Daily Intel Brief
Russian TV hacked ahead of military parades, US sanctions ISIS financiers, and Clearview AI facial recognition not for commercial use...
Counterterrorism
Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri made an appearance in a pre-recorded video to mark the 11th anniversary of the death of his predecessor Osama bin Laden. Al-Zawahri says in the video that “U.S. weakness” was the reason that its ally Ukraine became “prey” for the…
The United States on Monday sanctioned five individuals participating in an ISIS network of financial facilitators operating across Indonesia, Syria and Turkey in an effort to "expose and disrupt" the network of "violent extremists." The Department of the Treasury’s Office of…
Military & Defense
A senior official from the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday said officers in Russian President Vladimir Putin's military have joined soldiers in refusing to follow orders in Ukraine. During a background briefing, the senior official at the Department of Defense…
China has conducted a series of combat drills in the seas around Taiwan in a demonstration of its military might, apparently warning foreign allies that it has the ability to completely encircle the island. The exercise, carried out to the east and southwest of the self-governed…
Cybersecurity
Russians tuning in to view the country's Victory Day parade were shown an anti-war message after the country's television listings system was hacked. The descriptions of programs on several major networks including Channel One, Rossiya-1 and NTV-Plus were changed…
Clearview AI has agreed to a court settlement that will ban the biometrics company from selling its huge database of faceprints to private business or individuals anywhere in the U.S., a move that the American Civil Liberties Union is calling a big victory for privacy advocates…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
A chemical engineer has been sentenced to 14 years in prison over what prosecutors say was a scheme to steal trade secrets about materials used in cans for soda and other drinks to benefit the Chinese government and a Chinese company. According to the U.S. Department of…
An Israeli-American cybersecurity firm said Monday that it uncovered a “massive” hacking operation, apparently led by a hacking group believed to be backed by China, that had engaged in intellectual property (IP) theft and industrial espionage on three continents…
Transnational Organized Crime
The route from Colombia to Ecuador to Mexico is a mainstay of the global cocaine trade. Rival factions in all three countries are teaming up, which may be good for business but is leading to spiraling levels of violence in Ecuador. On April 30, Ecuador's President…
The intensification of narco-violence in the Argentine city of Rosario is reaching critical levels, according to city authorities, as the region registers 90 drug-related murders this year so far. Amid the surge in shootings and Mafia-style murders, the Rosario mayor Pablo Javkin…