Chilling video shows Chinese police transferring prisoners | Facebook suspends tens of thousands of apps amid privacy investigation | Congress Asks over 80 Companies for Big Tech Complaints
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Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs has described chilling drone footage published online appearing to show hundreds of blindfolded and shackled men in China as “deeply disturbing”... [ASPI ICPC researcher Nathan] Ruser, who posted his analysis on Twitter, identified the location of the video as Bayingol, Xinjiang, but believes it was actually filmed around August 20 last year. “International warrants have been granted to prosecutors on the basis of social media videos which have been verified in such a manner,” he wrote. News.com.au.
Facebook has suspended tens of thousands of apps from the platform for privacy reasons, it announced in a blogpost on Friday. The removals come as part of an ongoing investigation into how developers use data, which the company started after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March 2018. The news also reveals that the platform is home to more problematic apps than previously thought. The Guardian.
House lawmakers have asked more than 80 companies for information about how their businesses may have been harmed by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, according to four people familiar with the requests. New York Times.
ASPI ICPC
Australia's Cyber Strategy, version 2.0
ASPI ICPC
Back in 2016, Australia launched its first national cybersecurity strategy. The strategy covers a four-year period to 2020, and given the changes in the security environment, an update is now clearly warranted. To that end, the government has just launched a discussion paper to kick off the public consultation. The closing date for submissions on the discussion paper is 1 November.To complement the public submission process, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre is initiating a public debate on what should be included in the next cybersecurity strategy. Contributions will be compiled into a report that we will deliver to the Department of Home Affairs to inform the strategy’s development.
ASPI ICPC
Chilling video shows Chinese police transferring hundreds of blindfolded, shackled prisoners
News.com
@nrg8000
Nathan Ruser, a researcher with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre who has previously analysed satellite data to map China’s “re-education” camps, also believes the footage is genuine. Mr Ruser, who posted his analysis on Twitter, identified the location of the video as Bayingol, Xinjiang, but believes it was actually filmed around August 20 last year. “International warrants have been granted to prosecutors on the basis of social media videos which have been verified in such a manner,” he wrote.
Beijing passport detail fears
The Australian
ASPI ICPC Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Alex Joske said it was “deeply inappropriate and concerning” that attendees were required to hand over personal information. “Passport and social media account details should be irrelevant for attending a cultural event. It’s unlikely that the association has systems to protect the data they are collecting. “The association’s documented links to the Chinese embassy mean we should be asking whether this information will be provided to the Chinese government.”
China’s Big Brother Targets Business
NYT
@he_shumei
China hopes it will someday become a nationwide regulatory tool, harnessing the country’s growing skills in big data and automation, to help the Communist Party keep the business world in line. “It’s supposed to affect the decision making of businesses to conform to what the party wants,” said Samantha Hoffman, a fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think tank.. But companies have little recourse if the data is inaccurate or punishments disproportionately disruptive, experts say.
World
Facebook suspends tens of thousands of apps amid privacy investigation
The Guardian
@kari_paul
Facebook has suspended tens of thousands of apps from the platform for privacy reasons, it announced in a blogpost on Friday. The removals come as part of an ongoing investigation into how developers use data, which the company started after the Cambridge Analytica scandal in March 2018. The news also reveals that the platform is home to more problematic apps than previously thought.
Australia
Labor calls for Facebook investigation after 'death tax' election campaign
The Guardian
@murpharoo
Labor has urged the joint standing committee on electoral matters to investigate whether the digital behemoths are having a negative impact on Australian democracy after Facebook refused to take down fake news about the “death tax” circulating during the May election.
Millions of Australians' sensitive medical images, data left openly accessible
IT News
German security researchers scanning the internet have found hundreds of millions of sensitive medical images being easily accesible on unprotected servers worldwide, including around 2.6 million in Australia.
Climate strikes: hoax photo accusing Australian protesters of leaving rubbish behind goes viral
The Guardian
@naamanzhou
A hoax photo that claims to show rubbish left behind by Australian climate strike protesters is circulating on Facebook, despite being revealed as fake months ago.
Cyber security leaders seek solutions for 'dire' skills shortage
ABC
@GavinCoote
Cyber security experts are warning that Australia is losing the battle to upskill the workforce to prevent growing cyber threats. They're meeting in Sydney to discuss ways to tackle a dire skills shortage, and popular culture has emerged as a popular tool for attracting young people into science and technology.
China
How did a Chinese APT get a U.S. hacking tool before it was leaked? Check Point has a theory.
Cyber Scoop
@shanvav
A Chinese hacking group that has been using tools linked with the National Security Agency might have obtained at least one without breaching NSA systems, according to researchers at cybersecurity company Check Point.
Hong Kong protests: police use court orders to obtain protesters’ digital fare payment details in another weekend of petrol bombs, tear gas and fires on the streets
SCMP
Hong Kong police have used court orders to obtain digital fare payment details and CCTV camera footage of anti-government protesters from the city’s largest bus company, according to sources.
USA
Congress Asks More than 80 Companies for Big Tech Complaints
NYT
@jacknicas
House lawmakers have asked more than 80 companies for information about how their businesses may have been harmed by Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, according to four people familiar with the requests.
Analysis | The Cybersecurity 202: Lawmakers want to bring back top White House cybersecurity post
Washington Post
With a new official set to take the reins of the Trump White House’s national security strategy, some Democratic lawmakers are pushing for cybersecurity to get more top-level attention.. By eliminating the cybersecurity coordinator’s job while the government is struggling to repel Russian efforts to hack the 2020 election, Chinese theft of American companies’ intellectual property and a surge in private-sector data breaches, Bolton and Trump left the nation dangerously underprotected, the lawmakers said.
The NSA Is Running a Satellite Hacking Experiment
Defense One
@DefTechPat
Researchers at the National Security Agency are using artificial intelligence to characterize strange behaviors in small satellites to understand if they’ve secretly been brought under adversarial control.
Air Force unveils information warfare outfit amid U.S. effort to go on offense in cyberspace
Cyber Scoop
@shanvav
After months of planning, the U.S. Air Force announced it is creating a new information warfare body, an official step that aims to bolster the military’s digital warfare capabilities.
Asia
Malaysia open to Huawei for 5G equipment, authority chief says
Nikkei Asian Review
Malaysia has no objection to China's Huawei Technologies participating in the country's 5G network rollout, as Western countries continue to make accusations that the company's equipment could facilitate data leaks to Beijing.
UK
Artificial intelligence being used in schools to detect self-harm and bullying
Sky
@rowlsmanthorpe
One of England's biggest academy chains is testing pupils' mental health using an AI (artificial intelligence) tool which can predict self-harm, drug abuse and eating disorders, Sky News can reveal.
Europe
Germany warns of 5G attacks by ‘nation states’ in veiled criticism of Beijing and Huawei
SCMP
@stuartlauscmp
Germany, in what European diplomats on Thursday called veiled criticism of Beijing and Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies, warned of cybersecurity attacks that could be launched by “nation states or nation state-backed actors” on future 5G networks within the European Union.
Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior in Spain
Facebook
Today, we removed 65 Facebook accounts and 35 Instagram accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior as part of a domestic-focused network in Spain.
Europe's China telecoms gear ban would cost industry $3.5 billion: report
Reuters
@virki
Replacing Chinese telecoms equipment would cost European telecom operators about $3.5 billion, a report by industry research firm Strand Consult predicted on Friday, far lower than the figure a lobby group came up with.
Russia
The information nation: A Kremlin-managed research center is selling services that can deanonymize anyone in Russia
Meduza
@meduza_en
The Russian Presidential Affairs Department’s Scientific Research Computing Center develops systems to monitor and deanonymize social-media users, and it sells these systems to government and private clients alike.
Disgraced ex-Kaspersky guy made me do it, says bloke in Russian court on hacking charges
The Register
@gazthejourno
An accused Russian hacker has claimed Kaspersky's former head of investigations blackmailed him into stealing approximately £150,000 from local banks.
Misc.
Google claims to have reached quantum supremacy
FT
Google claims to have built the first quantum computer that can carry out calculations beyond the ability of today’s most powerful supercomputers, a landmark moment that has been hotly anticipated by researchers. A paper by Google’s researchers seen by the FT, that was briefly posted earlier this week on a Nasa website before being removed, claimed that their processor was able to perform a calculation in three minutes and 20 seconds that would take today’s most advanced classical computer, known as Summit, approximately 10,000 years.
It’s Scarily Easy To Track Someone Around A City Via Their Instagram Stories
Buzzfeed News
@meghara
By cross-referencing just one hour of footage from public webcams with stories taken in Times Square, BuzzFeed News confirmed the full identities of a half dozen people.
Research
Source Hacking: Media Manipulation in Practice
Data and Society
@bostonjoan
Across eight case studies, we identify the underlying techniques of source hacking to provide journalists, news organizations, platform com-panies, and others with a new vocabulary for describing these tactics, so that terms such as “trolling” and “trending” do not stand in for concerted efforts to pollute the information environment.
Events
The Digital Revolution in the Pacific
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre warmly invites you to attend a panel discussion to consider how governments and businesses in the Pacific Islands are reaping the benefits and tackling the challenges stemming from increased internet and mobile connectivity.
NetThing – the Aussie internet governance forum renewed
NetThing
NetThing – the Aussie internet governance forum renewed. On 28 October, NetThing is taking place at UTS Sydney. NetThing is an annual forum to strengthen Australia’s Internet community and consists of robust Australia-based Internet policy exploration and discussion. Anyone with an interest is encouraged to join and engage in the panels and workshops.
Jobs
Research Fellow In Cyber Security (Threats And Risks)
Charles Sturt University
High profile role to help develop Australian capability in cyber security
Focus on law, criminology and policy
Unique opportunity to engage with cyber security researchers The Role Fixed Term (up to 2 years), Full Time AU$96,178 to AU$114,117 pa (plus 17% superannuation) Wagga Wagga
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