Managing Newsflow and OSINT from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
Plus the week's tech ethics, security news, job opportunities
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine keeps escalating, we thought we would use this latest issue of hatemail to share some of our favorite sources we use in order to keep up with the volumes of news, tweets, and open source intelligence being produced by the conflict.
1. Project Owl - Open Source Intelligence Discord Server
You may be familiar with Discord as a casual chat platform for online communities. For Project Owl, they leverage Discord as a major hub of intelligence collected from tens of thousands of members around the world, with various different region expertise. Their coverage on the conflict in Ukraine has been spectacular, well-moderated, and is categorized between confirmed and speculative news as it breaks.
Project Owl on Discord Project Owl on Twitter
2. LiveUAMap - Live map of breaking news
This is the go-to map for many online analysts keeping track of breaking news in Ukraine. The map is updated as soon as events and news can be confirmed.
3. Flightradar24 - Global, real time aircraft tracking
We and many other online open-source analysts have been using Flightradar to get an overview of flights within European and Russian airspace as the conflict continues. We noticed trends as they happened, such as flights being diverted as soon as the offensive began. There are also features that let you check out what others are watching (top tracked planes).
4. Sentinel2: Access satellite imagery from European Space Agency
The European Space Agency offers a wealth of satellite imagery taken by their Sentinel2 satellite in orbit. Their catalog features frequent optical and radar satellite images, and open source intelligence analysts have methods to verify reports of clashes by looking for changes. The image resolution is lower than commercial counterparts like Maxar, PlanetLabs, and Capella.
5. Bellingcat OSINT map
Bellingcat’s coverage of the conflict is representative of their best-in-class open source intelligence techniques. Bellingcat has particular experience in the identification of munitions, weapons, and vehicles, and these are well-annotated throughout their coverage.
Live Ukraine map on Bellingcat.
News Roundup
TECH ETHICS, PRIVACY, AND HACKS
- [The Guardian] An anonymous whistleblower leaked account details linked to Credit Suisse, one of the world’s largest private banks. The leak revealed that some of Credit Suisse’s clients are individuals known to be involved in serious crimes such as drug trafficking and money laundering.
- [The Verge] Over the weekend, U.S.-based graphics chipmaking company Nvidia confirmed to multiple news outlets that it is investigating an “incident” after reports emerged of a massive cyberattack on its internal systems.
- [Forbes] Check out this profile on PenLink, a small Nebraska company that asissts many local, state, and federal law enforcement entities with surveillance.
SECURITY TRENDS AND ANALYSIS
- [arsTechnica] Efforts by Australia’s government competition regulator to have Google and Facebook pay news outlets for featuring news content paid off this weekend when the government won a stand off against the two tech giants.
- [U.S Department of Justice] The U.S. Department of Justice released a statement last week announcing that three men pleaded guilty in their involvement in a white supremacist plot to attack U.S. power grids.
- [Southern Poverty Law Center] Earlier this month, the Souther Poverty Law Center reported that about one in five applicants to the white supremacist group Patriot Front associated with holding, or formerly holding, some sort of military status.
ON OUR RADAR
- [Harvard Business Review] Moral injury is a trauma response to witnessing or participating in workplace behaviors contradictory to one’s moral beliefs in high-stakes situations - and employers can take steps to keep their employees from experiencing it.
- [The Verge] The U.S. Copyright Office recently rejected a request to allow an AI copyright a work of art, effectively dismissing copyright law to directly apply to AI the way it applies to humans (...for now).
- [The New York Times] Fresh off the announcement that he is stepping down from the Facebook board to pursue an operational role in the next election cycle, the NYT covers Peter Thiel as he embarks to become a “kingmaker” in national conservative races.
Jobs & Other Opportunities
Mid-Senior Security Engineer - [Bugcrowd]
“We require a motivated team member who is willing to push their own boundaries and step out of their comfort zone.You will be challenged on a regular basis, especially because you are the last line of defense for one of the largest crowdsourced security platforms! The Mid-Level / Senior Security Engineer will provide mentoring to multiple junior security engineers and will work closely with other team members on a daily basis.”
Sr. Technical Project Manager, AI@Unity - [Unity]
“We are looking for a Technical Project Manager to play a critical role in building synthetic data to help our clients across diverse industries develop innovative computer vision applications.”
Design Intern - [Ideas United]
“We focus on producing authentic, story-driven content to create for a better future [...] Are you a student looking to build real-world graphic design experience in a creative studio setting? We are looking for an intern with diverse ideas, a sharp eye and lots of questions.
Security Engineering Intern - [Tinder]
“As a Security Intern at Tinder, you will help us secure our terabytes of data! In this position, you’ll be building and securing our platform and helping future Tinder users make better matches, engage more effectively, and generally make the world a better place.”
Remote Tech Job List by @ruby_rafaelina [Twitter]
@ruby_rafaelina has compiled an amazing list of remote tech jobs with transparent salaries. Check out this list of rules to submit job openings to the growing collection!
Events
We Robot 2022 - University of Washington School of Law
Sept. 14 - 16
We Robot is an interdisciplinary conference that focuses on legal and policy topics relating to robots. You can still submit papers [here] and learn more about the conference [here].
Summercon - Littlefield, Brooklyn, NY
July 8 - 9
Summercon 2022 is officially happening, with options for in-person and virtual! Get ahead of the rush with reservations here. Call for papers to come.