Much spy vs. spy today.
First, a senior member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Cameron Ortis, has been charged under Canada's Information Security Act, CBC reports. Mr. Ortis had been serving as director-general of the RCMP's National Intelligence Coordination Centre. He's alleged to have been in improper contact with Russian entities.
Reuters reports that the Australian Signals Directorate concluded in March that Chinese intelligence services were responsible for penetrating networks of Parliament and three major parties: the Liberals, the Nationals, and Labor. The Government did not make the conclusion public, sources tell Reuters, because of concerns that doing so would disrupt bilateral trade negotiations.
On Friday the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against North Korean hacking organizations, units of that country's principal intelligence service, the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB). Three outfits were specifically singled out: the Lazarus Group (also known as "Hidden Cobra") and two of its subordinate organizations, Bluenoroff and Andariel. Treasury holds the Lazarus Group responsible for WannaCry and the Sony hack. Bluenoroff has specialized in attacks on the SWIFT financial transfer system, Andariel in carding and ATM theft. Ars Technica has a useful summary of their activities.
If all politics is local, online election influence seems to be moving in that direction as well. Meduza's account of how Russia's influence operations have evolved since 2016 shows more attention to the details of advertising, more attention to domestic elections, and more listicles.
Yahoo reports that Russian intelligence services successfully compromised FBI communications from 2010 until 2016.