China says Cold War mentality hindering trust in cyberspace | Zuckerberg Says Facebook Won’t Police Political Speech | Bot-like Turkish accounts complement military operation in Syria
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A “Cold War mentality” and “bully behavior” are hindering mutual trust in cyberspace, China’s propaganda chief said on Sunday at the start of the World Internet Conference in the eastern Chinese town of Wuzhen. Reuters.
In an address at Georgetown University, the Facebook chief executive called for more free speech — not less — as his company has been assailed for allowing lies and falsehoods to appear. NYT.
As Turkish forces continued to bombard the Kurdish militia allied with the United States in its counter-Islamic State campaign in northeastern Syria, Turkish accounts waged a parallel hashtag campaign on Twitter: #BabyKillerPKK. DFR Lab.
ASPI ICPC
Engineering global consent: the Chinese Communist Party’s data-driven power expansion
ASPI ICPC
@He_Shumei
The Chinese party-state engages in data collection on a massive scale as a means of generating information to enhance state security—and, crucially, the political security of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—across multiple domains. The party-state intends to shape, manage and control its global operating environment so that public sentiment is favourable to its own interests. This report explains how the party-state’s tech-enhanced authoritarianism is expanding globally. The effort doesn’t always involve distinctly coercive and overtly invasive technology, such as surveillance cameras. In fact, it often relies on technologies that provide useful services.
Read Dr Samantha Hoffman’s accompanying article in The Strategist: Engineering global consent: the Chinese Communist Party’s data-driven power expansion
World
Equifax used 'admin' as username and password for sensitive data: lawsuit
Yahoo
@ewolffmann
Equifax (EFX) used the word “admin” as both password and username for a portal that contained sensitive information, according to a class action lawsuit filed in federal court in the Northern District of Georgia.
Australia
Queensland police gave serving officer permission to run rightwing gun blog
The Guardian
@BenSmee
A Queensland senior constable is the operator of the popular Ozzie Reviews site, which often criticises gun laws and posts far-right content.
What are we doing to protect hospitals from further cyber attacks?
The Age
@FitzherbertMJ
Earlier this month there was yet another cyber-attack on the health sector in Victoria and this time, regional public health providers were the target. The effect on patients was downplayed. We were assured that no emergency cases were affected and there was "no evidence" that private data had been accessed. We dodged a bullet, right? If only it were all that simple.
China
China's propaganda chief says Cold War mentality hindering mutual trust in cyberspace
Reuters
A “Cold War mentality” and “bully behavior” are hindering mutual trust in cyberspace, China’s propaganda chief said on Sunday at the start of the World Internet Conference in the eastern Chinese town of Wuzhen.
Huge Fan of Your Work: How TURBINE PANDA and China’s Top Spies Enabled Beijing to Cut Corners on the C919 Passenger Jet
Crowdstrike
This is Part I of a three-part blog series that will take a look at how Beijing used a mixture of cyber actors – sourced from China’s underground hacking scene, Ministry of State Security officers, company insiders, and state directives – to fill key technology and intelligence gaps in a bid to bolster production of dual-use turbine engines.
USA
Defiant Zuckerberg Says Facebook Won’t Police Political Speech
NYT
@ceciliakang @MikeIsaac
In an address at Georgetown University, the Facebook chief executive called for more free speech — not less — as his company has been assailed for allowing lies and falsehoods to appear.
Activision Blizzard under fire from bipartisan group of Congress members over China relations
WP
@genepark
A bipartisan group of United States Senators and Congress members is calling on Activision Blizzard to reconsider its decision to punish a Hong Kong Hearthstone player for his political speech during a live stream earlier this month.
Huawei in early talks with U.S. firms to license 5G platform - Huawei executive
Reuters
Blacklisted Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei is in early-stage talks with some U.S. telecoms companies about licensing its 5G network technology to them, a Huawei executive told Reuters on Friday.
US stopped using floppy disks to manage nuclear weapons arsenal
ZD Net
@campuscodi
US Air Force switches to secure solid-state-based solution to replace antiquated floppy disks in SACCS nuclear weapons management system.
Microsoft Tackles Election Security with Bug Bounties
Threat Post
@wirelesswench
As the 2020 presidential election draws closer and primary season looms around the corner, Microsoft has launched a bug-bounty program specifically aimed at its ElectionGuard product, which the software giant has positioned as performing “end-to-end verification of elections.”
Europe
Why Germany’s Huawei move irks more than just Washington
Politico
Germany is coming under fire for what critics say is a toothless move on tech regulation that opens it up to Chinese hacking.
Norwegian Newspaper Website Taken Offline After Content Hack
Forbes
Dagbladet, one of Norway’s best-selling newspapers, was forced to take its popular website offline for a few hours last week as suspected hackers inserted false stories and quotes, including a pro-pedophilia comment attributed to Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg. One person has been arrested.
Tweet from Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs exposing a hack.
Cyberattacks on Lithuanian news websites led to fake news
Xinhua
Lithuania's National Cyber Security Center (NKSC) said on Thursday five Lithuanian news websites had published fake news reports on military exercise in Lithuania following cyberattacks.
Canada
Is Beijing sticking its nose into the election campaign in Markham?
Macleans
@kolga
Recent reports have exposed efforts to target this community with false narratives about illegal immigration and government plans to legalize hard drugs, which have been promoted in Chinese-language local Conservative campaign material, Facebook ads and on the popular Chinese social media platform WeChat.
Middle East
Bot-like Turkish accounts complement military operation in Syria
DFR Lab
@DFRLab
As Turkish forces continued to bombard the Kurdish militia allied with the United States in its counter-Islamic State campaign in northeastern Syria, Turkish accounts waged a parallel hashtag campaign on Twitter: #BabyKillerPKK.
Misc.
Vatican's wearable rosary gets fix for app flaw allowing easy hacks
CNet
@alfredwkng
The road to internet-connected salvation is paved with cybersecurity issues. The Vatican discovered that Thursday, after a security researcher disclosed a severe vulnerability with the "Click to Pray" eRosary app.
Fleecing the onion: Darknet shoppers swindled out of bitcoins via trojanized Tor Browser
ESET
ESET researchers discover a trojanized Tor Browser distributed by cybercriminals to steal bitcoins from darknet market buyers.
Events
Cyber Security Hypothetical – Panel
UNSW
We invite you to join us on 22 October, in challenging paradigms and provoking discussion around this important topic that impacts and targets us all. Cyber Security Hypothetical will be led and moderated by Mr Steve Wilson and panellists will include MAJGEN Marcus Thompson, Professor Michael Frater, Mr Alastair MacGibbon, Ms Kate Carruthers and Mr Justin Warren.
The rise of information warfare: in-conversation with Peter W. Singer
ASPI ICPC
This event for 29 October is SOLD OUT but you can watch a livestream on the ASPI facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ASPI.org/ - ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre invites you to an in-conversation with Peter W. Singer and Danielle Cave to consider the rise of information warfare. Peter Warren Singer is strategist and senior fellow at New America. He has been named by the Smithsonian as one of the nation’s 100 leading innovators, by Defense News as one of the 100 most influential people in defense issues, by Foreign Policy to their Top 100 Global Thinkers List, and as an official “Mad Scientist” for the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command. A drinks and canapes reception will conclude the event. This event is kindly supported by Microsoft.