Daily Intel Brief
Russian bases in Belgorod and Crimea are hit by explosions, Ukraine and Russia point fingers over a possible nuclear crisis, and Estonia thwarts a large cyberattack...
Counterterrorism
A graduate of Wagner High School has been charged in a federal anti-terrorism investigation after allegedly making online posts that the FBI claims show he was planning to attack a conservative student group in Florida. Federal anti-terrorism agents claim Alejandro Richard…
A man previously convicted of possessing an explosive substance has been sent back to prison for breaching court requirements, police say. Anwar Driouich, who was jailed in 2020 after admitting having 10kg of ammonium nitrate and seven terror manuals, was on Thursday…
Military & Defense
Explosions erupted across Russia and Russian-occupied Ukraine on Thursday night as Ukrainian forces escalated their weeks-long campaign of deep strikes on Russian logistics and airfields. The blasts, targeting ammunition dumps, airfields and other facilities, could disrupt…
Russia has ominously warned the workers at a critical nuclear power plant in Ukraine to stay home on Friday, raising fears of an impending nuclear crisis as a result of ongoing hostilities. Forces loyal to the Kremlin seized control of the Zaporizhzhia power plant – Europe’s largest…
Cybersecurity
A known security researcher has discovered a new zero-day vulnerability in Windows, which allows for remote code execution by opening .zip files in Windows. Zip archives are able to hold internet shortcuts and, when using the Windows file system, can call CMD to execute…
Estonian officials said the country successfully thwarted a cyberattack on Wednesday that targeted both its public and private institutions. Estonia’s undersecretary for digital transformation, Luukas Ilves, said on Twitter that the country was able to disrupt one of…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
In the 1940s, U.S. and British physicists working at the Los Alamos National Laboratory shared technical secrets about America’s atomic energy program with Soviet spies operating in the United States. The greatest secret of World War II was now in the hands of Soviet…
A hacking group suspected of acting on behalf of the Chinese government has carried out a multi-year espionage campaign against numerous governments, NGOs, think-tanks and news agencies, according to a new report. The group, known as RedAlpha, has specialised in…
Transnational Organized Crime
Nearly six months into Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine, it appears Vladimir Putin has pinned his hopes for claiming victory on a self-described “organized crime syndicate” that is now trawling prisons for cold-blooded killers and deploying mercenaries to straighten out…
After a recent review into travel for US citizens to Mexico, the State Department has issued sweeping changes to its advice. Now, nearly all travel to Mexico is not recommended. The summary described violent crime as “widespread and common” as well as explaining the…