Daily Intel Brief
FARC kills six Colombian soldiers in attack, North Korea launches artillery in response to U.S./South Korean drills, and thousands of money mules are arrested in global crackdown...
Counterterrorism
At least seven people have been killed in a roadside blast in northern Afghanistan, according to local officials, the latest attack in the violence-racked country. Those killed in the 7am (03:00 GMT) blast on Tuesday in the city of Mazar-i-Sharif included employees of a…
Six Colombian soldiers have been killed in fighting with rebel dissidents in the violence-plagued southwestern region of Cauca, the country’s army said, as the government seeks to end a decades-long conflict. Colombia’s military said on Tuesday that the deaths…
Military & Defense
North Korea fired about 90 artillery rounds into its eastern waters on Tuesday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. The JCS added that the North’s artillery drills were detected from the Gosung area of Gangwon Province from 10 a.m. to the afternoon. The artillery…
The United States will increase the rotational presence of its forces in Australia, including bomber aircraft and fighter jets, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced on Tuesday after annual talks between the two allies. Washington sees Canberra as a vital partner in its…
Cybersecurity
Russia's second-largest financial institution VTB Bank says it is facing the worse cyberattack in its history after its website and mobile apps were taken offline due to an ongoing DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack. "At present, the VTB technological infrastructure is…
Rackspace has admitted a ransomware infection was to blame for the days-long email outage that disrupted services for customers. The security snafu took down some of Rackspace's hosted Microsoft Exchange services on Friday afternoon. In its most recent update, posted at…
Counterintelligence & Espionage
Hackers backed by the Iranian government targeted human rights activists, journalists, diplomats and politicians working in the Middle East during an ongoing social engineering and credential phishing campaign, according to Human Rights Watch. In an analysis…
Canada’s spy agency has noted an “alarming escalation” of espionage and foreign interference since the beginning of the pandemic, with countries like China threatening or intimidating people in Canada into namely supporting a specific electoral candidate. Article content…
Transnational Organized Crime
At least eight people were killed in Acapulco, including five men who were gunned down Monday in a bar in Mexico's Pacific coast resort. Prosecutors said one possible suspect had been detained the attack. Three of the men died inside the bar, and two outside or at a…
More than 17.5 million euros (US$18.39 million) have been confiscated from “money mules” and nearly 2,500 suspects have been arrested in a worldwide three-month action involving law enforcement from 25 countries. According to law enforcement, money mules are people who…