DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Spanish police arrest man suspected in 2022 parcel-bomb case
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Vincent West | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/6] Spanish police officers guard outside a building after the arrest of a man suspected of being the sender of letter-bombs in November and December to the Ukrainian and U.S. embassies and several institutions in Spain, in Miranda de Ebro, Spain January 25, 2023. The man was detained in the northern town of Miranda de Ebro, and police searched his home. The suspect is a retired Spanish citizen with the initials P.G.P. The man used to work for the town hall of the Basque capital Vitoria-Gasteiz before retiring in 2013, a city spokesperson said. Spanish officials have declined to comment on the report, while a senior judicial source denied having knowledge of such a line of investigation.

☆ Former top FBI counterintelligence agent Charles McGonigal charged with violating Russia sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Dan Mangan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

That other person later became an FBI source in a criminal probe of foreign political lobbying, which McGonigal was supervising, authorities said. The former top FBI agent in New York for counterintelligence was arrested with an ex-Russian diplomat and charged with violating U.S. sanctions on Russia after he left the FBI by trying to help the oligarch Oleg Deripaska get off the sanctions list, federal prosecutors said Monday. McGonigal and Shestakov, 69, who also was arrested Saturday evening, are due to appear in court in Manhattan later Monday. McGonigal previously had investigated Deripaska, who made his fortune in Russia's aluminum industry, while at the FBI. McGonigal agreed to help, and told an FBI supervisor who worked for him that he wanted to recruit the Deripaska employee, the indictment says.

☆ Coast Guard monitoring Russian spy ship on patrol off Hawaii
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-20 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

A Russian spy ship has been patrolling off the coast of Hawaii but so far has remained in international waters, the Pentagon said Thursday. The US Coast Guard released images of what it says is a Russian intelligence vessel off the Hawaiian islands in recent weeks. USCG Hawaii PacificThe Vishnya-class Kareliya surveillance ship has been monitored by the U.S. Coast Guard sailing near Hawaii over the last several weeks. She said the Coast Guard is still monitoring the ship, which has been operating in international waters. In a video posted to Twitter by the Coast Guard, the ship appears to be either being towed by another ship or in a resupply mode.

☆ Sweden Convicts Two Iranian-Born Brothers of Spying for Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Sune Engel Rasmussen | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The Swedish court said that evidence submitted in the case of two brothers convicted of spying included traces of classified information stored on a private computer, among other things. A Swedish court convicted two Iranian-born Swedish brothers to lengthy prison sentences for spying for Russia and its GRU military intelligence service, in a verdict that ratchets up tensions between Moscow and the West while Russia said it had begun an investigation into a U.S. national detained there on espionage allegations. Peyman Kia, 42 years old, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday as what prosecutors called the “driving force” behind the brothers’ decadelong espionage plot, while Payam Kia, 35, was sentenced to nine years and 10 months in jail. The brothers were accused of passing about 90 secret documents from the Swedish security and intelligence service, SÄPO, where the older brother worked, to Russian intelligence between 2011 and 2021, according to the Stockholm District Court.

☆ A Russian ship that's been off the coast of Hawaii for weeks is believed to be gathering intelligence, the US Coast Guard says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-19 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The US Coast Guard said Wednesday it is monitoring a Russian ship near Hawaii. The Coast Guard said the ship is believed to be gathering intelligence. "The Coast Guard operates in accordance with international laws of the sea to ensure all nations can do the same without fear or contest. The Coast Guard said it was coordinating with the Department of Defense to provide updates on the movement of the foreign ships. In May, the US Indo-Pacific Command said it was monitoring a Russian vessel near Hawaii.

☆ Russia says it killed more than 600 Ukrainian troops in a revenge strike after a deadly attack on its forces, but there is no evidence that happened
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Jake Epstein | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia said it killed hundreds of Ukrainian troops in revenge for a deadly strike on its forces. The Kremlin claimed over 600 Ukrainian troops died in a strike on Sunday in Kramatorsk. "As a result of a massive missile strike on these temporary bases of Ukrainian units, more than 600 Ukrainian servicemen were killed." Kyiv used a US-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to strike Russian positions in the occupied city of Makiivka. The Kremlin said the attack killed nearly 90 of Moscow's troops in a rare disclosure of battlefield losses.

LONDON/WASHINGTON, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A Russian hacking team known as Cold River targeted three nuclear research laboratories in the United States this past summer, according to internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cyber security experts. Cold River has escalated its hacking campaign against Kyiv's allies since the invasion of Ukraine, according to cybersecurity researchers and western government officials. 'INTELLIGENCE COLLECTION'In May, Cold River broke into and leaked emails belonging to the former head of Britain's MI6 spy service. Reuters was unable independently to confirm why Cold River targeted the NGOs. "Google has tied this individual to the Russian hacking group Cold River and their early operations," he said.

☆ Pro-Putin operatives in Germany work to turn Berlin against Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +17 min

Now the main Russian Cossack organisations are loyal to Putin, and they are fighting alongside Russia’s forces in Ukraine. He is regularly pictured on his and other social media pages at Cossack gatherings, often wearing Cossack military uniform. Felk has worked as a security guard and has run a logistics firm, according to posts on Felk’s OK social media account. Photos shared by Kharkovsky on social media show him and other participants standing in front of a Great Don Army flag. Eremenko confirmed to Reuters that he worked for Russian military intelligence, the GRU.

☆ The benefits and risks of using a password manager to protect your online identity
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-27 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

But there are some key decisions to make in choosing, and using, a password manager. Most web browsers have some type of password manager, which are convenient and user-friendly. For more robust security and features, security professionals say a dedicated password manager is a better choice. How to choose a strong master passwordMake sure you have a strong master password, one that's not easily guessable. What happens if you lose online accessThe master password is your entry to the password manager.

☆ Ukraine's 'cat and mouse' battle to keep Russian missiles at bay
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Tom Balmforth | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

It is ground-based air defence units that shoot down the vast majority of missiles and drones, not ageing warplanes, Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said. "Air defences don't remain in one place: we can't cover the whole country..." Ihnat said. "So we usually know what objects are under attack, we can build around those objects some kind of air defence," he said. "Our Soviet air defence system is being depleted - that is the S-300 and the BUK, which are the foundation. Western air defence systems supplied to Ukraine have performed well, but supplies are far short of what is needed, according to both air force officials.

Police arrested the suspect, a German citizen identified as Carsten L., on Wednesday in Berlin, the federal prosecutors office said. "The accused is suspected of state treason," federal prosecutors said in a statement. "In 2022, he shared information that he came by in the course of his work with a Russian intelligence agency. As such, the BND would not be giving out any further details on the case until federal prosecutors had concluded their investigation, Kahl added. The last time a German intelligence employee was arrested for treason was in 2014 - although then it was for betraying secrets to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

☆ Zuckerberg weighed naming Cambridge Analytica as a concern in 2017, months before data leak was revealed
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

The data leak prompted a global outcry that led to hearings, an apology tour from Zuckerberg and Facebook’s $5 billion privacy settlement with the US government. Zuckerberg’s remarks in the deposition offer the clearest picture yet of what Zuckerberg knew about Cambridge Analytica, and when. But according to the court documents, Zuckerberg had originally proposed naming Russian foreign intelligence and Cambridge Analytica in the same breath. Zuckerberg testified that the reference to Cambridge Analytica was removed after a staffer recommended against naming specific organizations. But the improper sharing of Facebook data triggered a cascade of events that has culminated in numerous investigations and lawsuits.

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec 19 (Reuters) - Mark Zuckerberg considered saying in a 2017 speech that Facebook was looking into "organizations like Cambridge Analytica," according to details from a deposition of him by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Zuckerberg in the deposition also acknowledges asking colleagues in January 2017 to assess Cambridge's claims about its influence in elections. Media reports in March 2018 suggested that Cambridge kept leveraging Facebook data, prompting government investigations related to data protection practices that Facebook settled in the United States for at least $5.1 billion. In the draft obtained by the SEC, Zuckerberg proposed saying: "We are already looking into foreign actors including Russian intelligence, actors in other former Soviet states and organizations like Cambridge Analytica." Zamaan Qureshi, policy advisor for consumer advocacy group The Real Facebook Oversight Board, said the deposition should increase users' doubts of Meta.

Since the early days of the invasion, Mr. Putin has conceded, privately, that the war has not gone as planned. “I think he is sincerely willing” to compromise with Russia, Mr. Putin said of Mr. Zelensky in 2019. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. To join in Mr. Putin’s war, he has recruited prisoners, trashed the Russian military and competed with it for weapons. “I think this war is Putin’s grave.” Yevgeny Nuzhin, 55, a Russian prisoner of war held by Ukraine, in October.

In the 2005 Nicolas Cage movie “Lord of War,” the character loosely based on Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout evades his American law enforcement pursuers, apparently saved by the CIA. Now he is on his way back to Russia after a high-profile prisoner exchange that saw WNBA star Brittney Griner free early Thursday. Under federal sentencing rules, Bout could have been released from prison in five years. Bout, a former Soviet military officer who became rich as an arms dealer, has always maintained his innocence. His U.S. lawyer, Steve Zissou, says the whole operation was unfair, because Bout had been retired and living in Moscow.

REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool//File PhotoWASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) - U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner has been released in a prisoner swap with Russia and is on her way back to the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, ending what he called months of "hell." The Russian foreign ministry said it traded Griner for Russian citizen Viktor Bout, a former arms dealer. The swap took place at the Abu Dhabi airport in the United Arab Emirates, Russian news agencies said. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke by phone with Griner from the Oval Office, along with Griner's wife, Cherelle. For experts on the Russian security services, Moscow's lasting interest in Bout hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties.

☆ Who is Viktor Bout, the Russian arms dealer swapped for Griner?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Felix Light | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

[1/2] Suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout is escorted by members of a special police unit after a hearing at a criminal court in Bangkok October 5, 2010. Russia got the jailed arms dealer back from the United States on Thursday after exchanging imprisoned U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner for him at Abu Dhabi airport. His notoriety was such that his life helped inspire a Hollywood film, 2005’s Lord of War, starring Nicolas Cage as Yuri Orlov, an arms dealer loosely based on Bout. For some experts, the Russian state's continued interest in Bout, plus his skills and connections in the international arms trade, hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties. “His case has become totemic for the Russian intelligence services, who are keen to show that they don’t abandon their own people,” Galeotti added.

On the surface, Brittney Griner and Viktor Bout are accused of ludicrously different crimes. Bout’s outsized importance to Russia has always been the bigger puzzle. I have seen videos of Bout in the Congo and across Africa, where he was pretty close to the conflicts there. There were suggestions too that he had served alongside senior Russians who are now close to President Vladimir Putin. This is a man who many ordinary Russians may have heard of, and he certainly is of mythological importance to the Russian elite.

One of the most influential voices bolstering Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine belongs to a 71-year-old billionaire who argued that a war could prove Russia’s strength. Yuri Kovalchuk, for decades a close friend of the Russian leader, shares Mr. Putin’s vision of Russia as a powerful military and cultural counterpoint to the U.S., people who know him say. The billionaire and Mr. Putin have met frequently since the start of the war in February, and also talk by phone or video, according to a friend of the Kovalchuk family as well as to a former Russian intelligence official.

☆ Dutch prosecutors won't appeal in MH17 case, making verdicts final
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Dutch prosecutors said on Thursday they would not file an appeal regarding the outcome in the trial over the 2014 downing of Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine, making the verdicts final although the suspects remain at large. A Dutch court last month convicted three men and sentenced them to life in prison for the shooting-down of the Malaysian airliner as it flew over eastern Ukraine on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17, 2014. The three convicted were former Russian intelligence agents Igor Girkin and Sergey Dubinskiy, and Leonid Kharchenko, a Ukrainian separatist leader. Prosecutors said on Thursday they were satisfied with the "clarity" the case had brought to relatives of the victims about what had happened to MH17. Reporting by Bart Meijer Editing by Mark Heinrich and Alistair BellOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The CIA is looking for Russians who are 'disgusted' with the Ukraine war to recruit as spies
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-23 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The CIA's deputy director of operations said last week the agency is looking for Russian recruits. Marlowe added the CIA is looking for Russians who are "disgusted" with the war in Ukraine. "He squandered every single bit of that," Marlowe said, before adding: "We're looking around the world for Russians who are as disgusted with [Putin's actions] as we are. Marlowe was speaking alongside CIA Deputy Director for Analysis Linda Weissgold in his first in-person public appearance since taking over as the CIA's espionage chief last year, according to the Journal. CIA Director William Burns appointed Marlowe as the agency's deputy director of operations in June 2021, The Wall Street Journal reported.

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden speaks to the media after an alleged Russian missile blast in Poland, in Bali, Indonesia, November 16, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueWASHINGTON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden has been adamant that the United States will back Ukraine in its nine-month fight to repel a Russian invasion. We will determine what happened and what the appropriate next steps would be," said White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson. Sullivan, who has been in touch with Russian officials about the risks around the Ukraine invasion, did not make contact in relation to this incident, a White House official said. "It's now just a matter of doing forensics work to determine what kind of missile it was," the official said.

☆ Netherlands protests 'despicable' Russian response to MH17 verdict
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

AMSTERDAM, Nov 18 (Reuters) - The Dutch government said on Friday it had summoned the Russian ambassador in the Netherlands over what it called Moscow's "utterly despicable" response to the verdict in the trial over the 2014 downing of Flight MH17. Russia said on Thursday the Dutch court's decision to convict two former Russian intelligence agents and a Ukrainian separatist leader for shooting down the Malaysian airliner "neglected impartiality". Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said these remarks by Russia, which invaded Ukraine nine months ago, were "utterly despicable" and totally removed from reality. We can't let this pass ... and have to show that we do respect the rule of law and do have an independent judiciary," Hoekstra told Dutch newspaper AD. Reporting by Bart Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg Editing by Mark Potter and Mark HeinrichOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Who is Viktor Bout, the arms dealer who could be swapped for Griner?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Felix Light | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

Russia wants the jailed arms dealer back in Moscow and is discussing a prisoner swap with the United States that could see him exchanged for Americans imprisoned in Russia including basketball star Brittney Griner. Reed was ultimately freed in return for Konstantin Yaroshenko, a Russian pilot jailed in the United States on drug trafficking charges. For some experts, the Russian state's continued interest in Bout, plus his skills and connections in the international arms trade, hint strongly at Russian intelligence ties. In interviews, Bout has said he attended Moscow's Military Institute of Foreign Languages, which serves as a training ground for military intelligence officers. “His case has become totemic for the Russian intelligence services, who are keen to show that they don’t abandon their own people,” Galeotti added.

☆ Russia beat, starved, and electrocuted people from a captured Ukrainian nuclear power plant in a web of underground prisons, escaped workers say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Charles R. Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Russia has been torturing workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, former employees say. The plant in occupied southeastern Ukraine is Europe's largest nuclear power facility. Russian forces captured the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant soon after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. He and other workers described being beaten, starved, and electrocuted by their interrogators; some were also shot, with at least one employee being tortured to death. Energoatom, Ukraine's state-run nuclear power company, said at least 200 workers have been detained, the Journal reported.

Search resuls for: "Russian intel"

25 mentions found