The President's Daily Brief
PDB Afternoon Bulletin | December 4th, 2024: China's Deep Cyber Infiltration Of US Networks & Cuba In Disarray
Thu, 05 Dec 2024
In this episode of The PDB Afternoon Bulletin: First, U.S. intelligence officials are urging Americans to protect their private communications behind encrypted apps as they continue to grapple with the fallout from an unprecedented cyber-attack by Chinese operatives. Then, we’ll turn to Cuba, where the country’s national power grid has once again collapsed after their largest power plant failed, leaving millions in the dark. It comes as the country faces fuel shortages and an ongoing economic crisis. To listen to the show ad-free, become a premium member of The President’s Daily Brief by visiting PDBPremium.com. Please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this episode of The President's Daily Brief. YouTube: youtube.com/@presidentsdailybrief Patriot Gold: Call 1-888-870-5457 for a free investor guide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the focus of the PDB Afternoon Bulletin?
My name is Mike Slater. I have a podcast called Politics by Faith. I was just talking to a friend of mine who said he hasn't been able to follow the news lately. It's been too much. It's too crazy. It's driving him crazy. And he's just checked out. If you feel that way sometimes too, I think you'll really like our podcast, Politics by Faith.
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Welcome to the PDB late afternoon or early evening bulletin, whichever. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. Let's get briefed. First, US intelligence officials are urging Americans to protect their private communications behind encrypted apps as they continue to grapple with the fallout from an unprecedented cyber attack by Chinese operatives.
Chapter 2: How did the Chinese cyber-attack affect US networks?
Then, we'll turn to Cuba, where the country's national power grid has once again collapsed after their largest power plant failed, leaving millions in the dark. It comes as the country faces fuel shortages and an ongoing economic crisis. But first, our afternoon spotlight.
We'll begin with an update on a major breach of US telecommunications companies by Chinese operatives that officials have described as one of their worst hacks in American history.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of the Salt Typhoon hacking group?
During a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, senior officials with the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged Americans to start using encrypted messaging apps for their private communications to stay hidden from the Chinese Communist Party's backed hackers.
They warned that the breach, which was first discovered in October of this year, has not been fully remediated and that they are unsure when America's telecommunications systems will be clear of the threat. And that's according to an exclusive report from NBC News. As a reminder, the warning is tied to the hacking group known as Salt Typhoon.
I don't know who comes up with these names, which launched a sophisticated campaign targeting U.S. telecom giants Verizon, AT&T, and Lumen earlier this year. Intelligence officials discovered that the hackers had created backdoors into the company's systems, exposing the data of millions to agents of the CCP, the Chinese Communist Party.
The hackers cast a sweeping net, collecting not only metadata related to call records, but also live phone calls related to specific targets, such as high-profile American political leaders. During Tuesday's briefing, one official said, "...what we have told folks internally is not new here.
Chapter 4: What happened to Cuba's power grid?
Encryption is your friend, whether it's on text messaging or if you have the capacity to use encrypted voice communication. Even if the adversary is able to intercept the data, if it's encrypted, well, it will make it impossible." They added that Salt Typhoon hackers are still active inside U.S.
telecommunications systems, and the compromise is so large in scale that it's, quote, impossible to predict a timeframe on when we'll have full eviction, end quote. The significance of the threat is, well, frankly hard to overstate. As you may recall, in October, the hackers are believed to have breached the personal cell phones of Donald Trump and J.D.
Chapter 5: Why is encrypted communication vital for Americans?
Vance and successfully intercepted the audio of a conversation involving an unnamed advisor to Trump's campaign. While the infiltration was first disclosed in the run-up to the presidential election, officials said Tuesday they don't believe it was intended to sway the results.
Rather, they see it as part of a larger espionage operation by the Chinese regime to glean intelligence on American politics and senior government officials. Well, they wouldn't be wrong there. No surprises here, but Chinese officials have previously denied any involvement. We have no idea! They've previously denied any involvement in the campaign, calling it, oh, Western disinformation.
Chapter 6: What did US intelligence officials reveal about the breach?
Well, if anybody knows disinformation, I suppose it would be the Chinese regime. Officials from the U.S. intelligence community, alongside leaders at the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, are holding a classified briefing for all senators on Wednesday regarding Salt Typhoon, and a U.S. Senate Commerce subcommittee is planning a hearing on the outgoing threat on December 11th.
Now, many lawmakers across both parties have demanded a proportionate response against the CCP and for measures to be taken to bolster telecommunications security and hold U.S. corporations accountable for these cyber intrusions.
Brendan Carr, who's been tapped by Trump to lead the FCC come January, said Wednesday, quote, the salt typhoon intrusion is a serious and unacceptable risk to our national security. We will work with national security agencies through the transition and next year in an effort to root out the threat and secure our networks, end quote. Coming up.
We'll turn to Cuba, where the country's national power grid has once again collapsed as the country grapples with fuel shortages and an ongoing economic crisis. I'll be right back. Hey, Mike Baker here. Let's talk about trees, shall we? And plants. Oh, and don't forget shrubs. Now, did you know that Fast Growing Trees is the biggest online nursery in the U.S.? It's true.
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Offer is valid for a limited time. Terms and conditions may apply. Welcome back to the Afternoon Bulletin. Shifting our focus to the Caribbean, where Cuba is facing yet another crippling blackout. A failure at the island's largest power plant caused the national electrical grid to collapse, leaving millions without power.
Now, the early morning blackout is the latest chapter in an ongoing energy crisis gripping the communist island, which is already struggling with fuel shortages and deepening political instability, of course, just 90 miles off the US coast. The power plant, located in western Cuba, has become a stark symbol of the country's deteriorating infrastructure.
This is the same facility that failed back in October, as we reported previously on the PDB, when dwindling fuel supplies and Hurricane Oscar caused days-long outages. Just weeks later, another hurricane dealt similar damage, underscoring the fragile state of Cuba's energy grid. The latest outage left the capital city, Havana, cloaked in near-total blackout.
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