Balkan media accuse Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) to support radical islamic network

According to the Serbian Televizija Republike Srpske - a Bosnian entity level public mainstream TV - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s wife, is the patron of the weightiest humanitarian organization: Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH).

IHH is a radical Islamic organization, established in 1992 by a member of the Turkish Refah Party and formally registered in Istanbul in 1995. Besides its legitimate humanitarian activities, IHH supports radical Islamic networks. In recent years, it has prominently supported Hamas (through the Union of Good).

In addition, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC) has reliable information that in the past IHH provided logistical support and funding to global jihad networks.

The Balkans, and specifically the western portion of them with Bosnia and Herzegovina, has become a major recruitment base for ISIS due to their high rates of unemployment and the growing size of marginalized sectors of society.

The Balkans is strategically important for ISIL as they serve as a major transit zone for foreign recruits to ISIL from various parts of the world. The Balkans are also important for ISIL for movements in the opposite direction, it is a transit point for operatives into Western Europe and a staging point for terrorist operations.

Belgian Intelligence stopped cooperation with Turkish MIT

Belgian Intelligence and Security Agency (VSSE) has stopped cooperation on terrorism with Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) as consequence of the action taken on mosque in Limburg.

According to Daily Sabah - a Turkish pro-government daily - "the procedure to withdraw the recognition of the Fatih Mosque in Beringen" has convinced supporters of President Erdogan that Belgian Intelligence are investigating their leader.

Euroactiv - a European media platform specialising in the online publication of articles focusing on European policymaking - reported that "the Flemish interior minister has taken action against a mosque supported by Turkey, whose imam is suspected of informing Ankara about supporters of Fethullah Gülen, the self-exiled cleric accused of being the mastermind behind last year’s failed coup".

Hackers attempt to penetrate German Parliament Network

The largest German subscription daily newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reports that "unidentified hackers have attempted to penetrate the German Parliament network".

Both the Federal Office for Information Technology (BSI) and the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) have confirmed the attack.

The Bundestag's IT division was able to thwart this latest attack. Lawmakers have criticized the communication policy of the authorities responsible for this incident.

The attack was discovered "after a tipoff from the BfV". The infected computers had attempted to establish contact with a "potentially hazardous website." The connection was blocked for security reasons.

On March 28, The BSI said that it had now completed its analysis, but refused to comment on the results.

The targets included Marieluise Beck of the Green Party. Beck's disk image is also with the BSI. Beck said to Sueddeutsce Zeitung that "a BSI manager told me that they had discovered server connections with an Israeli news website".

Until now it is unclear whether the staff member had visited the real website or a fake version through which malware had been downloaded on to her computer.

Ukraine Poland Tension Promoted from Grey Eminence of the "Russian Influence Machine"

According to Informnapalm.org website - a volunteer initiative to inform Ukrainian citizens and the foreign public about the undeclared war against Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, and the activities of the Russian special services - the recent tension between Kyiv and Warsaw, with a series of incidents in late 2016 and early 2017, resulted from Russian interference.

Informnapalm.org reported that organisations CyberHunta and Ukrainian Cyber Alliance have got access to emails of Alyaksandr Usowski, a 49-year-old Belarusian citizen described as a "grey eminence of the Russian influence machine in Eastern Europe" and alleged organiser of "anti-Ukrainian stunts" in Poland.

Alyaksandr Usowski is an historian and writer promoting ideas of the "Russian world". He published his pieces on the website of the pro-Russian movement "Ukrainian Choice", lead by Viktor Medvedchuk, believed to be a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Usowski had been running his "anti-Ukrainian stunts" in Poland under the auspices of his NGO Eastern European Cultural Initiative (Vychodoeuropska kulturna iniciativa), registered in Slovakia.

Russian Psychological Operations Troops Ready to Work in Propaganda Activities

In early 2017 russian newspaper Kommersant wrote that Russia is one of five countries with the most developed level of cyber troops.

Russian website Gazeta.ru reported Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu recently speaking about the establishment of information operations troops in Russia: "information operations troops have been created during this time, and this is enormously more effective and stronger than that directorate which was called counterpropaganda".

According to Shoygu, propaganda must be "smart, literate and effective".

State Duma Defense Committee Chairman Vladimir Shamanov said that "a number of challenges have shifted to the so-called cyber sphere today, and information conflict essentially goes on today as a component part of overall conflict. Based on this, Russia took efforts to form structures which engage in this".

In USSR times there were subunits in the troops which were responsible for counterpropaganda against enemy troops. During the war the subunits worked on preparing leaflets which were supposed to affect the enemy, as well as on radio broadcasting to enemy troops.

In postwar times military departments of a number of institutes were training "psychological warfare" specialists who engaged in counterpropaganda.

Nothing was known for certain about actual progress in military organizational development in this direction until today's statement by Shoygu, but according to Association of Military Political Scientists expert Aleksandr Perendzhiyev,, an indirect sign of work being done was the appearance of a course on information conflict in the General Staff Academy syllabus.

According to information on the Defense Ministry official website, there are several subunits in the department's structure for now whose zone of responsibility can include information operations.

Above all this is the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate), Main Directorate for Development of Information and Telecommunications Technologies under the direction of Colonel Maksim Bets, as well as the Press Service and Information Directorate headed by Major General Igor Konashenkov.

The General Staff Eighth Directorate's 6th Scientific Company located in Krasnodar probably also plays a certain part.

Norwegian Intelligence Chief Warns on Foreign Cyber Attacks and Influence Operations

The chief of the Norwegian Intelligence Service said that the NIS has taken on a key role in preventing foreign forces from being able to try to influence the Parliament election in the fall, following the revelations about the fact that Russia wanted to influence the election battle in the United States.

Morten Haga Lunde said that "there is a project in progress to assess how we can protect ourselves against attacks on the Norwegian social model up until the election in the fall. I am extremely concerned about how information operations are trying to create false images in social media in order to change the form of government in Europe and trying to take control of servers and data systems".

According to the interview released from Lunde to the Norwegian website VG Nett "cyber attacks are now regarded as acts of war and they legitimate countermeasures. The society may be backed into a corner if we do not have digital border control".

Lunde reported that the electricity supply has been taken down in Ukraine via cyber attacks.

He points out how an enemy player may give rise to chaos just with as straightforward a step as taking control of the traffic lights in Oslo, not to mention what will happen if air traffic control is manipulated.

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Uncovered Russian Monitoring Material in Odessa

According Intelligence Online, an online newsletter managed from french editor-in-chief Pierre Gastineau and focusing on the role of the worldwide government intelligence agencies, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) "recently uncovered a supply of Russian technical monitoring material including GPS trackers, microphones and jammers in Odessa port".

The materiel is believed to have been made by a Russian company close to the FSB.

Since the change of regime, the SBU has received a lot of support, particularly technical assistance, from the US intelligence community".

Kaliningrad Bans Officials Using Foreign Comapnies Internet Products and Services

Kaliningrad.ru news portal reported that the administration of Kaliningrad, the capital city of Russia's Baltic exclave Kaliningrad Region, has banned officials from using "foreign companies internet products and services".

The order, signed by city deputy head Anna Appolonova, refers to a directive from the Kaliningrad administration of 17 August on the use of domestic products by the mayor's office on the grounds of "ensuring information security of agencies in the social sphere".

The order includes a list of "enemy" software and recommends a list of Russian alternatives to use.

Among those listed are Skype, Facebook Messenger, Viber, WhatsApp, GMail, Dropbox, Yahoo, Hotmail and even Yandex-Post (which is registered in the Netherlands as part of the Yandex NV joint-stock company), among others.

It recommends officials communicate using services such as ICQ and QIP.

The Russian government has been taking increasing measures recently to ensure its cyber security.

In November, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia would introduce a blanket ban on foreign software

Cyber Crime Heaven in Ukraine

Russian-language newspaper Vesti wrote that in Ukraine there are hundreds of online adverts offering to hack any websites for money. "They can help you to eliminate competition or punish the offender, they say. Prices start at 50 dollars per day and there are discounts on long-term orders, for example, week-long ones. We contacted one of the hackers living into that cyber crime market, who gladly agreed to take down any government website".

He said that "the price depends on the level of security and number of proxies". This will be around 2,000-7,000 rubles per day.

Vesti asked the hacker whether he could arrange for an attack on the websites of public offices, for example, the Ukraine National Bank or the ProZorro procurement system.

"These projects have almost no security and filters, this will cost 2,500 rubles per day. Plus a bonus of three hours before the New Year at any time," the hacker said.

Another Hacker whom Vesti inquired about the price of hacking the website of Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine said it would cost 10,000 dollars. "This is really dangerous. We would need to buy new servers and set up everything for such an attack. We do not really want to be caught, especially since the Security Sevice of Ukraine (SBU) has been active recently. Google who was caught for a DDoS attack in Kharkiv less than a day ago," the hacker said.

Indeed, police have caught a cyber gang in Kharkiv these days. "For two years, three Kharkiv residents have interfered in the work of automated systems and computer networks by carrying out DDoS attacks 'on request'. The criminals developed malware to infect computers and discreetly secure full control over them. Controllable computers were than united into a botnet for participation in hacking attacks," the Security Sevice of Ukraine (SBU) press service said. They are now working to identify who made such orders.