Cyber attack hits U.S. health agency | China empowers Internet police to mute coronavirus anger | UK ministers will no longer claim 'no successful examples' of Russian interference
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The U.S. Health and Human Services Department suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system, part of what people familiar with the incident called a campaign of disruption and disinformation that was aimed at undermining the response to the coronavirus pandemic and may have been the work of a foreign actor. Bloomberg
Online enforcers are dragging in hundreds for questioning as an assault on online speech continues. They are a sign how Beijing has given censors a more punitive role. New York Times
Ministers have been told they can no longer say there have been “no successful examples” of Russian disinformation affecting UK elections, after the apparent hacking of an NHS dossier seized on by Labour during the last campaign. The Guardian
ASPI ICPC
We must do more to combat right-wing extremism
ASPI Strategist
Kristina Keneally
Last month, four men from across the US who are alleged to be part of a neo-Nazi group were arrested for intimidating journalists. At the same time, FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress that domestic racially and ethnically motivated violent extremists pose as great a threat to the United States as foreign terrorist organisations. One of the tools the FBI uses to track such threats is its hate crime statistics database. Wray notes that such crimes are not limited to the US and, with the aid of the internet, like-minded hate groups can reach across borders.
Facial recognition is in London. So how should we regulate it?
Wired
Elise Thomas
As the first step on the road to a powerful, high tech surveillance apparatus, it was a little underwhelming: a blue van topped by almost comically intrusive cameras, a few police officers staring intently but ineffectually at their smartphones and a lot of bemused shoppers.
Australia
NBN urged to intervene as pandemic tests broadband connections
Sydney Morning Herald
The national broadband network is facing calls to temporarily slash wholesale prices to help telcos meet surging consumer demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 scam messages targeting Australians
ACSC Stay Smart Online
ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) is aware of a COVID-19 themed scam being distributed via text message. We understand the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)’s Scamwatch has received multiple reports of COVID-19 themed scam texts being sent to members of the public.
China
Muting Coronavirus Anger, China Empowers Its Internet Police
New York Times
@paulmozur
Online enforcers are dragging in hundreds for questioning as an assault on online speech continues. They are a sign how Beijing has given censors a more punitive role.
USA
Cyber-Attack Hits U.S. Health Agency Amid Covid-19 Outbreak
Bloomberg
@shiramstein @JenniferJJacobs
The U.S. Health and Human Services Department suffered a cyber-attack on its computer system, part of what people familiar with the incident called a campaign of disruption and disinformation that was aimed at undermining the response to the coronavirus pandemic and may have been the work of a foreign actor.
Can Russia Use the Coronavirus to Sow Discord Among Americans?
New York Times
@RidT
Close observers of Russian disinformation tactics in electoral interference have two big questions as the 2020 election approaches: How large is the appetite for escalation among Russian intelligence agencies this time around? And where was, and is, S.V.R., Russia’s counterpart to the C.I.A.?
Google CEO Says Nationwide Virus Info Site to Launch Monday
Bloomberg
Alphabet Inc.’s Google will launch a website on Monday focused on providing up-to-date information about coronavirus education and prevention.
‘It shouldn’t take a pandemic’: Coronavirus exposes Internet inequality among U.S. students as schools close their doors
Washington Post
As schools shutter around the country, some educators are migrating their daily lessons and dreaded homework assignments onto the web. But many administrators and teachers nationwide say they lack that digital luxury -- illustrating how a public-health crisis has brought to light a technological one.
UK
Taxpayers’ money helps Beijing identify masked protesters
The Times
@shanti_das @TomJHarper @SianGriffiths6
The British and Chinese governments are collaborating on a project to develop facial recognition technology that can identify people disguised with masks or sunglasses. The Home Office and Scotland Yard are involved in a publicly funded research programme that carries out work jointly paid for by the Chinese state — despite Beijing’s reported use of similar software to target persecuted minorities and imprison them in detention camps.
UK ministers will no longer claim 'no successful examples' of Russian interference
The Guardian
@dansabbagh
Ministers have been told they can no longer say there have been “no successful examples” of Russian disinformation affecting UK elections, after the apparent hacking of an NHS dossier seized on by Labour during the last campaign.
Europe
Hack-The-Crisis: 6 Lessons From Estonia’s Coronavirus Crisis Response
Forbes
@RobertCWolcott
Building on its well-deserved brand as the “digital nation,” Estonia two days ago began organizing an online hack-a-thon, “Hack the Crisis” (HtC), co-hosted by Garage48 and Accelerate Estonia.
Middle East
To Track Coronavirus, Israel Moves to Tap Secret Trove of Cellphone Data
New York Times
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has authorized the country’s internal security agency to tap into a vast and previously undisclosed trove of cellphone data to retrace the movements of people who have contracted the coronavirus and identify others who should be quarantined because their paths crossed.
Misc
TikTok Told Moderators: Suppress Posts by the “Ugly” and Poor
The Intercept
@samfbiddle @manifesteiro @tatikmd
The makers of TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app with hundreds of millions of users around the world, instructed moderators to suppress posts created by users deemed too ugly, poor, or disabled for the platform, according to internal documents obtained by The Intercept. These same documents show moderators were also told to censor political speech in TikTok livestreams, punishing those who harmed “national honor” or broadcast streams about “state organs such as police” with bans from the platform.
2,500 Attacks In Less Than A Day: Coronavirus Scammers Just Went Into Overdrive
Forbes
The number of coronavirus-themed attacks spiked significantly on Monday, a cybersecurity researcher reported. A wave of 2,500 infections of just two strains of malware were all delivered in COVID-19-themed emails between 10am and 5pm CET today, were discovered by Jiri Kropac, a researcher at cybersecurity company ESET. In the days before, the number of infections were only in the tens, he said.