China Tightens Tech Export Rules Amid TikTok Talks | Russian Hacker Offered Tesla Employee $1 Million to Plant Malware at factory | Belarusian Officials Shut Down Internet With Technology Made by U.S.
Follow us on Twitter. The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cyber, critical technologies & strategic issues like foreign interference.
China announced new restrictions on artificial-intelligence technology exports that could further complicate the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, while intensifying the tech battle between the world’s two largest economies. The new restrictions, unveiled Friday by China’s ministries in charge of commerce and science and technology, cover such computing and data-processing technologies as text analysis, content recommendation, speech modeling and voice-recognition. The Wall Street Journal
A Russian hacker has been charged with offering a $1 million bribe to a Tesla employee to smuggle malware into the company’s Gigafactory in Nevada. Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, tried to convince the unnamed employee to plant the malware in Tesla’s computer system so that he and his unknown co-conspirators could launch a distributed denial of service (DDOS) ransomware attack on the business. Computer Business Review
The government of Belarus shut down access to much of the internet during a crucial election this month by using equipment manufactured by a U.S. company to block people's access to thousands of websites, according to two people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg
ASPI ICPC
China’s influence on our campuses
The Saturday Paper
@louisabokchoi
There is an online portal, known as the CCP’s Cyberspace Administration portal, which is used to report students and dissenters to the CCP authorities. The portal is used both within China and abroad to report anything disagreeable to China’s government, from pornography to fraud to individuals who don’t toe the party line. According to Mark, the site is being used in Australia, too. “During the UNSW incident, there was one pro-democracy student in the Chinese group chat. The pro-CCP students said they have reported his speech to the portal,” he says. “This is terrifying.”
ASPI Podcast: Understanding right-wing extremism, China’s talent-recruitment & Covid-19 vaccine disinformation
Policy, Guns & Money
Danielle Cave, Deputy Director of ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC), speaks to Analyst Alex Joske about his recent report ‘Hunting the Phoenix: The Chinese Communist Party’s global search for technology and talent’ on China’s global talent-recruitment programs. They talk about the scale of the programs and how governments can shape their policy responses.
Australia
‘More organised, sophisticated and security conscious than before': Right-wing extremist threat growing
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation has been increasingly focused on right-wing extremism for a number of years, including the possibility of extremists being inspired by killers such as the Christchurch gunman. The problem is being fuelled by online forums allowing people on the far-right to make quick and easy connections with like-minded individuals around the world, which ASIO believes has created a toxic peer environment in which acts of violence based on extreme right-wing ideologies are "encouraged, glorified and promoted".
Morrison government to hold inquiry into secretive uni deals with China
The Australian
The Morrison government will launch an inquiry into foreign interference in Australian universities and how Beijing has recruited academics to a secretive program that paid lucrative salaries and allowed research to be patented in China… “Special focus should be given to options that reduce technological and knowledge transfer from Australia that may be detrimental to our national interests, while not undermining international productive research collaboration.”
Read Alex Joske’s ICPC report Hunting the Phoenix here.
Defence concerns about TikTok should take ADF families into account
ASPI Strategist
Focusing only on social media use by serving members disregards another crucial cohort—families and loved ones. Connecting on social media is critical for the health and wellbeing of military families, but it can expose Defence to security risks. Defence needs to do more to assist families in mitigating those risks.
China
China's efforts to cut food waste put dinner tables under the government's watchful eye
CNN
A call from Beijing to reduce food waste has sent officials and businesses scrambling to find ways to stop people from ordering too much, and in some extreme cases put meal times under surveillance.
China is building a GitHub alternative called Gitee
TechCrunch
The technological decoupling between the U.S. and China has been a boon to Chinese firms — from chipmakers for smartphones and electric vehicles through to software — that are the backbones of millions of businesses’ daily operations.
USA
China Tightens Tech Export Rules Amid TikTok Talks
The Wall Street Journal
China announced new restrictions on artificial-intelligence technology exports that could further complicate the sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations, while intensifying the tech battle between the world’s two largest economies. The new restrictions, unveiled Friday by China’s ministries in charge of commerce and science and technology, cover such computing and data-processing technologies as text analysis, content recommendation, speech modeling and voice-recognition.
TikTok Deal Is Complicated by New Rules From China Over Tech Exports The New York Times
A Russian Hacker Offered Tesla Employee $1 Million to Plant Malware at Company’s Gigafactory
Computer Business Review
A Russian hacker has been charged with offering a $1 million bribe to a Tesla employee to smuggle malware into the company’s Gigafactory in Nevada. Egor Igorevich Kriuchkov, 27, tried to convince the unnamed employee to plant the malware in Tesla’s computer system so that he and his unknown co-conspirators could launch a distributed denial of service (DDOS) ransomware attack on the business.
Facebook Employees Are Outraged At Mark Zuckerberg's Explanations Of How It Handled The Kenosha Violence
Buzzfeed News
Following days of violence and civil unrest, Facebook employees wonder if their company is doing enough to stifle militia and QAnon groups stoking violence on the social network.
Twitter Is Letting People Threaten Joe Biden's Cybersecurity Expert
Vice
The social media platform says publishing a Google Street View picture of Biden’s cybersecurity expert’s home is not a violation of its anti-doxing and harassment policies.
Elon Musk shows Neuralink brain implant working in a pig
CNet
With a device surgically implanted into the skull of a pig named Gertrude, Elon Musk demonstrated his startup Neuralink's technology to build a digital link between brains and computers. A wireless link from the Neuralink computing device showed the pig's brain activity as it snuffled around a pen on stage Friday night.
New Zealand
Spooks called in as cyberattacks again halt NZ stock exchange
Yahoo News
New Zealand's spy agency has been brought in to help fight back against cyberattacks that crippled the country's stock exchange for a fourth straight day on Friday.
India
Facebook Executive Supported India’s Modi, Disparaged Opposition in Internal Messages
The Wall Street Journal
A Facebook executive in India made internal postings supporting the now ruling Hindu nationalist party and disparaging its main rival, which some staff saw as conflicting with the company’s neutrality pledge.
Europe
Belarusian Officials Shut Down Internet With Technology Made by U.S. Firm
Bloomberg
The government of Belarus shut down access to much of the internet during a crucial election this month by using equipment manufactured by a U.S. company to block people's access to thousands of websites, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Misc
Rage Against the Algorithm: the Risks of Overestimating Military Artificial Intelligence
Chatham House
Increasing dependency on artificial intelligence (AI) for military technologies is inevitable and efforts to develop these technologies to use in the battlefield is proceeding apace, however, developers and end-users must ensure the reliability of these technologies, writes Yasmin Afina.
Big Tech Embraces New Cold War Nationalism
Foreign Policy
China’s rise has pushed Silicon Valley away from the values it once claimed to hold.
Can AI Solve the Rare Earths Problem? Chinese and U.S. Researchers Think So
Defense One
A joint U.S.-Chinese research team has shown that artificial intelligence can help find potent new combinations of materials to replace rare earth metals that are key to military technology.
Research
China's Use of AI in its COVID-19 Response - Center for Security and Emerging Technology
Center for Security and Emerging Technology
The current global pandemic has given China a chance to amplify its efforts to apply artificial intelligence across the public and private spheres. Chinese companies are developing and retooling AI systems for control and prevention. This data brief assesses the types of AI technologies used to fight COVID-19 and the key players involved in this industry.
Events
Sydney Kids SecuriDay 2020
Humanitix
Sydney Kids SecuriDay is defaulting to digital delivery and is on November 14th with a stack of fun security talks, workshops, competitions and games planned! We're all about introducing youth to security, and its importance in their everyday lives. This event is for children (aged 6 to 16) and their parents/guardians. We aim to reach people from all areas of the community who want to expand their knowledge, as the goal is to learn about security, be inspired by the sector, and have fun while doing it.
Jobs
Tech Policy
Clare O'Neil MP
I’m looking for a new staff member - a short term gig to help us do a big push in thinking on tech policy. It should be a really good project and I would love to hear from you if you want to be involved.