In the News

China and the U.S. are deadlocked over a United Nations resolution which would extend the UN mission in Afghanistan. Diplomats say Beijing is expected to veto the German-Indonesian initiative because it doesn’t refer to China’s overland and marine infrastructure projects.

Edward Snowden, the Central Intelligence Agency contractor who sought refuge in Moscow, says that while France and Germany are considering granting him asylum, he still hopes to return to the U.S. However, having leaked details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies, he says he wouldn’t get a fair trial back home.

Personal information on potentially every person in Ecuador have been posted online after a massive national data breach. More than 20 million files, including those involving an estimated seven million minors, evidently were exposed. Ecuador’s official population is 16.5 million.

The U.S. intelligence community is said to be developing biometric identification systems which could single out individuals at a distance. Facial recognition and other biometrics technologies have improved in recent years but evidently are still prone to errors.

The Communications Security Establishment and other intelligence resources are reported to be closely monitoring the possibility that at least six foreign government are working through their diasporas in Canada to influence the results of the Oct. 21 general election. A report cites China, India, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

>Australia, Britain, France and the U.S., Canada’s partners in the Five Eyes intelligence community, are raising questions about the type of information accessible to Cameron Ortis as the director of an intelligence unit within the RCMP. Diplomatic sources say the alliance is concerned that Ortis, who has been arrested and charged, had access to their intelligence information.

Gen. David Goldfein, the U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff, says the military has much to learn from Apple’s “unleashing” of open-source technologies, which became a core in which other companies were founded and have flourished. He writes that the engineering and business lessons are important for the defence sector which he says has too often procured systems which cannot communicate with each other and are difficult to update.

British Airways has begun advising passengers planning to travel to and through the U.K. two weeks hence to cancel their reservations. The carrier is trying to limit the fallout from a pilots’ strike slated to begin Sept. 27.

Cameron Ortis, a civilian RCMP director general, is facing charges arising from alleged intelligence breaches which have prompted concerns about whether there are implications not only domestically but also with Canada’s allies. He has been charged under the Security of Information Act which deals with communicating or confirming special operational information.

Decades-old U.S. policies requiring all federal agencies’ Internet traffic flow through a central facility are about to updated to enable them migrate to the cloud while maintaining cybersecurity. The update is being pushed by the Office of Budget Management as part of a broader modernization initiative.

The cost of dealing with “forever chemical” contamination leaching into watersheds from U.S. military facilities is expected to surpass a initial estimate of $2 billion. The admission comes as Congress prepares to discussion draft budget legislation.

Plans for a protest against a proposed third runway at London Heathrow airport, which would have seen drones flown within a no-fly zone, evidently fell apart after two persons were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a public nuisance. Airport authorities say no commercial traffic was affected.

In an bid to end a western blockade against its 5G technology, Huawei is offering to sell its software to a western company which then could rewrite problematic code. The U.S. has been urging its allies not to permit 5G over concerns that alleged “backdoors” would enable the Chinese government to spy on telecom systems.

Raytheon Co. expects a surge in international sales of its Howler aerial countermeasures technology, which has been field-tested by the U.S. Army. James McGovern, vice-president of mission systems and sensors, says there have been many expressions of industry at various trade shows.

With Canada’s 43rd federal general election campaign off to a fast start, a new report uses case studies and other research to underscore the need for heightened vigilance against cyber threats in the run-up to the Oct. 21 vote. Distributed by the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries, the report lauds Elections Canada’s paced adoption of protective technologies, noting that early adopters have encountered serious challenges.

It’s finally official: Canadians will be going to the polls in a general election on Monday, October 21. The election writ was issued Sept. 11 for a vote which is expected to be a close-run thing between the incumbent Liberals and the Conservatives with the New Democratic Party and the Greens evidently scrapping for third place.

A new Pew Research Centre study indicates that although Americans are becoming more receptive to biometric scans and facial recognition technologies, their growing acceptance is so far limited to law enforcement’s use. They apparently are less trusting of the private sector.

Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to the families of three Australians detained in Iran. While the department would not provide further details, the Australian state broadcaster says one of the detainees has been in custody for nearly a year, the others for several months.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to annex parts of the disputed West Bank if he wins reelection and is able to form a coalition government.It would include the Jordan Valley and the northern Dead Sea.

President Donald Trump turned to social media again Sept. 10 to announced that had fired National Security Adviser John Bolton after months of policy differences. Bolton, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations who was Trump’s third NSA, says he resigned.

Only hours after North Korea had offered to resume nuclear negotiations with the U.S., the “hermit kingdom” launched two “projectiles” into the Sea of Japan. South Korea’s military, while providing no other details, continues to monitor the situation.

Intermittent U.S. power grid shutdowns last March were caused by hackers exploiting utilities’ firewall vulnerabilities. The North American Electric Reliability Corp. says grids were down for up to five minutes at a time but that the software issues have been resolved.

A Chinese academic has been charged with fraud for allegedly taking technology from an unnamed California company for the benefit an unnamed Chinese telecommunications company. Arrested in Texas, Bo Mao, an associate professor at Xiamen University, was released under bond after consenting to proceed with the case in New York, where he pleaded not guilty.

Reacting to confirmation that a U.S. soldier was among the victims of a bombing in Kabul, President Donald Trump canceled a hitherto secret weekend meeting at Camp David with Taliban and Afghanistan leaders.

A British Airways offer of an 11.5 per cent pay hike over three years did not prevent the carrier’s pilots from striking for the first time in BA’s history Sept. 9. It affects nearly 200,000 booked passengers on the first two days.

Despite President Donald Trump’s professed support for the European Deterrence Initiative, his administration is considering taking $771 million away from projects earmarked for the EDI. Created by the previous administration in a bid to reassure allies in the aftermath of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, its annual budget has grown to $6.5 billion from $1 billion in 2014

The fact that some 5.4 million Canadians living in remote areas have at best limited Internet has prompted a suggestion that Huawei technology could be a solution. Despite lingering concerns about security, the Chinese giant is already partnering with two northern companies to expand service to 70 communities.

Canadians must be wondering if the courts share the interpretation that the law exists to protect public safety. An OpEd by Christie Blatchford details the recent Court of Appeal decision to overturn the conviction of two men found guilty of terrorism in 2015 (for a plot to attack Toronto-bound passenger train) and order a new trial over what the defence argued was improper jury selection.

When the chief executive officer of an unnamed British subsidiary of a multinational company was asked to transfer €220,000, he readily complied. After all, the call had come from his boss whose voice he recognized. But it hadn’t.

Growing attempts by China and Russia “to disrupt the international order” are being used by U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper to support his call for more European cooperation. He says this is critical to preserving the results of “decades of shared sacrifice.”

Anne Neuberger, recently appointed to head the new cybersecurity directorate within the National Security Agency, wants to improve information-sharing not only with other U.S. government bodies but also the private sector. She says this would enable the U.S. to get ahead of digital threats instead of mostly just reacting to them.

A New Jersey man who defrauded the U.S. Department of Defense and illegally shared sensitive technical information has been sentenced to three years in federal prison. Roger Sobrado also has been sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $8 million in restitution.

Other countries hosting U.S. military facilities are being urged by Defense Secretary Mark Esper to consider paying for overdue upgrades which have been undercut by the Administration’s diversion of $3.6 billion in military funding to pay for the U.S. border wall with Mexico. The facilities include schools and daycare centres for military families.

Wednesday Oct. 16 is when the Canadian Association of Defence & Security Industries presents its Subject Matter Experts Day as part of its annual conference in Ottawa. CADSI calls it an opportunity for the private sector “to make the most of the tools available . . . through government and NGO initiatives.”