Archive for the ‘NSA’ Category

NSA’s National Cryptologic University will host a reaffirmation of accreditation site visi – National Security Agency

FORT MEADE, Md. The National Security Agencys (NSA) National Cryptologic University will host a reaffirmation of accreditation site visit for the Council on Occupational Education (COE) 12-13 October 2022. National Cryptologic University received its initial accreditation with COE in 1990, and has undergone subsequent site visits and rigorous self-studies in order to maintain this recognition. Affirmation of accreditation occurs every six years to determine compliance with the standards and criteria for accreditation.To maintain COE accredited status, National Cryptologic University must abide by educational standards and criteria established by COE. Accreditation requirements and standards for National Cryptologic University are in accordance with DoDM 3115:11 DoD Intelligence and Security Training Standards, March 24, 2015.Persons wishing to make comments should send comments directly to the commission by 12 October 2022. To submit a comment, write to the Executive Director of the Commission, Council on Occupational Education, 7840 Roswell Road, Bldg. 300, Suite 325, Atlanta, GA 30350. Persons making comments must provide their names and mailing addresses.

View original post here:
NSA's National Cryptologic University will host a reaffirmation of accreditation site visi - National Security Agency

NSA Affiliates Donate More Than 86 Tons of Food To Help Fight Hunger – HS Today – HSToday

National Security Agency (NSA) affiliates across the Enterprise banded together to donate more than 172,700 pounds of food thats 86+ tons to theFeds Feed Families (FFF)campaign this year.

The 2022 Feds Feed Families campaign ran from June through August. The theme this year was Fighting hunger. Giving hope.

The contributions we are able to make individually and together will give hope to so many who are less fortunate, said GEN Paul M. Nakasone, Commander, USCYBERCOM, Director, NSA/Chief, CSS.

This years FFF goal was to collect 140,000 pounds a little more than 10% increase from the previous year.

Donations started off slow, but NSA affiliates rose to the occasion and surpassed last years donations by nearly 36%, FFF Program Manager Ciera Barnes said.

The Cryptologic Centerswere instrumental in helping the Agency reach its goal, collecting over 138,000 pounds.

NSA/CSS Georgia came out on top with more than 82,900 pounds, of which 78,600 pounds were converted from online donations. The Department of Agriculture uses a standard conversion formula for all participating agencies that every $1 donated equates to five pounds.

NSA/CSS Utah collected 19,465 pounds, with an astounding 19,000 pounds received from online donations.

NSA/CSS Colorado (NSAC) collected 14,340 pounds, of which 3,650 pounds were non-perishable donations. NSACs goal this campaign was to reintroduce in-kind donations to the workforce following restrictions in 2021.

NSA/CSS Texas increased its online donations by 10,500 pounds and brought in a total of 13,931 pounds when combined with non-perishable donations. Similar to NSAC, the focus this campaign was to reintroduce in-kind donations to the workforce following restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NSA/CSS Hawaii also increased its online donations to over 5,625 pounds this year. The Cryptologic Centers total donations received was 6,729 pounds. Sugar Grove Research Stations 1,550 pounds of donations in 2022 was almost triple the donations received last year.

Overall, when combined with current Combined Federal Campaign pledges, NSA collected more than 1.07 million pounds of food in this years campaign, an overall 2.35% increase from 2021.

NSA/CSS Washington (NSAW) donated more than 33,800 pounds of food and toiletry items to the Maryland Food Bank, a Combined Federal Campaign charity located in Baltimore. The Maryland SPCA received nearly 740 pounds of pet food, treats, and toys collected during the Community Dog Walk, second annual Family Bike Ride, and various Stuff the Truck events around NSAW.

I am once again impressed and touched by the generosity of the NSA family, said Barry Boseman, chief of the State and Local Affairs office.

Read more at NSA

See the rest here:
NSA Affiliates Donate More Than 86 Tons of Food To Help Fight Hunger - HS Today - HSToday

What is the NSA actually doing in China? – Tech Monitor

The breach was deft, even artful. It began, according to Chinas National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre (NCVERC), with a man-in-the-middle attack earlier this year on the networks of Northwestern Polytechnical University (NWPU) in Xian. A type of breach that allows hackers to intercept electronic communications mid-transit, the attackers then used a total of 40 zero-day exploits and viruses to strengthen and advance their position within the institutions network. By the time they were discovered, the groups access to the universitys systems was near-total and even extended to a national telecommunications firm.

This attack was one of five that NCVERC has attributed in recent months to the US National Security Agency (NSA). I want to stress that what the US has done has seriously jeopardized the security of Chinas critical infrastructure, and institutional and personal information, said Mao Ning, a spokesperson from the countrys foreign ministry, who went on to urge the relevant US authorities to stop organising such breaches. Even so, its the kind of conduct that the Chinese government has publicly stated it has come to expect from the worlds leading superpower, with another government spokesperson excoriating the US as truly the hacking empire of the world.

Such highly charged accusations made against the US are nothing new and, indeed, there is a rich seam of claims dating back to the Snowden revelations of the NSA making a mockery of Chinese cybersecurity by hacking civilian computers while maintaining a sophisticated network of informants. There is also, admittedly, a whiff of plausibility in some of the new claims: NWPU has, in the past, been described by the US Justice Department as an institution thats heavily involved in military research and works closely with the Peoples Liberation Army. Even so, the new reports have been viewed with suspicion by cybersecurity experts. Indeed, a common thread between all of these reports is the use of threat intelligence and technical details designed to mimic the ways in which Western cybersecurity companies produce evidence and attribution of state-sponsored cyberattacks.

In April for example, another spokesperson for Chinas Foreign Affairs Ministry responded to a question from Global Times a state-funded media outlet about a report from NCVERC on alleged US cyberattacks on allied countries. The report points out that if existing international internet backbone network(s) and critical information infrastructure contain software or hardware provided by US companies, it is highly likely that various types of backdoor(s) could be installed, making them targets of US government cyberattacks, said Wang Wenbin.

His statement was strikingly similar to the way in which the US has previously warned about the risks in allowing Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei to work on critical national infrastructure around the world. Theres likely a cynical motive behind such attributions, argues Robert Spalding, CEO of Sempre and a former US Air Force Brigadier General. The CCP wants to lay the foundation for saying that the US is guilty of what they blame China for, he says.

The timing of these reports release is also crucial to understanding Chinas intentions, argues Chih-yun Huang, a cyber threat intelligence analyst at Team T5, a Taiwanese cybersecurity firm. On 30 August, the American cybersecurity company Proofpoint released a study on recent cyberattacks on the Australian government and wind turbine fleets in the South China Sea, with the trail leading to a group called TA423/Red Ladon. According to Proofpoint researchers and the US Department of Justice, the group is a China-based, espionage-motivated threat actor targeting a variety of organisations in response to political events in the Asia-Pacific region, with a focus on the South China Sea.

Several weeks later, Global Times published an exclusive detailing how the NSA allegedly conducted its cyberattack on NWPU, which aimed at infiltrating and controlling core equipment in Chinas infrastructure and stealing private data of Chinese people with sensitive identities. Huang believes the timing of the story is suspicious, and likely a tit-for-tat accusation.Indeed, other industry experts have pointed out a pattern where Chinese cybersecurity companies publish reports on US cyberattacks, followed by exclusive stories run by Global Times, indicating a coordinated campaign between the state, private sector and the media.

Other cybersecurity experts have also argued that these reports are a patchwork effort at best, mentioning malware that has existed in the public domain for over five years. For her part, Huang notes that many of the reports issued by NCVERC omit crucial information like IP addresses and other indicators of compromise. In that sense, these reports are not credible because we cant confirm whether its true or not, she says.

However, focusing on the technical credibility of these reports misses the broader point about Chinas efforts to push out detailed threat intelligence on alleged American offensive hacking operations. The interesting thing is that you wont be able to find an English version of these reports, says Huang. Its probably part of wider anti-US propaganda efforts intended to stir the emotions of the domestic population of China, or even the wider Chinese diaspora.

But Huang also believes that what she has seen in the last few months is just the beginning, and that propaganda efforts to portray Chinese cybersecurity as vulnerable to attack from Western powers will likely become more sophisticated in the future as US-China relations continue to deteriorate. They will find new ways to make it more persuasive, she says the best lies, after all, contain elements of truth. China might find ways to make these reports more legitimate by providing more technical details, for example.

While publishing cyber threat intelligence reports about American hacking adventures represents a new front in US-China relations, such methods fall squarely within the long-held tradition of accusing the West of double standards.

There have been multiple times when the US accuses China of human rights violations of Uyghurs and you would see China retaliating with the USs poor human rights record, for example, says Huang. As long as the Western cybersecurity industry continues to keep a close eye on Chinas activities, I think China will continue to fight back through propaganda whenever they feel attacked.

Read more:
What is the NSA actually doing in China? - Tech Monitor

NSA offers opportunities to young sheep farmers – Agriland.co.uk

The National Sheep Association (NSA) has opened applications for young sheep farmers to apply to be a part of the Sheep Breeders Round Table (SBRT) that takes place from November 11-13.

The farmers will have the opportunity to join key names and other representatives from the UK sheep industry at the biennial event.

The cross-industry three-day event conference is a technical event involving sheep farmers, breeders, researchers and vets from across the UK and beyond.

To show its support for the future of the industry, the NSA Next Generation programme is offering to fund one young sheep farmer's attendance at the conference which, the NSA said, would lead to "expanding their knowledge and appetite for the latest thinking on sheep genetics".

NSA South East and NSA South West regions are also offering to fund 50% of two places each at the conference giving two more young farmers the chance to attend.

NSA communications manager, Katie James, said: "Attendance at SBRT can provide young farmers who have an interest in developing their sheep flock or career as a shepherd with the perfect opportunity to hear from some of the country's leading experts on a range of research topics."

"It is also an excellent networking event with chance to speak informally with some well-known names from the world for sheep breeding research and fellow pedigree enthusiasts."

Both the fully-funded and part-funded places offered include the full three days at the conference as well as accommodation and meals.

The event is held from Friday, November 11, to Sunday, November 13, at the Raddison Blu hotel, Pegasus Business Park, East Midlands Airport.

"This event is well suited to young sheep producers with a keen interest in pedigree breeding and research," James said.

"We look forward to receiving applications from sheep farmers aged 18 to 35 who believe attendance at the conference could truly benefit them at this time."

Young sheep farmers who wish to apply for the opportunity to attend the conference should visit the NSA website.

Applications close for this opportunity on Friday, October 21, at 5pm.

The rest is here:
NSA offers opportunities to young sheep farmers - Agriland.co.uk

Dating in a world of NSA: ‘I want someone to love me for me’ – SBS

Like a lot of twenty-somethings Dane Noonan wants to find love, but he is tired of online dating.

The experiences that I've had! A lot of the menthat I noticed on some of the apps are either in open relationships, (and I'm completely monogamous), or they're looking for NSA (no strings attached)".

While continuing to scroll diligently through Scruff and Grindr;, the 26-year-old has decided to absorb the exhaustion of dating to focus on his work as an actor and model; going to therapy and self-care.

I've been on all the apps! I'm sort of taking the time for myself and working on myself. If that man comes along, so be it, he said.

I just want it to happen naturally, at the end of the day so as far as dating, that's where I'm at, he concedes.

Noonan admits finding love in a disposable online dating culture that privileges hook-ups and unrealistic body ideals can be emotionally draining.

Society today, I feel like it paints this perfect picture of what a person is supposed to look like. There's a standard as well, you've got to be over six foot tall with, a masculine build which is not me, it's never going to be me.

Noonan who has MPS type 6, says this is compounded by ableism and discrimination he has experienced when online dating, which at times sees him the recipient of some cutting messages.

"I think from looking at me, they think I'm a child, I can't speak for myself or do they have to look after me?" Noonan says.

I have fully accepted myself as a person with a disability and a gay man so I don't really have any issues around that.

(But) when I go on a date it's, it's almost like the person, they don't know how to interact with me or how to take me, if that makes sense. They obviously see a four-foot-tall person (and) they dont how to interact, and the thing is I'm quite confident. I am quite extroverted.

Noonans dream man is respectful, kind-hearted and treats him and his loved ones well.

I love going to drag shows. (I want) someone that's quite fun, likes to dance and loves to travel. I also like the small things like going on a picnic, walking my pups, going to the theatre or going for a walk."

Despite the frustrations Noonan has not lost hope he will find Mr. Right soon, either online or the old fashioned one through social connections.

"I think everyone wants to feel loved," he said.

"I don't ask for much just someone to share memories with, my life with, and to love me for me, all of me.

Watch season four of the Swiping Game on SBS airing in January.

Go here to read the rest:
Dating in a world of NSA: 'I want someone to love me for me' - SBS