Daily Intel Brief
Conti officially shuts down, Germany says espionage at Cold War levels, and Ukrainian troops surrender at Mariupol...
Counterterrorism
Long criticized by Ankara for harboring members of terrorist groups it recognizes, Germany appears to be appeasing Turkey with new arrests. German police arrested three senior members of Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), authorities said on…
The U.S. military continues to underestimate Al Qaeda’s strength in Afghanistan and overestimate the threat posed by the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province. The newly released Department of Defense Inspector General report on Operation Freedom’s Sentinel…
Military & Defense
The fate of hundreds of Ukrainian fighters who surrendered after holding out against punishing attacks on Mariupol’s steel factory hung in the balance Thursday, amid international fears that the Russians may take reprisals against the prisoners…
A Hong Kong-flagged sailboat is reported to have come under attack on Thursday off the coast of war-torn Yemen, though the circumstances of the incident remained unclear, officials said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations group said the attack happened off…
Cybersecurity
The notorious Conti ransomware gang has officially shut down their operation, with infrastructure taken offline and team leaders told that the brand is no more. This news comes from Advanced Intel's Yelisey Boguslavskiy, who tweeted this afternoon that the gang's…
The conflict in Ukraine has shown that warfare has entered its “fourth plane” – cyber space, according to Microsoft’s President Brad Smith, speaking during Microsoft Envision in London, UK, today. He argued that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marks a significant shift…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
The head of Germany’s domestic intelligence service said Thursday that levels of espionage are as high as during the Cold War, or even higher. Thomas Haldenwang, president of the BfV intelligence agency, also warned of the increased risk of sabotage against the backdrop…
The Swiss government proposed on Thursday letting its spy agency penetrate the country's famous banking secrecy to snoop on financial transactions that it suspects are funding terrorism, espionage or violent extremism. Unveiling a draft amendment of the intelligence…
Transnational Organized Crime
Albania’s Special Prosecution SPAK on Thursday issued some 32 arrest orders for some of the most notorious underworld figures in the country, following investigations into murders and attempted murders. “We have identified the existence of eight structured criminal…
A report by El Faro has revealed the initial fractures in the negotiated pact between the El Salvadoran government and the country’s top gangs which led to the security upheaval that has beset El Salvador since the end of March. These secretive negotiations, tracked for…