A multiplicity of hoax bomb threats divert passenger flights across Europe.
asserted
multiplicity → divert → Europe
A malign cyber-attack targets supermarket fridges in Belgium, Sweden, the UK and – in a sickening escalation – the cold storage facilities of France’s national blood service.
asserted
attack → target → service
The actors behind this week of chaos and disruption, be they hostile states or criminal gangs – or even enterprising teenagers – are yet to be identified.
asserted
they → identify → chaos
But what is certain is that they operate in a context of deepening global conflicts, building national threat and an accompanying, pervasive sense of vulnerability.
asserted
they → operate → vulnerability
Welcome to the grey zone – that ambiguous space between routine peace and conventional military conflict, where proxies duck state accountability and cyber-tactics are developing at an alarming rate.
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proxies → welcome → rate
For today’s newsletter, I spoke to the Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, and our global technology team about flights, fridges and why “keep calm and carry on” is more than a tote bag slogan.
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keep → speak → slogan
Russell Brand has been found guilty of raping a woman and sexually assaulting three others over the course of five years of his show business career.
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Brand → find → career
Donald Trump signed a proclamation that he says will prevent future administrations from changing his design of the Oval Office and Cabinet Room, spaces he declared as national monuments that should be preserved.
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that → sign → monuments
Andy Burnham has said he wants to “recast” the UK’s deal to cede control of the Chagos Islands after resistance from Washington.
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he → say → Washington
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Health | Cancer diagnoses in England have hit record highs, with more than 1,000 people a day diagnosed, NHS figures show.
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figures → hit → highs
The UN-recognised government of Yemen has shaken up its political and military leadership in an attempt to regain territory lost to the Houthis in September.
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government → recognise → September
In depth: ‘Terrorism doesn’t have to be violent.
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Terrorism → have → depth
The purpose is to scare’
Hoax bomb threats disrupted at least 25 different commercial flights across Europe yesterday, with some forced to make emergency landings, and after similar threats on Tuesday, when seven planes were searched or diverted after malicious alerts.
There is, at least so for, no suggestion of orchestration by a hostile terror group or state actor according to investigators, although investigations continue.
uncertain
investigations → scare → investigators
It’s perfectly possible that this could be the work of some lone disruptors, says Dan, who reminds me that “airlines receive bomb threats on a daily basis, at a rate that we would find extraordinary if we knew”.
uncertain
we → ’ → rate
Nonetheless, the fact that these airlines are treating these threats as credible suggests a potential level of coordination, aviation experts told the Guardian on Thursday.
uncertain
experts → treat → Thursday
These threats take place with aviation security under sharper scrutiny after the flydubai incident, when a pilot fought off his knife-wielding colleague in an apparent attempt to crash a full passenger flight heading for Tel Aviv.
asserted
pilot → take → Aviv
But beyond that “jittery background noise”, is a significant step-change in the manner of threat we face.
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we → face → threat
Twenty-five years on from the inception of the War on Terror, when Islamist terrorism has receded relative to the hostile state threats, “we’re living in a different world with familiar uncertainties, but attributed to different players,” Dan tells me.
asserted
Dan → recede → me
Conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are reverberating closer to home.
asserted
Conflicts → reverberate → home
Since 2022, we’ve witnessed intensifying acts of sabotage on European states that are believed to trace back to Russia but deliberately fall below the threshold for military response – a so-called hybrid or “shadow war” with the singular purpose of disrupting support for Ukraine.
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that → witness → Ukraine
Only two months ago, an alleged attack plot on RAF Fairford was organised by a handler police believe was working on behalf of Iran.
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police → organise → Iran
Meanwhile, tech expert Azeem Azhar warned recently that the internet is experiencing it’s own Wuhan moment, as AI enables bad actors to hunt for system flaws and spread them, mirroring the early days of the Covid pandemic.
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AI → warn → pandemic
“Terrorism doesn’t have to be violent to terrorise,” says Dan.
asserted
Dan → have → ?
“The purpose of terrorism is to scare.”
asserted
purpose → scare → terrorism
Ratcheting up disruption, and the accompanying psychological hit, is precisely what we’ve seen elsewhere this week.
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we → ratchet → what
Supermarket fridges and freezers in seven European countries malfunctioned earlier this week, their thermostats remotely cranked up in some cases to 50C, in what some fear indicates a new front in hacking tactics.
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some → malfunction → tactics
Similar incidents have been reported in the UK, and I spoke to our global technology editor Dan Milmo on his way back from interviewing a fruit and veg wholesaler based near Heathrow, whose fridges went on the blink on Monday.
asserted
fridges → report → Monday
The experience has prompted him to add some tinned goods to his weekend shopping list.
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experience → prompt → list
“There are only ever two likely candidates for a hack,” Dan tells me.
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Dan → be → me
He adds an emerging tertiary category of “troublesome teenagers”, such as the loose collective of English-speaking hackers Scattered Spider, two of whom were jailed in July for their attack on Transport for London.
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two → add → London
One cybersecurity researcher told Dan that attacks on dummy Danfoss fridge controls – one of the software systems also targeted by the hackers in mainland Europe – had “all the hallmarks” of operations linked to Russia.
asserted
attacks → tell → Russia
What are security services doing about these threats?
asserted
services → do → threats
“There is a very real and intense cyberwar going on out there,” Dan Sabbagh tells me, and security agencies in the UK have viewed technological resilience as a key part of their responsibility for a number of years.
asserted
agencies → be → years
The Turing Institute, for example, is looking at ways to utilise AI to make critical infrastructure systems more secure.
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systems → look → AI
The police and security services are monitoring for threats all the time – MI5 has about 3,000 active subjects of interest currently – arranged in a hierarchy, with an understandable focus on the more serious ones, including threats to life.
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MI5 → monitor → life
But lower level activity that is not obviously threatening, whether that’s online activity or buying paint with the intention of daubing racist graffiti, can be harder to pick up.
asserted
that → ’ → graffiti
Is chaos easier to generate in our interconnected world?
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chaos → generate → world
I put this to our global technology reporter Aisha Down, who explains that many hacks happen though edge devices – networked items that are connected to the internet but don’t have processing power and so aren’t the main focus of security upgrades by a company or household.
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that → put → company
Famously, in 2016, North Korea came within a few keystrokes of pulling off a billion-dollar heist by hacking the Bank of Bangladesh via an unsecured printer.
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Korea → come → printer
Aisha is keen to dial down the panic.
asserted
Aisha → dial → panic
…and 58 more, not listed.
The Aporia
