US revokes licences for supply of chips to Huawei | Chinese network behind one of world's largest online scams | Canadian government proposes new foreign influence registry
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The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
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The Biden administration has revoked export licences that allow Intel and Qualcomm to supply Huawei with semiconductors as Washington increases the pressure on the Chinese telecoms equipment company. Financial Times
More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China. The Guardian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is proposing a suite of new measures and law changes aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada, amid extensive scrutiny over past meddling attempts and an ever-evolving threat landscape. CTV News
ASPI
Tech diplomacy: what it is, and why it’s important
The Strategist
Bronte Munro
We need to get used to a new concept in international security: tech diplomacy. It means technological collaboration across sectors and between countries, but the simplicity of the idea shouldn’t disguise its importance. Tech diplomacy is a key tool to ensure that US allies and partners, including Australia, can stay ahead of or keep up with the pacing threat of adversaries, notably China, that are also seeking technological leadership.
Australia
Unmasked: Notorious Russian cyber criminal who plundered hospitals with ransomware
The Sydney Morning Herald
Rob Harris
The leader of one of the world’s most prolific cybercrime gangs has been unmasked and sanctioned by Australia, Britain and the United States, following a years-long international disruption campaign. Russian national Dmitry Yuryevich Khoroshev, 31, was named as the mastermind behind the notorious LockBit ransomware operation, which has been on a hacking rampage for years, digitally extorting an estimated $1 billion from its victims.
James Paterson responds to IPAC breach, calls for sanctions against APT31
cyberdaily.au
Daniel Croft
In 2021, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of officials critical of China, was targeted in a cyber attack which has been attributed to Chinese state-sponsored hacking group APT31. The hackers sent a number of pixel tracking emails to high-profile politicians disguised as a news outlet as part of a cyber espionage campaign.
Sydney a logical choice for $10 million grant to suppress quantum errors
The University of Sydney
The University of Sydney Nano Institute has received substantial backing from the US government’s quantum computing funding program, with a $10 million grant over four years aimed at drastically improving existing quantum technology. The project will test methods to suppress the errors that emerge in qubits, the building blocks of information at the heart of quantum computing hardware. The funding will allow the Sydney Nano team to deepen its research in quantum error correction and expand work with global industry, including collaboration with IBM scientists and access to IBM quantum systems over the cloud.
The cracks appearing in our healthcare system
The Nightly
Gemma Acton
Many surgeries have used online booking systems for years and increasingly GPs are utilising tools like artificial intelligence notetakers to improve the efficacy of their consultations. A doctor I spoke to in Melbourne said that using an AI notetaker allows medics to spend more face-to-face time with their patients as well as save time between consultations which has hitherto been lost to furiously inputting comments into the computer.
Countering disinformation: democracy under seige
Australian Institute of International Affairs
Geoff Heriot
The latest “options paper” from the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue anticipates that trends in the information firmament will become even more threatening to democratic society over the next five years. Disinformation is becoming embedded in political cultures within Australia and internationally, exacerbated by “ever more advanced generative artificial intelligence technology.” This at a time when the English language news industry experiences perpetual crisis.
China
Chinese network behind one of world’s ‘largest online scams’
The Guardian
Carmen Aguilar García, Sarah Marsh and Philip McMahon
More than 800,000 people in Europe and the US appear to have been duped into sharing card details and other sensitive personal data with a vast network of fake online designer shops apparently operated from China. An international investigation by the Guardian, Die Zeit and Le Monde gives a rare inside look at the mechanics of what the UK’s Chartered Trading Standards Institute has described as one of the largest scams of its kind, with 76,000 fake websites created.
Who’s who in the EV battery supply chain
The Wire China
Paul Sédille
A ready supply of electric vehicle batteries is crucial for the transition to a green automotive future, and Chinese companies have a significant presence in every stage of the EV battery supply chain. From the mining of raw materials such as lithium to the final products of EV battery packs, China’s role in the EV revolution is indispensable. This week, The Wire provides an all-in-one explainer detailing the main players across the global EV battery industry.
Patriotism for sale: WeChat channel's information ecosystems
Medium
Doublethink Lab
The Chinese Communist Party’s tactics in promoting its propaganda have evolved with the prevalence of social media. Amid the aggressive censorship the CCP continues to impose on all social media platforms, the CCP, China-based tech companies as well as platform users form an ecosystem that serves as a vehicle for the CCP’s broader propaganda campaigns.
Why big tech may never recover in China
Time
Angela Huyue Zhang
Even by its own standards, the tech sector has had an extraordinary year. The surges in valuation of firms such as Nvidia, Meta, and Amazon have elevated the tech sector's share within the S&P 500 to an unprecedented 30%. Amid this boom, it’s almost too easy to overlook the challenges faced by tech giants elsewhere, particularly in China. Leading Chinese tech firms, notably Alibaba and Tencent, have seen their market capitalization plummet up to 75% from their peaks three years ago. A key factor was the sweeping regulatory crackdown initiated by the Chinese government in late 2020, which lasted for an unprecedented 18 months.
USA
US revokes licences for supply of chips to China’s Huawei
Financial Times
Demetri Sevastopulo
The Biden administration has revoked export licences that allow Intel and Qualcomm to supply Huawei with semiconductors as Washington increases the pressure on the Chinese telecoms equipment company. The move by the US Department of Commerce affects the supply of chips for Huawei’s laptop computers and mobile phones, according to people familiar with the situation.
Commerce Department revokes more export licenses to China’s Huawei
The Washington Post
Eva Dou and Ellen Nakashima
The Commerce Department has further restricted the sale of U.S. technology to China’s leading high-tech firm, Huawei Technologies, revoking certain allowances of U.S. chip sales amid renewed scrutiny of the company in Washington. “We are not commenting on any specific licenses, but we can confirm that we have revoked certain licenses for exports to Huawei,” the Commerce Department said in a statement Tuesday.US revokes some export licences for China’s Huawei
South China Morning Post
The US on Tuesday said it revoked some licences that allow companies to ship goods, such as chips, to sanctioned Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies. The move comes after the release last month of Huawei’s first AI-enabled laptop, the MateBook X Pro powered by Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processor.
US eyes curbs on China's access to AI software behind apps like ChatGPT
Reuters
Alexandra Alper
The Biden administration is poised to open up a new front in its effort to safeguard U.S. AI from China with preliminary plans to place guardrails around the most advanced AI Models, the core software of artificial intelligence systems like ChatGPT, sources said. The Commerce Department is considering a new regulatory push to restrict the export of proprietary or closed source AI models, whose software and the data it is trained on are kept under wraps, three people familiar with the matter said.
Even Katy Perry’s mom was fooled by what appeared to be AI-generated Met Gala pics
NBC News
Angela Yang
Several celebrities who couldn’t make it to the Met Gala showed up online anyway — in fake images that showed signs of having been generated by artificial intelligence. The fake images, which depicted them posing in glamorous garden-themed ensembles to match this year’s dress code, were quickly shared thousands of times on X and Facebook amid the flurry of real photos flooding social media of celebrities walking the carpet Monday evening.
Americas
Canadian government proposes new foreign influence registry as part of wide-spanning new bill
CTV News
Rachel Aiello
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government is proposing a suite of new measures and law changes aimed at countering foreign interference in Canada, amid extensive scrutiny over past meddling attempts and an ever-evolving threat landscape. Explaining why these reforms are required, a senior official said that electronic information has become a central part of national security investigations, but key and often basic pieces of information are no longer accessible through conventional investigative techniques.
North Asia
The secret to Japanese and South Korean innovation
Foreign Affairs
Ramon Pacheco Pardo and Robyn Klingler-Vidra
Japan and South Korea are innovation and tech powerhouses. They are home to leading firms in many of the high-tech sectors powering global economic growth and usually rank near the top of innovation indexes. To get to where they are today, both countries harnessed the combined power of their public and private sectors for decades. The innovation strategies they used challenge the model mythologized by Silicon Valley: the individual genius who comes up with a brilliant idea and receives funding from venture capitalists acting in a private capacity.
Southeast Asia
The Philippines and the digital silk road
The Interpreter
Julio S. Amadaor III and Deryk Matthew N. Baladjay
The Philippines might be struggling against China’s encroachment in the South China Sea, but in the digital world, the two countries are locked in an embrace. China’s so-called “digital silk road” is driven by the view that it can help countries such as the Philippines overcome the “digital gaps” that prevent their economies from growing. The selling points for the Digital Silk Road might be vague, but there is no denying that the Philippines needs all the help it can get to improve its digital infrastructure and digital economy.
Ukraine - Russia
How Ukraine has resisted Russia’s cyber offensive
Asia Times
David Kirichenko
Paul Chichester, Director of Operations at the UK’s National Cyber Security Center, describes the cyber war between Russia and Ukraine as “the most sustained set of cyber operations coming up against the best collective defense we have seen.” Ukraine’s cyber defenses have proven to be exceptionally robust, effectively preventing what could have been Russia’s “cyber Pearl Harbor” – a devastating surprise cyberattack intended to cause widespread disruption.
A (strange) interview with the Russian-military-linked hackers targeting US water utilities
Wired
Andy Greenberg
When the activities of Russian hacker groups are exposed in a major public report and tied to a government agency—such as the Russian military's Sandworm unit, which has targeted Ukrainian electrical utilities to trigger three blackouts over the past decade, or the Russian foreign intelligence service's APT29, which is believed to have carried out the notorious SolarWinds supply chain attack—they tend to slink into the shadows and lay low until their next operation.
Europe
‘Countries are now forced to confront it’: Rise in Chinese espionage arrests alarms Europe
The Guardian
Amy Hawkins
As China’s president, Xi Jinping, arrived in Serbia for the second leg of his European tour, authorities across the continent were grappling with a wave of allegations about Chinese spying. On Tuesday, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, revealed that a “malign actor” had compromised British military payroll records, with reports pointing the finger at China.
UK
Tech firms must ‘tame’ algorithms under Ofcom child safety rules
The Guardian
Alex Hern
Social media firms have been told to “tame aggressive algorithms” that recommend harmful content to children, as part of Ofcom’s new safety codes of practice. The children’s safety codes, introduced as part of the Online Safety Act, let Ofcom set new, tight rules for internet companies and how they can interact with children. It calls on services to make their platforms child-safe by default or implement robust age checks to identify children and give them safer versions of the experience.
Cyber expert urges against ‘panic’ over NHS data leak
BBC News
David Cowan
The founding chief executive of the UK's National Cyber Security Centre has urged people not to panic after a Scottish health board was targeted by cyber criminals. Ciaran Martin said it was very rare that data breaches involving medical information result in "actual harm" to members of the public. A ransomware group has dumped an estimated three terabytes of data stolen from NHS Dumfries and Galloway on the dark web.
Middle East
Saudi Arabia AI fund Alat would divest from China if US asked, CEO says
South China Morning Post
The head of Saudi Arabia’s new investment fund for semiconductor and artificial intelligence technology said the country would divest from China if it were asked to do so by the US. “So far the requests have been to keep manufacturing and supply chains completely separate, but if the partnerships with China would become a problem for the US, we will divest,” said Amit Midha, the chief executive officer of Alat, an investment firm backed by US$100 billion in capital from the Public Investment Fund.
Big Tech
A college professor wants to use Section 230 against Big Tech
The Washington Post
Will Oremus
Ethan Zuckerman, a longtime technologist and social media scholar, thought he fully understood Section 230, the 1996 statute that contains the famous “26 words that created the internet.” But three years ago, he was reading its full text aloud to his class at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst when suddenly, in his words, “a lightbulb went off in my head.”
Bill Gates-backed technology company files Chapter 11 bankruptcy
The Street
Kirk O'Neil
Developing a new industrial-focused battery that is less expensive, more reliable and environmentally friendlier than lithium-ion batteries has been a goal of battery technology companies that is becoming a reality. One battery technology company was on the cusp of reaching that goal of manufacturing and marketing that alternative product, but the high costs of developing such technology got in the way of success.
Nvidia’s founder went from dishwasher to tech titan and learned the power of storytelling to build a brand
Inc. Australia
Carmine Gallo
Nvidia’s chips and technology make AI possible and have turned its co-founder and CEO, Jensen Huang, into a global tech superstar. But Huang wasn’t always at the top of the ladder. Huang started his career at this very Denny’s location. He worked as a busboy before being promoted to dishwasher and finally to waiter. Huang says he owes much of his leadership skills to what he learned at Denny’s. He’s not kidding. Huang recently took the crew of 60 Minutes to visit the restaurant where it all began, a diner known for its “Grand Slam” breakfast, served 24 hours a day.
Artificial Intelligence
How will artificial intelligence's role impact local, state governments?
CBS News
Caroline Foreback
What if a chatbot could instantly give you instructions for getting a certain permit? What if council meeting minutes could be posted within minutes? What if your wait time at the DMV was cut in half? These are just some ways artificial intelligence could be used in state and local government. AI was the topic of a groundbreaking conference in Annapolis Tuesday morning, put on by the University of Baltimore.
Misc
How technology helped a nonspeaking autistic woman find her voice
CBS News
Jamie Wax and Analisa Novak
Technology has allowed activist Jordyn Zimmerman, a nonspeaking autistic woman, to find her voice. Zimmerman's early life was spent communicating through body language and pictures. She bounced between numerous school systems in Ohio. It wasn't until the age of 18 — when she began using Proloquo2Go, an augmentative and alternative communication app — that her true self was finally revealed.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue
ASPI
The Sydney Dialogue was created to help bring together governments, businesses and civil society to discuss and progress policy options. We will forecast the technologies of the next decade that will change our societies, economies and national security, prioritising speakers and delegates who are willing to push the envelope. We will promote diverse views that stimulate real conversations about the best ways to seize opportunities and minimise risks.
JoiningFORCES
ASPI
The JoiningFORCES conference will explore ways to bridge national and international boundaries to deliver more joint, collective and effective defence. It will bring together government ministers, senior defence officials, leading industry figures, and international experts across the two-day event and formal dinner. We will also use collaborative wargaming and scenario exercise techniques to generate insights on enhancing regional deterrence. Our focus will be on strategic and operational level challenges and will consider the vital role of industry in delivering capability at the speed needed to meet the strategic threats Australia faces.
Cyber Leaders Series: The future of cyber on the African continent; a conversation with Kenya's PS Tanui
Centre for Strategic and International Studies
Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program
Please join CSIS virtually on Friday, May 17th from 9:00am-10:00am EDT for a conversation with Eng. John Tanui, Principal Secretary of Kenya's Ministry of Information, Communications, and the Digital Economy. CSIS's Emily Harding, Director of the Intelligence, National Security, and Technology Program, will join PS Tanui to discuss cybersecurity trends and Kenya's role as a regional leader in this space. Topics of conversation will also include Kenya's efforts to build a Digital Superhighway, emerging technologies, and the future of cyber.
Jobs
China Analyst or Senior Analyst
ASPI
ASPI has an exciting opportunity for an analyst or senior analyst to explore China's evolving foreign and security policy, political economy and impact on the Indo-Pacific and the world. ASPI’s China analysts conduct rigorous data-driven research, publish impactful reports that shape the public policy discourse and contribute to the wide catalogue of influential China work published by ASPI. The difference between the analyst and senior analyst levels will depend on experience level and demonstration of past work. The closing date for applications is 10 May 2024– an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.