Governments of the world just ramped up spying on reporters | White House plans 5G summit with global tech leaders amid Huawei battle | How the Coronavirus Revealed Authoritarianism’s Fatal Flaw
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Journalists are increasingly under high-tech surveillance from governments. State actors seem to feel they can now act with impunity. One group of foreign correspondents, working on sensitive stories, were finding that their phone calls to some sources were automatically redirected. Columbia Journalism Review.
The Trump administration is planning a 5G summit at the White House in early April as part of its global effort to ensure that Chinese telecom giant Huawei does not become dominant in next generation communications technologies. CNBC.
Ironically, for all the talk of the technological side of Chinese authoritarianism, China’s use of technology to ratchet up surveillance and censorship may have made things worse, by making it less likely that Xi would even know what was going on in his own country. The Atlantic.
ASPI ICPC
Chinese Military Turns to U.S. University to Conduct Covert Research
WSJ
@Kate_OKeeffe
Despite commitment to open exchanges, universities should consider drawing the line at working with China’s People’s Liberation Army, or PLA, suggests a 2018 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, an Australian government-backed, nonpartisan think tank. “Helping a rival military develop its expertise and technology isn’t in the national interest,” says the report by researcher Alex Joske. He found China’s military sponsored more than 2,500 scientists and engineers to study abroad over the prior decade, at times without their host schools’ knowledge of their military affiliation.
World
The man behind the global struggle to create digital taxes
Politico
Pascal Saint-Amans, a senior official at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, has less than a year to find a deal.
Governments of the world just ramped up spying on reporters
Columbia Journalism Review
It has long been the case that state actors and big companies have sought to intimidate and attack journalists. But in my experience the incidence has spiked since the 2016 elections in Britain and America, when such efforts came off without consequence. State actors seem to feel they can now act with impunity. One group of foreign correspondents, working on sensitive stories, were finding that their phone calls to some sources were automatically redirected. That is not an easy thing to do—it suggested to me that those numbers, or people, were being watched at all times. Nobody but a nation state would have access to such capabilities.
Australia
Julian Assange and his Australian lawyers were secretly recorded in Ecuador's London embassy
ABC
@dylanwelch
While this may be typical surveillance at a secure diplomatic property, what Robertson did not know was he and a handful of other lawyers, were allegedly being targeted in a remarkable and deeply illegal surveillance operation possibly run at the request of the US Government.
PM heads to secret spy base
The Australian
Scott Morrison has flown to the remote US spy base at Pine Gap for a classified briefing from US and Australian intelligence officials.. The highly secretive base jointly operated by Australia and US agencies including the CIA and National Security Agency is a major hub for US global intelligence interception and satellite monitoring for military and nuclear missile threats in the region.
Knocking out Huawei doesn't solve the real problem
AFR
A row over banning Chinese hi-tech giant Huawei from involvement in Australia’s 5G network is distracting attention from the significant long-term threat of Australia being relegated to membership of a sort of US-led defence communications tag-along team.
China
How the Coronavirus Revealed Authoritarianism’s Fatal Flaw
The Atlantic
@zeynep
China’s use of surveillance and censorship makes it harder for Xi Jinping to know what’s going on in his own country.
New Rules for Chinese Military to Guard Against US Cyber Attacks
Defense World
New rules on confidentially will be introduced in the Chinese military to guard against cyber-attacks largely originating from the United States.
American Company Sold DNA Analysis Equipment to Security Officials in Xinjiang, Documents Show
China File
In 2015, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Public Security Bureau announced it planned to purchase equipment from the U.S.-based biotechnology company Promega for the purpose of analyzing DNA and adding it to a national database, according to Chinese government procurement documents.
USA
Digital Edits, a Paid Army: Bloomberg Is ‘Destroying Norms’ on Social Media
NYT
@sheeraf
His campaign is testing the boundaries of what platforms like Twitter and Facebook allow in politics. They’re having trouble coming up with an answer.
Twitter is suspending 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts, citing ‘platform manipulation’
LA Times
witter said it would suspend 70 accounts posting content supporting the Michael Bloomberg campaign in a pattern that violates company rules.Mike Bloomberg sure looks like he owned the debate — in an edited video released by Mike Bloomberg
Washington Post
Speaking on background, a Twitter official said the video would likely be labeled as manipulated under a new anti-disinformation policy that will go into effect in March, but for now it remains online with no disclaimer. A Facebook spokesman, meanwhile, said the video didn’t violate its policy.
Sanders informed that Russia is trying to help his campaign
CyberScoop
@Shanvav
U.S. officials have informed Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that Russia is trying to boost his presidential campaign as part of a broader effort to interfere in the 2020 presidential elections and the crowded Democratic field.
US intelligence briefer appears to have overstated assessment of 2020 Russian interference
CNN
The US intelligence community's top election security official appears to have overstated the intelligence community's formal assessment of Russian interference in the 2020 election, omitting important nuance during a briefing with lawmakers earlier this month, three national security officials told CNN.What a mess. These confused leaks about what Russia is in fact doing to interfere in the election only reinforces the need for clear, public assessments from IC officials, not leaked intel subject to political soon and leaks. We did this in 2016, let’s not do it again. https://t.co/yXkURlX5FFUS Intel official Shelby Pierson appears to have overstated the Intel community's assessment of 2020 Russian interference, omitting important nuance during a briefing with lawmakers, 3 national security officials tell me, @jaketapper & @ZcohenCNN https://t.co/WVs9ZnH3DTJeremy Diamond @JDiamond1
Feds charge California man for 2018 DDoS attacks on congressional campaign
CyberScoop
Federal law enforcement officials have charged a California man for conducting cyberattacks on the website of California congressional candidate in 2018.
White House plans 5G summit with global tech leaders as battle with Huawei continues
CNBC
@EamonJavers
The Trump administration is planning a 5G summit at the White House in early April as part of its global effort to ensure that Chinese telecom giant Huawei does not become dominant in next generation communications technologies, officials told CNBC.
China Isn’t the Only Problem With 5G
Foreign Policy
@schneierblog
Security vulnerabilities in the standards—the protocols and software for 5G—ensure that vulnerabilities will remain, regardless of who provides the hardware and software. These insecurities are a result of market forces that prioritize costs over security and of governments, including the United States, that want to preserve the option of surveillance in 5G networks. If the United States is serious about tackling the national security threats related to an insecure 5G network, it needs to rethink the extent to which it values corporate profits and government espionage over security.
With information from China scarce, U.S. spies enlisted to track coronavirus
Yahoo News
@JennaMC_Laugh
In this instance of the coronavirus, the intelligence community has to figure out a way to quickly gather information about a rapidly progressing potential pandemic without risking human sources’ lives, losing track of other threats or getting in the way of the CDC and WHO, which take primary responsibility for response and outreach.
Coronavirus: US says Russia behind disinformation campaign
The Guardian
@JessicaGlenza
Thousands of Russian-linked social media accounts have launched a coordinated effort to spread misinformation and alarm about coronavirus, disrupting global efforts to fight the epidemic, US officials have said.
Apple Just Demanded Santander And A $50 Billion US Intelligence Contractor Reveal How They Use iPhone Hacking Tech
Forbes
@iblametom
Apple lawyers aren’t holding back in trying to learn more about Corellium, the cybersecurity startup it’s suing after the latter created tech producing “virtual” or software versions of iPhones for security and functionality testing.
Asia
Has IIT Madras been hit by ransomware that is holding all their research data hostage?
Edex Live
The students have been asked to send an email to a certain email ID, which will then quote a price to decrypt their data. Institute brushes it off as a mail server going down. What is the truth?
UK
Huawei shut out from scheme to see how 5G can link communities
The Guardian
@marksweney
Huawei has been banned from participating in a £65m government scheme to explore how next-generation 5G technology can drive businesses and connect communities across the UK.
Europe
First analysis of the EU Whitepaper on AI
Alliance on Artificial Intelligence
This week, Europe took a clear stance on AI; foster the uptake of AI technologies, underpinned by what it calls ‘an ecosystem of excellence’, while also ensuring their compliance with to European ethical norms, legal requirements and social values, ‘an ecosystem of trust’. While the Whitepaper on AI of the European Commission does not propose legislation yet, it announces some bold legislative measures, that will likely materialize by the end of 2020.
Canada
Burton: Why Canada can't let Huawei build a 5G network
Ottawa Citizen
The debate swings on whether it is possible to use Huawei technology on the periphery of 5G installations while keeping the core networks secure. But this is also a moral question.
Personal information of nearly 360,000 Quebec teachers exposed in data breach
Global News
The personal information of nearly 360,000 teachers in Quebec may have been stolen in a data theft, the Quebec government confirmed on Friday.
Africa
Safaricom Hits Back Accusing Petitioner Of Stealing Customer Data In The Ksh115 Trillion Lawsuit
Tech Trends
The telco accuses the petitioner of stealing personal data of millions of subscribers and demanding ransom.
Misc.
Bitcoin Whale Hacked, Losing $45 Million worth Of BTC And BCH To A SIM Swap Hacker
Coinpedia
Earlier today, bitcoin Whale suspected to be twitter user, @zhoujianfu took to Reddit to alert the community that both his bitcoin and bitcoin cash wallets had been hacked and funds worth millions of dollars had been stolen. During the act, bitcoin worth $15 million and bitcoin cash worth of $30 million were altogether stolen.
Google Is Letting People Find Invites to Some Private WhatsApp Groups
Vice
@josephfcox
Google is indexing invite links to WhatsApp group chats whose administrators may want to be private. This means with a simple search, random people can discover and join a wide range of WhatsApp group chats.
Events
Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) is delighted to invite you to the launch of ASPI’s latest report, ‘Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity’. The report will be launched by Secretary of Home Affairs, Michael Pezzullo, followed by a panel discussion with report author and ASPI Fellow, Rajiv Shah, AustCyber CEO Michelle Price, and Managing Director of Macquarie Government, Aidan Tudehope.
America’s China Strategy: Where is it going and what’s missing?
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) is delighted to invite you to the attend an in-conversation on March 17th at 6:00pm with Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian to discuss America’s China strategy: Where is it going & what’s missing? Bethany will be joined by ICPC’s Alex Joske and Vicky Xiuzhong Xu for an in conversation to discuss and debate America’s China strategy, where they will compare this approach with Australia's.