Counterterrorism

Oxford Woman Arrested for Encouraging Terrorism Online

A 20-year-old woman from Oxford has been arrested on suspicion of encouraging terrorism online. Counter terrorism officers arrested the woman at a property in Blackbird Leys on Monday, police said. She remains in custody. The pre-planned arrest was in connection…

ICE HSI, Brazilian Police Stop Neo-Nazi Plans for New Year’s Eve Mass-Casualty Attack

Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations worked with Brazilian authorities to stop neo-Nazis from planning and executing a mass-casualty attack on New Year’s Eve in São Paulo. According to Brazil’s Ministry of Justice and Public Security…

Exclusive-U.N. Proposing Paying Nearly $6 Million to Taliban for Security -Document, Source

The United Nations is proposing to pay nearly $6 million for protection in Afghanistan to Taliban-run Interior Ministry personnel, whose chief is under U.N. and U.S. sanctions and wanted by the FBI, according to a U.N. document and a source familiar with the matter…

Military & Defense

Department of Defense Reforms Target U.S. Military’s Missing Weapons Problem

The Department of Defense is overhauling how it keeps track of its guns and explosives, and Congress is requiring more accountability from the Pentagon — responses to an Associated Press investigation that showed lost or stolen military weapons were reaching America’s…

Putin Warns of Possible Military Response Over ‘Aggressive’ Nato

Vladimir Putin has said he will consider a military response if Russia feels threatened by Nato, in a sign that he is not ready to de-escalate tensions over a potential invasion of Ukraine. In a combative speech on Tuesday, Putin – who has demanded…

US Army Creates Single Vaccine Effective Against All COVID & SARS Variants, Researchers Say

Within weeks, scientists at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research expect to announce that they have developed a vaccine that is effective against COVID-19 and all its variants, even Omicron, as well as from previous SARS-origin viruses that have killed millions of…

Cybersecurity

Scammers Steal $150K Worth of Crypto From NFT Project With Discord Hack

Buyers hoping to get a limited-edition NFT from Fractal, a new marketplace for game item NFTs, were given an unpleasant and costly surprise on Tuesday morning when it was revealed that a link sent through the project’s official Discord channel was a scam set up to steal…

UK Security Agency Shares 225M Passwords With 'Have I Been Pwned'

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) have contributed 225 million new compromised emails and associated passwords with Have I Been Pwned (HIBP), a free service that tracks stolen credentials so people can know if theirs have…

Meta Sues to Disrupt Prolific Phishing Campaign

Facebook’s parent company is taking legal action again in a bid to tackle the scourge of phishing – in particular, a campaign abusing its own brands. Meta said it filed in a Californian court yesterday against those behind a phishing effort that involved the…

Counterintelligence & Espionage

Harvard Professor Found Guilty of Hiding Ties to China

A Harvard University professor charged with hiding his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program was found guilty on all counts Tuesday. Charles Lieber, 62, the former chair of Harvard’s department of chemistry and chemical biology, had pleaded not guilty to two…

Russia Detains 2 Turkish Journalists Over ‘Spying’ Charges

Two journalists from Turkish news website GZT, Nazgul Kenzhetay and Emin Karaçak, have been detained since Dec. 16, the news outlet said in a report late Tuesday. According to the website, all belongings of the two journalists were seized and all their digital data forcibly…

Ex-Military Arrested for Gathering Intelligence on Ukraine's Air Defense Systems for Russia

In Dnipropetrovsk region, a former officer of an Air Force unit was exposed for stealing military secrets. The man was trying to pass classified data to the Russian intelligence agency, having planned a trip to Russia to this end under the pretext of a family visit, the Security…

Transnational Organized Crime

CBP Reports 10 Percent Increase in Border Crossers for November

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) today released operational statistics for November 2021, which can be viewed online here. “CBP’s November Monthly Operational Update reflects an incredible amount of work on behalf of the American people to keep dangerous…

Flamur Beqiri: Murder Trial Hears Victim Was 'Involved in Organised Crime'

A man who was shot dead in front of his family on Christmas Eve was "involved in serious and organised crime", a court has heard. Father-of-two Flamur Beqiri, 36, was allegedly murdered outside his home in Battersea, south-west London, in 2019. Prosecutors claim…

Cartels Ditch Pot and Opium Fields for Synthetic Drugs, Mexico Defense Secretary Says

As the wholesale price-per-pound of legal cannabis plummets in some states bordering Mexico, cartels in the country are shifting to more lucrative drugs: fentanyl and other synthetic drugs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this…