ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence Daily Brief - June 1, 2024

ZeroFox Physical Security Intelligence Daily Brief - June 1, 2024

ZeroFox physical security experts collect, curate, and analyze information derived from open and proprietary sources for comprehensive context of the circumstances surrounding global events. Here is today’s daily roundup of major developments.

Brief Highlights

• China’s Spy Agency Warns Against Foreign Espionage Threat to Rare-Earth Industry
• Joint Investigation Finds Russian and Belarusian Journalists and Activists Targeted with Pegasus Spyware
• U.S. and Britain Strike Houthi Targets in Yemen After Surge in Shipping Attacks

China’s Spy Agency Warns Against Foreign Espionage Threat to Rare-Earth Industry

On May 30, China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), the top anti-espionage agency, warned against foreign espionage efforts targeting China’s rare-earth metals industry, engaging in theft and sabotage, and posing a threat to the country’s natural resource security. Rare earths are important mineral resources that are nonrenewable and are key materials for manufacturing semiconductors, electrical vehicles, and weapons. MSS stressed that some foreign enterprises had directed their operations in China to use their commercial activities as a cover to gather intelligence and internal data on the country’s rare-earth industry chain to steal commercial secrets and national secrets, while some overseas institutions were using a third country to recruit experts and teams to transfer controlled technologies. Because China dominates the production of rare earth metals, its adversaries, led by the United States and EU, are concerned that China could withhold them to extract political concessions or harm western economies. Other countries are trying to develop their own rare-earth industries but are likely years away from reducing their dependencies on China.

Joint Investigation Finds Russian and Belarusian Journalists and Activists Targeted with Pegasus Spyware

On May 30, 2024, investigative journalists published a joint investigation that found seven Russian- and Belarusian-speaking journalists and activists had recently been targeted with Pegasus spyware. The investigation identified Pegasus software on the phones of Evgeny Erlikh, Evgeny Pavlov, Maria Epifanova, Andrei Sannikov, Natallia Radzina, and two other anonymous journalists. The Pegasus infections spanned from 2020-2023. All of these individuals were connected to Russian opposition networks and or media outlets. This pattern suggests the Russian opposition is being systematically targeted.

U.S. and Britain Strike Houthi Targets in Yemen After Surge in Shipping Attacks

The United States and Britain launched airstrikes in different locations in Yemen in retaliation to increasing Houthi violence in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. According to an anonymous official, the strikes hit underground infrastructure, missile launchers, command and control sites, and other facilities. Additionally, eight uncrewed aerial vehicles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, posing threats to American and coalition forces, were targeted. Other strikes occurred near the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, and in Taiz.