China Appears to Warn India: Push Too Hard and the Lights Could Go Out | Far-Right Platform Gab Has Been Hacked | Israeli spyware firm NSO Group faces renewed US scrutiny
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As border skirmishing increased last year, malware began to flow into the Indian electric grid, a new study shows, and a blackout hit Mumbai. It now looks like a warning. The New York Times
On Sunday night the WikiLeaks-style group Distributed Denial of Secrets is revealing what it calls GabLeaks, a collection of more than 70 gigabytes of Gab data representing more than 40 million posts. DDoSecrets says a hacktivist who self-identifies as "JaXpArO and My Little Anonymous Revival Project" siphoned that data out of Gab's backend databases in an effort to expose the platform's largely right-wing users. Those Gab patrons, whose numbers have swelled after Parler went offline, include large numbers of Qanon conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, and promoters of former president Donald Trump's election-stealing conspiracies that resulted in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill. WIRED
NSO Group appears to be facing renewed scrutiny by the US Department of Justice months after leading technology companies said the spyware maker was “powerful and dangerous” and should be held liable to the country’s anti-hacking laws. The Guardian
World
China Appears to Warn India: Push Too Hard and the Lights Could Go Out
The New York Times
@SangerNYT @emilyschmall
As border skirmishing increased last year, malware began to flow into the Indian electric grid, a new study shows, and a blackout hit Mumbai. It now looks like a warning.
Mumbai power outage could have been cyber sabotage, says minister
Reuters
A power failure that crippled India’s financial capital of Mumbai in western Maharashtra state last year could have been a case of cyber sabotage, a local minister said on Monday, as China denied a report that it was behind the outage.
Australia
NSW Police technology to be propelled into 21st century in US partnership
The Sydney Morning Herald
@Laura_R_Chung
Police officers can spend hours sorting through different systems hunting for information about forensic exhibits, logging incident reports or checking someone’s criminal history. But a new partnership with an American technology company will propel the decades-old systems into the 21st century, making it faster, simpler and safer for officers responding to emergencies and investigating crimes.
Oxfam Australia data incident: update
Mirage News
Following an independent IT forensic investigation, Oxfam Australia announced today that it has found that supporters’ information on one of its databases was unlawfully accessed by an external party on 20 January 2021. The database includes information about supporters who may have signed a petition, taken part in a campaign or made donations or purchases through our former shops.
China
China Charges Ahead With a National Digital Currency
The New York Times
@nathanielpopper @caocli
The electronic Chinese yuan is now being tested in cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing. No other major power is as far along with a homegrown digital currency.
Read ASPI ICPC's report 'The flipside of China’s central bank digital currency' here.
USA
U.S. doubles down on protecting university research from China
Reuters
@leejane71 @DPsaledakis
A U.S. national security commission is recommending that American universities take steps to prevent sensitive technology from being stolen by the Chinese military, a sign of growing concerns over the security of academic research. The National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (NSCAI), led by former Google chairman Eric Schmidt, is set to vote Monday on its final report to Congress. A new section on university research was added to a recently published final draft, which also features numerous recommendations in areas including competition in artificial intelligence and the semiconductor supply chain.
Biden urged to back AI weapons to counter China and Russia threats
BBC News
@LeoKelion
The US and its allies should reject calls for a global ban on AI-powered autonomous weapons systems, according to an official report commissioned for the American President and Congress.
How Pro-Trump Forces Pushed a Lie About Antifa at the Capitol Riot
The New York Times
@grynbaum @daveyalba @reidepstein
On social media, on cable networks and even in the halls of Congress, supporters of Donald J. Trump tried to rewrite history in real time, pushing the fiction that left-wing agitators were to blame for the violence on Jan. 6.
Far-Right Platform Gab Has Been Hacked—Including Private Data
WIRED
@a_greenberg
On Sunday night the WikiLeaks-style group Distributed Denial of Secrets is revealing what it calls GabLeaks, a collection of more than 70 gigabytes of Gab data representing more than 40 million posts. DDoSecrets says a hacktivist who self-identifies as "JaXpArO and My Little Anonymous Revival Project" siphoned that data out of Gab's backend databases in an effort to expose the platform's largely right-wing users. Those Gab patrons, whose numbers have swelled after Parler went offline, include large numbers of Qanon conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, and promoters of former president Donald Trump's election-stealing conspiracies that resulted in the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
Clearview, Cameras, and Karen: Newly Released Documents expose facial recognition technologies used across Massachusetts
Data for Justice Project
@lauren_marietta
Today, the ACLU of Massachusetts published a repository of over 1,400 documents which paint a picture of how government agencies across Massachusetts have been using facial recognition technology in recent years. The repository catalogs the breadth of contexts in which the Massachusetts government has flirted with facial recognition, a dystopian technology that is dangerously inaccurate when used on faces with darker skin, feminine features, younger features, or older features.
Apple and Google lobbyists are swarming Arizona over a bill that would reform the app store
Protocol
@birnbaum_e
Arizona State Rep. Regina Cobb hadn't even formally introduced her app store legislation last month when Apple and Google started storming into the state to lobby against it.
Southeast Asia
Myanmar’s Military Deploys Digital Arsenal of Repression in Crackdown
The New York Times
@hkbeech
The generals who staged a coup last month use surveillance drones, iPhone cracking devices and hacking software, some of it from Western countries that bar sales of such technology to Myanmar.
Europe
EU doesn't have resources to fight disinformation from China
POLITICO
@laurenscerulus
The European Union's foreign service doesn't have the resources nor the authority to effectively counter hybrid attacks coming from China, its foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said today. ‘We don’t have the capacity’ to counter multiple disinformation campaigns.
Huawei and academic freedom
The Irish Times
According to your report, Mr Yangxu’s letter called for the Irish Government’s “full support in mitigating the damage that has been done”, so that it did not “contaminate” Ireland and Huawei’s collective future. We believe that this amounts to a direct threat to academic freedom of inquiry and comment in Ireland.
Russia
Russia suspects policeman in new data leak case over Navalny poisoning
Reuters
Russia has identified a policeman as a suspect in a criminal investigation into a flight data leak that could have been used to out jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's alleged poisoners, the Kommersant newspaper reported on Monday.
Middle East
Israeli spyware firm NSO Group faces renewed US scrutiny
The Guardian
@skirchy
NSO Group appears to be facing renewed scrutiny by the US Department of Justice months after leading technology companies said the spyware maker was “powerful and dangerous” and should be held liable to the country’s anti-hacking laws.
Gender and Women in Cyber
5 Women In Tech Championing Sustainable Change
Tatler Malaysia
@jocelynlandes
From a scientist developing the world’s first lab-grown seafood to a designer who turns plastic bottles into jackets, here are five women in tech who are working to create a sustainable world.
Misc
Taking on the tech giants: the lawyer fighting the power of algorithmic systems
The Guardian
@edwardsiddons
As the court battle rolls on, the fight against Facebook is entering new terrain. In late January, Foxglove secured a hearing with Ireland’s deputy prime minister, Leo Varadkar, so he could learn from moderators of the personal harm that policing the world’s news feed can cause. It is believed to be the first meeting of its kind anywhere in the world and, Crider hopes, the first step in demolishing the wall of silence, underwritten by stringent non-disclosure agreements, that holds tech workers back from collective action against their employers.
Hackers are finding ways to hide inside Apple’s walled garden
MIT Technology Review
@HowellONeill
The iPhone’s locked-down approach to security is spreading, but advanced hackers have found that higher barriers are great for avoiding capture.
Fears online safety law could censor all adult content and force sex workers off internet
The Guardian
@joshgnosis
“Fast-tracked” safety legislation regulating online content could censor all adult content online and force sex workers off the internet, sex workers and civil liberties groups have warned.
Is Your Browser Extension a Botnet Backdoor?
Krebs on Security
This story examines the lopsided economics of extension development, and why installing an extension can be such a risky proposition.
Events
ASPI Webinar: Are you ready for the new critical infrastructure law? | Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Thursday, March 18th 2021 - 4:00 PM (AEDT) With amendments to the Critical Infrastructure Act currently before parliament, impacted industry sectors are racing to get ready. ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to a panel discussion where representatives from Home Affairs, the cybersecurity sector and industry will discuss the impact of the changes and answer your questions.
Research
Countering cyber proliferation: Zeroing in on Access-as-a-Service
Atlantic Council
@ACScowcroft
The proliferation of offensive cyber capabilities (OCC)—the combination of tools; vulnerabilities; and skills, including technical, organizational, and individual capacities used to conduct offensive cyber operations—presents an expanding set of risks to states and challenges commitments to protect openness, security, and stability in cyberspace. As these capabilities become more prolific, their regulation through formal international norms and export controls is increasingly ineffective. Countering the spread of dangerous capabilities is not a new policy challenge, but its specific application to the cyber domain remains uncertain both in theory and in practice. Left unchecked, the continued proliferation of offensive capabilities could significantly damage the global economy, international security, and the values that the United States and its allies hold dear.