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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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TikTok says it will challenge in court an "unconstitutional" law that could result in it being sold or banned in the United States. President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform's Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to divest the app or it will be blocked in the US. BBC News
The oil-rich kingdom is plowing money into glitzy events, computing power and artificial intelligence research, putting it in the middle of an escalating U.S.-China struggle for technological influence. The New York Times
Cyber attackers are experimenting with their latest ransomware on businesses in Africa, Asia and South America before targeting richer countries that have more sophisticated security methods. Hackers have adopted a “strategy” of infiltrating systems in the developing world before moving to higher-value targets. Financial Times
World
Hackers use developing countries as testing ground for new ransomware attacks
Financial Times
Ellesheva Kissin
Cyber attackers are experimenting with their latest ransomware on businesses in Africa, Asia and South America before targeting richer countries that have more sophisticated security methods. Hackers have adopted a “strategy” of infiltrating systems in the developing world before moving to higher-value targets such as in North America and Europe, according to a report published on Wednesday by cyber security firm Performanta.
Australia
Is Elon Musk above Australian law?
The Guardian
Elon Musk, the owner of Social Media Network X, is embroiled in a dispute with Australian officials and political figures, refusing to comply with requests to remove a video of a stabbing incident from the internet. This conflict underscores larger debates on online content regulation, enforcement of laws both online and in the real world, and the ethical responsibilities of social media platforms.
Read ASPI Senior Analyst Fergus Ryan’s article ‘Examining Australia’s bid to curb online disinformation here
Peter Dutton backs Elon Musk and contradicts Sussan Ley on ‘silly’ demand for global removal of stabbing footage
The Guardian
Josh Butler
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has labelled the eSafety commissioner’s demands for the global removal of footage of the alleged Wakeley stabbing as “silly”, a comment that appears to put him at odds with his deputy, Sussan Ley.
TikTok Australia makes its first stand after US ban laws pass
The Australian Financial Review
Nick Bonyhady
TikTok’s Australian boss has rubbished calls for the app to be banned after the United States Congress passed a bill on Wednesday forcing the social network to be sold or ousted from that country within a year. Brett Armstrong, the general manager of TikTok’s advertising division in Australia, defended TikTok by pointing to its contribution to local businesses and jobs in an interview with The Australian Financial Review.
The govt can properly fund its own cyber security for the first time
The Canberra Times
Marcus Thompson
There's been much talk, strategy, and now regulatory and legislative consultation on Australia's cyber security movement, but one area still needing clear direction is how Canberra plans to remodel its own cyber backyard: the Australian Public Service. The government's Australian Cyber Security Strategy 2023-30 focuses on how the private sector and Australian consumers can uplift their cyber posture.
China
China creates 'Neucyber,' its version of a neuralink brain chip
PCMag UK
Kate Irwin
China has engineered its own version of a Neuralink-like brain chip and has used it to show that a monkey can maneuver a robotic arm using only its thoughts, Reuters reports Thursday, citing China-backed news source Xinhua. The monkey with the Neucyber brain-computer interface implant was physically restrained and able to get a robotic arm to hold a strawberry, according to the report.
USA
TikTok vows to fight 'unconstitutional' US ban
BBC News
Tom Gerken and Tom Singleton
TikTok says it will challenge in court an "unconstitutional" law that could result in it being sold or banned in the United States. President Biden has signed into law a bill which gives the social media platform's Chinese owner, ByteDance, nine months to divest the app or it will be blocked in the US. The law has been introduced because of concerns TikTok might share user data with the Chinese government - claims it has always denied.
‘Lost touch with reality’: How TikTok’s vaunted lobbying operation went wrong
POLITICO
Brendan Bordelon
After a brutal, five-hour bipartisan grilling of TikTok’s CEO on Capitol Hill in March 2023 — where Democrats and Republicans took turns bashing the company for its China ties, its risks to children and its mental health dangers — the company emerged confident that its leader, Shou Zi Chew, had nailed his first public appearance in Washington.TikTok ban puts jobs of thousands of US workers in jeopardy, California senator warns
POLITICO
Lara Korte and Ben Fox
California Sen. Laphonza Butler urged President Joe Biden on Wednesday to consider the fate of thousands of U.S. employees of TikTok hours after he signed legislation that will force a sale of the app or ban it from the U.S. The forced divestiture of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, was part of a legislative package that included military aid to Ukraine. It passed the Senate in a 79-18 vote, which included support from Butler.
TSMC’s debacle in the American desert
Rest of World
Viola Zhou
Bruce thought he’d landed his dream job. The young American engineer had been eager for a stable, high-paying job in the semiconductor industry. Then, in late 2020, he received a LinkedIn message from a recruiter for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Bruce read up on TSMC — the leading global manufacturer of advanced chips — and got excited. The job sounded like he’d be “pushing the boundaries of human technology,” he recalled to Rest of World.
US is reviewing risks of China's use of RISC-V chip technology
Reuters
Stephen Nellis
The U.S. Department of Commerce is reviewing the national security implications of China's work in open-source RISC-V chip technology, according to a letter sent to U.S. lawmakers. RISC-V, pronounced "risk five," competes with proprietary technology from British semiconductor and software design company Arm Holdings. It can be used as a key part of anything from a smartphone chip to advanced processors for artificial intelligence.
When will AUKUS allies receive US export control exemptions?
Defense News
Bryant Harris
The U.S. may grant Australia and Britain a long-sought export control carveout for AUKUS in the coming months, but not as fast as some lawmakers wish while they wait on a congressionally mandated certification the State Department must issue first. The three AUKUS allies view an Australian and British carveout to the International Traffic in Arms Regulation as crucial to facilitating a key pillar of the trilateral pact to jointly develop advanced defense technologies like quantum computing, artificial intelligence and hypersonic weapons.
US teacher charged with using AI to frame principal with racist audio
The Guardian
A high school athletic director in Maryland has been charged with using artificial intelligence to impersonate a principal on an audio recording that included racist and antisemitic comments, authorities said on Thursday. Dazhon Darien faked the voice of Pikesville high school’s principal in January following conversations that Darien’s contract would not be renewed, according to charging documents filed by Baltimore county police.
North Asia
South Korean military set to ban iPhones over ‘security’ concerns
The Straits Times
South Korea’s military is considering a comprehensive ban on iPhones in military buildings due to increasing concerns about possible leaks of sensitive information through voice recordings, according to multiple sources on April 23. The sources, a group of ranking officers who wished to speak on condition of anonymity, said that the Air Force headquarters released an internal announcement on the military’s intranet server on April 11, instructing a complete prohibition on any device capable of voice recording and which does not permit third-party apps to control inherent functions, effective June 1, with iPhones cited as items subject to the ban.
Southeast Asia
‘Black hole’ of alluring content: Chinese social media apps like Xiaohongshu pull in Singapore users
The Straits Times
Goh Yan Han
Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu has been Ms Eldrida Yeong’s constant companion as she navigates her way around the kitchen. Like her, other users in Singapore have also been drawn in big numbers to Chinese social media apps, in particular Xiaohongshu and Douyin, in the last five years, following the Covid-19 pandemic that saw people with more time on their hands turn towards the content-rich apps. Topics such as beauty, fashion, lifestyle, travel and food have scored with Singaporeans, while users have lauded these apps’ effective algorithms for pushing relevant content.
South & Central Asia
TikTok may be banned in the US. Here’s what happened when India outlawed the Chinese app
South China Morning Post
The hugely popular Chinese app TikTok may be forced out of the US, where a measure to outlaw the video-sharing app has won congressional approval and is on its way to President Joe Biden for his signature. In India, the app was banned nearly four years ago. Here’s what happened.
Europe
Europe shrugs off Washington’s TikTok fears
POLITICO
Clothhilde Goujard
The United States is worried enough about TikTok’s security risks to force the app’s sale under the threat of a ban. Europe is less convinced. A U.S. bill that would require TikTok’s Beijing-based parent company ByteDance to sell the popular video-sharing app within a year — or face a national ban — became law Wednesday, buoyed by unprecedented support. Fueled by fears of Beijing’s potential data access and interference, U.S. lawmakers adopted the controversial bill in recent days as part of a larger aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan; President Joe Biden signed it Wednesday.
TikTok reward-to-watch feature suspended after EU threats to block it
The Guardian
Lisa O'Carroll
A TikTok service offering rewards such as gift vouchers for watching videos has been suspended by the company shortly after the EU threatened to block it amid fears of addiction among children. On Monday the digital commissioner, Thierry Breton, said the Chinese-owned video-sharing platform had “failed to prove” the feature on TikTok Lite, which launched recently in France and Spain, complied with obligations under sweeping new Digital Service Act laws.
France proposes new EU sanctions to fight Russian disinformation
Bloomberg
Alberto Nardelli and Jorge Valero
France is asking the European Union to set up a new sanctions regime to target Russian disinformation and election interference operations worldwide. The proposal, which is backed by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland, would allow the EU to strengthen sanctions against individuals and entities involved in Russian-sponsored destabilizing activities globally.
Germany targeting Indian students to address labor shortages
DW
Pooja Yadav
Germany is grappling with a critical labor shortage and aging population, with projections indicating a deficit of 7 million skilled workers by 2035. Engaging the Indian student population in the German workforce may be part of the solution. Germany is traditionally very competitive on the international stage when it comes to engineering sciences, so the high proportion of Indian students in IT and engineering can help the country "maintain this advantage in global economic competition."
New CEO of Dutch chips champ enters US-China fray
POLITICO
Pieter Haeck
The incoming CEO of Europe’s largest tech firm finds himself caught between the United States and China in a microchips-driven geopolitical clash. Frenchman Christophe Fouquet takes the reins today at Dutch chip equipment supplier ASML. It’s a fraught time for the company, entangled in the U.S. and China’s escalating trade war after the U.S. last year pressured the Netherlands to block some of ASML's exports to China — one of its biggest customers — to cut off the country's access to advanced chips.
Middle East
‘To the future’: Saudi Arabia spends big to become an A.I. superpower
The New York Times
Adam Satariano and Paul Mozur
Everybody in tech seems to want to make friends with Saudi Arabia right now as the kingdom has trained its sights on becoming a dominant player in A.I. — and is pumping in eye-popping sums to do so. Saudi Arabia created a $100 billion fund this year to invest in A.I. and other technology. It is in talks with Andreessen Horowitz, the Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and other investors to put an additional $40 billion into A.I. companies.
Gender & Women in Tech
Progress being made on gender diversity in cyber
Computer Weekly
Alex Scroxton
Gender diversity in the cyber security profession is improving, according to an ISC2 report on women in cyber security, which collated responses from 2,400 women who took part in its recent Workforce Study, but there are still significant challenges to overcome if true parity is to be achieved. ISC2 found evidence of several encouraging trends – women now make up a higher percentage of new entrants to the profession than ever before, and are increasingly finding themselves in leadership roles. But challenges around discrimination and equal pay are proving a tougher nut to crack.
Big Tech
Cisco says hackers subverted its security devices to spy on governments
Reuters
Raphael Satter
Technology firm Cisco Systems said that hackers have subverted some of its digital security devices to break in to government networks globally. In a blog post published on Wednesday, the company said its Adaptive Security Appliances - pieces of equipment that roll several different digital defense functions into one - had previously unknown vulnerabilities that had been exploited by a group of hackers they called "UAT4356."
Artificial Intelligence
Generative AI is still a solution in search of a problem
Axios
Scott Rosenberg
The gigantic and costly industry Silicon Valley is building around generative AI is still struggling to explain the technology's utility. AI chatbots and image generators are making headlines and fortunes, but a year and a half into their revolution, it remains tough to say exactly why we should all start using them. The most common rationale is a kind of circular reasoning: Everyone's going to be using these tools, the argument goes, so you might as well get ahead of the parade.
Research
AI intersections database
Mozilla
This database maps intersections between the key social justice and human rights areas of our time and documented AI impacts and their manifestations in society. Further, the database catalogs civil society organizations, social movement actors, researchers, and other entities that are either actively doing work at these intersections, or are well suited for engagement on these issues via partnerships.
Geoengineering and climate change in an age of disinformation and strategic competition
Council on Strategic Risks
Erin Sikorsky and Tom Ellison
Geoengineering, sometimes called climate intervention, is gaining more attention as a potential tool to manage the impacts of climate change. A steady drumbeat of reports from governments and scientific institutions argue for developing research programs to allow for better informed decisions on the risks and benefits of geoengineering. At the same time, the national security community is raising concerns emphasizing the risk of large-scale, successful unilateral deployment by a middle or rogue power.
How social media influencers are scaling surrogate political campaigns in global majority elections
Tech Global Institute
Dhara Mungra, Shahzeb Mahmood and Apon Das
In recent years, content creators, also known as influencers, have an increasingly critical role in shaping political discourse, particularly in Global Majority countries with declining press freedoms. In this research, we investigate the expanding relationship between politicians and influencers, highlighting the incentives that underpin their collaboration to reach hyper-local audiences with hyper-partisan messages.
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.
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.