ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

New evidence uncovered by security researchers suggests that a dangerous hacking collective is actually the National Security Agency. The so-called Equation Group, a set of hackers responsible for at least 500 malware infections in 42 countries, is considered one of history’s most effective cyber espionage rings. Now, the Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab is pointing to new signs that the group is actually made up of NSA personnel. In a report published Wednesday, Kaspersky researchers revealed that the term “BACKSNARF” was found inside the code of the Equation Group’s online platform. The same term was used by the NSA as the name of a project by its cyber warfare unit. In addition to that coincidence, analysis of the Equation Group’s working hours suggests it operates as a regular software development team, likely located on the East Coast of the United States. Members of the group work overwhelmingly during regular business hours from Monday through Friday and almost never on Saturda...

Reuters / Kacper Pempel NATO says a plan by the European Union to create its own army would be ineffective. The military alliance’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, says the EU should make sure everything they do is complimentary to NATO and avoid duplication. Stoltenberg told a press briefing in Belgium that he would welcome an increased investment by European nations in defense, but this should be channeled towards NATO, adding that “duplication would be inefficient.” "It's important to avoid duplication and I urge Europe to make sure that everything they do is complementary to the NATO alliance," he said, Reuters reported. The idea of creating an EU army to counter the perceived threat from Russia was the brainchild of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who spoke of his ideas to a German newspaper on Sunday. “An army like this would help us to better coordinate our foreign and defense policies, and to collectively take on Europe's responsibiliti...

Exclusive: In House testimony, Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland blamed Russia and ethnic-Russian rebels for last summer’s shoot-down of MH-17 over Ukraine, but the U.S. government has not substantiated that charge. So, did Nuland mislead Congress or just play a propaganda game, asks Robert Parry. By Robert Parry An early skill learned by Official Washington’s neoconservatives, when they were cutting their teeth inside the U.S. government in the 1980s, was how to frame their arguments in the most propagandistic way, so anyone who dared to disagree with any aspect of the presentation seemed unpatriotic or crazy. During my years at The Associated Press and Newsweek, I dealt with a number of now prominent neocons who were just starting out and mastering these techniques at the knee of top CIA psychological warfare specialist Walter Raymond Jr., who had been transferred to President Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council staff where Raymond oversaw inter-agency task forces th...

Exclusive: Official Washington operates in its own bubble of self-delusion in which the stars of U.S. politics, policy and media don’t realize how the rest of the world sees their sociopathic behavior. This craziness is now reaching a crisis point on Iran and Russia, reports Robert Parry. By Robert Parry The chasm between reality and the U.S. political/media elite continues to widen with Official Washington’s actions toward Iran and Russia making “the world’s sole remaining superpower” look either like a Banana Republic (on Iran) or an Orwellian Dystopia (regarding Russia). On Iran and the international negotiations to rein in its nuclear program, the American people witnessed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu striding into the U.S. Congress – like some imperial proconsul – to deliver a faux State of the Union address that undermined the sitting U.S. president. Then, 47 Republican senators furthered Netanyahu’s intent to denigrate President Barack Obama by sending an open lette...

An Islamist preacher from Kuwait has called to destroy Egypt's Sphinx and pyramids, stating it is time for Muslims to erase the pharaohs' heritage. The alleged call comes as Islamic State jihadists ramp up their attacks against historic sites. Although the ancient monuments are not religious – but rather cultural and historic sites – they should still be "destroyed" by Muslims, putting an end to the worship of images, preacher Ibrahim Al Kandari said, according to Al-Watan daily. "The fact that early Muslims who were among prophet Mohammed’s followers did not destroy the pharaohs' monuments upon entering the Egyptian soil, does not mean that we shouldn't do it now," Al Kandari said. Another call for the destruction of Egypt's main symbols comes from Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who suggested the demolition of the historic monuments is a "religious duty," Al Alam news reported on Sunday. In the extreme interpretations of...

ISIS ‘military police’ executed 100 foreign fighters who attempted to quit and flee from the insurgents’ de-facto capital of Raqqa in northern Syria as frustration among militants has been growing, a UK newspaper reported citing a witness activist. “Local fighters are frustrated — they feel they’re doing most of the work and the dying . . . foreign fighters who thought they were on an adventure are now exhausted,” an activist, opposed to both the Syrian regime and Islamic State (formerly known as ISIS/ISIL), told The Financial Times newspaper, which claims the source is reliable. The activist said he had "verified 100 executions of foreign ISIS fighters trying to flee the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.” The media reported that the insurgents created a “military police to crack down” on those unwilling to serve the so-called Islamic State. In a bid to control how jihadists fulfill their tasks, the IS reportedly created some kind of documentation. The paper also reported, citing ac...

​Fighting the Islamic State on social media by shutting down their accounts is useless, terrorism analyst Max Abrahms told RT. The group’s violent propaganda is counterproductive and will eventually turn people against them, he added. In the latest PR move the IS jihadists have released photos featuring all sorts of delicacies at a bustling market in Mosul – the northern Iraqi city that has been one of its major strongholds. Analysts say the travel brochure style images aim to send a message of defiance to those fighting the group. RT: How much damage can the propaganda be inflicting? Max Abrahms: There are some high-profile cases where jihadists from the West are linking up with Islamic State. In that sense it is often said that it’s gruesome imagery, the beheadings, the torching of the Jordanian pilot are very good for the group in terms of building up its membership size. But in actuality I think that we are currently and increasingly ‘attritioning’ the Islamic State members and eve...

TEHRAN (FNA)- The families of three schoolgirls who ran away from their homes in London to Syria voiced anger at police, saying they did not warn them the teenagers risked being radicalized. School friends Kadiza Sultana, 16, and 15-year-olds Shamima Begum and Amira Abase left their homes and flew to Istanbul, from where they are believed to have joined the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group in Syria, AFP reported. All three were spoken to in December by police investigating the disappearance of another friend who went to Syria. But their families say they were in the dark about this after the girls hid a courtesy letter that police had given them to pass on to their parents, in which they asked for permission to speak to the teenagers. The relatives say police should have given the letter directly to the families and that, had they been aware of the situation, they could have taken action. Amira's father Abase Hussein told ITV television Friday that h...