Apple, Google ban use of location tracking in contact tracing apps | Amazon VP resigns in protest | Spies consulted on Forrest deal
Follow us on Twitter. The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cyber, critical technologies & strategic issues like foreign interference.
Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Reuters
Tim Bray, a well known senior engineer and Vice President at Amazon has “quit in dismay” because Amazon has been “firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19.” Vice
The federal government sought advice from the nation’s spy agencies on the use of Chinese coronavirus testing equipment obtained by billionaire Andrew Forrest amid fears over the privacy of Australians’ genetic information. The Australian
ASPI ICPC
How to stay cyber-secure when working from home during Covid-19.
As Australian organisations plan to slowly return to the office in the coming weeks and months, cyber security, and cyber safety, becomes even more important.
We asked experts for some tips on how to stay secure and safe when working from home, and as we transition back to the office, full-time or part-time.
Spies consulted on Forrest deal
The Australian
@bennpackham
The federal government sought advice from the nation’s spy agencies on the use of Chinese coronavirus testing equipment obtained by billionaire Andrew Forrest amid fears over the privacy of Australians’ genetic information. According to a report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, BGI developed China’s National Genebank and has operations in the Xinjiang region, where a million Muslim Uighurs are held in re-education camps. La Trobe University China expert James Leibold, a non-resident senior fellow with the ASPI, called for the government to provide specific assurances over the way the data would be used, stored and eventually deleted or transferred.
World
Coronavirus: Far-right spreads Covid-19 'infodemic' on Facebook
BBC
A co-investigation by BBC Click and the UK counter-extremism think-tank Institute of Strategic Dialogue, indicates how both extremist political and fringe medical communities have tried to exploit the pandemic online.
A Critical Internet Safeguard Is Running Out of Time
Wired
There's a pivotal scene in Ghostbusters in which Environmental Protection Agency inspector Walter Peck marches into the group's headquarters, armed with a cease and desist order. "Shut this off," Peck tells the utility worker accompanying him. "Shut this all off." They cut power to the Ghostbusters' protection grid, and all the ghosts are released. Think of Shadowserver as the internet's protection grid.
Apple, Google ban use of location tracking in contact tracing apps
Reuters
Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Monday said they would ban the use of location tracking in apps that use a new contact tracing system the two are building to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Australia
COVIDSafe draft legislation
Attorney-General's Department
We have developed draft legislation, the Privacy Amendment (Public Health Contact Information) Bill 2020, to support the COVIDSafe app and provide strong ongoing privacy protections.
COVIDSafe coronavirus contact-tracing app faces software bugs and lingering iPhone issues
ABC
@arielbogle
More than 3 million Australians have downloaded COVIDSafe, but concerns remain about the performance of the Federal Government's coronavirus contact-tracing app on iPhone and other software bugs.
Australia’s COVID-19 app is buggy, not yet operational
Risky.biz
The Australian Government has placed uptake of its COVID-19 contact tracing app front and centre of its strategy to walk back lockdown measures, despite mounting evidence it isn’t fit for purpose. However, according to multiple reports, the government’s COVIDSafe app is barely functional on iOS devices, state health authorities don’t yet have access to the contact tracing data it was designed to collect and the app is interfering with some Bluetooth-based medical devices.
Court to decide bail for cyber expert accused of record meth importation, with drugs hidden in speakers
ABC
@PercyKaren
Police have opposed bail for an IT expert accused of directing the importation of more than a billion dollars' worth of drugs into Australia, after prosecutors alleged he was part of a sophisticated plan of cyber coverup and stolen identities.
China
A Chinese propaganda video mocks America’s response to the coronavirus crisis
Quartz
@BelleTimsit
In the video, which has been viewed 1.6 million times on Twitter, a warrior representing China repeatedly warns the US (represented by a rather obnoxious Statue of Liberty) about the severity of the problem. The US dismisses the warnings, echoing conservative talking points about lockdowns as a violation of human rights (paywall), and later criticizes China for not warning it sooner.
A still from the Chinese government propaganda video mocking the United States. Source: Quartz
USA
Death of a Quantum Man
The Wire China
@shenlulushen
Stanford physics professor Zhang Shoucheng, a potential Nobel laureate, was among the first casualties of the U.S.-China trade war. But when the world loses a brilliant scientist, who really wins?
Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers
Vice
Tim Bray, a well known senior engineer and Vice President at Amazon has “quit in dismay” because Amazon has been “firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19.” In an open letter on his website, Bray, who has worked at the company for nearly six years, called the company “chickenshit” for firing and disparaging employees who have organized protests. He also said the firings are "designed to create a climate of fear."
Bye, Amazon | Tim Bray
South and Central Asia
World’s biggest 5G tower installed on Mount Everest using yaks to lug ‘controversial’ equipment up tracks
The Sun
Skyward ambitions to expand the controversial 5G network worldwide have literally gone high-tech, after yaks lugged eight tonnes of infrastructure up Mount Everest.
Middle East
Turkey Is The Middle East's Newest Drone Super Power
The National Interest
@daxe
Damascus’s forces lack the technology reliably to defeat attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles. Turkey might never develop its own stealth fighter, but the country has become a major user, and seller, of an entirely different class of warplane.
Misc
The Promise—and Risk—of a Career in TikTok
Vice
Keondra is 20 years old, lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, and until the coronavirus pandemic hit, worked as a cashier at the Midwestern hardware chain Menards. She also has more than 770,000 followers on TikTok as @Keondra.K.
CAM4 adult cam site exposes 11 million emails, private chats
Bleeping Computer
@serghei
Adult live streaming website CAM4 exposed over 7TB of personally identifiable information (PII) of members and users, stored within more than 10.88 billion database records.
Data security flaw exposes details of thousands of legal documents
Financial Times
A data security flaw has left more than 10,000 legal documents containing sensitive details of commercial property owners unsecured for years in an online database, potentially affecting the clients of about 190 law firms.
Covid hoaxes are using a loophole to stay alive—even after content is deleted
MIT Technology Review
@bostonjoan
Pandemic conspiracy theorists are using the Wayback Machine to promote “zombie content” that evades moderators and fact-checkers.