underlying health conditions.

They allowed someone positive from our unit to go to a hospital unit where dialysis and chemo patients live, starting the infection spread down there, Winner wrote on Monday.

[Winner] has had bronchial problems and some issues with bulimia and we know that she is considered to be medically vulnerable, said Alison Grinter, a civil rights attorney based in Dallas, Texas.

Despite weeks of pleas for cleaning supplies and commissary privileges, attorneys, health providers and even the guards union are all denouncing the rudimentary protocols inside FMC Carswell.

Cloth face masks were given to the prisoners weeks ago but crowded four to a cell, the virus spread rapidly through a population of prisoners considered to be high risk with medical conditions including cancer and chronic illnesses including diabetes.

They are all sitting together in a concrete room facing the real possibility of dying hundreds of miles away from their family. That is a shared experience that is terrifying, said Grinter, one of the defense lawyers working the case.

Winner was the first person the Trump administration charged under the Espionage Act for leaking documents.

Prosecutors said Winner, who was working for a defense contractor, printed a classified document that revealed Russian military intelligence hacking of at least one voting software supplier and had attempted to breach more than 100 local election systems before the 2016 election.

Confirmed cases at FMC Carswell have soared and two prisoners have died including Andrea Circle Bear who was infected while pregnant, had her child by emergency caesarean, then died four weeks after her baby was born.

Reality is concerned that she is going to die in there. Her concern before was that she would test positive, which she just did and now she is concerned that she is going to get sick and they are not going to be able to do anything to help her, said her sister Brittany Winner in an interview from Virginia.

She qualifies for compassionate release. We applied. She is appealing. Its like a race against time to get her out of there before she gets sick. And before it is too late.

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NSA whistleblower Reality Winner tests positive for Covid-19 in prison - The Guardian

BALTIMORE, Md. iNovex Information Systems, Incorporated (iNovex), located in Annapolis, Maryland, has agreed to pay the United States $962,747.42 to resolve federal False Claims Act allegations that iNovex knowingly billed the National Security Agency (NSA), a component of the Department of Defense, for work performed by certain iNovex employees who did not meet all of the specialized qualifications required under their contract with NSA.

The civil settlement was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur; Assistant Inspector for Investigations G. Shawn Tate of the NSA Office of Inspector General; and Special Agent in Charge Robert E. Craig, Jr. of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service - Mid-Atlantic Field Office.

Defense contractors are required to bill for costs actually incurred, and to be truthful in the claims they submit to federal agencies, said U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur. The U.S. Attorneys Office and our partners are committed to protecting taxpayer dollars and ensuring integrity and compliance with federal agency standards. This agreement settles the allegations that iNovex billed the federal government for work performed by employees who did not meet the qualifications required under their contract.

iNovex provides advanced information technology (IT) consulting, engineering, development, and integration services to both the public and private sectors. In March 2012, iNovex was awarded an NSA contract (the contract). Given the complexity of the work that was to be performed under the contract, the NSA specifically included as a term of the contract the requirement that iNovex provide personnel possessing the training, qualifications, and clearances to accomplish all tasks identified in the contract. To assure that iNovex understood the skills its employees were required to have to perform the services under the contract, NSA included an appendix to the contract that expressly referenced and attached a set of labor categories prescribing the experience, educational qualifications, and specialized certifications needed for the classes of personnel billed under the corresponding labor category, including the hourly rate that would be paid by the NSA.

According to the civil settlement agreement, the settlement resolves the allegation that between November 9, 2012 and April 14, 2016, iNovex knowingly billed the NSA, and the NSA paid, for work performed by iNovex employees who were identified by iNovex, on the invoices it presented to the NSA, as System Administrator-IV (SA-IV) and System Administrator-III (SA-III) positions, despite the fact that those employees did not timely obtain a specific certification required for payment of the rates corresponding to those two labor categories.

The claim resolved by this settlement is an allegation. The settlement is not an admission of liability by iNovex, nor a concession by the United States that its claim is not well founded.

United States Attorney Robert K. Hur commended the NSAs Office of the Inspector General and the Defense Contract Audit Agency for their work in the investigation. Mr. Hur thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Tarra DeShields who handled this case.

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Defense Contractor to Pay Nearly $1 Million to the United States to Resolve Allegation of Overbilling on NSA Contract - Bay Net

DISA Director Vice Adm. Nancy Norton (center) cuts a ribbon last to celebrate a new DISA Global Operations Center West at Hill AFB in Utah.

WASHINGTON: Agencies from across the Defense Department are coming together to turn zero trust from buzzword to reality. Led by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA), the workshops goal is to create a set of best practices to guide upgrades across DoD, said Vice Adm. Nancy Norton. Norton commands both DISA, the Pentagons tech support agency, and JHFQ-DoDIN, the DODs operational HQ for day-to-day cybersecurity.

The initial Zero Trust Reference Architecture will be out towards the end of this year, Norton told AFCEAs annual Army Signal conference this morning. While lots of companies are eager to sell products labeled zero trust, the architecture is intended to show Defense Department organizations how they can upgrade the technology they already have.

That means converting systems that now rely on a single line of defense to a layered defense based on zero trust. Most current information technology including countless aging systems in the Defense Department relies on perimeter security, where logging in means you can access all the data on a given device or even a whole network. But cybersecurity experts assume these days that the enemy will get through that perimeter or be already inside it with legitimate credentials, as Ed Snowden was at NSA. So zero trust constantly checks and re-checks each user and software process each time they try to access data, operating under the principle of deny by default. You dont get access unless you specifically prove you should have it.

The standard analogy is a castle with a moat. Perimeter security checks visitors at the drawbridge and then gives them free run of the castle, while zero trust posts guards at every chamber.

Thats a huge change, requiring a complex kit of analytic software, identification and verification systems, and bureaucratic policies. But the Pentagon cant afford to rip out its entire IT system and buy a replacement.

We very much understand that this is not going to be a wholesale, green-field approach to new network architecture, Norton said. Were not starting over again [buying] wholesale new equipment. We are taking whats out there today with our legacy equipment and incorporating new principles and new analytics and specific kinds of policies adding devices and automation into the architecture that we already have.

Since the plan is to add zero trust to existing systems, DISA and NSA need to understand how those systems work. Hence the workshops theyre conducting with other agencies, from roughly quarterly meetings of top officials down to more frequent conclaves at the working level.

The workshops are going really well and were getting lots of participation, Norton said. There is definitely a lot of interest in there.

The Armys plan to integrate its enterprise (homebase) and tactical (battlefield) networks.

Ambivalence in the ArmyThe Armys chief information officer, Lt. Gen. Bruce Crawford, has been particularly enthusiastic and ahead of the curve, Adm. Norton told an Army-heavy audience at AFCEA.

The Army very definitely has from the beginning said, we want to be part of zero trust, Norton said. Gen. Crawford was pushing, actually, DISA [to] move to a zero trust environment.

The Armys Network Enterprise Technology Command (NETCOM) is already working on a zero trust pilot project with Nortons JFHQ-DODIN, NETCOMs chief engineer told the AFCEA conference. A few months ago [US Cyber Command] asked each of the services to conduct a zero-trust pilot, Patrick Dedham said. We stood up a team thats actually trying to implement a zero-trust environment using a [Microsoft] 365 environment.

As with the DISA-led, DoD-wide effort, the NETCOM pilot is focused on the nitty-grity of implementing zero trust in existing technology, not some grand plan to rip everything out and replace it with shiny new stuff. As we go through that pilot and discover what does it really mean to implement zero trust principles on our network today, then thatll allow us to come up with a much better architecture, Dedham said. Zero trust is going to be a journeyRight now were very perimeter-security-based.

As hard as it is to implement zero trust in the Defense Departments enterprise networks which are largely based in the US with easy access to fiber optic landlines it might take even longer to implement in the tactical units that units deploy with, which largely depend on radio and which must work alongside foreign allies.

Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher

We have to connect with coalition teammates, okay? We absolutely have to, said Maj. Gen. Peter Gallagher, who leads the network modernization team at Army Futures Command. We use terms like zero trust and identity management and all that stuff, [but in a combat zone] you cant necessarily confirm the security clearance of everyone youre sharing information with.

Theres always a fine line between security and operational effectiveness the ability to command and control and fight as a coalition, Gallagher said. Indeed, one of the biggest decisions the Army has made about its future tactical network is to keep as much data as possible unclassified because it streamlines information-sharing not just with allies but even with other US units.

Properly implemented, zero trust could make it easier to share data across a coalition, said Paul Puckett, who heads the Army CIOs nine-month-old Enterprise Cloud Management Office. Perimeter security often required you have to have one network for all the US users and another, separate and unequal, for non-US users. But with zero trust, you can have a single network that manages individual users and their access in a much more nuanced way. Every user, device, and piece of data gets labeled with metadata attributes that clearly describe its identity and what its allowed to connect with, he said, whether theyre a US person or not, whether they have clearances or not.

Gallagher is watching this work on zero trust with interest but considerable caution. Were going to have to follow where NETCOM goes, Gallagher told the conference, because weve got to get the enterprise set first, and do it right, before were going to be able to really capitalize on it in the tactical space.

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Zero Trust Cybersecurity Plan This Year From DISA & NSA - Breaking Defense

By: PTI | Washington | Updated: July 15, 2020 12:42:26 pm Trump administration is looking not just at TikTok but at WeChat and some other Chinese apps as well, because the Chinese are big consumers of Americas personal data. (Representational)

China will lose a big tool of espionage and surveillance if America and some western European countries ban Chinese apps like TikTok as done by India, US National Security Advisor Robert OBrien has said.

India last month banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

OBrien told Fox News Radio in an interview that the Trump administration was very seriously taking a look at TikTok, WeChat and some other apps coming out of China.

India has already banned those apps, as you know. And if they lose India and the United States, they lose some western European countries, that takes a big tool away from the espionage work or the surveillance work of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), he said in response to a question on the dangers posed by apps like TikTok.

The kids who are using TikTok and it can be a lot of fun but there are a lot of other social media platforms they could use. TikTok is getting facial recognition on you, OBrien said. They are getting all of your personal, private data, your most intimate data. They are getting to know who your friends are, who your parents are. They can map all your relationships, he added.

All the information is going straight to the massive supercomputers in the cloud in China, OBrien said. So China is going to know everything about you. They are going to have biometrics on you. You ought to be very careful regarding who you give such personal information to, he said.

The Trump administration, he said, is looking not just at TikTok but at WeChat and some other Chinese apps as well, because the Chinese are big consumers of Americas personal data. They will either try and get you to give it to them for free through WeChat or TikTok if they cannot get it that way, they will steal it, OBrien said.

China, he said, has hacked into Marriott and stolen the personal data of hundreds of millions of people, including their passport numbers.

They have hacked into Experian and other credit rating agencies to get most intimate credit details. They have hacked into Anthem healthcare so that they can get medical details. So this is not just an advertiser trying to find out what you are interested in searching for on Google so they can sell you a different brand of car, this is a country that is looking to get every bit of personal, private information they can, so they know everything about you, OBrien said.

He said there were social credit scores in China for people based on how compliant they are with the Communist party dictates.

They are going to be able to put social credit scores together on all Americans and everyone in the world soon because of artificial intelligence and supercomputing, he said. We need to make sure that does not happen, the US National Security Advisor said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last week said the US is certainly looking at banning Chinese social media apps, including TikTok.

The American leaderships remarks on the Chinese social media apps came amid growing tensions in bilateral ties with Beijing on a range of issues, including on the coronavirus outbreak and the controversial national security law imposed in Hong Kong.

The US has banned Huawei from their 5G networks over concerns of security and Washington has been pressuring other countries to restrict the operations of the Chinese telecom firm.

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Banning TikTok takes a big espionage tool away from China: US NSA - The Indian Express

Chinas very aggressive actions against India, including the brutal attack on Indian soldiers in eastern Ladakh, and its moves in the South China Sea and Hong Kong give a good insight into how the ruling Communist Party of China is thinking these days, U.S. National Security Advisor Robert OBrien has said.

The Indian and Chinese armies were locked in a stand-off in multiple locations in eastern Ladakh since May 5. The tension escalated in the Galwan Valley on June 15 in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed during a violent face-off with Chinese soldiers.

The Chinese have been very aggressive with India, Mr. OBrien said on Tuesday alleging that during the recent clash they beat some of the Indians so badly they were disfigured and could not be identified.

This is a dispute between India and China, but China has shown itself for what it was. Chinese troops ambushed the Indians. They beat 20 Indians to death. They beat them so badly with clubs with nails in them and wrapped with concertina barbed wire, Mr. OBrien told Fox News Radio in an interview.

He was responding to a question on the recent Chinese aggressive behaviour against India in eastern Ladakh.

Responding to a question on U.S.-India bilateral relations, he said, India is a democracy and is a great friend of the United States.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President (Donald) Trump have a super relationship, Mr. OBrien said.

In fact, it was the last foreign trip that I took with the President before the COVID crisis hit, was to India, and we had a great reception of the Indian people there. We have a lot in common with them, we speak English, were democracies. Weve got a growing, very strong relationship with India, Mr. OBrien said.

But Chinas action towards India, just like its actions in the South China Sea, just like what its doing in Hong Kong, just like the bullying intimidation of Taiwan, really gives you a good insight into how the Communist Party of China is thinking these days, he said.

China claims almost all of the 1.3 million square mile South China Sea as its sovereign territory. China has been building military bases on artificial islands in the region also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Its something to be very concerned about, Mr. OBrien said.

On Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected most of Chinas maritime claims in the South China Sea, the latest in the escalation between Washington and Beijing.

Last week, the Trump administration took action against Chinese officials for their involvement in human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region, where Uighur Muslims and other minority groups have been detained and tortured.

And two weeks ago, the administration announced visa restrictions on current and former Chinese officials who it says were responsible for eviscerating Hong Kongs freedoms.

The Trump administration has been openly critical of Beijings sweeping national security law aimed at limiting Hong Kongs autonomy and banning literature critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

Earlier in the day, Senator Bob Menendez, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, alleged that China is seeking to redraw the map of Asia without regard to its neighbours.

As India and China work to disengage along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), I remain deeply concerned by Chinas aggressive behaviour in territorial disputes, he said.

From the 2017 Doklam stand-off to the recent violence along the borders in Sikkim and Ladakh, to Chinas new claims to Bhutanese territory, Beijing has all too often sought to redraw the map of Asia without regard for its neighbours, he said.

The international community must be clear that such behaviour is unacceptable, he added.

Mr. Menendez, the top Democratic Senator from New Jersey, said that the U.S.-India partnership, based on their shared commitment to democracy, is vital to uphold international law, international norms and the institutions that can peacefully and diplomatically resolve disputes and aggression.

I am committed to working with the Indian government and the Indian-American community in New Jersey and throughout the United States to advance U.S.-India cooperation, Mr. Menendez said.

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Chinas aggressive actions against India give insight into how CPC thinking these days, says U.S. NSA - The Hindu

Editors NoteThe following is the first edition of a newly launched newsletter, The Dissenter, which covers whistleblower stories and the obstacles they face. A subscription is $5/month. To subscribe, visit https://dissenter.substack.com/subscribe

At Federal Medical Center Carswell in Fort Worth, Texas, where NSA whistleblower Reality Winner is incarcerated, the number of COVID-19 infections have tripled in one week.Her sister Brittany Winner said one of her bunkmates had severe symptomatic COVID-19 and was removed. Brittany Winner believes it is a matter of time before Reality Winner falls ill. Reality Winner received one of the 733 tests administered at the facility, but as of July 14, she is still waiting for the results.The rapidly intensifying facility outbreak comes as the 11th United States Court of Appeals deliberates over Winners request to reverse a district court ruling and release her into home confinement.Reality Winner filed an appeal on May 12. Her attorneys warned, The entire basis for Realitys motionand so many like hersis that she cannot afford to wait until she is removed from FMC Carswell in a stretcher, or worse, before she is afforded relief.Two months later, the 11th Circuit still has not ruled on her appeal or scheduled a hearing on the increasingly dire circumstances she faces during the pandemic. Reality Winner pled guilty in 2018 to one count of violating the Espionage Act when she disclosed an NSA report to The Intercept. She believed the report contained evidence that Russian hackers targeted United States voter registration systems during the 2016 election. She has served well over half of her 63-month sentence.According to the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), in the last two weeks, 134 inmates and three staff members have tested positive for COVID-19. Winner submitted a filing on July 13 with additional details on the outbreak that indicates how cases have spiked. On June 29, according to the BOP, there were zero confirmed cases among prisoners. There were 45 confirmed cases on July 6. Three days later, there were 68 confirmed cases. One day later, there were 77 confirmed cases.The BOP reported 113 cases among prisoners on July 11 and 127 cases among prisoners on July 12.Realitys burden in the district court was to demonstrate that her circumstancesincluding, for instance, her underlying health issues coupled with her environment at FMC Carswellmeet the required test of being extraordinary and compelling, justifying her release, declared Winners attorney Joe Whitley. The exponentially growing harm at FMC Carswell is relevant to that inquiry andcombined with the other evidence in this recordjustifies her release.Brittany Winner communicates with her sister regularly and said those in Reality Winners unit are confined to their cells except at specific times to shower once per day or use the restroom.After her bunkmate contracted the virus, Reality Winner suggested it was almost better in the cell with only three people now, as they have more space, but they still cant all stand up at the same time because the space is so tight.In recent days, guards are using the stairs and the hallways for personal exercise while prisoners remain confined. Not only do they feel like they are being taunted, but Reality Winner and other prisoners are concerned their increased breath rate will exacerbate the spread of COVID-19.She hasnt seen the sun in almost three weeks and hasnt been given the time or space to exercise, Brittany Winner shared. Her sciatica is flaring up, and her anxiety is through the roof, as she isnt allowed video chats with her family and some days is not allowed to use the phone or computer. Shes helpless and frustrated and trapped.The July 13 filing mentions it took over a week for Realitys counsel to be able to schedule a phone call with her to obtain more insights into her current circumstances, which her attorney sees as an illustration of BOPs inadequate handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as a whole. It is apparent, in view of the spiking numbers at this facility, that her health is, as argued in the district court and in this Court, in serious jeopardy. Counsel fears what information will be learned that is not reflected in the BOPs numbers alone when he does have the opportunity to speak to Reality, Whitley added.

Local news reporting from the Fort Worth Star-Telegram paints an increasingly bleak picture. One prisoner named Sandra Shoulders suggested she is living in a horror movie. Every day, prison staff at FMC Carswell, a federal medical prison in Fort Worth, take about a dozen people out of [Shoulders] unit to get tested for COVID-19. Some of them come back; others do not.The newspaper added, When a woman tests positive for the virus, her mattress is dragged from the room she shares with three other people and stacked in what used to be the TV room. Every day, the mountain of mattresses grows. Shoulders tries to avoid walking past it.Multiple women in the prison who did not want to be named out of fear of retaliation wrote the Star-Telegram to describe the conditions, according to the newspaper. The women shared the following:

When an inmate tests positive, her belongings are not removed from the shared living space for hours. Inmates are responsible for cleaning the infected rooms but often do not have the proper PPE, two inmates wrote. One inmate who tested positive was allowed to use a shared bathroom, which was not cleaned for hours after she used it.

The inmates are primarily responsible for cleaning the showers, phones and computers the women share, Shoulders said, even though they have not all been tested and do not have the proper cleaning supplies.

One man named Steven, who withheld his last name because he is fearful of retaliation, told the Star-Telegram that his wife believes she will die at Carswell. She thinks nobody in that place cares. And she watches people holding up signs at the mens prison when that (outbreak) happened, and shes saying, Why does no one care about whats happening here?Reality Winner believes she is suffering through this hell in a black hole, where nobody seems to know or care whats happening to them.If a prisoner tests positive at Carswell, they are put in solitary confinement. The use of solitary confinement in U.S. prisons has grown by 500 percent during the pandemic.A recent paper from researchers and physicians at Amend Correctional Culture at the University of California San Francisco highlighted the effect solitary confinement could have.Many advocates fear that use of isolation to curb transmission of COVID-19 in correctional facilities will complicate the emerging crisis, as incarcerated people become reluctant to report symptoms for fear of being moved to solitary confinement, those who do report symptoms will be forced to endure an experience known to cause psychological and physical harm, and system-wide unrest will be triggered in institutions where fears about being placed in medical isolation could run rampant, the paper warned.Given the grave health risks that COVID-19 pose to correctional institutions and their surrounding communities, the group of researchers and physicians recommends corrections officials and advocates for incarcerated people and their families persuade governors, legislators, and the public that rapid decarceration, including of the sentenced population, is necessary and can be done safely.Winners request for compassionate release invokes the First Step Act and argues it allows her to bring a motion before a federal court that shows extraordinary and compelling reasons exist, which require the court to free her. If she is released, her case could be a model for other prisoners who are vulnerable to COVID-19.But the 11th Circuit is notorious when it comes to appeals from prisoners. In June, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated, The 11th Circuit is significantly out of step with other courts. The 11th Circuit, as the New York Times noted, requires that prisoners us a form that is so small one is lucky to fit 100 words. That submission can form the basis for rulings on appeals without even an individualized response from the government.

This stands in stark contrast to the practices of the other circuits, which often hear oral argument and read particularized government briefs, and which consider the statutory 30-day time limit to be optional, Judge Charles R. Wilson declared in 2019.

Winner is not appealing her conviction, but there may be little difference. Absent a recognition of the health risks facing prisoners, and how the outbreak may fuel the spread in surrounding communities if decarceration does not happen, the 11th Circuit is likely to reject the notion she should be released. There is a deep prejudice in the Justice Department and the courts against people like Winner who leak classified information. As a result of their hostility, they may transform her already harsh sentence into a death sentence if the press and public do not shame them into showing mercy.

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COVID-19 Cases Triple At Carswell Where Reality Winner Is Imprisoned - Shadowproof

The National Security Agency issued a new cybersecurity advisory on Thursday, warning that virtual private networks, or VPNs, could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured. The agency's warning comes amid a surge in telework as organizations adapt to coronavirus-related office closures and other constraints.

A VPN allows users to establish private, encrypted connections to another network over the internet. They are used widely by corporations and other organizations to protect proprietary data from hackers while employees work remotely.

A senior NSA official who briefed reporters Wednesday said the increase in remote work had attracted the attention of potentially malicious cyber actors.

"We certainly see adversaries focused on telework infrastructure," the official said. "We've seen exploitation and as a result, have felt that this was a product that is particularly helpful now."

VPN gateways in particular are "prone to network scanning, brute force attacks, and zero-day vulnerabilities," the NSA's advisory said. "[N]etwork administrators should implement strict traffic filtering rules to limit the ports, protocols, and IP addresses of network traffic to VPN devices."

The senior official said the NSA, whose employees deal daily with highly classified materials and systems, had taken its own steps to adapt to the pandemic, reducing some of its workforce to "mission-essential" for several weeks and introducing social distancing measures within its outposts.

The advisory was issued by the agency's Cybersecurity Directorate, which launched last October. Its mandate involves reinvigorating a set of missions the NSA has long had protecting government and private sector systems by accelerating, broadening and "operationalizing" its dissemination of unclassified threat information, according to officials.

The directorate has now issued over a dozen public advisories since its launch. In October, it warned that nation-state actors were targeting VPN devices. In January, it was behind the disclosure of a "critical vulnerability" in Microsoft's Windows 10 software something the agency might have once exploited, instead, as a hacking tool. And in May, in another rare move, it named a Russian military hacking unit that was secretly accessing commonly used email software.

"Attribution is always interesting," the senior NSA official said Wednesday. "We do it if we believe it creates a sense of urgency to address a vulnerability."

The directorate's emphasis on information-sharing stems from a recognition that nation states are getting more aggressive and more sophisticated in going after government and non-government targets. Its leadership has said it is also a conscious effort to move away from stubborn perceptions that the agency is a secretive black box or "No-Such-Agency," as the NSA has been labeled. (Its foreign intelligence mission which involves intercepting signals and communications overseas is likely to continue avoiding the public eye.)

The agency has also broadened its presence on social media, launching an Instagram account, a dedicated Twitter account for the directorate, and even bringing its notoriously circumspect director to the platform. (Paul Nakasone has tweeted three times in three weeks.)

"General Nakasone has looked at the environment and said, 'We see adversaries increasingly using cyber to achieve national security objectives below the level of armed conflict,'" the senior official said. "'We're seeing rapid technological change, which just brings in a whole new set of vulnerabilities.'"

"It led him to say, 'We really need to up our game.'"

Continued here:
National Security Agency warns that VPNs could be vulnerable to cyberattacks - CBS News

The National Security Agency issued a new cybersecurity advisory on Thursday, warning that virtual private networks, or VPNs, could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured.

The National Security Agency issued a new cybersecurity advisory on Thursday, warning that virtual private networks, or VPNs, could be vulnerable to attacks if not properly secured. The agencys warning comes amid a surge in telework as organizations adapt to coronavirus-related office closures and other constraints.

A VPN allows users to establish private, encrypted connections to another network over the internet. They are used widely by corporations and other organizations to protect proprietary data from hackers while employees work remotely.

A senior NSA official who briefed reporters Wednesday said the increase in remote work had attracted the attention of potentially malicious cyber actors.

We certainly see adversaries focused on telework infrastructure, the official said. Weve seen exploitation and as a result, have felt that this was a product that is particularly helpful now.

VPN gateways in particular are prone to network scanning, brute force attacks, and zero-day vulnerabilities, the NSAs advisory said. [N]etwork administrators should implement strict traffic filtering rules to limit the ports, protocols, and IP addresses of network traffic to VPN devices.

The senior official said the NSA, whose employees deal daily with highly classified materials and systems, had taken its own steps to adapt to the pandemic, reducing some of its workforce to mission-essential for several weeks and introducing social distancing measures within its outposts.

The advisory was issued by the agencys Cybersecurity Directorate, which launched last October. Its mandate involves reinvigorating a set of missions the NSA has long had protecting government and private sector systems by accelerating, broadening and operationalizing its dissemination of unclassified threat information, according to officials.

The directorate has now issued over a dozen public advisories since its launch. In October, it warned that nation-state actors were targeting VPN devices. In January, it was behind the disclosure of a critical vulnerability in Microsofts Windows 10 software something the agency might have once exploited, instead, as a hacking tool. And in May, in another rare move, it named a Russian military hacking unit that was secretly accessing commonly used email software.

Attribution is always interesting, the senior NSA official said Wednesday. We do it if we believe it creates a sense of urgency to address a vulnerability.

The directorates emphasis on information-sharing stems from a recognition that nation states are getting more aggressive and more sophisticated in going after government and non-government targets. Its leadership has said it is also a conscious effort to move away from stubborn perceptions that the agency is a secretive black box or No-Such-Agency, as the NSA has been labeled. (Its foreign intelligence mission which involves intercepting signals and communications overseas is likely to continue avoiding the public eye.)

The agency has also broadened its presence on social media, launching an Instagram account, a dedicated Twitter account for the directorate, and even bringing its notoriously circumspect director to the platform. (Paul Nakasone has tweeted three times in three weeks.)

General Nakasone has looked at the environment and said, We see adversaries increasingly using cyber to achieve national security objectives below the level of armed conflict,' the senior official said. Were seeing rapid technological change, which just brings in a whole new set of vulnerabilities.'

It led him to say, We really need to up our game.'

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NSA warns that VPNs could be vulnerable to cyberattacks - WTOP

Bengaluru: Lauding Indian government for the way it handled the Balakot airstrike, former US National Security Advisor (NSA) John Bolton has added it was a crisis well handled by the Indian side, reports India Today, in its exclusive.

Also Read:All about Balakot airstrike you need to know

John Bolton, who has recently released his book 'The Room Where it Happened', said that during the India-Pakistan crisis in 2019, India showed restraint and acted in a balanced way.

The website adds that among a host of other things, John Bolton's book mentions the Balakot airstrikes conducted by the Indian Air Force in February last year. When asked why he did not write about it in detail, Bolton said Donald Trump, him and other officials of the US government were caught up with the meeting with North Korea.

In this regard, he said, "This was potentially a very significant military confrontation, very risky behaviour on the Pakistani side. The US spoke to India as it is a part of expanding and deepening bilateral US-India relationship. We have many common threads. We have some issues which need to be resolved between the US and India, but there's no underestimating the stronger India-US connection.

Also Read:How Balakot was planned

About Americas intelligence on the issue, he said, I won't get into what the US intelligence revealed to us of course, but the US authority had a very good conversation with his counterpart. We came away from the crisis feeling that the Indian side had exercised appropriate kind of restraint and it was a real incentive for deepening communication in the future crisis. If we are prepared for it, there are chances that it can be resolved more easily.

He also gave this reaction on what US felt about it. He said, We were pleased by the way the crisis played up and the restraint showed by the Indian side and that it was resolved peacefully. We had a similar conversation with the Pakistani side. These things have different versions depending on what capital city you are sitting in. But it showed something of the enhanced communication with New Delhi in particular.

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Former American NSA John Bolton says Indias reaction on Balakot airstrike was appropriate - MyNation