Australian senior general warns of spill-over conflict with China | Apple and EPIC battle for more control of the App economy | UK ups its counter-intelligence efforts

May 4, 2021

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One of the nation’s top military commanders told his troops that Beijing is already engaged in “grey zone” warfare against Australia and they must plan for the high likelihood this may spill over into actual conflict in the future. The Sydney Morning Herald
Apple and Epic Games, maker of the wildly popular game Fortnite, square off on Monday in a trial that could decide how much control Apple can exert over the app economy.The New York Times
Beijing’s massive state-backed effort to infiltrate British companies and research institutions in the race to develop key technologies is mostly not the stuff of traditional spying. And Britain has realized that its response needs to go well beyond the intelligence services. POLITICO

Australia

Conflict with China a ‘high likelihood’, says top Australian general
The Sydney Morning Herald
@ageinvestigates @Gallo_Ways
One of the nation’s top military commanders told his troops that Beijing is already engaged in “grey zone” warfare against Australia and they must plan for the high likelihood this may spill over into actual conflict in the future. Details of the April 2020 briefing have been obtained. They say General Findlay told his troops that, if the threat of conflict was realised, the ADF needed to rely not only on traditional air, land and sea capabilities but also on Australia’s ability to use cyber and space warfare..China had focussed on “political warfare” enabling it to be “achieving strategic affects without going kinetic,” he said. Political warfare involves a country realising its interests by using a range of covert and overt means short of actual war, including trade levers, intelligence operations, foreign interference, diplomacy, and cyber operations.

Why we should worry about the microchip crisis
The Australian
The international computer chip shortage is reaching a crisis point with cars, TVs, cameras, smartphones, 5G equipment and gaming consoles among goods in diminished supply.

Shut out, this is how the Australian media covers China
The Sydney Morning Herald
@erykbagshaw
In a year when China has never been more prominent across the Australian media landscape, the figures show the impact of having fewer correspondents on the ground and the effectiveness of the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda units. A single inflammatory tweet from Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian accusing Australia of war crimes received more prominent coverage in two weeks than Xinjiang received in six months.

China

China’s New Privacy Regulation Reforms Tech Giants Social Retail Scene
Forbes
@TiffanyLung
The increasing reliance on technology has raised alarms to China regulators, as they begin a rigorous sweep over the country’s largest technology companies over monopolistic actions, but also in data collection and fictitious advertising.

Smart TV maker under fire for ‘spying’ after user reveals data harvesting
South China Morning Post
@shenxinmei
Chinese television maker Skyworth has issued an apology after a consumer found that his set was quietly collecting a wide range of private data and sending it to a Beijing-based analytics company without his consent. A network traffic analysis revealed that a Skyworth smart TV scanned for other devices connected to the same local network every 10 minutes and gathered data that included device names, IP addresses, network latency and even the names of other Wi-Fi networks within range.

USA

New York Returns Its Police ‘Robodog’ After a Public Outcry
Wired
@sidneyfussell
City residents and elected officials pushed back after videos showed the Boston Dynamics robot in action.

Yahoo and AOL, Early Internet Pioneers, Are Sold to Private Equity Firm
The New York Times
@edmundlee @laurenshirsch
Verizon offloaded its media business to Apollo Global Management in a deal valued at $5 billion as the mobile phone giant focuses on building out its 5G network.

Oversight Board @OversightBoard

The Oversight Board will announce its decision on the case concerning former US President Trump on its website at oversightboard.com/news on May 5, 2021 at approximately 9:00 a.m. EDT.

News & Articles | Oversight BoardRead press releases and news about the Oversight Board’s work with Facebook and Instagram.oversightboard.com

North-East Asia

Taiwan accuses Beijing of waging economic war against tech sector
Al Jazeera
Taiwan’s government has accused China of waging economic warfare against the Chinese-claimed island’s technology sector by stealing intellectual property and enticing away engineers, as its parliament considers strengthening legislation to prevent such alleged activity.

Bao Choy @Baochoy

Removal of archival contents from RTHK YouTube channel has began. The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

RTHK gets rid of reporter Nabela Qoser
RTHK
RTHK has decided not to renew the contract of a journalist who incurred the wrath of pro-Beijing politicians and media during the social unrest of 2019.

UK

UK tools up against China’s intel gathering
POLITICO
@stuartklau
Beijing’s massive state-backed effort to infiltrate British companies and research institutions in the race to develop key technologies is mostly not the stuff of traditional spying. And Britain has realized that its response needs to go well beyond the intelligence services.

Russia

Chinese hackers targeting Russian nuclear submarine design firm with PortDoor malware
TEISS
Chinese hackers recently targeted a general director at the Rubin Design Bureau, a Russian defence contractor that designs nuclear submarines for the Russian Navy, using the PortDoor malware delivered via spear-phishing emails.

Misc

Apple and Epic Head to Court Over Their Slices of the App Pie
The New York Times
@jacknicas @eringriffith
Apple and Epic Games, maker of the wildly popular game Fortnite, square off on Monday in a trial that could decide how much control Apple can exert over the app economy.

Cybersecurity Ignorance Is Dangerous
Foreign Policy
@tarah
A new book gets the policy recommendations right while making technical errors that could undermine trust in its conclusions.

Research

Emerging Technologies and Russia’s Global Tool Kit
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
@AndrewSWeiss
Russia has long struggled to overcome its inability to retain talent for homegrown innovation and R&D. As a result, Russia’s global activism leans heavily on tried-and-true tactics.

Jobs

ICPC Analyst or Senior Analyst - Cyber & technology
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for an exceptional cyber-security or technology focused analyst or senior analyst to join its centre in 2021. Candidates must have the ability to synthesis complex cyber and technology developments and explain these developments to media and key stakeholders in plain language. The ability to engage with and brief seniors across parliaments, governments, civil society and the business community.

International Cyber Policy Centre – Program Coordinator
ASPI ICPC
The Coordinator’s primary focus will be the organisation and execution of ICPC’s sponsorship program. The Program Coordinator will work closely with internal and external stakeholders to maintain and develop these relationships. The coordinator will also support the Director and the Deputy Director with the coordination and delivery of ICPC's global research program. This will be a busy, fast-paced and varied role that would suit a highly organised and energetic individual who thinks and acts strategically.