France bans ministers from WhatsApp, Signal | Meta identifies Chinese propaganda threat ahead of 2024 US election | Australia to restrict defence tech access by foreigners
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French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has banned widely used messaging applications WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal for ministers and their teams due to security vulnerabilities. “These digital tools are not devoid of security flaws, and therefore cannot guarantee the security of conversations and information shared via them,” reads the document. POLITICO
Meta took down thousands of Facebook accounts based in China that were impersonating Americans while posting on partisan issues like abortion and health care. The fake Facebook accounts were mimicking, word for word, social media posts from Republicans and Democrats. CNN
Legislation introduced in Australia’s parliament on Thursday would tighten restrictions on military technology shared with foreign nationals. The bill would make it a criminal offense to share defence technology with many foreign nationals residing in Australia. It likely will apply to researchers and company employees who are foreigners, however will exempt researchers who are US or UK citizens. Nikkei Asia
ASPI
Evolving China-based cyberwarfare demands greater regional resilience
The Strategist
Tim Wellsmore
Building resilience against continued China-nexus attacks will require all government and non-government organisations across the region to put more emphasis on baseline protective capabilities and cyber hygiene, patching known vulnerabilities and training employees to ignore and report phishing attempts, particularly since these continue to fool even trained observers.
Partnering with the Pacific to strengthen cyber resilience
The Strategist
Tim Watts
The Albanese government is strengthening Australia’s cybersecurity posture in the face of growing cyber threats through a suite of new initiatives. For the first time, we’ve integrated our domestic and international cybersecurity strategies into a single document—and through this process we’re boosting cyber resilience both at home and across the Pacific. We are building our Pacific cyber crisis response capability by committing $26.2 million to establish Cyber RAPID teams so we can continue to be on the spot when cyber disaster strikes.
Sharp China: The foreign influencer ecosystem; money flowing out of China; Xi’s exit strategy; A Mao YouTube controversy
Sinocism
Bill Bishop and Andrew Sharp
On today's show Andrew and Bill begin with a new generation of foreign influencers said to be assisting in Xi's campaign to “tell China’s story well” and an update on Wolf Warrior diplomacy as 2023 draws to a close.
World
Disinformation is one of climate summit’s biggest challenges
The New York Times
Tiffany Hsu and Steven Lee Myers
As the world’s leaders gather this week at a major summit to discuss ways to address the effects of global warming, one of the greatest obstacles they face is disinformation. Among the biggest sources of false or misleading information about the world’s weather, according to a report released this week: influential nations, including Russia and China, whose diplomats will be attending.
Australia
Australia looks to restrict defence tech access by foreigners
Nikkei Asia
Kenya Akama
Legislation introduced in Australia's parliament on Thursday would tighten restrictions on military technology shared with foreign nationals. The bill would make it a criminal offense to share defence technology, as well as relevant data, with many foreign nationals residing in Australia. It likely will apply to researchers and company employees who are foreigners, however would exempt researchers who are US or UK citizens as the two countries are party to the AUKUS trilateral security partnership.
Law firms spy an opportunity in their own cyber vulnerability
The Australian Financial Review
Maxim Shanahan
Law firms are eying cybersecurity as the industry’s new growth area, and say they can use their own experience as victims and targets of cyberattacks to help clients manage risk. Following a number of high-profile cyberattacks, and the recent release of the government’s cybersecurity strategy, firm leaders told The Australian Financial Review Law Partnership Survey that advice on cyber risk and regulation would provide a steady stream of work in years to come.
Digital ID legislation unveiled with $146m top-up
InnovationAus
Joseph Brookes
Legislation introduced on Thursday by the government will regulate and expand its digital identity scheme, including allowing states and the private sector to participate, while another $145.5 million in funding has been committed. The new bills would add guardrails to a digital ID system already in place and lay the groundwork for more identity and service providers to join as it expands to an economy wide system.
China
Alibaba pushes new AI software tool to help merchants manage overseas clients
South China Morning Post
Tracy Qu
Alibaba expects the roll-out of a new AI tool to help the platform’s merchants automate their client-facing operations, including writing emails, to entice more customers overseas. An AI-upgraded version of OKKI, the customer relationship management software-as-a-service offering under Alibaba Cloud, will be available to foreign trade merchants from Friday, according to Alibaba.com. It said the response rate of these merchants’ overseas clients improved by 32 per cent when their business correspondence was polished by OKKI.
Shenzhen and Hong Kong to launch cross-border data verification platform
South China Morning Post
Iris Deng
Chinese tech hub Shenzhen and its neighbour Hong Kong will jointly launch a verification platform for cross-border data, the latest step in the Greater Bay Area to forge deeper ties in finance and other areas by easing data flows. The platform aims to help organisations verify the credibility of cross-order data based on the blockchain, and it is expected to run trials in cross-border finance between Shenzhen and Hong Kong as the first phase when it becomes operational.
China’s Xi Jinping focuses on tech innovation, supply chains during first Shanghai visit in 3 years
South China Morning Post
Phoebe Zhang, Liu Zhen and Daniel Ren
On the third day of his trip to the eastern financial hub, Xi laid down the goals for an integrated Yangtze River Delta region, comprising Shanghai and its neighbouring provinces. “[The region] must focus on the areas of science and technology, industry, finance and the major infrastructures, which are related to national and regional security, and strengthen risk prevention…and capacity building, so as to consolidate our foundation for secure development,” Xi said.
Inside Foxconn’s struggle to make iPhones in India
Rest of World
Viola Zhou and Nilesh Christopher
Foxconn has been investing heavily in its iPhone factory in Sunguvarchatram, India. But with the factory’s higher material costs and a greater percentage of defective phones, the company has struggled to replicate the cutthroat efficiency it is known for. Early this year, in an effort to improve production and ready the plant to manufacture Apple’s upcoming flagship iPhone 15, Foxconn dispatched more Chinese workers to Sunguvarchatram.
USA
Meta identifies Chinese propaganda threat ahead of 2024 election
CNN
Sean Lyngaas
Meta took down thousands of Facebook accounts based in China that were impersonating Americans while posting on partisan issues like abortion and health care. The fake Facebook accounts were mimicking, word for word, social media posts from Republicans such as presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Democrats such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
US stops helping Big Tech spot foreign meddling amid GOP legal threats
The Washington Post
Naomi Nix and Cat Zakrzewski
The US federal government has stopped warning some social networks about foreign disinformation campaigns on their platforms, reversing a years-long approach to preventing Russia and other actors from interfering in American politics less than a year before the US presidential elections. Meta no longer receives notifications of global influence campaigns from the Biden administration, halting a prolonged partnership between the federal government and the world’s largest social media company.
US debates how much to sever electric car industry’s ties to China
The New York Times
Ana Swanson and Jack Ewing
The Biden administration has been trying to jump-start the domestic supply chain for electric vehicles so cleaner cars can be made in the United States. But the experience of one Texas company, whose plans to help make an all-American electric vehicle were upended by China, highlights the stakes involved as the administration finalises rules governing the industry.
Feds seize Sinbad crypto mixer allegedly used by North Korean hackers
TechCrunch
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
As part of an international law enforcement investigation, the FBI and the Dutch Financial Intelligence and Investigation Service have seized the websites of a crypto mixer that was allegedly used by North Korean hackers and several cybercriminals to launder stolen funds and obfuscate transactions.
Tech CEOs summoned to testify in Senate on child exploitation
Bloomberg
Steven T. Dennis
The chief executives of social media companies Meta, X, TikTok, Snap and Discord will testify on online child sexual exploitation at a Jan 31st US Senate hearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Dick Durbin, the panel's Democratic chairman and the ranking Republican Lindsey Graham said Discord and X had initially balked at participating and refused to accept a subpoena.
J&J hired thousands of data scientists. Will the strategy pay off?
The Wall Street Journal
Peter Loftus
Johnson & Johnson is making one of the biggest bets in the healthcare industry on using data science and artificial intelligence to bolster its work. The 137-year-old pharmaceutical and medical-device company has hired 6,000 data scientists and digital specialists in recent years, and spent hundreds of millions of dollars on their work, such as using machines to scour massive health-record datasets.
North Asia
Japan to require tech leak prevention for chip subsidies
Nikkei Asia
Nobutaka Abe
The Japanese government will require companies receiving subsidies related to semiconductors and other critical items to take measures to prevent the leaking of technology to other countries. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry indicated the plans at a semiconductor and digital industry meeting on Wednesday. Tokyo is stepping up its direct involvement in efforts to ensure that technology critical to economic security stays within its borders.
Southeast Asia
TikTok in the process to receive e-commerce permit from Indonesia
Chiang Rai Times
Salman Ahmad
According to state news agency Antara, TikTok, the popular short video app, is currently in the process of acquiring an e-commerce permit from the Indonesian government. This comes after Indonesia implemented a ban on e-commerce transactions on social media platforms in September, which greatly affected TikTok’s plans to invest a significant amount of money in Southeast Asia, particularly in Indonesia, the largest economy in the region.
Europe
France bans ministers from WhatsApp, Signal; demands French alternatives
POLITICO
Mathieu Pollet and Océane Herrero
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has banned widely used messaging applications WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal for ministers and their teams due to security vulnerabilities, according to a memo seen by POLITICO. "These digital tools are not devoid of security flaws, and therefore cannot guarantee the security of conversations and information shared via them," reads the document, dated November 22.
Czech Republic mobile app security threat alert: WeChat by Tencent
National Cyber and Information Security Agency
The Czechia National Cyber and Information Security Agency is issuing a security threat alert regarding the use of WeChat mobile application. The app collects a large volume of user data which - along with the way the data is collected - could be used for precise cyberattacks. The company behind the WeChat app is Tencent, based in the People's Republic of China, which is closely linked to the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party.
UK
The British Library confirms cyber attack; leaked personal data now trading on the dark web
CPO Magazine
Alicia Hope
The British Library cyber attack claimed by an elusive ransomware gang leaked employees’ personal data, the state-run institution has confirmed. “Following confirmation last week that this was a ransomware attack, we’re aware that some data has been leaked. This appears to be from our internal HR files,” said the library, “we have no evidence that wider user data has been compromised".
Microsoft's $3.2 bln UK investment to drive AI growth
Reuters
Sarah Young
Microsoft's plan to pump 2.5 billion pounds into Britain over the next three years, its single largest investment in the country to date, will underpin future growth in AI, the UK government said. The funding, first announced at a summit hosted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, will more than double Microsoft's datacentre footprint in Britain, providing the infrastructure crucial for new AI models to work.
Amazon, Google and other tech giants pledge action on fraud
BBC
Chris Vallance
Fake adverts and romance scams were targeted as technology giants backed an online-fraud charter at a meeting with Home Secretary James Cleverly. Pledges include measures designed to protect users of online dating services from flirting with fakes. Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google, Instagram, LinkedIn, Match Group, Microsoft, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube backed the charter. The charter's commitments are "voluntary" and not all will apply to every company.
Big Tech
TikTok CEO challenged by tech executives on pro-Palestine videos
Bloomberg
Alexandra Barinka
TikTok Chief Executive Officer Shou Chew and other top executives met recently with 40 influential leaders, including many from the tech industry, who were pushing for more moderation of antisemitic content and questioning why pro-Palestine videos were so popular on the short-video app.
Google to pay Canada news publishers $73m a year to keep news in search
The Guardian
Blake Montgomery
Canada and Google have reached a deal to keep links to news stories in search results and for the tech giant to pay $73.6m annually to news publishers in the country. The deal resolves Alphabet-owned Google’s concerns over Canada’s Online News Act, which seeks to make large internet companies share advertising revenue with news publishers in the country.
Google adverts appear on sanctioned sites
Financial Times
Hannah Murphy
Google has run adverts on hundreds of questionable websites including sanctioned sites in Iran and Russia, according to new research that has prompted calls for greater transparency and oversight of its $223bn-a-year ads business. The search giant displays search ads on its own platform but also on other third-party websites in the so-called Google Search Partner network.
Meta’s threads to launch in Europe in app’s biggest expansion since debut
The Wall Street Journal
Salvador Rodriguez, Sam Schechner and Meghan Bobrowsky
Facebook parent Meta Platforms plans to launch Threads in Europe in December, according to people familiar with the matter. The launch represents Threads’ largest market expansion since its debut in July and signals the social-media company’s commitment to the microblogging service, which rivals that of Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter.
Apple is doing its part to end green bubble shaming. It's our turn.
The New York Times
Brian X. Chen
This month, Apple announced that it would improve the technology used to send texts between iPhone and Android users, starting next year, by adopting a standard that Google and others integrated into their messaging apps years ago. Texts sent between iPhones and Androids will remain green, but images and videos will look higher-quality and security features like encryption may eventually arrive, Apple said.
Inactive Google accounts to be deleted from Friday
BBC
Shiona McCallum
If you've got an old Google account that you have not used for a couple of years then it could soon be deleted. The tech giant is going to be getting rid of them, starting from Friday, under its inactive account policy. The company said it would take a phased approach, starting with accounts that "were created and never used again". Simply signing into an account or sending an email should be enough to keep it active.
Elon Musk launches profane attack on X advertisers
BBC
James Clayton
In a profanity-laced outburst, Elon Musk has slammed advertisers that have left X, warning they will kill the social media platform. At an event in New York, he accused companies that have joined an ad boycott of the site formerly known as Twitter of trying to blackmail him. "Go [expletive] yourself," the billionaire said in an interview. Some firms have paused advertising on X amid concerns over antisemitism, including a post from Mr Musk himself.
Artificial Intelligence
Amazon launches Q, a business chatbot powered by generative AI
AP News
Amazon said Tuesday that Q can do things like synthesize content, streamline day-to-day communications and help employees with tasks like generating blog posts. It said companies can also connect Q to their own data and systems to get a tailored experience that’s more relevant to their business. The technology is currently available for preview.
ChatGPT is winning the future — but what future is that?
The Verge
David Pierce
In the year since ChatGPT launched, it has brought change to practically every corner of the technology industry. In a year otherwise marked by huge decline in venture-capital investing, seemingly any company with “AI” in its pitch deck is able to raise money — $17.9 billion just in the third quarter of this year, according to Pitchbook, and some of the industry’s biggest VC firms are raising huge funds just to keep pouring money into AI.
Microsoft president says no chance of super-intelligent AI soon
Reuters
Muvija M and Martin Coulter
The president of tech giant Microsoft said there is no probability of super-intelligent artificial intelligence being created within the next 12 months. Brad Smith's comments come one year after Microsoft-backed OpenAI released AI chatbot ChatGPT to the public, sparking a flurry of investment and concern such systems could pose an existential threat to humanity.
Jobs
(Senior) Analyst /Project Manager: Indo-Pacific Centre for Hybrid Threats
ASPI
ASPI’s Cyber, Technology and Security areas is looking for a (senior) analyst / project manager to lead on designing and developing an appropriate model for an Indo-Pacific Hybrid Threats Centre. The proposed Centre will be a focal point for policy-oriented research, analyses and information on hybrid threats that affect Indo-Pacific nations - with a focus on cyber and technology-related threats.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.