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TOP 3
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says expanded powers for Australia's electronic intelligence agency to operate domestically should be considered to ensure the nation can confront the "huge issue" of threats in cyberspace. SMH.
Samantha Hoffman, a fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Cyber Center, said data-collection methods used in China have been specifically designed to intimidate people from participating in demonstrations. Washington Post.
Election hacking has never been cheaper, easier or more profitable. Cybercrime could be a $6 trillion business by 2022. Emerging tech like AI might be the only way to one step ahead. CNET.
ASPI ICPC
FEATURE REPORT: Hacking democracies
By Fergus Hanson, Sarah O'Connor, Mali Walker & Luke Courtois
In this policy brief, the writers explore areas where interference has been detected across the world and consider key learnings from those examples in order to develop policy responses for countering each type of interference.
Smart cities could go rogue if we don't secure the technology
AFR
@elisethoma5
Australian towns and cities are using Chinese tech to run their communities better. But that comes with dangers too.
Masks, cash and apps: How Hong Kong’s protesters find ways to outwit the surveillance state
Washington Post
@he_shumei
Samantha Hoffman, a fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Cyber Center, said data-collection methods used in China have been specifically designed to intimidate people from participating in demonstrations. She described the strategy as “killing the root before the weed can grow. It’s a form of preemptive security,” she said.
Hong Kong protesters coordinate tech-savvy effort to beat Chinese state surveillance
The Independent
@he_shumei
Samantha Hoffman, a fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s Cyber Centre, said data collection methods used in China have specifically been designed to intimidate people from taking part in demonstrations. She described the strategy as “killing the root before the weed can grow. It’s a form of pre-emptive security,” she said.
Spy game: Inside the fight to beat hackers who know no borders
SMH
@fergushanson
Fergus Hanson, who heads the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's international cyber policy centre, similarly disagreed with using the agency for domestic disruption. "ASD should be exclusively focused on foreign threats," he says. But he says the critical network protection idea is worth considering, though any change to the law would require carefully thought-through safeguards.
Il faut lutter contre l’exceptionnalisme chinois
Le Devoir
Selon M. Fergus Ryan, auteur du rapport « Weibo Diplomacy and Censorship in China » pour l’Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sina Weibo censure périodiquement des articles publiés sur son site par les ambassades qui sont considérées comme sensibles, ou pour simplement éviter que certains messages deviennent viraux en Chine.
- Weibo diplomacy and censorship in China
@fryanThis ASPI ICPC report provides an in-depth look at the increasingly sophisticated censorship methods being used on foreign embassies on Weibo and provides a series of recommendations for foreign governments, including Australia, to address these policy challenges.
World
Election hacking has never been cheaper, easier or more profitable
CNET
@danpatterson
Cybercrime could be a $6 trillion business by 2022. Emerging tech like AI might be the only way to one step ahead.
A member of Google's disastrous AI council says the company needs to be treated like a 'world power'
Business Insider
@hamilbug
A member of Google’s disbanded AI ethics council said on Wednesday that the company’s enormous global influence means it needs to be treated like a world power.
Australia
Peter Dutton urges 'sensible' consideration of expanded cyber spy powers
SMH
@fergushunter
Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton says expanded powers for Australia's electronic intelligence agency to operate domestically should be considered to ensure the nation can confront the "huge issue" of threats in cyberspace.
A lift in agency power needs voter backing
AAP
Any increase in the power of Australia's intelligence agencies to tackle cyber crime would need the confidence of the Australian people, a senior federal Labor frontbencher says.
Two charged over police phone DoS attacks
IT News
A joint operation between Victorian and Australian Federal Police has resulted in the arrest for allegedly organising and participating in a large-scale denial of service attack on police phone systems in October last year.
China
Hong Kong protesters fear the reach of Beijing, so they're refusing to show their faces
ABC
@NicholasDole
Some Hongkongers fear their participation in protests could be used against them by police or employers
How a cyber attack hampered Hong Kong protesters
The Conversation
@stanamor
The administrator of a 30,000-member Telegram chat group, which was used to organise the protests, was arrested on Tuesday... In a further show of force, Telegram was also targeted in a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack during the protests.
USA
The United States Needs an Information Warfare Command: A Historical Examination
War on the Rocks
For American forces there has always been uncertainty about exactly what tasks comprise information warfare, who executes them, and how they should be organized and synchronized.
AsiaWhen Rohingya Refugees Fled to India, Hate on Facebook Followed
NYT
@vindugoel
"Many groups demonized us on Facebook and WhatsApp, and they succeeded in whipping up a strong anti-Rohingya passion,” said Mohammad Salim, a Rohingya refugee in West Bengal, India.
Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa govt live streams press conference with cat filter on. Twitter dies laughing
India Today
The provincial government of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recently live streamed a press conference with the cat filter enabled. The result has Twitter in splits.
UK
UK rights advocate co-owns firm whose spyware is 'used to target dissidents'
The Guardian
@jonswaine @skirchy
A leading human rights campaigner and head of a prestigious London art gallery is the co-owner of an Israeli cyberweapons company whose software has allegedly been used by authoritarian regimes to spy on dissidents, the Guardian can reveal.
Russia
US Cyber Command has reportedly been aggressively targeting Russia’s electrical grid
The Verge
@AndrewLiptak
Officials describe their efforts as more aggressive than they would have contemplated a few years ago.
Misc.
You can train an AI to fake UN speeches in just 13 hours
MIT Technology Review
Deep-learning techniques have made it easier and easier for anyone to forge convincing misinformation. But just how easy? Two researchers at Global Pulse, an initiative of the United Nations, decided to find out.
Cellebrite Says It Can Unlock Any iPhone for Cops
Wired
@a_greenberg
Not so long ago, companies that cracked personal devices on behalf of governments did so in secret, closely guarding even the descriptions of their capabilities. Now, it seems, they proudly tweet about their updated abilities to hack into new iPhones, like a videogame firm offering an expansion pack.
The Mark Zuckerberg Deepfakes Are Forcing Facebook to Fact Check Art
Vice
@samleecole
The artist who made this week's first Zuckerberg deepfake made another, in protest of the platform supressing his work.
Adobe trained AI to detect facial manipulation in Photoshop
Engadget
@cfisherwrites
A team of Adobe and UC Berkeley researchers trained AI to detect facial manipulation in images edited with Adobe Photoshop. The researchers hope the tool will help restore trust in digital media at a time when deepfakes and fake faces are more common and more deceptive. It could also democratize image forensics, making it possible for more people to uncover image manipulation.
Mysterious Iranian group is hacking into DNA sequencers
ZD Net
@campuscodi
Web-based DNA sequencer applications are under attack from a mysterious hacker group using a still-unpatched zero-day to take control of targeted devices.
In Stores, Secret Surveillance Tracks Your Every Move
NYT
As you shop, “beacons” are watching you, using hidden technology in your phone.
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