Russian Spy Operations History in the U.S.

Posted on February 20, 2017February 20, 2017 by Denise Simon

In 2015:

The FBI announced on Monday that it had busted a Russian spy ring that was allegedly focused on obtaining economic information including details about US markets and sanctions on Russian banks.

According to a federal complaint filed by FBI special agent Gregory Monaghan in a Manhattan federal court on Friday, an alleged spy, Evgeny Buryakov, posed as a banker in the New York office of an unnamed Russian bank.

Buryakov is reportedly being arraigned in the Southern District of New York.

Monaghan said Buryakov (aka”Zhenya”) was on “deep cover” and working for Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) to gather intelligence and transmit it back to Moscow. The SVR used multiple forms of cover.

The complaint includes several stunning revelations, including claims that staffers at an unidentified Russian news organization in the US are engaged in spying; and indications that American law enforcement bugged the New York office of the Foreign Intelligence Service.

According to the complaint, Buryakov worked with two other men who were involved in intelligence-gathering activities for the SVR: Victor Podobnyy and Igor Sporyshev. The complaint said Sporyshev served as a trade representative to the Russian Federation in New York. Podobnyy was allegedly an attaché to the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the United Nations. More here from BusinessInsider.

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SPIES, SPIES EVERYWHERE
A journey through D.C. espionage

WaPo: Mystery and intrigue are running wild in the capital these days. Secret conversations with dangerous diplomats, explosive foreign dossiers on American leaders, handwringing over national security and leaky intelligence. If you dip into our new book “Spy Sites of Washington, D.C.,” you will find that sneaking, lying and skullduggery are as old as the republic itself. And our region is full of the traces: hotels and parks and saloons and embassies and government offices where the deceitful and disloyal got up to their antics. Here is a sampling of sites where our nation’s espionage history has played out.

Graphic by Chiqui Esteban; Text by Robert Wallace and H. Keith Melton

Founding through Civil war (1790-1865)

1 Dolley Madison, first-lady spy

First lady Dolley Madison established an observation post on the White House roof in 1814 to watch for the approaching British army. While fleeing to avoid capture, she saved the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington before the White House was set ablaze.

White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

2 Winder Building Signal Corps cupola

Winder Building | PHOTO: Library of Congress

One of the highest points in Washington at the time of the Civil War, the cupola of the Winder Building was chosen by the Union Signal Corps for point-to-point visual communications with nearby camps and forts.

600 17th St. NW

3 Lowe balloon launch site

Launching of Lowe’s balloon. | PHOTO: Library of Congress

Professor Thaddeus S. C. Lowe conducted the first aerial combat reconnaissance in our nation’s history from a tethered balloon west of Washington. On June 24, 1861, he observed and reported Confederate Cavalry activity.

Fort Taylor Park, North Roosevelt Street and Ridge Place, Falls Church, Virginia

4 Mansion House Hotel

Sarah Emma Edmonds. | PHOTO: University of Michigan

Sarah Emma Edmonds claimed to have donned multiple disguises and personas as a Union spy, including a young man, Irish peddler, Southern gentleman and African American laundress. Later, she worked as a nurse at the Mansion Hotel, which had been converted to a Union hospital.The hotel, once located in front of the Carlyle House, has since been demolished.

121 N. Fairfax St., Alexandria, Virginia

5 Kirkwood House Hotel

Sketch of the Kirkwood House.

The Kirkwood House Hotel was at times home to Benjamin Franklin Stringfellow, a spy of many disguises, who has been called the “Confederate James Bond.” George Atzerodt, a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination, also stayed at the hotel; he was assigned to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson, who lived at Kirkwood House, but he lost his nerve, drank heavily and fled.

12th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW

6 Gardner’s Gallery

Gardner Gallery | PHOTO: INSCOM

Alexander Gardner’s photographs provide an invaluable historical record of the Civil War, but at the time they were also used to identify spies and for cartography. His photographs of Ford’s Theatre following Lincoln’s assassination are among the first crime scene photographs.

511 7th St. NW

7 Old Capitol Prison

Old Capitol Prison | PHOTO: National Archives

Sprawling across the site of what is now the Supreme Court building, the Old Capitol Prison held two of the most infamous and flamboyant Confederate spies, Belle Boyd, who was arrested many times and released, increasing her fame, and Rose O’Neal Greenhow, whose information aided the Confederacy in its victory at the First Battle of Bull Run.

1st and East Capitol St. NE

8 Surratt boarding house

Mary Surratt’s boarding house. | PHOTO: Library of Congress

Southern sympathizer Mary Surratt ran a boarding house that served as a safe house and base of operations for conspirators in Lincoln’s assassination.

604 H St. NW

Post-Civil War to World War II (1866-1945)

1 Van Deman offices

Maj. Gen. Ralph Van Deman | PHOTO: INSCOM

Maj. Gen. Ralph Van Deman deserves the title “father of modern military intelligence”. As America entered World War I, he built the country’s first professional military intelligence organization in the Old Executive Office Building.

639 17th St. NW

2 A. Mitchell Palmer residence

Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer’s residence after the explosion. | PHOTO: Library of Congress

In an act of World War I era terrorism, an anarchist blew himself up while bombing the home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer in June 1919, causing extensive damage.

2132 R Street NW

3 Bellevue Hotel

Drawing of The Bellevue Hotel. | PHOTO: ‘A Death in Washington’, Gary Kern and the New York Journal-American

In 1941, Soviet intelligence defector Walter Krivitsky was found dead in his room at the Bellevue Hotel, now known as the Hotel George, from a single gunshot to the head. Although ruled a suicide, suspicions still linger that Soviet intelligence directed the killing.

15 E St. NW

4 East Building, Office of Strategic Services headquarters

East Building, Office of Strategic Services headquarters. | PHOTO: Central Intelligence Agency

The East Building on Medicine Hill was headquarters to the OSS and later the first home of the Central Intelligence Agency. Today the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its clandestine history.

23rd and E streets NW

5 Vint Hill

Several original buildings remain at the former Vint Hill top secret cryptographic school and signals-intercept site, although in recent years the area has been redeveloped into a residential and business community.

4263 Aiken Drive, Warrenton, Virginia

6 Vichy French Embassy

Former Vichy French Embassy.

At the Vichy French Embassy, World War II spy Amy Elizabeth Thorpe, wearing only a necklace and high heels to throw off a guard, aided a safe-cracking operation to steal diplomatic codes.

2129 Wyoming Ave, NW

7 Arlington Hall

Arlington Hall during World War II. | PHOTO: INSCOM

Arlington Hall Junior College for Women became the location of America’s World War II code-breaking programs. The majority of the 10,000 workers were young women with an aptitude for math.

4000 Arlington Blvd., Arlington, Virginia

8 Mayflower Hotel

Mayflower Hotel.

Over the decades, the prestigious and popular Mayflower Hotel has offered quiet venues for clandestine meetings involving Nazi saboteurs, Soviet agents and American spies such as CIA agent Aldrich Ames, who spied for Russia, and government scientist Stewart Nozette, who attempted to sell classified information to the Mossad.

1127 Connecticut Ave. NW

Cold war espionage (1946-1991)

1 British Embassy diplomats and Soviet spies

Harold “Kim” Philby’s home on 4100 Nebraska Ave. NW.

Harold “Kim” Philby, the senior MI6 British liaison officer to the FBI and the CIA, was secretly a Soviet spy and leader of Britain’s Cambridge Spy Ring. Another member of the ring, diplomat Guy Burgess, was a frequent guest in Philby’s home. Both men worked at the British Embassy.

3100 Massachusetts Ave. NW (embassy), 4100 Nebraska Ave. NW (Philby house)

2 Air America

Air America, a CIA proprietary company, operated one of the world’s largest airlines during the 1950s and 1960s, with 20,000 employees and 200 aircraft. Its pilots flew hazardous missions, landing at remote jungle airfields and dropping supplies under enemy fire.

918 16th St. NW

3 Pullman House

The mansion was acquired by Russia in 1913 and served as the Russian and Soviet Embassy until becoming the Russian ambassador’s residence in 1994. Soviet and Russian espionage operations were planned and run from here.

1125 16th St. NW

4 Steuart Motor Company

Steuart Motor Company. | PHOTO: Jacqueline Dupree, JDLand.com

One of the most unlikely clandestine sites in Washington, the Steuart Motor Company building also housed the CIA’s National Photographic Interpretation Center. Not so subtly, perhaps, guards armed with machine guns surrounded the building when unprocessed top-secret film from U-2 photos of Cuban missile sites was delivered.

5th and K streets NW

5 Exchange Saloon

During the 1970s, the Exchange Saloon was a capital hot spot for swingers. The husband-and-wife spy team of Karl and Hana Koecher of the Czech intelligence service Statni Bezpecnost spent time at the saloon looking for potential agents.

1719 G St. NW

6 Hanssen signal site

Mugshot of Robert Hanssen.

Robert Hanssen, an FBI agent turned Russian spy, used the Foxstone Park entrance sign as a signal site to communicate with his Soviet handlers. When a horizontal piece of adhesive white tape appeared on the sign, they knew that their spy had loaded the dead drop, code-named ELLIS, at the first footbridge inside the park.

1910 Creek Crossing Rd. NE, Vienna, Virginia

7 Aldrich Ames site

Aldrich Ames being arrested. | PHOTO: Central Intelligence Agency

Ames, a career CIA officer, spied for nearly 10 years while living in an upper-middle-class house that had been purchased with money received from the KGB. When driving to his CIA office in 1994, he was boxed in after stopping at an intersection a few blocks from his home. Pulled from behind the wheel, he was thrown over the hood of his beloved maroon Jaguar, handcuffed and arrested.

North Quebec Street and Nelly Custis Drive, Arlington, Virginia

8 Jonathan Pollard meeting site

Meeting site in Dumbarton Oaks.

In a scene worthy of a John le Carré novel, Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. intelligence analyst and spy for Israel, conducted a clandestine meeting with his Israeli handler on a bench in the gardens of the Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection. In the idyllic setting, the two negotiated the pay Pollard would receive for classified documents.

1703 32nd St. NW

Today’s spies (1992-2016)

1 CIA memorial

Memorial outside CIA’s campus. | PHOTO: Central Intelligence Agency

A simple public memorial outside the CIA’s campus pays tribute to the two CIA officers murdered by Pakistani terrorist Mir Aimal Kansi on Jan. 25, 1993.

CIA headquarters, McLean, Virginia

2 Cuban Embassy

Cuban Embassy on 16th St. | PHOTO: Slowking4/Wikimedia

After the United States and Cuba broke diplomatic relations, Cuba maintained limited official status in its former embassy as an “interest section” operated through the Swiss government. Cuban intelligence officers met with reporters and others in the second-floor Hemingway Lounge and Bar.

2630 16th St. NW

3 Ana Montes residence

Mugshot of Ana Montes.

Nicknamed the “Queen of Cuba” for her research as an analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency, Montes showed uncommon discipline in her 17-year career as a Cuban spy. But an error in tradecraft — failure to wipe incriminating evidence from her computer — exposed covert communications with Cuban intelligence and led to her arrest in 2001.

3039 Macomb St. NW

4 Stanislav Gusev operation

Surveillance image of Stanislav Gusev by the State Department building. | PHOTO: Federal Bureau of Investigation

Exactly how Russian intelligence implanted a microphone and transmitter in a chair rail in the State Department remains a mystery. The operation was exposed in 1999 after FBI agents observed Gusev, a Russian technical officer, repeatedly repositioning his vehicle in different parking places nearby to remotely control the bug.

2201 C St. NW

5 Tysons-Pimmit Library

Tysons-Pimmit Library.

By using computers at public libraries, Brian Patrick Regan sought anonymity while planning espionage activities. Showing care for security, he devised a sophisticated private cipher that baffled investigators seeking evidence against him. But he was eventually tripped up in 2001 by his spelling errors.

7584 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Virginia

6 Final resting place

Arlington National Cemetery.

Many American intelligence officers are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, among them: OSS chief William “Wild Bill” Donovan; code-breakers William and Elizebeth Friedman; CIA director Richard Helms; and U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers.

Arlington Veteran Cemetery, Memorial Drive, Arlington, Virginia

Tillerson Approves North Korea Visit to DC?

Posted on February 20, 2017February 20, 2017 by Denise Simon

Washington prepares to bring North Koreans to U.S. for talks: report

Reuters: Preparations are under way to bring senior North Korean officials to the United States for talks with former U.S. officials, the first such meeting in more than five years, The Washington Post reported on Sunday.

The talks would be the clearest indication yet that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wants to communicate with the new Trump administration.

Planning for the “Track 1.5 talks” is still in a preparatory stage, the Post reported, citing multiple people with knowledge of the arrangements.

That name, reflecting planned contact between former U.S. officials and current North Korean ones, is a reference to what are known as “Track 2” talks involving former officials on both sides.

The U.S. State Department has not yet approved the North Koreans’ visas for the talks, the newspaper said.

A State Department spokesman commented to Reuters only that Track 2 meetings “routinely” take place on a variety of topics around the world and occur independent of the U.S. government.

A White House official commented that the U.S. government had no plans to meet with North Korea.

North Korea’s testing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile drew international condemnation last week. President Donald Trump told a news conference after the test: Obviously North Korea is a big, big problem and we will deal with that very strongly.”

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Who is suggested to attend this confab, Bill Richardson? Can the representatives of the United States be in talks with North Korea without including Iran, China or Russia? Not likely. It was not all that long ago that President Trump took a phone call from Taiwan which infuriated China. Trump said he would not be dictated to by China, only to later say he stood for a one China policy. How does China point to policy matters regarding North Korea?

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NewsMax: The U.S. policy of maintaining sanctions and military pressure on North Korea while refusing to talk to the country isn’t working and will only make matters worse, a Chinese official said Saturday, venting Beijing’s impatience with the stalemate over its isolated neighbor.

“China just keeps on telling you this is not working, although we’re going along with you,” Fu Ying, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Committee of China’s legislature and was a vice foreign minister until 2013, said at the Munich Security Conference. “You have to realize — without talking with them, you will only drive them in the wrong direction further.”

Fu was flanked on stage by South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, in a rare public airing of differences between the U.S. and South Korea on the one side, and China on the other. President Donald Trump has repeatedly demanded China do more to rein in its neighbor and force it to abide by United Nations Security Council resolutions aimed at curbing the North’s nuclear ambitions.

Earlier Saturday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it will halt coal imports from North Korea through the end of the year, stripping Kim Jong-un’s regime of a crucial source of income. No reason was given, although analysts pointed to the murder earlier this week of Kim’s older half-brother, Kim Jong Nam, at a Malaysian airport. He had lived outside North Korea for many years and had close links to China.

Trump’s administration is pushing forward with plans to deploy a missile-defense system known as Thaad in South Korea. Concerns over North Korea’s intentions were only inflamed after the regime carried out a missile test on Feb. 12. More here from NewsMax.

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There is full and joint collaboration between Iran and North Korea on missile development and testing. Those launched by both countries are coordinated.

Pentagon: Iran Tested a Ballistic Missile With North Korean Origins

Missile tested by Tehran originally came from Pyongyang.

Pentagon identified the July 2016 missile as a locally produced version of the Musudan, a North Korean intermediate-range missile. Also known as the Hwasong-10, the missile is allegedly derived from an obsolete Soviet Cold War missile, the R-27 Zyb.

The Musudan has been adapted from a submarine-launched missile to a road-mobile missile, and is launched from 12-wheeled heavy transporters. The missile has a payload of 2,000 to 2,500 pounds and a theoretical maximum range of 2,500 miles. The range of the missile is open to some debate because so far, despite Pyongyang’s claims to the contrary, it hasn’t been successfully tested. North Korea may have launched as many as eight Musudans in 2016 alone, and not a single launch was considered successful by outside observers. More here.

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On Sunday, February 12, 2017, North Korea conducted the first test launch of its “Pukguksong-2, solid-fuel missile,” a land-based version of the KN-11 Pukguksong-1 submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), but not from the facility that almost all media sources have reported.[1] The development of the Pukguksong-2 was not unexpected and the system successfully flew a lofted trajectory, reaching an estimated altitude of 575 km and flying approximately 500 km before falling into the East Sea (Sea of Japan).[2]

Almost all initial reporting indicated that the missile was launched from the Panghyon Airbase in North Pyongan Province, located in the northwest. When, however, North Korea released still and video imagery of the test it was clear to North Korea watchers that the test was not conducted from the Panghyon Airbase, but from the Iha-ri Vehicle Testing and Driver Training Facility approximately 9.5 km to the north-northeast.[3] The choice of the Iha-ri facility was undoubtedly due to its proximity (only 5 km) to the No. 95 Factory (Kusong Tank Factory) where it is believed the transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) and its support vehicles were designed and manufactured.[4] It is likely that the Pukguksong-2 pre-test imagery released by North Korea was taken here. Read more here.

An overview image of the Pukguksong-2 launch and Iha-ri Facility. Seen in the background are the preparation shed [C], headquarters and administration buildings [A and B] and the security wall [D]. The propaganda placards [E] and inclined vehicle test hill [G] are visible in the foreground.

(Photo: KCNA)

Presidential Daily Briefing for Trump on Russia

Posted on February 16, 2017February 16, 2017 by Denise Simon

There are rumors flying that the intelligence agencies are holding back on key items that would otherwise be included in the PDB’s, especially items regarding Russia. Okay, we cannot know for sure that is true or not. In fact there are denials this is accurate. While countless media outlets are reporting that some ‘higher-ups’ in some intel agencies are in a war with President Trump, it is all because he is in a war with them. Sheesh….while all this is going on, other allied world leaders are watching all this and are feeling quite uneasy over intelligence collaboration and most especially where all this leads.

Image result for russian spy ship norfolk, virginia

Some one needs to restore order and confidence here and do it fast. At issue is Russia and Iran.

The Russian spy ship doing an ‘in-your-face’ Atlantic coast water adventure and is presently just outside of Norfolk, Virginia and headed back to the Cuba region.
Meanwhile, the new Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson is in Germany meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov.
Another item is General Dunford is in Azerbaijan, meeting with Russian Chief of General Staff of the Armed Forces, Gerasimov.
Qassem Soleimani, head of the Iranian Qods Force is in Moscow. Soleimani has a U.S. and U.N. travel ban and sanctions on him such that he is not allowed to travel. Hah…
Ciaran Martin, head of GCHQ’s new National Cyber Security Centre states that Russia is escalating the rate of hacks against the UK. The United States, Canada, Australia and the UK are the four countries of record that make up GCHQ.
Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work met with Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin at the Pentagon regarding discussion over the recent escalation of violence by combined Russian separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.
Because of Russian aggression and the lasting threat to the Baltic States, General Mattis has ordered U.S. troops deploy in Bulgaria.
Russian troops attacked Ukrainian positions 139 times using heavy armor in all sectors in Donbas in the past 48 hours.

9. Russia tells White House it will not return Crimea to Ukraine.

10. Russia has secretly deployed a new cruise missile that American officials say violates a landmark arms control treaty, posing a major test for President Trump as his administration is facing a crisis over its ties to Moscow. The missile (Kalibr) is a SSC-8. It is a nuclear capable missile first tested in 2008. While this launch was ground based, it can also be launched from a submarine and is capable of holding 1000 lbs of conventional explosives or a nuclear warhead. There are variants to this weapon, there is also the Iskander and the 9M728. Nonetheless, it is a violation of the INF Treaty.

Lastly and a very good thing, while Vladimir Putin is calling for full intelligence cooperation with the United States, General Mattis has not, no….not ready. Further, Mattis said that Russia needs to prove itself….tic tic tic…

11. Soldiers, tanks and M88 recovery vehicles from the 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment’s “Fighting Eagles” recently arrived at the airbase in Romania in support of Operation Atlantic Resolve. So far, more than 350 U.S. soldiers have arrived this month with another 150 set to arrive before the end of February.

So, should there be some normalizing of relations between the White House and the Kremlin? Nah….has not worked out so well when it comes to Iran or Cuba…

Russian Aggression, Testing U.S. Navy, Rattling the WH?

Posted on February 14, 2017February 14, 2017 by Denise Simon

After President Obama expelled Russian diplomats, shuttered two Russian compounds and added more sanctions on Russia, there was no immediate response from the Kremlin. Or was there a response we are just learning about? Seems Moscow at the orders of Vladimir Putin did decided to reply and did so aggressively.

On the heels of North Korea launching a missile capable of having a nuclear weapon tip while the Prime Minister of Japan was visiting the United States, seems was an opportune time for Russia to additionally do much the same with these two other provocative actions. Nothing from the Pentagon just yet either.

Russian jets in ‘unsafe’ encounters with destroyer: U.S. official

U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS Porter sails in the Bosphorus, on its way to the Mediterranean Sea, in Istanbul, Turkey, February 11, 2017. REUTERS/Murad Sezer

Reuters: Multiple Russian military aircraft came close to a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Black Sea on Feb. 10, incidents considered “unsafe and unprofessional,” a U.S. official said on Tuesday.

There were three separate incidents involving Russian aircraft and the USS Porter, Captain Danny Hernandez, a spokesman for U.S. European Command, said. One involved two Russian Su-24 jets, another a separate Su-24, and the third involved a larger IL-38.

“USS Porter queried all aircraft and received no response,” Hernandez said.

“Such incidents are concerning because they can result in accident or miscalculation,” he added.

The incidents involving the Su-24 were considered to be unsafe and unprofessional by the commanding officer of the Porter because of their high speed and low altitude, while the IL-38 flew at an unusually low altitude, Hernandez said.

Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the closest incident that day involved the lone SU-24, which came within 200 yards of the Porter at an altitude of 300 feet (91 meters).

This is not the first time interactions have taken place between Russian jets and U.S. ships. In April 2016 two Russian warplanes flew simulated attack passes near a U.S. guided missile destroyer in the Baltic Sea. The flights by the warplanes were so close they created wake in the water.

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Russia sends spy ship near US coast, deploys banned missiles at home, officials say

FNC: A Russian spy ship was spotted patrolling off the East Coast of the United States on Tuesday morning, the first such instance during the Trump administration — and the same day it was learned the Kremlin had secretly deployed controversial cruise missiles inside Russia and buzzed a U.S. Navy destroyer, U.S. officials told Fox News.

The Russian ship was in international waters, 70 miles off the coast of Delaware and heading north at 10 knots, according to one official. The U.S. territory line is 12 nautical miles.

It was not immediately clear where the ship is headed.

Later Tuesday, a U.S. official confirmed to Fox News that Russia had deployed ground-launched cruise missiles to two locations inside the country in December. The New York Times first reported that the Obama administration had previously seen the missiles — then in a testing phase — as a violation of a 1987 treaty between the U.S. and Russia that banned ground-launched intermediate-range missiles.

But Russia has pressed ahead with its program, apparently testing a Trump administration which has sought better ties with Moscow — but is also fresh off the loss of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who resigned Monday night in the wake of a scandal surrounding his communications with Russia.

The ship, the SSV-175 Viktor Leonov, last sailed near the U.S. in April 2015, an official said. It was also seen in Havana in January 2015.

The Russian spy ship is also armed with surface-to-air missiles.

“It’s not a huge concern, but we are keeping our eyes on it,” one official said.

This action by the Russian military follows recent missile test launches by Iran and North Korea.

In the past, Russian spy ships have loitered off the coast of Kings Bay, Ga., home to a U.S. Navy ballistic missile submarine base. During the Cold War, Russian intelligence gathering ships routinely parked off U.S. submarine bases along the East Coast

In September 2015, another Russian spy ship was spotted near the U.S. outside the submarine base in Kings Bay.

Outside of U.S. intelligence gathering satellites monitoring the Russian spy ship’s voyage north, there are several airborne platforms along the East Coast that could be used by the U.S. military to monitor the Russian ship, according to one official.

Currently there are four U.S. Navy warships in the Atlantic off the coast of Norfolk participating in normal training, but none have been tasked with shadowing the Russian spy ship.

There are no U.S. Navy aircraft carriers nearby. The USS Eisenhower, an aircraft carrier, is currently off the coast of Florida doing carrier qualifications, with young pilots making their first landings. Ike does not currently have strike aircraft. More here from FNC.

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This Russian ship presently off the coast of Delaware began in Cuba and is expected to continue heading north to the New London, CT area and will turn around heading south again. It is know as a Vishnya class ship (AGI, Auxiliary, General Intelligence) and the ships are armed with two AK-630 close-in weapon systems and SA-N-8 SAM launchers. These ships are large, purpose built ships designed for signal and communications intelligence electronic information gathering via an extensive array of sensors.^[3] The data could be transmitted to shore via satellite link antennas housed in two large radomes. The Russian Navy operates seven of these ships.

Operation Blockbuster: Lazarus Group Hacks Again

Posted on February 13, 2017February 13, 2017 by Denise Simon

Why should you care? There was a long investigation in separate yet concentrated efforts by both government and private/independent cyber corporations as it related to the hack of Sony. Enter the Lazarus Group, an applied name to hackers that have hit industries such as government, military, financial and entertainment. Few countries are really exempt, as their signature malware has also been found in Japan, India and China.

Image result for lazarus group cyber

Lazarus Group has been active since 2009 and to date cannot be attributed to any single actor or country.

For the comprehensive report, go here. Operation Blockbuster: Image result for operation blockbuster cyber

Recent malware attacks on Polish banks tied to wider hacking campaign

Hackers targeted more than 100 organizations in more than 30 countries

ComputerWorld: Malware attacks that recently put the Polish banking sector on alert were part of a larger campaign that targeted financial organizations from more than 30 countries.

Researchers from Symantec and BAE Systems linked the malware used in the recently discovered Polish attack to similar attacks that have taken place since October in other countries. There are also similarities to tools previously used by a group of attackers known in the security industry as Lazarus.

The hackers compromised websites that were of interest to their ultimate targets, a technique known as watering-hole attacks. They then injected code into the websites that redirected visitors to a custom exploit kit.

The exploit kit contained exploits for known vulnerabilities in Silverlight and Flash Player; the exploits only activated for visitors who had Internet Protocol addresses from specific ranges.

“These IP addresses belong to 104 different organizations located in 31 different countries,” researchers from Symantec said in a blog post Sunday. “The vast majority of these organizations are banks, with a small number of telecoms and internet firms also on the list.”

In the case of the targeted Polish banks, it’s suspected that the malicious code was hosted on the website of the Polish Financial Supervision Authority, the government watchdog for the banking sector. The BAE Systems researchers found evidence that similar code pointing to the custom exploit kit was present on the website of the National Banking and Stock Commission of Mexico in November. This is the Mexican equivalent to the Polish Financial Supervision Authority.

The same code was also found on the website of the Banco de la República Oriental del Uruguay, the largest state-owned bank in that South American country, according to BAE Systems.

Included in the list of targeted IP addresses were those of 19 organizations from Poland, 15 from the U.S., nine from Mexico, seven from the U.K., and six from Chile.

The payload of the exploits was a previously unknown malware downloader that Symantec now calls Downloader.Ratankba. Its purpose is to download another malicious program that can gather information from the compromised system. This second tool has code similarities to malware used in the past by the Lazarus group.

Lazarus has been operating since 2009, and has largely focused on targets from the U.S. and South Korea in the past, the Symantec researchers said. The group is also suspected of being involved in the theft of $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh last year. In that attack, hackers used malware to manipulate the computers used by the bank to operate money transfers over the SWIFT network.

“The technical/forensic evidence to link the Lazarus group actors … to the watering-hole activity is unclear,” the BAE Systems researchers said in a blog post Sunday. “However, the choice of bank supervisor and state-bank websites would be apt, given their previous targeting of central banks for heists — even when it serves little operational benefit for infiltrating the wider banking sector.”