Biden will discuss recent cyber attack on meat producer with Putin in Geneva | Nine’s cyber attacker was poised to hit two other organisations | Huawei operating system coming to smartphones in Asia
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The White House says President Joe Biden will address the recent ransomware attack on a meat producer and the increased threat of cyber attacks while meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month in Geneva. On Tuesday, the White House disclosed that JBS, a meat processing company, was a victim of a ransomware attack that the Biden administration has said came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia. CNN
Australia’s cyber troops have not hit back at the criminal group responsible for the cyber attack on the Nine Network but they were able to warn two other entities they were about to become victims of a similar onslaught. Labor’s Tim Watts wants the government and Australian cyber security services to go after ransomware crews, likening them to modern-day pirates. The Sydney Morning Herald
An update of HarmonyOS, the operating system developed by Huawei, means it will now be installed in a wider range of products, including its smartphones. It is due to roll out across Asia following a launch event on 2 June. BBC News
ASPI ICPC
What is a deep fake?
The Sydney Morning Herald
@TimBiggs & Robert Moran
However, Jacob Wallis, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, says synthetic media doesn't need to hit the worst-case scenario of presidential deep fakes to be a cause for concern. "There are much lower-threshold-level applications in play already that are integrated into influence operations and different disinformation that is currently rippling across social media environments," he says. "Synthetic media covers the full gamut of the kind of media landscape that we engage with when we're online: text, audio, images, video."
Read more on ASPI ICPC’s research about weaponised deep fakes here.
How to bring Indigenous expertise and experience into Defence and the digital economy
The Strategist
@HuonCurtis @DarkiesDesign @KhweziSays @MatthewRPage
Indigenous perspectives are rarely foregrounded in national policy debates. Australia has a long history of imposing solutions on First Nations communities and expecting increased economic participation and social inclusion to follow. This is a domain of quick fixes that more often reinforce historical injustice, rather than engage in the long-term project of listening to and being led by Australia’s diverse First Nations communities. To help address this gap on the digital and defence policy front, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre IndigiCyber, Defence and Space program is launching ‘IndigiCyber Conversations’, a thought leadership series of podcasts, articles and interviews.
World
Contested domain: UN cybercrime resolution stumbles out of the gate
Global Initiative
Summer Walker
On 26 May 2021, a resolution on cybercrime was voted through the United Nations General Assembly. This resolution was mainly organizational, determining the rules and process to debate and possibly draft a treaty ‘on countering the use of information and communications technologies for criminal purposes’, but was subject to strong disagreement among member states, with serious doubt as to whether progress was possible.
Australia
Nine’s cyber attacker was poised to hit two other organisations
The Sydney Morning Herald
@katinacurtis
Australia’s cyber troops have not hit back at the criminal group responsible for the cyber attack on the Nine Network but they were able to warn two other entities they were about to become victims of a similar onslaught. Labor’s Tim Watts wants the government and Australian cyber security services to go after ransomware crews, likening them to modern-day pirates.
My worst fear': Police gave domestic violence victim's phone data to her attacker
ABC News
@hagarco @RaveenHunjan
New South Wales Police handed a domestic violence victim's entire phone data to her perpetrator, a man who is also a senior member of an outlaw motorcycle gang, in a case which legal experts say could amount to serious misconduct. The phone data included passwords, locations captured by GPS, 11 years' worth of photos and videos, personal diary notes and details of clandestine domestic violence services. Police handed the information to the perpetrator, a man with over a dozen previous domestic violence-related charges, by mistake among other documents which he requested to defend his case in court.
Russia under fire as cyber attack leaves 7000 out of work
Australian Financial Review
@BradThompson26 @dmaguz
Former foreign minister Stephen Smith says criminals have picked up the technology previously used by state-sponsored groups for political no good and are using it in ransomware attacks like the one on JBS Foods.
FBI investigating JBS cyber attack that disrupted Australian meat and livestock industry
ABC News
The FBI is investigating a ransomware attack against Brazil's JBS that has disrupted meat production in Australia and North America. JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, said the attack originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia and had caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday and stopped livestock slaughter at its plants in several US states.
RBA to step up cyber resilience with new identity and access management system
ZDNet
@achanthadavong
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it is looking to modernise its identity and access management (IDAM) capabilities by introducing more automated controls to its existing platform.The RBA explained it currently relies heavily on a mix of manual and automated processed to enforce bank controls but believes a new IDAM environment would help "futureproof" the bank, reduce the risk of unauthorised data access, and support staff with the delivery of normal operational activities.
China
Huawei operating system coming to smartphones in Asia
BBC News
@zsk
An update of HarmonyOS, the operating system developed by Huawei, means it will now be installed in a wider range of products, including its smartphones. It is due to roll out across Asia following a launch event on 2 June.
China ousts Taiwan as Apple's biggest source of suppliers
Nikkei Asia
China now boasts more Apple suppliers than any other country, a sign that Washington's attempt to untangle U.S. and Chinese supply chains has had little impact on the world's most valuable tech company.
Why China’s Most-Hated Internet Company Decided to Play Nice
The New York Times
@LiYuan6
Tencent’s popularity may help it avoid trouble with Beijing. But its vast power could still squelch innovation in the world’s largest online market.
USA
Biden will discuss recent cyber attack on meat producer with Putin in Geneva
CNN
@maeganvaz @AlliemalCNN
The White House says President Joe Biden will address the recent ransomware attack on a meat producer and the increased threat of cyber attacks while meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month in Geneva. On Tuesday, the White House disclosed that JBS, a meat processing company, was a victim of a ransomware attack that the Biden administration has said came from a criminal organization likely based in Russia.
QAnon Has a Disturbing Takeover Plot to ‘Eliminate’ Elected Officials
VICE News
@daithaigilbert
A known grifter and QAnon supporter who claims she can time-travel has amassed an army of thousands of loyal followers to carry out a plot to oust elected officials across the country and replace them with QAnon believers—and she’s using game-streaming platform Twitch to do it.
Trump is echoing his QAnon-connected orbit of advisers when he claims he’ll be reinstated as president
Media Matters
@AlKapDC
Former President Donald Trump reportedly believes that he will somehow return to office in the coming months, a belief that fits with claims from supporters of the QAnon conspiracy theory and far-right message boards. And it appears to have come through his QAnon-connected orbit of advisers who have egged on his voter fraud grievances and who continue to suggest Trump can and should be reinstalled into office based on those false claims.
Can Congress mandate meaningful transparency for tech platforms?
Brookings
@carlymil
When it comes to mitigating online harms, the U.S. Congress is at least united on one point: There is a need for greater transparency from tech companies. But amid debate over how to reform the liability protections of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the exact shape of proposals to mandate transparency remains uncertain at best.
Amazon US customers have one week to opt out of mass wireless sharing
The Guardian
@alexhern
Amazon customers have one week to opt out of a plan that would turn every Echo speaker and Ring security camera in the US into a shared wireless network, as part of the company’s plan to fix connection problems for its smart home devices.
Trump blog page shuts down for good
CNBC
@KevinWilliamB
Former President Donald Trump’s blog — a webpage where he shared statements after larger social media companies banned him from their platforms — has been permanently shut down, his spokesman said Wednesday. The page “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” has been scrubbed from Trump’s website after going live less than a month earlier. It “will not be returning,” his senior aide Jason Miller told CNBC.
The Boogaloo Movement, Coded Communication and the Need for Context-Based Moderation
Global Network on Extremism & Technology
From the political fringes to the front pages, the Boogaloo Boys were thrust into the national spotlight last year. But what do they actually believe in, how do they communicate, and how does this manifest online? Storyful dives into how we got here, and why context is key in online moderation.
State to gather diplomats’ health details in response to Havana syndrome
Politico
@woodruffbets
The State Department is rolling out a voluntary new program to gather diplomats’ baseline health information before they head to overseas posts, according to a State Department cable reviewed by POLITICO. It’s part of the department’s response to a wave of mysterious injuries that have harmed scores of U.S. officials in recent years — known as “Havana syndrome.”
Ex-US ambassador, anti-corruption activists in Ukraine were targets of suspected Russian phishing
CyberScoop
@snlyngaas
An ex-U.S. ambassador to Russia, anti-corruption activists in Ukraine and election observers in other parts of Eastern Europe were among the apparent targets of a suspected Russian state-sponsored hacking effort, according to data linked to the spying operation that a researcher shared with CyberScoop.
The M.T.A. Is Breached by Hackers as Cyberattacks Surge
The New York Times
@cegoldbaum @WRashbaum
A hacking group believed to have links to the Chinese government penetrated the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s computer systems in April, exposing vulnerabilities in a vast transportation network that carries millions of people every day, according to an M.T.A. document that outlined the breach.
North-East Asia
TSMC starts construction of $12bn Arizona chip plant
Nikkei Asia
Cheng Ting-Fang & Lauly Li
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has started building a $12 billion chipmaking plant in Arizona, the company said on Wednesday, bolstering Washington's aim of strengthening the American chipmaking industry. The factory will be TSMC's first in the U.S. in two decades and is set to begin production by 2024. The Taiwanese company is the world's biggest contract chipmaker and an important supplier to Apple and Google.
South-East Asia
Why digital literacy matters for Indonesia
Asia & Pacific Policy Society
@Angga_fts
Indonesia’s low ranking in a Digital Civility Index released by Microsoft shows that its government must do more to develop its citizens’ digital literacy, Angga Priancha writes. In March, an Indonesian badminton team was forced to withdraw from the All England 2021 Championship, sparking frustration that flamed into rage online in Indonesia. This led to The Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s social media accounts being attacked by dozens of comments from Indonesian citizens.
South and Central Asia
India’s CoWin vaccine booking system is a nightmare
WIRED
@VarshaaBansal
As India has scrambled to curtail its devastating second wave of Covid-19, which has seen the country move past 300,000 officially recorded pandemic-related deaths, its drive to vaccinate people has gone digital. The government has opened up the API of its vaccine booking technology – CoWin – to everyone to help create tools that automate searching for a vacant vaccine slot. But the result of combining India’s low digital literacy and unequal access to the internet with vaccine shortages has created chaos. Profiteers are using bots and writing code to book vaccine slots and charging people to do so. The chances of getting a vaccine have been tilted in the favour of the rich, the educated and tech-savvy.
Europe
European online activists target 'cookie banner terror'
DW
Online privacy activists are challenging websites that don't offer a simple "yes or no" choice on allowing "cookies," trying to encourage users to agree to their activity being tracked. The Austria-based NOYB "None of Your Business" group on Monday said it was lodging draft complaints against hundreds of websites for their use of pop-up banners.
Africa
Military drones may have attacked humans for first time without being instructed to, UN report says
The Independent
@Social3uScience
A military drone may have autonomously attacked humans for the first time without being instructed to do so, according to a recent report by the UN Security Council. The report, published in March, claimed that the AI drone – Kargu-2 quadcopter – produced by Turkish military tech company STM, attacked retreating soldiers loyal to Libyan General Khalifa Haftar
Misc
Amazon’s Cost Saving Routing Algorithm Makes Drivers Walk Into Traffic
VICE News
@LaurenKGurley
An Amazon dispatcher whose job it is to monitor Amazon delivery drivers' progress on their routes using GPS on the Flex app said sometimes group stops on the Flex app are so spread out—with houses a quarter mile apart—that it takes 15 minutes to run up and down and back and forth across streets to make the deliveries.
More Content Moderation Is Not Always Better
WIRED
@evelyndouek
Content moderation is eating the world. Platforms’ rule-sets are exploding, their services are peppered with labels, and tens of thousands of users are given the boot in regular fell swoops. No platform is immune from demands that it step in and impose guardrails on user-generated content. This trend is not new, but the unique circumstances of a global public health emergency and the pressure around the US 2020 election put it into overdrive. Now, as parts of the world start to emerge from the pandemic, and the internet’s troll in chief is relegated to a little-visited blog, the question is whether the past year has been the start of the tumble down the dreaded slippery content moderation slope or a state of exception that will come to an end.
Inside The ‘World’s Largest’ Video Game Cheating Empire
VICE News
@lorenzofb
The cheat-making group known as "Chicken Drumstick" made more than $70 million selling cheats for PUBG Mobile. This is the story of its rise and fall.
Events
An Australian strategy for the quantum revolution
ASPI
ASPI is delighted to invite you to the hybrid event ‘An Australian Strategy for the quantum revolution’ to be held in person in Canberra and streamed online via Livestorm on Thursday 3 June at 5.30pm. A new report by ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre – ‘An Australian strategy for the quantum revolution’ – argues Australia needs a clear quantum strategy with strong political leadership and an organised effort of policy focus and public investment. It also recognises that quantum is just one among a number of critical technologies and that a step change is needed in Australia’s policy settings related to critical and emerging technologies generally. Without this coordinated effort, Australia will be left behind. Join report authors Professor Gavin Brennen, Simon Devitt, Tara Roberson and Peter Rohde, and ASPI’s Danielle Cave for a one-hour panel discussion on the report’s findings, Australia’s competitive advantage in quantum and how we can better leverage the quantum revolution including across the research sector and the national security, defence and intelligence community.
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. Please note that interviews have commenced for this position and will continue until the end of June. This role will focus on policy relevant cybersecurity analysis, informed public commentary and either original data-heavy research and/or technical analysis. Analysts usually have around 7-15 years work experience. Senior analysts usually have a minimum of 15 years relevant work experience and tend to be involved in staff and project management, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.