Selected for the program during its 2024 fiscal year, Viasat will develop an end-to-end encryption solution to secure sensitive data from space-to-ground. This will include the development of space-qualified encryption hardware and leverage Viasat’s certified terrestrial encryption equipment for the ground system test terminal.

Viasat’s space-to-ground encryption solution will deliver an End Cryptographic Unit (ECU) designed with prelaunch and on-orbit functionality to quickly address various communications and transmission security requirements, optimizing size, weight and power. Viasat’s space ECU development builds on a long history providing secure communications solutions for the government and complements a terrestrial portfolio of proven edge-to-cloud, tactical and embedded high assurance encryption products.

Compared to traditional solutions, Viasat will develop and produce a high speed, multi-channel, certified Ground Operating Equipment (GOE) for use in testing future communications payloads and terminals. As part of this effort, the GOE will be enhanced to support the demands of unique key and algorithm requirements that add resiliency. Viasat cryptographic solutions also deliver a flexible, multi- function design that supports multiple security functions via ground and space devices.

“Viasat is proud to partner with the U.S. Space Force on modern crypto solutions to address current and evolving threat environments,” said David Schmolke, vice president of mission connections and cybersecurity, Viasat Government. “We are committed to supporting future capabilities of integrated space-crypto solutions to ensure that mission critical data and satellite access controls are protected. This contract award further solidifies Viasat’s position as a trusted partner providing highly secure, resilient space-based communications solutions to a broad range of applications.”

Source: Viasat

by: Kasey Sheridan

Posted: Sep 12, 2025 / 02:12 PM EDT

Updated: Sep 12, 2025 / 01:15 PM EDT

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (WKBN) — Ohio Homeland Security (OHS) announced the launch of a new suspicious activity reporting system that uses artificial intelligence to gather information on potential threats of violence.

Developed by OHS and its private partner Vigiliti, the Safeguard Ohio app uses AI to encourage users to provide as much information as possible to help law enforcement investigate suspicious activity.

Users can use the app to submit photo, video and audio of incidents and remain anonymous.

The submitted information is reported in real-time to the Statewide Terrorism Analysis and Crime Center. Analysts review the content and report it to the appropriate authorities.

The new Safeguard Ohio replaces OHS’s current online reporting method, which requires people to fill out a form.

“Events that threaten the safety of Ohioans can be hard to predict, but they can be prevented with help from timely, detailed tips from the public,” said Governor Mike DeWine. “This new app simplifies the process to get information to law enforcement quickly and conveniently.”

“One of the best attributes of this new system is the ability to upload video and photos,” said Andy Wilson, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety. “More and more people these days — especially our younger generation — don’t like to talk on the phone. This new reporting method will result in more detailed information being shared with the authorities. That’s exactly what we want. Better information leads to better investigations.”

The app is not a replacement for calling 911. In the event of an emergency, the app will prompt users to call 911 instead.

“The AI-infused prompts are essential components of this new system,” said Mark Porter, OHS executive director. “We will get the high-quality intelligence we need to act on a tip through this new system. The AI is trained to keep asking questions until the person reporting says they have no more information about the incident.”

Safeguard Ohio can take reports in 10 different languages besides English: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Haitian, Hindi, Nepalese, Somali, Spanish and Yiddish.

By Associated Press

2:04pm Sep 12, 2025

Likely in her early teens and bearing a close resemblance to her mother, the daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is increasingly viewed as his likely heir.

The girl, believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, was in the spotlight again as she accompanied her father on his high-profile China trip, his own first visit to a major gathering of world leaders and her first known trip abroad.

Video and images carried by North Korean state media showed her right behind her father and ahead of Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui as they got off a train in Beijing, clapping as officials at the North Korean Embassy in Beijing bowed to her father, and standing near him as he was seated with senior officials in a meeting room inside his train.

South Korea’s spy agency said on September 11 that it assesses that the trip solidified her status as her father’s likely heir.

She is believed to be 12 or 13 years old. Not much else is known about her, but her repeated appearances at high-profile events with her father have prompted speculation that she’s being groomed as North Korea’s next leader.

China trip analysed intensively

In a closed-door briefing for politicians, the South Korean National Intelligence Service said Kim Jong Un was believed to have brought his daughter to China to help her acquire overseas experience and cement her status as his likely heir, according to Park Sunwon, who attended the meeting.

The spy agency cited coverage of her appearances in China in the country’s main state TV station and newspaper, which target the ordinary citizens, according to lawmaker Lee Seong Kweun, who was also present at the meeting.

Her name and age are unconfirmed

North Korean state media outlets have never published her name, referring to her as Kim Jong Un’s “respected” or “most beloved” child.

The belief that she is named Ju Ae is based on an account by former NBA champion Dennis Rodman, in which he recalled holding Kim Jong Un’s baby daughter during a trip to Pyongyang in 2013.

Her exact age is unconfirmed but South Korean intelligence officials believe she was born in 2013.

In 2023, South Korea’s spy agency told politicians it assessed Kim Jong Un and his wife Ri Sol Ju also have an older son and a younger third child whose gender is unknown.

She’s being increasingly showcased in her father’s events

Kim Jong Un allowed his daughter to be seen in public for the first time during a test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile in November 2022.

Photos in state media showed Kim Ju Ae wearing a white coat and red shoes as she watched a soaring missile from a distance and walked hand-in-hand with her father.

Her carefully crafted appearances have included missile tests, military parades, and the launch of a naval destroyer in April.

Kim Jong Un has recently expanded his daughter’s public appearances beyond military events to include some of his most ambitious economic projects and cultural events, including the opening of a beach resort in June.

Some question her chances to take over a male-dominated system

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service issued a careful assessment last year that it views Kim Ju Ae as her father’s likely successor, citing a comprehensive analysis of her public activities and the state protocols provided to her.

However, some outside experts disagree with that assessment, citing Kim Jong Un’s relatively young age and the extremely male-dominated nature of North Korea’s power hierarchy.

In its recent briefing at parliament, the National Intelligence Service assessed that Kim has no major health issues and that he conducted official schedules in China smoothly.

Since its foundation in 1948, North Korea has been successively ruled by male members of the Kim family — Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, and grandfather, Kim Il Sung.

Kim Jong Un inherited power in late 2011 upon his father’s death.

• Published 8 January 2014

By Tara McKelvey

BBC News Magazine

Sandra Grimes knew that one of her colleagues was a traitor – one of the biggest in US history, as it turned out. She helped put him in prison for the rest of his life. Her story is now told in a TV miniseries.

Aldrich Ames liked to explain things. Once he told Sandra Grimes how to catch a mole.

“He gave this ‘counterintelligence 101’ talk,” she says. “Was I mad? Yes. But I didn’t want to show anything.”

She and her colleague, Jeanne Vertefeuille, were trying to find out why the agency was losing its Soviet assets, individuals who had agreed to betray their own country and work for the CIA.

At the time Ames was being watched.

“There was already deep suspicion,” says Henry Crumpton, a former CIA operative. “That was part of Sandy’s job – not to spook him. She was masterful.”

The story of how she and Vertefeuille helped to catch Ames is explored in a mini-series, The Assets, that began on the US network ABC last Thursday.

The show is based on a 2012 book, Circle of Treason, by Grimes and Vertefeuille. The main characters in the mini-series are played by British actors – Paul Rhys (Ames), Jodie Whittaker (Grimes) and Harriet Walter (Vertefeuille).

Grimes, 68, talks about the CIA while sitting in a La-Z-Boy-style chair in front of an electric fireplace at her house in northern Virginia. Costco Connection, a magazine published by a discount retailer, is lying on a shelf.

The room smells of apricot, wafting from a fragrance bottle, and is a far cry from the world of subterfuge and espionage, at least the kind portrayed in fiction. The reality is different.

Grimes and those who work for the CIA know things that can start wars and lead to people’s deaths. Yet the individuals themselves – or most of them – lead ordinary lives. That comes across in The Assets.

A former case officer, Joe Weisberg, creator and executive producer of The Americans, external on FX network, says: “The characters were very recognisable from the CIA that I worked at. They seemed like real bureaucrats.”

CIA spokesman Christopher White says they avoid discussions about these kinds of programmes. “We don’t endorse – one way or the other,” he says.

Yet he is enthusiastic about Grimes herself – and the others who investigated Ames. “Today, roughly 20 years after the arrest, the Agency and the American people remain forever in their debt,” says White.

Like other bureaucrats, Grimes and Ames carpooled. They were working in the Soviet/East European operations division in the 1970s. He drove a Volvo – the window on the passenger side was stiff, she recalls, and hard to roll up.

“He couldn’t care less about how he looked,” she says. “He’d come running out of the house with his shirt not tucked in.”

He was a bureaucrat but saw himself as an intellectual, someone who read books about Russian history. “He loved the ‘what if’ questions,” she says.

Later he carried out a shocking crime, handing over the names of Soviet assets to the KGB.

Randall Woods, the author of a biography of former CIA director William Colby, says of Ames: “His betrayal was indefensible. He wasn’t selling manuals or antiballistic missiles. He was betraying individuals.”

At least eight were executed. In exchange Ames received millions in cash.

Ames was allowed to remain at the agency for nearly a decade after he initially betrayed the informants. CIA officers say they were able to protect their Soviet assets after that early period – when the informants were first exposed – and keep them safe.

CIA officers are touchy about the investigation – and defend their approach. They say they had to be rigorous in their efforts and needed time in order to pursue leads. Still the idea that Ames remained at the agency – and was close to those who kept the nation’s secrets – is unnerving.

Ames’ first marriage ended in divorce. His second wife, Maria del Rosario Casas Ames, is from Bogota, Colombia.

“Rosario loves to spend money,” says Grimes. “Stores like Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom. Rick can’t keep up with it.”

Even he had a hard time explaining what happened.

“It was as if I were in almost a state of shock,” he said, according to a 1994 congressional report, external. “The realisation of what I had done. But certainly underlying it was the conviction that there was as much money as I could ever use – if I chose to do that.”

The Soviets who agreed to spy on their own nation were aware of the risks. Ames believed that since they had consented to play such a high-stakes game, they could not be overly surprised if things ended badly.

Grimes says: “He rationalised it. It was, well, they knew when they signed up. This is it, babe.'”

She throws up her hands. “The arrogance starts to show,” she says. “It’s, ‘I’m smarter than you are.'” She says the words in a sing-song voice, imitating her former colleague, with a bright, superior look on her face.

The investigation took years. “It was very important that we didn’t get it wrong,” she says.

She and her colleagues pored over Ames’ calendar and studied his bank statements. They worked together, sitting in cubicles with “huge, high” dividers, and passed information over the walls.

They noticed Ames had been having lunch with an arms-control expert from the Soviet embassy. Afterwards Ames would go to the bank and deposit money.

She went to see one of her higher-ups at the agency: “I closed the door and said, ‘it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what is going on here. Rick is a goddamned Soviet spy.'”

Ames was arrested on 21 February 1994. “He was surprised,” she says. “He thought he got away with it.”

Still he did get away with it – for nine years. Grimes was methodical, yet overall the approach was flawed. “She did hard, painstaking work,” says Tim Weiner, author of Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. “But the modality of CIA counterintelligence was to spin out theories.”

Frederick Hitz, who later served as the agency’s inspector general, wrote a report. “We asked, ‘What’s the story here? How did it happen?'” he says. “Our conclusion was that we did not feel the agency devoted sufficient resources to finding out why.”

The report remains classified.

The story of Ames shows the damage one man can do when given access to classified information and decides to use it to his own advantage. It also exposes the difficulty of ferreting out a traitor within an organisation as insular as the CIA.

Ames was sentenced to life in prison. The last time Grimes saw him was in a federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.

“I heard this noise,” she says. “It was a clank.”

Wearing leg irons, he appeared before the judge. “He pontificated and said, ‘blah, blah blah,'” she says.

“The magistrate said, ‘Mr Ames, yours is a crime against every citizen.’ He took his gavel – boom. ‘Bail denied.’ Whoa!”

She leans back and looks surprised.

Ames was escorted out of the room. “He was not a beaten man,” she says. “He was still in charge. That’s what he gave off. He’s comfortable with himself, oddly enough.”

Last updated: 14 July 2025

• Ernestas NaprysSenior Journalist

Eighteen extensions had a “squeaky clean” codebase, sometimes for years, until a version bump turned them into dangerous trojans without any user input. Security researchers warn that over 2.3 million users have just been compromised, but there are many more extensions lurking.

Key takeaways:

• In Chrome and Edge, 18 harmful browser extensions were identified as redirecting users to malicious sites and hijacking data.
• The extensions accumulated hundreds of reviews and more than 2.3 million users before receiving malicious updates, according to Koi Security.
• Users are urged to delete the malicious extensions and reset compromised credentials.

Before turning malicious, one of the extensions had a Google verified badge, over 800 reviews, and a featured placement on the Chrome Web Store.

Koi Security researchers warn that the “Color Picker, Eyedropper – Geco colorpick” extension is one of the eighteen that were recently updated to include dangerous code.

“This is a carefully crafted Trojan horse that delivers exactly what it promises (a functional color picker) while simultaneously hijacking your browser, tracking every website you visit, and maintaining a persistent command and control backdoor,” the researchers said.

The sophisticated campaign, dubbed RedDirection, has infected over 2.3 million users across Chrome and Edge, making it one of the largest browser hijacking operations.

None of the 18 extensions were malicious from day one. They were popular productivity or entertainment tools, such as emoji keyboards, weather forecasts, video speed controllers, volume boosters, YouTube blockers, dark themes, etc.

Refer to Full Article:

https://cybernews.com/security/chrome-edge-hijacked-by-eighteen-malicious-extensions/

By Ryan D. Martinson

While much of the international attention on China’s naval buildup is focused on its rapidly modernizing surface fleet, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is also taking bold steps to field a first-rate submarine force. By the end of this year, the service could have as many as 25 Yuan-class submarines, which are among the world’s most advanced diesel-electric boats. Its small-but-growing fleet of nuclear-powered attack (SSN), guided missile (SSGN), and ballistic missile (SSBN) submarines has achieved major technological upgrades, and with the benefit of a massive production facility in Huludao, may be on the cusp of significant expansion.

The PLAN is investing in submarines because it recognizes their tremendous potential deterrent and warfighting value. That value, however, hinges on the ability of their boats to operate undetected. According to Chinese military experts however, that basic requirement cannot be guaranteed—not even close. Writing in the November 2023 issue of Military Art (军事学术), a prestigious journal published by the Chinese Academy of Military Science, three PLAN officers revealed that the peacetime operations of Chinese submarines are highly vulnerable to the U.S. Navy’s undersea surveillance system, raising serious questions about their strategic and operational utility.

Entitled “Effectively Responding to the Threat to China’s Undersea Space Posed by the Powerful Enemy’s Three-Dimensional Surveillance System,” the article deserves special attention for two main reasons. First, while not an official assessment as might appear in a “white paper” or a “five-year plan,” it reflects the opinions of PLAN experts whose views are informed by access to classified intelligence and subject to peer review. The first author, Senior Captain Zhang Ning (张宁), is a faculty member at the Naval University of Engineering, College of Weapons Engineering. He co-authored the piece with Commander Zhang Tongjian (张同剑), from the 3rd Destroyer Flotilla (Unit 91257), and Lieutenant Fan Zhaopeng (范赵鹏) of the PLAN Oceanographic and Meteorological Center (Unit 91001). Second, the publication in which the article appears—Military Art—is an internal PLA journal (军内刊物). This enables the authors to share their expertise with a candor that is rarely (if ever) seen in publicly-available PLA sources.

‘War raging in the Atlantic’: Russian spy sensors found near UK shores, raising security concerns’

The British military identified the devices after several washed ashore and were located by the Royal Navy, according to a report

One of Britain’s Vanguard nuclear submarines, HMS Vigilant, at a naval base in Scotland. AFP File

Russian sensors suspected of attempting to spy on British nuclear submarines have reportedly been discovered hidden in the waters around the UK, raising potential national security threat.

According to The Telegraph report, the British military identified the devices after several washed ashore and were located by the Royal Navy.

The situation, which has not been previously made public, but The Sunday Times reported that Moscow is seeking to gather intelligence on the UK’s four Vanguard submarines, which are armed with nuclear missiles.

At least one of these submarines is currently deployed as part of Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrent.

Moscow possesses a fleet of specialised submarines that are believed to be better equipped than those of Britain and its Nato allies for seabed warfare and espionage.

During the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, Russia has intensified its surveillance and sabotage of underwater internet connections, energy pipelines, and military cables critical to the West.

In the past 15 months, at least 11 internet cables in the Baltic Sea have been damaged, partly due to ships dragging anchors across the seabed.

“You really need to keep the (engine) power on to drag, so it is a deliberate act,” The Telegraph quoted a defence insider as saying.

Nordic Warden, an AI-driven reaction system designed to monitor the movements of the Russian shadow fleet, was activated by the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force following the damage to a cable between Estonia and Finland in December.

“There should be no doubt, there is a war raging in the Atlantic. This is a game of cat and mouse that has continued since the ending of the Cold War, and is now heating up again. We are seeing phenomenal amounts of Russian activity,” The Telegraph quoted a senior serving British military figure as saying.

Russia’s spy ship Yantar drew attention when it approached UK shores last year, and its underwater research programme is primarily managed by the Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (Gugi).

A senior UK source compared the situation to the space race.

“This is a world clouded in secrecy and subterfuge, it’s very hard to get absolute clarity. But there’s enough smoke to suggest something is on fire somewhere,” The Telegraph quoted him as saying.

Another official emphasised the need for a more assertive approach.

“We’ve got to play by the rules of the game. But whereas before we were playing it nicely, now we’re being more muscular,” the official was quoted as saying.

An MoD spokesman highlighted the commitment to securing critical offshore infrastructure.

“Alongside our Nato and Joint Expeditionary Force allies, we are strengthening our response to ensure that Russian ships and aircraft cannot operate in secrecy near the UK or near Nato territory, harnessing new technologies like AI and coordinating patrols with our allies.

“And our continuous-at-sea nuclear deterrent continues to patrol the world’s oceans undetected as it has done for 56 years,” The Telegraph quoted the spokesman as saying.

By Lee Ferran November 23, 2012

The best of the British code breakers have apparently met their match in a WWII-era secret message recently discovered attached to the leg of a long-dead pigeon.

Cryptographers at Britain’s Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the spy agency in charge of signals intelligence, have been analyzing the short handwritten message for weeks but threw up their hands Friday, saying it will be impossible to decode “without access to the original cryptographic material.”

The note, written on official stationary with the heading “Pigeon Service,” was discovered in a red canister attached to the skeletal leg of a pigeon in a chimney in Surrey. The message is made up of 27 seemingly random five-letter blocks and though it’s undated, government analysts believe the pigeon met his end while on a secret mission during the Second World War. The note is signed “Sjt W Stot” and was intended for the destination “XO2.”

In a statement released overnight, the GCHQ said that during the war, secret communications would often utilize specialized codebooks “in which each code group of four or five letters had a meaning relevant to a specific operation, allowing much information to be sent in a short message.” The GCHQ said that those messages may have been put through an additional layer of security by being re-coded with what’s known as a one-time pad.

One-time pads make up a theoretically uncrackable secret communications system in which an agent could encode a message using a key that uses truly random numbers to translate plain text into what looks like jibberish. The recipient of the coded message would then only be able to decode the message if they possessed an identical key. After a single use, both keys would be destroyed.

“This means that without access to the relevant codebooks and details of any additional encryption used, it will remain impossible to decrypt,” the GCHQ said.

Nearly a quarter million carrier pigeons were used during the Second World War by various branches of the British military including Britain’s Special Operations Executive, according to the GCHQ. In the air, the small birds fought their own version of the war, braving enemy hawk patrols and soldiers on the ground taking potshots.

The GCHQ has enlisted the Pigeon Museum at Bletchy Park to trace the identity of the pigeon – each was given a service number – but is still seeking information on what “Sjt W Stot” and “X02? could tell them about the note’s origin and purpose. Was it vital information about the secret D-Day invasion plans? Was it nothing but a training exercise?

One GCHQ historian told BBC News the most helpful suggestion came from the public already:

“A member of the public… suggested that, since the message was found in the chimney, the first two words are most likely to be ‘Dear Santa,'” the historian said.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Agence France-Presse

Published: 3:15pm, 14 Jan 2025

Updated: 3:37pm, 14 Jan 2025