The ministry’s department head of ideological work Alexander Ivanov shared his suspicions on the national talk show, Po Suschestvu, during a discussion about potential targets for spies.

“Where do you think there were the most Pokémon at that time?” he asked before stating that the bulk of virtual Pokémon were present at the “territory of the 50th air base, where the runway is, where there is a lot of military aviation equipment.”

Pokémon GO relies on GPS tracking as it invites users to turn on location and use their phone camera to search their physical surroundings and collect virtual pocket monsters.

The mobile game was developed as a collaboration among Niantic Inc., Nintendo, and The Pokémon Company.

Privacy Concerns

Since the game’s release in 2016, several governments and individuals have been wary of the game’s data-gathering capabilities.

It requires uninterrupted use of user location and camera and “full access” to Google accounts on Apple devices, which garnered multiple data privacy concerns.

At the height of the game’s popularity, Indonesian State Intelligence Agency director Sutiyoso commented that the location-based mobile game poses national security risks, although security experts and analysts did not share this view.

Egypt, Kuwait, and other Middle Eastern governments echoed similar concerns and warned players to avoid sensitive sites.

The US also established procedures preventing civilians from trespassing onto military bases and preventing service members from entering restricted areas to catch Pokémons as these might expose confidential information.

In the year of its release, Russia asserted that the mobile game was a security risk, claiming that it was part of a CIA plot.

Niantic, the game’s software developer company, is headed by former Google Geo division executive John Hanke. 

Hanke was tangled up in conspiracy theories because his former company Keyhole (later acquired by Google) received funding from various sources, including the CIA’s venture capital arm, In-Q-Tel.

However, Niantic denied the allegations and informed The Register that the game “only accesses basic Google profile information (specifically, your User ID and email address) and no other Google account information is or has been accessed or collected.”

In 2022, the year Russia invaded Ukraine, Niantic shut down game operations in the Russian and Belarus markets.

“We stand with the global community in hoping for peace and a rapid resolution to the violence and suffering in Ukraine. Niantic’s games are no longer available for download in Russia and Belarus, and gameplay will also be suspended there shortly,” the company tweeted on March 11 of that year. 

The post Belarus Claims AR Game ‘Pokémon GO’ Spied on its Military Assets appeared first on The Defense Post.

The Bundeswehr base in Cologne-Wahn was locked down because of “a suspicion of an attempted intrusion and a suspicion of sabotage,” defense ministry spokesman Colonel Arne Collatz told reporters in Berlin.

A hole was discovered in a fence near drinking water storage facilities, the military’s territorial command said on X.

The perpetrators had not been found and the site’s water was being checked as a precaution. The base re-opened later in the day, it added.

Das Territoriale Führungskommando der Bundeswehr bestätigt, dass die Kaserne Köln-Wahn seit heute Morgen geschlossen ist. Wir arbeiten zur Aufklärung des Sachverhaltes eng und vertrauensvoll mit den Ermittlungsbehörden zusammen. Weitere Angaben folgen. pic.twitter.com/tXo9OvrhTZ

— Territoriales Führungskommando (@TFK_Bundeswehr) August 14, 2024

Der Spiegel magazine reported that soldiers and civilians on the Bundeswehr base had been advised not to drink the tap water over concerns that the water supply “may be contaminated.”

The Cologne-Wahn base, located near Cologne-Bonn airport, houses several military and civilian facilities of the German armed forces as well as aircraft used by Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his ministers for government travel.

The base is also an important hub for military support for Ukraine. Ukrainian soldiers regularly fly home from there, via Poland, after receiving training in Germany, Der Spiegel added.

Security Stepped Up

A NATO base in the western German town of Geilenkirchen meanwhile faced an attempted trespassing incident late Tuesday, the military alliance said in a statement.

An individual attempted to enter the base but was stopped and sent away, a spokesman said, adding that a “routine” sweep of the site and people there was conducted afterwards. Police are investigating the incident.

Following the lockdown at the Cologne-Wahn base, the NATO site also increased its security level and conducted routine checks of its water supply but added it had no concerns with the safety of its supply.

The base, home to NATO AWACS reconnaissance aircraft, was not sealed off and continued operating at full capacity, the spokesman said.

Defence Minister Boris Pistorius told Der Spiegel that the authorities “reacted quickly” at both sites by sealing off access, alerting investigators, and ordering laboratory analyses to check for possible contamination.

“These incidents show we must remain vigilant,” he added.

Marcus Faber, a German lawmaker from the liberal FDP party and chairman of parliament’s defense committee, told Bild Daily that with the two incidents coming so close together, “one can assume that an enemy actor wants to demonstrate his sabotage skills.”

Germany – a key ally of Kyiv – has been on high alert for sabotage and attacks on military facilities in the country in the wake of Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In April, investigators arrested two German-Russian men on suspicion of spying for Russia and planning attacks in Germany – including on US army facilities – to undermine military support for Ukraine.

The post Military, NATO Bases in Germany Hit by Security Scares appeared first on The Defense Post.

A memorandum issued last week said people linked to the military or who are knowledgeable about defense contracts may be targeted by suspicious job invitations that are typically “too good to be true.”

It further stated that foreign agents often use social media and other online networking sites such as LinkedIn, Reddit, and Discord to contact troops and civilian employees and gather sensitive information.

To lure subjects, these invites offer disproportionate payments and all-expenses-paid trips to China and other destinations.

Apart from active-duty personnel, family members are also being targeted, according to the service.

The Modus

According to the memo, most requests initiate with simple “getting to know you” questions, such as “where do you work, how old are you, and what are your hobbies.”

These usually unalarming questions increase in sensitivity over time, although the suspicious recruiter never directly or explicitly requests classified information. 

The memo noted that some questions may also involve gathering opinions on foreign policy and geopolitical concerns, such as Taiwan, Ukraine, and Israel.

The US Army is urging its members to report if a suspicious entity tries to recruit them or offer them money in exchange for information.

Chinese Recruitment Concerns

Earlier this month, the US and its allies warned that China is intensifying its campaign to recruit former Western military pilots and service members to train its own aviators.

These pilots can reportedly teach everything from air combat tactics, how to land on an aircraft carrier, and how to deal with Western counterparts.

“The [People’s Liberation Army] wants the skills and expertise of these individuals to make its own military air operations more capable while gaining insight into Western air tactics, techniques, and procedures,” a military bulletin reads.

Apart from the US, the Philippines also launched a probe into reports that a number of Chinese firms have been recruiting active and former members of the Philippine military for potential espionage.

The post US Army Warns Troops Against Job Offers Amid Chinese Espionage Concerns appeared first on The Defense Post.

US Fleet Forces Commander Daryl Caudle recently told Fox News that infiltration attempts by these near-peer adversaries are happening at least twice a week at navy bases alone.

He said that although these infiltrators have passports and other documents to justify their stay in the US, they are too suspicious to be granted authorization in military bases.

“Usually, the cover story is ‘I am a student,’ ‘I am an enthusiast,’ ‘I want to see the ships,’ that type of thing… We have to turn them around and … get biometrics,” Caudle said, adding that it is difficult to tell the underlying motive of these suspected infiltrators.

‘Happening More and More’

Infiltrations by China and Russia into military facilities have been a recurring problem for the US military.

Caudle said that in 2023, more than 100 attempts were recorded from Chinese nationals alone.

Perpetrators often claim that they are innocent tourists when caught.

For example, the US Defense Department announced last year that Chinese nationals were caught scuba diving close to a rocket launch site in Florida.

Some were also detected crossing into a US missile range in New Mexico.

“This thing of our military bases getting penetrated by foreign nationals is happening more and more,” Caudle stressed. “This is Russian, it’s Chinese… It comes from all these different nations.”

Increase in Chinese Migrants

Caudle’s warning comes amid an 8,000-percent increase in the number of Chinese migrants to the US in the last three years.

From 342 in 2021, American border patrols have reported 24,125 encounters with Chinese nationals this year.

“It should be extremely alarming to everyone, regardless of party, when record numbers of individuals from an adversarial nation flood into our country without vetting or oversight,” said Dan Bishop, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Accountability.

The post China, Russia Trying to Infiltrate US Military Bases: Navy Admiral appeared first on The Defense Post.

The department’s cybersecurity undersecretary Jeffrey Ian Dy said the companies are disguising themselves as American and European organizations to avert suspicion.

They are offering part-time jobs to Filipinos linked to the military, mainly as “online analysts.”

The information department said it discovered the online recruitment by these companies as early as December 2023.

“There is a facility on the internet called WHOIS that allows users to find out who registered the domain names or the name of the website,” Dy explained on a local television program. “When you check through that, you will see that they are registered as Chinese companies.”

The Department of National Defense (DND) and the intelligence sector have reportedly been informed of the scheme.

‘Be Cautious’

Following the report, the DND ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to conduct a thorough investigation to assess the veracity of the information.

Spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said his department has picked up the activity but he refused to provide more details, saying this is a “new issue.”

“It will require more interagency investigation because in cybercrimes, it’s very difficult to determine the footprint of these people if they want to hide themselves,” he told GMA News Online.

In the meantime, Dy urged all people linked to the armed forces  to be cautious online as these Chinese firms offer “hundreds of dollars per hour” to work for them.

The post Chinese Firms Recruiting Former, Active Philippine Military Personnel: Gov’t appeared first on The Defense Post.

Kyiv said the suspects were caught passing information to Russia’s FSB security service about Ukrainian military sites, its defensive fortifications, personal data, and strategic energy facilities.

“The security service of Ukraine neutralized a powerful agent network run by the FSB’s military counterintelligence which was operating in Ukraine,” Kyiv’s SBU security service said in a statement Tuesday.

The general prosecutor said the five – former employees of Ukraine’s defense intelligence and its foreign intelligence units as well as a current SBU regional agent – were arrested on suspicion of treason.

“The suspects passed on intelligence about the Defence Forces and strategically important energy facilities to representatives of the aggressor state’s special services,” the general prosecutor said.

The agency posted photos of the men being arrested, with their faces blurred out, on its social media pages.

The group also passed information about defensive barriers near the Black Sea port city of Odesa, the location of rocket launchers in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and information on Ukrainian troop movements and vehicles, the general prosecutor in Kyiv said.

Ukraine has arrested several individuals it alleges were undercover Russian spies or for passing strategic information to Russian handlers since Moscow invaded in February 2022.

The post Ukraine Says Dismantled Russian Spy Ring appeared first on The Defense Post.

Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit last month and has since claimed it was providing images of major US and South Korean military sites.

It has not yet disclosed any of the satellite imagery it claims to possess but warned on Saturday that any attack on its space asset would be considered a “declaration of war.”

The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Sunday that the newly formed reconnaissance satellite operation office had begun its mission on December 2 and would operate as “an independent military intelligence organization.”

The office will report its acquired information to the reconnaissance bureau at the army and other major units, KCNA added.

The report said that the North’s defense ministry expressed its war deterrence “would assume more perfect military posture.”

North Korea is barred by successive rounds of UN resolutions from tests using ballistic technology, and analysts say there is significant technological overlap between space launch capabilities and the development of ballistic missiles.

Experts have said putting a working reconnaissance satellite into orbit would improve North Korea’s intelligence-gathering capabilities, particularly over South Korea, and provide crucial data in any military conflict.

The North’s launch of “Malligyong-1” was Pyongyang’s third attempt at putting such a satellite in orbit, after two earlier failures.

Seoul has said the North received technical help from Moscow, in return for supplying weapons for use in Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The post N. Korea Spy Satellite Operator to Report Findings to Military: KCNA appeared first on The Defense Post.

Since seizing control of large swathes of Ukraine last year, Russia has claimed to have foiled repeated acts of alleged sabotage as it tries to crack down on pro-Ukrainian resistance among the local population.

“As a result of a special operation in the territory of Zaporizhzhia region, the FSB suppressed the activities of three large agent groups coordinated by Ukrainian intelligence,” the FSB security service said in a statement.

One man it suspected of working for Ukrainian intelligence was killed in a gunfight during the operation, the FSB said, without providing further details.

The administrators of a pro-Ukrainian chat room and a media outlet in the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol were detained, it added.

It said the administrators persuaded residents to gather information on the “locations and movements of Russian military personnel” and had been fomenting “an anti-Russian agenda in the region.”

“The functioning of the information resources was discontinued,” the FSB said.

AFP was not able to immediately verify the FSB’s account of events.

The agency regularly detains people it suspects of collaborating with Ukrainian secret services, often claiming to have foiled acts of attempted sabotage or terrorism.

In a separate incident, the FSB said Thursday that it had killed a Ukrainian-born man on Russian soil who was plotting to blow up a military recruitment office.

Moscow-installed authorities also reported Friday an assassination attempt on a former pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker.

Oleg Tsaryov, an ex-MP and Moscow-backed anti-Kyiv separatist, was in serious condition Friday after being shot twice at around midnight in the resort where he lives, according to a post on Tsaryov’s Telegram channel.

The post Russia Launches Anti-Spy Operation in Ukraine’s South, One Killed appeared first on The Defense Post.

These Chinese “gate crashers” were detected crossing into a US missile range in New Mexico, while others were caught swimming near a US government rocket launch site in Florida.

Some Chinese nationals also claimed to have been following Google Maps to reach McDonald’s or other destinations, which happen to be near military facilities.

And just recently, a more concerning incident involved a group of Chinese residents who claimed to have a reservation at a commercial hotel in Fort Wainwright, Alaska.

Fort Wainwright is the base of the US Army’s 11th Airborne Division focused on Arctic warfare.

US officials said the incidents could be treated as potential espionage threats, as Beijing reportedly continues to hire civilians to study security practices at enemy military installations.

‘Diverse Campaign of Theft’

This is not the first time China has been accused of espionage by the US.

Earlier this year, a Chinese spy balloon equipped with solar panels large enough to support multiple intelligence collection sensors entered US airspace without permission.

Two serving members of the US Navy were also arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

According to an FBI spokesperson, the Chinese government continues to engage in a “broad, diverse campaign of theft” without regard for laws or international norms.

The FBI warned that such activities on US territory would not be tolerated.

“In coordination with our defense and intelligence community partners, along with state and local law enforcement, the FBI is committed to protecting our national security and defense information from the Chinese government’s actions and ultimately, their efforts to undermine our democracy and those who defend it,” the spokesman told Fox News Digital.

The post Pentagon Says Chinese Citizens Pose as Tourists to Breach US Military Sites appeared first on The Defense Post.

The Russian Security Service (FSB) also announced it was seeking to question two US diplomats at the embassy in Moscow over the case, in a break from diplomatic tradition.

The announcement is the latest in a series of diplomatic spats building pressure on strained ties between Moscow and Washington, particularly over the conflict in Ukraine.

The FSB said it had charged Russian citizen Robert Shonov, who worked for more than 25 years for the US consulate in the Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, over “cooperation on a confidential basis with a foreign state.”

The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of eight years.

Russian news agencies meanwhile released undated footage distributed by the FSB showing Shonov’s detention on a snow-covered street. It also published images of Shonov testifying on camera.

Shonov left the consulate in 2021, when Moscow imposed restrictions on local staff working for foreign missions.

The US State Department says that Shonov since worked as a private contractor compiling press accounts from publicly accessible Russian media, “in strict compliance with Russia’s laws and regulations.”

“The allegations against Mr. Shonov are wholly without merit,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in response to the charges.

The action “only highlights the increasingly repressive actions the Russian government is taking against its own citizens,” he said.

He also denounced Russian attempts to question US diplomats, pointing to obligations under the Vienna Convention.

“We strongly protest the Russian security services’ attempts – furthered by Russia’s state-controlled media – to intimidate and harass our employees,” Miller said.

The FSB said Shonov had begun handing information to the American diplomats last September about the conflict and resulting mobilization, an unpopular move in Russia that sparked an exodus of military-aged men.

It added that Shonov had been tasked with gauging protest sentiment ahead of presidential elections scheduled for next year.

The FSB said the two diplomats, identified as Jeffrey Silin and David Bernstein, worked in the political department in the US embassy in Moscow.

The post Russia Charges US Embassy ‘Informant’ on Ukraine appeared first on The Defense Post.