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4 things America's spy chief learned in Congressional testimony

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchMarch 11, 20246 Mins Read
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Cyberattacks, regional conflicts, weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, commercial spyware, AI, misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes, TikTok. These are just a few of the perceived threats facing the United States, according to the U.S. government intelligence community's latest global risk assessment.

The unclassified report released on Monday (sanitized for public release) gives the U.S. intelligence community the threat it sees facing the U.S. mainland, based on a vast pool of information collected. It was a candid annual look at the collective thinking of the world. In an election year, America's top spies are increasingly citing emerging technology and cybersecurity as factors in evaluating national security posture.

During Monday's unclassified session of the Senate Intelligence Committee, top leaders of the U.S. government's intelligence agencies, including the FBI, NSA, CIA and others, testified to lawmakers primarily to answer their questions about the current state of world affairs.

Here's what we learned from the hearing:

At least 74 countries use commercial spyware

In recent years, the U.S. government has turned its attention to the government spyware industry, currently comprised of companies such as NSO Group and Intellexa, and previously Hacking Team and FinFisher. “From 2011 to 2023, at least 74 countries contracted with private companies to obtain commercial spyware, and governments used spyware to target dissidents and journalists,” the intelligence agency said in its annual report. are increasingly being used.”

The report does not say where the intelligence community got its numbers from, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for comment for clarification.

But last year, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a think tank in Washington, D.C., released a report on the global spyware industry. This report included the same number of countries and the same dates as the new intelligence report. The Carnegie report, authored by Stephen Feldstein and Brian Cott, cited data they collected that was used by digital rights groups and the spyware industry, including Citizen Lab, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Privacy. The information was obtained from sources such as security researchers who study the Not just international reporting, but reporting.

As the authors explained last year, it's important to note that the Carnegie dataset contains what is known as government or commercial spyware. This means tools for remotely hacking and monitoring targets, such as those created by NSO and Intellexa. However, it also includes digital forensic software used to extract data from mobile phones and computers that are in the physical possession of authorities. Two of the most well-known manufacturers of this type of tool are Cellebrite and Grayshift, both of which are widely used in the United States as well as other countries.

US says it is struggling to combat ransomware

The United States has warned that ransomware is a threat to U.S. public services and critical security, as ransomware-related cybercriminals are “improving attacks, extorting funds, disrupting critical services, and leaking sensitive data.” It said it was an ongoing risk to infrastructure.

Ransomware has become a global problem, with hacking groups extorting companies to pay ransoms of sometimes millions of dollars to recover stolen files. Some cybersecurity experts are calling on governments to completely ban ransom payments, if necessary, to stop cyber hackers from profiteering.

But the United States has shunned that view and taken a different approach, choosing to systematically disrupt, dismantle, and sanction some of the worst offenders based in Russia and beyond the reach of U.S. justice.

“Without cooperative law enforcement from Russia and other countries that provide a safe haven and permissive environment for cybercriminals, mitigation efforts will remain limited,” the threat assessment states. It's dark. In other words, ransomware is likely to remain a modern-day snow day until Russia and some other adversaries give up on the crime.

US warns against growing use of AI in influence operations

The use of generative AI in digital influence activities is not new, but the widespread availability of AI tools has made it easier for malicious actors to engage in online influence activities such as election interference and the generation of deepfakes. The hurdle has become lower.

The rise of detailed and convincing deepfake images and videos plays a role in information warfare by intentionally sowing confusion and dissonance, citing Russia's use of deepfake images against Ukraine on the battlefield. is fulfilled.

“Russian influencers are adapting their efforts to better conceal their hands, using new technologies such as generative AI to improve their capabilities and reach Western audiences. ”, the report warns.

This comes as NSA Cybersecurity Director Rob Joyce also said in early January that overseas hackers are using chatbot tools to generate more convincing phishing emails, but that AI can also help with digital defense. I was of the same opinion about that.

The report also notes that China is increasing its experiments with generative AI, noting that TikTok accounts run by China's military propaganda arm “targeted candidates of both political parties during the 2022 U.S. midterm elections.” It is reported that he did so.”

No law restricts U.S. spies from buying Americans' data

US spy agencies have figured out why they need to get a warrant for the data when they can buy it online. Given how much data we share from our phone apps (though many don't think much of it), US spy agencies have no idea how much data is commercially available to Americans from data brokers. They simply buy up huge amounts of location data and internet traffic.

How is that legal? After a brief exchange with the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (which confirmed that one of the agencies had purchased access to a database containing Americans' location data), Sen. He pointed out that this act is permitted because there are no restrictions on Purchase commercially available data.

In other words, U.S. spy agencies will soon be able to provide information on what Americans can buy until Congress stops this practice, even if the root of the problem is that data brokers shouldn't have U.S. data in the first place. This means you can continue to purchase data.



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