SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE ANALYSIS — While top cybersecurity officials sound the alarm over intrusions by Russia, China and individual hackers into U.S. critical infrastructure, they’ve noticed another problem: It’s hard to get ordinary Americans to pay attention. With so many other things to worry about in terms of global news and information (not to mention disinformation), it’s an understandable concern. And when it comes to cybersecurity, getting the public to listen isn’t just a public service; it’s a necessity. That’s because a citizenry that ignores this particular problem will make fightin ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — The last Afghan head of intelligence before the 2021 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan believes terrorist groups have regained a foothold in the country, and that conditions there are ripe for what he called a jihadist “utopia.” In an interview with The Cipher Brief, Ahmad Zia Saraj said the world needed “a wakeup call,” given that more than a dozen regional Islamist terrorist groups have reconstituted operations in Afghanistan since the 2021 U.S. withdrawal and return of Taliban rule. Saraj said the groups had taken advantage of implicit support from the Taliba ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — Russia’s relentless assault on Ukraine has forced a revival of Ukraine’s domestic defense industry. Ukraine tripled defense production in 2023, the first full year of weapons manufacturing following Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.  While Ukraine cannot counter Russia’s invasion without international support, its local production of military equipment has been critical, particularly given delays in the delivery of Western military aid.  Ukraine’s greatest achievement in this sector has involved drone weapons; the country is now producing 90 ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — As Russia and China put on a show of force in the Arctic, security officials are voicing concerns over NATO’s readiness to counter the threat. “While still less than during the Cold War, increased Russian military activity and modernized capabilities in the Arctic have shifted the balance of power,” Walter Berbrick, a military analyst and former Senior Arctic Policy Adviser to the Secretary of the Navy, told The Cipher Brief. “Unlike during the Cold War, however, Russia is a different and increasingly more unpredictable actor now.” “The Cipher Brief has bec ..read more

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT — It’s a serious threat to the nation’s critical infrastructure that not enough people are talking about. That’s the view of cybersecurity experts who worry about a spate of recent attacks on local water supply facilities in the U.S. While the number of attacks is small and the damage has been limited, experts say that individual cybercriminals and nation-state actors looking for holes in America’s critical infrastructure have found an open door, all too easily, in an area of enormous concern.  The attacks on water utilities have come in small and remote communities ..read more

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT — It’s a serious threat to the nation’s critical infrastructure that not enough people are talking about. That’s the view of cybersecurity experts who worry about a spate of recent attacks on local water supply facilities in the U.S. While the number of attacks is small and the damage has been limited, experts say that individual cybercriminals and nation-state actors looking for holes in America’s critical infrastructure have found an open door, all too easily, in an area of enormous concern.  The attacks on water utilities have come in small and remote communities ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — Russia’s reaction to the new infusion of U.S. aid for Ukraine has ranged from shrugs to fury, from warnings of nuclear conflagration to arguments that the $61 billion will make no difference. Some top Russian propagandists have responded with conspiracy theories and disinformation. Overall, the Kremlin propaganda apparatus has kicked into high gear – but with a confusing mix of messages. For months, Russia assumed that this part of its war in Ukraine was won: the flow of billions of dollars in American military aid was ending, and Russian forces would take ad ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — When Chinese President Xi Jinping came to San Francisco last November to meet with President Joe Biden, Chinese pro-democracy activists in the U.S. turned out in force to protest Xi’s authoritarian rule. They were met by other ethnically Chinese people wielding metal rods and pepper spray – a pro-regime presence that several protesters said was orchestrated by the Chinese government. For Jinrui Zhong, a third-year law student at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, the pressure from Beijing has been more subtle. Zhong told The Cipher Brief that when Chine ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE EXPERT PERSPECTIVE — More than two years after its withdrawal from Afghanistan, the U.S. still does not have a clear way forward in the country, which means that two decades of investment and sacrifice by the U.S. and its allies – and two decades of gains for Afghans – seems to have disappeared almost as if we’d never been there. Today, Afghans continue to suffer under a brutal regime. Millions of Afghans have been displaced, women and girls have no access to education, the country is facing humanitarian and economic crises, and instability and the potential for terrorism ..read more

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — Ukrainians greeted Saturday’s long-awaited House passage of $60.8 billion in aid with justifiable jubilation. For months, their soldiers, civilians, and political and military leaders had endured the practical, life-and-death impact of a shortage of ammunition and other essential weapons – as well as the psychological pain that came with thinking their greatest ally had abandoned them. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel that the U.S. aid package “will keep the war from expanding, save thousands and thousands of lives, and hel ..read more