Day: September 13, 2024

The U.S. military has announced the sale of billions of dollars of missiles, bombs, and other weapons to Israel in the past year, as the campaign in Gaza grinds on. Now, the Department of Defense is also building aircraft facilities in Israel to accommodate American-made refueling tanker planes, according to newly issued public contracting documents reviewed by The Intercept.

The project includes new construction and upgrades of existing buildings, including one or more hangars, warehouses, and storage facilities, at an Israeli military base in the south of Israel, according to Army Corps of Engineers documents.  

The construction stems from a nearly $1 billion contract, awarded to defense giant Boeing in 2022, to provide Israel with four KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft to be delivered by the end of 2026. The purchase of the KC-46As was seen as a signal of Israel’s determination to increase its capacity to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities.

The KC-46A is the newest tanker being produced for the U.S. Air Force to replace its two aging models. The new aircraft has been plagued with myriad problems, including issues with its Remote Vision System, which allows the boom operator to see the boom through a video feed. The plane has also become a financial burden, racking up more than $7 billion in losses.

For Israel, the new aircraft, purchased for $927 million, will replace the decades-old, repurposed Boeing 707 passenger planes that the Israeli Air Force currently uses for midair refueling of fighter aircraft.  

Last month, the Biden administration approved five major arms sales to Israel, including 50 F-15 fighter aircraft, tank ammunition, tactical vehicles, air-to-air missiles, and 50,000 mortar rounds, among other equipment totaling more than $20 billion. While technically “sales,” the cost of these weapons is mostly paid by the United States since Israel uses much of the military aid Congress approves to buy U.S.-made weapons.

Since last October, Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have spawned a humanitarian catastrophe, killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and wounded close to 94,000, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. Israel has used U.S. munitions in its strikes on Gaza.

The KC-46A construction project, according to documents issued on Wednesday, includes “establishing and adapting aviation and maintenance infrastructure for the KC-46,” including construction of five new concrete and steel structures, as well as the possibility for building additional buildings and warehouses.

The Pentagon is no stranger to construction projects in Israel. Late last year, The Intercept revealed that the Defense Department had awarded a multimillion-dollar contract to build U.S. troop facilities for a secret base it maintains deep within Israel’s Negev desert, just 20 miles from Gaza. Code-named “Site 512,” the longstanding U.S. base is a radar facility that monitors the skies for missile attacks on Israel. 

A recent investigation by The Intercept disclosed that Site 512 is just one of more than 60 U.S. bases, garrisons, or shared foreign facilities in the Middle East. These sites range from small combat outposts to massive air bases in 13 countries: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. 

At least 14 of these bases have been attacked in recent years. Since October 17 of last year alone, a mix of one-way attack drones, rockets, mortars, and close-range ballistic missiles have led to at least 145 U.S. casualties — troops and contractors — at regional outposts. That includes the three service members killed in a January drone attack on Tower 22, a facility in Jordan.

The Defense Department intends to award contracts for work on the KC-46A construction project in February 2025. The Pentagon failed to respond to The Intercept’s request for comment about the construction project. The State Department acknowledged The Intercept’s questions but did not offer answers prior to publication.

The post U.S. Army Is Upgrading an Israeli Base to Make Room for New Boeing Jets appeared first on The Intercept.

It’s not just government organizations that need to worry about cyber espionage campaigns — the entire business world is also a target.

Multipolarity has been a defining trend in geopolitics in recent years. Rivalries between the world’s great powers continue to test the limits of globalism, resulting in growing disruption to international supply chains and economics. Global political risk has reached its highest level in decades, and even though corporate attention to geopolitics has dropped since peaking in 2022, the impact on global economic stability remains worryingly high.

Adding to this backdrop of geopolitical tension, cyberspace has become the fifth dimension of warfare. Rival nation-states and the organizations loyal to them are increasingly turning to cyber espionage to gain a strategic advantage. However, they’re not only targeting government organizations. They’re also targeting the private sector to disrupt economies and gain unauthorized access to confidential — and highly valuable — information. That means every business is a potential target, regardless of industry.

The real threat of state-sponsored cyber operatives

What makes cyber espionage so concerning is that most campaigns are carried out by state-sponsored attackers for economic, political or even military gain. Unlike rogue individuals and crime syndicates operating off the dark web — usually for financial gain — state-sponsored operatives tend to have access to the financial and human resources needed to launch highly sophisticated attacks against specific targets. And, even if a particular company isn’t likely to be targeted deliberately, that doesn’t mean they’re safe. After all, just like any other dimension of warfare, there’s always a risk of collateral damage.

For businesses, protecting against cyber espionage starts with knowing where the threats are coming from. Long gone are the days when standalone criminals and rogue groups working towards their own agendas are the greatest threat. These days, by far, the greater threat comes from nation-states as well as large enterprises that have capitalized on the opportunities of digital espionage. While the headlines have typically focused on Russia, China and the U.S., the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intelligence agency recently estimated that there are now at least 34 nation-states with advanced cyber espionage teams.

Processing the deluge of data

Further complicating matters is rapid technological advancement, particularly in AI, and all the risks and opportunities that come with it. On one hand, AI shows great promise in supporting growth and innovation. On the other, it’s also a source of risk as governments assume the dual responsibilities of fostering innovation while regulating the technology to ensure it remains a force for good.

The combination of AI and increasingly massive amounts of data means business strategy can be decided in hours and days rather than months. And no entity has more data than the governments of the world’s largest states and the organizations aligned with them. Intelligence has taken a very different form, with millions of data points being collected every second. For any entity hoping to make use of this deluge of data, AI has become an absolute necessity. The world of cyber crime and espionage is no different.

Explore AI cybersecurity solutions

AI on the frontlines

The rise of generative AI technologies has propelled AI to the frontlines of cyber warfare. State-sponsored attackers are already using tools like large language models (LLMs) to scale, inform and enhance their attacks, making AI a force multiplier in the broader threat landscape. For example, threat actors can now use tailor-made LLMs to generate malicious code or even inform reconnaissance to gain insights into potential targets.

What makes attacks like these so worrying is their widespread implications. When the world’s largest cloud providers are targeted by state-sponsored cyber espionage campaigns, there’s also a trickle-down effect, potentially involving any business that uses their services. Because of their critical role in software supply chains, state-sponsored attackers with virtually unlimited resources tend to go after the biggest targets.

Striking the right balance of cyber risk

Despite these risks, companies can’t afford to abandon their use of the major cloud vendors. After all, their platforms provide the critical infrastructure that today’s organizations need to scale and innovate. Nonetheless, organizations must proactively protect against these threats by layering on a zero trust architecture, conducting regular security audits and ensuring that all sensitive information is encrypted regardless of where it resides. That means they need to be strategic in choosing their vendors, as well as building security initiatives that align with their specific requirements.

We also need to remember that the biggest players in global software supply chains also have the resources to keep ahead of cyber espionage threats, even if there’s no such thing as being 100% secure. AI has become an undisputable necessity in information security, but it’s also a double-edged sword. Rogue states and cyber criminals are using it to scale their attacks and launch highly convincing social engineering campaigns. However, AI also offers the only way to effectively improve threat detection and response times. Just as you can’t fight in a modern war with sticks and stones, neither can you defend against today’s threats without cutting-edge technology.

Innovation is the key to successful security

In the end, while no business will ever be immune to cyberattacks, it’s important to remember that by far the greatest risk comes with a failure to innovate. As it’s often said, “we’ve always done it this way” are the costliest words in the business world. Even in the case of sophisticated state-sponsored attackers, attempted data breaches are far likelier to be successful when they exploit vulnerabilities in outdated infrastructures and security systems.

To effectively protect against the rising tide of AI-driven cyber espionage, businesses need to continuously monitor, review and update their security systems. Layering on AI has become a necessary part of that process thanks to its ability to augment real-time threat detection and response capabilities. Regardless of one’s opinions about AI, it’s here to stay, and it’s vital for businesses to strike the right balance by strategically incorporating AI as a tool to protect against the next generation of state-sponsored cyber threats.

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The post What can businesses learn from the rise of cyber espionage? appeared first on Security Intelligence.