Top DHS official: Hackers using midterms as 'warm-up' for 'big game' in 2020

A top Homeland Security Department official said Thursday his staff is "working around the clock" to prepare for America's enemies launching cyberattacks during the home stretch of the midterm elections. Christopher Krebs, DHS undersecretary of the National Protection and Programs Directorate, said he was feeling "a little nervous" because the U.S. government wasn't yet aware of any effort to disrupt the midterms but his "paranoid disposition" meant he expected one. For hackers, he said, 2018 was just the "warm-up" for the "big game" in 2020 when President Trump will be running to be re-elected to the White House for a second term.

Nearly two years after U.S. intelligence determined the Russians meddled in the last major election, Krebs delivered a speech in Washington, D.C., at a "CyberTalks" event and remarked on how little "activity" the feds, along with state and local governments, have seen with less than three weeks to go before the midterm elections. "We're not seeing activity right now, particularly anything close on the direct election hacking – election infrastructure. We're not seeing anything right now along the lines of 2016 – and that frankly makes me a little nervous," Krebs said. "So if we're not seeing any activity and we're less than three weeks out – what does that mean?" he continued. "I have a paranoid disposition anyway so I continue to work through what can we do. I don't want to have another failure of intelligence and I don't want to, most importantly, have another failure of imagination."

Krebs went on to give an outlook for the future. "We are working aggressively right now with our partners in state and locals to work through what could an adversary do in the three weeks or two-and-a-half week leadup to the midterm elections," he said. Yes, the midterm is not the big game, the big game we think for the adversaries' probably 2020. '18's just the warm-up or the exhibition game. But nonetheless we're going to be ready, we've been working around the clock." There have been efforts in Congress to boost election security spending. Democrats offered an amendment that would have given $250 million to states to fortify their election systems, but Senate Republicans blocked the measure during the summer.

Federal officials in the Trump administration have previously warned that future U.S. elections could be a top target for cyber-adversaries. President Trump himself accused China in late September of 2018 midterm elections interference. That followed Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats saying, "what we see is ongoing capabilities and attempts" to influence U.S. politics, including from China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/top-dhs-official-hackers-using-midterm-elections-as-warm-up-for-big-game-in-2020

Is This Why Jeff Bezos Has Kept Quiet On WaPo Employee Khashoggi's Disappearance?

Following reports over missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, reportedly murdered and dismembered in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul by a 15-member Saudi team, several high profile business leaders have voiced their disgust over what appears to have been a gruesome, state-sponsored assassination. Virgin CEO Richard Branson announced on October 11 that he was suspending his advisory role in the Saudi Vision 2030 projects, followed by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, Verizon CEO Robert Bakish, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, AOL co-founder Steve Case - who have all distanced themselves from the Saudi government following the Khashoggi incident. What's more, the Financial Times, Bloomberg, CNN, New York Times, Economist and CNBC have all withdrawn from the Saudi Future Investment Initiative.

Deafeningly silent, however, is Khashoggi's own boss - Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, who has yet to issue any sort of statement. According to CNBC, "It's interesting that in a context where people are so publicly disavowing and disengaging that there's not been a clear statement from the owner of the newspaper," Félim McMahon, the technology and human rights program director at the University of California at Berkeley law school's Human Rights Center. "It's legitimate to ask that person's opinion."

Head in the clouds? Perhaps Bezos has refrained from issuing a statement due to a lucrative deal to set up data centers in Saudi Arabia - a plan announced last year. It announced plans a year ago for the opening of a Middle East division based in Bahrain, an island nation that neighbors Saudi Arabia. Since May, Amazon has had a job post up for a "Head of Public Policy AWS Saudi Arabia" based in Bahrain. Part of the candidate's role is to "help further advance Amazon as a leading cloud platform provider in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." The position requires fluency in Arabic, and one of the top objectives is to "develop, lead and implement Saudi Arabia government affairs advocacy objectives and policy/political priorities" for AWS. Amazon also has an office in Riyadh for Souq.com, the Middle Eastern e-commerce company that it acquired last year for $580 million. -CNBC

Saudi money in general has permeated tech, with the country's Public Investment Fund having committed $45 billion to the Softbank inaugural Vision Fund, while Crown Prince Mohammed recently said he will invest a similar amount in the next fund. Other investors in the Vision Fund include Apple and Qualcomm, while Softbank has large stakes in Uber, DoorDash, WeWork and several other companies. Softbank's COO, Marcelo Claure said that the company is monitoring the situation. "Like most companies that have a relationship with Saudi Arabia, we are watching the developments and seeing where this goes," Claure said. "Right now it is business as usual — we are continuing to run our company, our funds." Meanwhile, a list of tech companies which have received heavy Saudi investments has been published by CB insights, and includes Tesla, Uber, Lyft and Magic Leap. "This would be a good moment for Silicon Valley to consider the nature of the government of Saudi Arabia and what that means from a human rights perspective," said McMahon, who was previously an investigator for the International Criminal Court and a journalist. "Maybe this is the moment when this guy's halo starts to get a little bit tarnished." According to McMahon, there was every reason not to do business with the Saudis prior to two weeks ago. But the U.S. government and some of its biggest companies have been drawn to the allure of a growth market that's being guided by the 33-year-old crown prince, who has passed reforms such as letting women drive and promoting a more moderate Islam. An AWS Saudi user group, in a nod to those efforts, says on the bottom of its site that "ladies are more than welcome." The group, which operates independently from Amazon, holds meetups for developers and architects who use the AWS platform. -CNBC. And while Khashoggi's disappearance is still a mystery, the world is still waiting to hear from his boss, Jeff Bezos.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-18/why-jeff-bezos-has-kept-quiet-wapo-employee-khashoggis-disappearance

>>3523936

I believe you are correct anon. I also wonder if he has had a roll of some kind, considering his business ties..