British lawmakers passed a bill allowing protesters to be tagged without conviction

In the UK, the infamous Public Order Bill was passed by 276 to 231 votes in the House of Commons. The bill entails empowering police and courts to prevent protests and to monitor protesters electronically before they are charged with a crime.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel introduced the enactment to prevent anti-social protests and explained that such a law would allow the police to take proactive action and prevent such disruption from happening in the first place.

However, human rights groups and other organizations are criticizing the bill. Senior MP Charles Walker had already announced he would vote against his own party’s proposal. Walker told the House of Commons that the bill was “unconservative” and would be used in China under the Chinese Communist Party.

“The idea that in this country, we are going to ankle tag someone who has not been convicted in a court of law,” said the MP and predicted that the Chinese embassy would watch the bill very closely.

Read: https://reclaimthenet.org/uk-public-order-bill-tag-protesters/

Florida man imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for tweeting about Jamal Khashoggi

A 72-year-old man from Florida was arrested upon entering Saudi Arabia for past tweets he had made criticizing the government. Saad Ibrahim Almadi, an American citizen of Saudi descent, was visiting his family in Riyadh in November of 2021 when he was intercepted from the airport by Saudi authorities.

His son Ibrahim reported that his father’s critical tweets, which he made while in the US, were “mild” but one referenced Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist who was brutally murdered in the Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018. Khashoggi was also a vocal critic of the Saudi government, and is believed to have been tortured and assassinated by Saudi government agents.

Almadi has since been sentenced to 16 years in prison as well as a 16 year travel ban which would prevent him from leaving the country and returning home to the US. His son Ibrahim has pleaded with the US government to help him secure his father’s release, but reports that the response from the State Department has been “careless” and neglectful. He also reported that his father was tortured in prison after requesting the State Department’s help in August.

Ibrahim visited Washington in May of 2022 to ask that his father be designated as a “wrongfully detained” U.S. citizen. This would escalate Almadi’s case to the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA), which has the means to secure the release of Americans unjustly detained overseas. So far, Biden’s administration has not taken any decisive action on Almadi’s case.

Read: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/10/17/almadi-sentenced-tweets-saudi-arabia/


Cyber Security Chief of Germany Got Laid-Off Due to Ties with Russia

Ever since Germany is on high alert due to potential sabotage campaigns led by Moscow, the tension between the two countries have increased more than before. Recently, Arney Schoenbohm, Chief of Cybersecurity Germany, was laid off due to accusations of his ties with Russia.

On a popular satire show broadcasted on ZDF, Schoenbom was previously accused of having ties with Russia. A interior ministry spokesman stated that, “it has permanently damaged the trust of the public.”

Schoenbohm was accused of having secret exchanges with Russia in the disguise of an association which he co-founded himself back in 2012, which is named as Cyber Security Council Germany.

One of the inside member from the association co-founded by the chief himself, stated that this organization was named ‘Infotecs GmbH’, till the end of March, 2022. The interior ministry spokesperson stated that the matter will be thoroughly examined and until the results are announced, Schoenbohm cannot be called guilty.

Schoenbohm himself stated that he is awaiting a response and he is unaware of any ‘concrete allegations’ on him. Back in 2015, Russia was blamed for a cyber attack in Germany that was made in the house of parliament the Bundestag, due to which the entire house was shut down, until the matter was resolved.

Russia has always denied any involvement in any cyberattacks, however, the reality can be different, because the tension is increasing between the two countries with each passing day.

Read: https://www.securityweek.com/german-cybersecurity-chief-sacked-over-alleged-russia-ties

The FBI is accused of inflating domestic terrorism data

On December 2, the House Judiciary Committee plans to interview former FBI Counterterrorism Division Assistant Director Jill Sanborn, House GOP members announced Thursday. GOP lawmakers called Sanborn to testify regarding whistleblower complaints that the bureau pressured agents to inflate the number of “domestic violent extremist” cases.

Representatives Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mike Johnson (R-La.) released a letter on October 20 alleging the former FBI official had not taken any “meaningful steps” to arrange the interview. “Only late last Friday did your attorneys offer a specific date for a transcribed interview—December 2, 2022—a date six weeks in the future and nearly four months since our initial request,” the lawmakers wrote.

According to whistleblowers, FBI agents were steered to reclassify cases to pad domestic terrorism data, even when there was no evidence to support the reclassifications. GOP officials report that a whistleblower identified Sanborn as an official who forced agents to meet self-imposed performance goals.

The FBI’s attorneys claimed that approval from the agency was necessary for Sanborn to appear before Congress. However, the Republicans said they did not share their attorneys’ views and would examine the facts during Sanborn’s transcribed interview.

Read: https://www.zerohedge.com/political/former-fbi-official-testify-agency-allegedly-inflating-domestic-terrorism-data

Attack on Online Casinos by Chinese Hackers

Using code named DiceyF that is traced from China, Chinese hackers have been attacking the South Asian online casinos for some years now. Researchers, Kurt Baumgartner, and Georgy Kucherin stated, “We have a mix of intellectual theft, but the motivation behind it remains a mystery.”

A Russian Cybersecurity company Kaspersky started the investigation of this matter in November, 2021. These recent hacking attacks on online casinos use a Game Player Framework that is similar to Earth Berberoka. This framework uses the employee data to get access to the victim’s system.

In this Game Player Framework two separate branches of dubbed Tifa and Yuna are used with different levels. The attacker sends in a plugin which is then downloaded by the victim, and through the cookies, the attacker gets access to the victim’s information.

The plugins used by the Chinese attackers can get information from browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Moreover, the hackers can also get access to the clipboard data. Kaspersky also pointed out the use of a malicious app that is similar to the software called Mango, which also uses the Employees data and drops a GamePlayerFramework in the network for hacking purposes.

The alarming part is the smart technique used by the hackers, where they get all the information about the work of the employees and use graphics to attack, which seem very real. Hence, it is a challenge to identify the hacking activities and cater it, at the right time.

Read: https://thehackernews.com/2022/10/chinese-hackers-targeting-online.html

Elsewhere Online:

TikTok deal could lead to US data leaks
Read: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-19/tiktok-security-deal-is-likely-to-leave-us-data-leaking-to-china

Windows Updates could be presenting a hidden PowerShell backdoor
Read: https://thehackernews.com/2022/10/experts-warn-of-stealthy-powershell.html

Cybercriminals posing as Student Loan Debt Relief Plan administrators are stealing personal information, according to the FBI
Read: https://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/scammers-targeting-those-seeking-student-loan-forgiveness

Former intelligence adviser to Biden vetted Israeli NSO Group deals
Read: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/oct/18/biden-intelligence-adviser-previously-vetted-deals-for-israeli-nso-group

White House “Blueprint for AI Bill of Rights” Creates a Potential Path to Legal AI Ethics Guidelines Read: https://www.cpomagazine.com/data-privacy/white-house-blueprint-for-ai-bill-of-rights-creates-a-potential-path-to-legal-ai-ethics-guidelines/