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Justice Dept. makes arrests in North Korean identity theft scheme involving thousands of IT workers
https://apnews.com/article/north-korea-it-stolen-identity-0fb3e47dcc9a6f671b1fb7c0a722b1a8
The conspiracy involves thousands of North Korean information technology workers who prosecutors say are dispatched by the government to live abroad and who rely on the stolen identities of Americas to obtain remote employment at U.S.-based Fortune 500 companies, jobs that give them access to sensitive corporate data and lucrative paychecks. The companies did not realize the workers were overseas.
The fraud scheme is a way for heavily sanctioned North Korea, which is cut off from the U.S. financial system, to take advantage of a “toxic brew” of converging factors, including a high-tech labor shortage in the U.S. and the proliferation of remote telework, Marshall Miller, the Justice Department’s principal associate deputy attorney general, said in an interview.
The Justice Department says the cases are part of a broader strategy to not only prosecute individuals who enable the fraud but also to build partnerships with other countries and to warn private-sector companies of the need to be vigilant — and not duped — about the actual identities of the people they’re hiring.
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SEE ALSO:East Tennessee linked to North Korean identity theft scheme involving thousands of IT workers
https://www.wate.com/news/jefferson-county-news/east-tennessee-linked-to-north-korean-identity-theft-scheme-involving-thousands-of-it-workers
JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. (WATE) — A scheme designed to let foreigners do information technology work as if they were actually in the United States has been unraveled by federal investigators. The investigation claimed that Jefferson City was home to one of several “laptop farms” that helped make the scheme possible.
According to court documents, the schemes involved defrauding over 300 U.S. companies using U.S. payment platforms, online job site accounts and proxy computers located in the United States. The Justice Department shared that two people have been arrested and search warrants were executed in Jefferson City, Washington, D.C. and other jurisdictions.
Federal search warrants show a house on King Street and a dorm room inside ‘Burnett Hall’ at Carson-Newman University were searched. Applications for the warrants claim the locations were occupied by Carson-Newman students including a Ukrainian graduate student on a student visa and an undergrad from Colombia who applied for asylum in the U.S.
Another Dead End for Airborne Lasers: Air Force Scraps Effort to Mount Directed-Energy Weapon on Fighter Jet
https://www.military.com/daily-news/2024/05/17/air-force-abandons-plan-mount-laser-weapon-fighter-jet-after-scrapping-similar-gunship-project.html
After years in development, the U.S. military's latest attempt at an airborne laser weapon to protect troops on the ground from incoming ballistic missiles appears to be headed for the scrapyard.
Initiated in 2016, the Self-Protect High-Energy Laser Demonstrator, or SHiELD, was envisioned as a laser weapon mounted on fighter jets such as the F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II that would neutralize incoming air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles, as well as ballistic missiles potentially targeting U.S. forces abroad, according to a 2023 Congressional Research Service report.
The Air Force had planned on the SHiELD system taking flight for airborne testing aboard an F-15 Eagle some time in fiscal 2024. The service had already reported a successful ground-based shootdown of test missiles and taken receipt of the laser weapon system and pod subsystem in recent years. But any plans to complete the weapon and put it into operation now appear to have been abandoned, according to service officials.
"The SHiELD program has concluded, and there are no plans for further testing and evaluation," Dr. Ted Ortiz, SHiELD program manager at the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, told Military.com in an email. "The Air Force has not installed a laser pod on a fighter jet test bed." SHiELD is the second airborne laser weapon effort that the Air Force has scrapped in recent months. In March, Air Force Special Operations Command revealed that it had abandoned plans to mount an Airborne High Energy Laser system, or AHEL, on a AC-130J Ghostrider gunship, citing "technical challenges" even with "significant end-to-end, high-power operation" during ground tests.
Despite that, Air Force officials remain bullish on the potential for airborne laser weapons to reshape the battlefield.
"Through SHiELD and related efforts, [the Air Force Research Laboratory] has made significant advances in the readiness of airborne [high-energy laser] technology, and we continue to mature airborne HEL weapons technology for the operational needs of today and tomorrow," Ortiz said. News of the SHiELD program's conclusion comes as the Defense Department seeks to bolster air defenses for U.S. troops deployed overseas as the threat of adversary missile attacks has grown.
Iran conducted the largest ballistic missile attack on American forces abroad ever in January 2020 in response to the U.S. assassination of top Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qasem Soleimani, resulting in traumatic brain injuries among at least 110 service members.
>Directed-Energy Weapon
>>20883084 (me)
Britain says it is developing a radio-wave weapon that can take out a swarm of drones for just $0.12 a shot
https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-developing-radio-wave-weapon-take-out-drones-12-cent-2024-5
Britain is developing a new radio-wave weapon designed to take out a "swarm" of drones for just $0.12 a shot, the UK's Ministry of Defence said in a press statement.
According to the MOD, the Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon, or RFDEW, uses radio waves to detect, track, and disable electronic components at a range of up to 1000 meters.
It touted it as a far more affordable option than traditional missile-based air-defense systems and said that thanks to its high level of automation, it can be operated by a single person.
"The war in Ukraine has shown us the importance of deploying uncrewed systems, but we must be able to defend against them too," James Cartlidge, the UK's Minister for Defence Procurement, said.
According to the MOD, the weapon can be mounted on a range of military vehicles and produces pulses in a beam that can be expanded to engage multiple threats or quickly fire sequential bullets at specific targets.
Soldiers will field test it over the summer, it added.
The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the growing importance of unmanned aerial vehicles to modern warfare.
Ukraine and Russia have both deployed thousands of drones, and in an interview with Foreign Policy last month, a NATO official said that Ukrainian drones were responsible for two-thirds of recent Russian tank losses.
Ukraine has also sent drones far into Russia to target oil facilities.
Drones have also been used by Houthi rebels against ships in the Red Sea, and last month Iran used drones and missiles in a thwarted attack on Israel.
Paul Hollinshead, the CEO of one of the companies developing the new weapon, said the system will provide the UK armed forces with a "decisive" operational advantage, saving lives and neutralizing "deadly" threats.
Directed-energy weapons, including high-energy lasers and high-power radio frequency or microwave devices, have taken on renewed importance as they are considered the future of anti-drone and anti-satellite warfare.
The Pentagon is spending $1 billion a year on directed-energy weapons to counter drones and missiles, according to a report published by the Government Accountability Office last year.
Other countries, including France, China, Germany, Russia, India, and Israel, are also racing to develop their own directed-energy weapons.
In January, the UK MOD tested-fired its DragonFire, a powerful laser cannon that can shoot drones out of the sky.
Turkey was the first country to use directed-energy weapons in combat, to destroy a combat vehicle in Libya in 2019, according to the military and defense website Army Recognition.
>Directed-energy weapons
I see Tina Forte