Hackers target prominent news sites | Aussie Universities to conduct risk assessments on foreign interference | Australia to adopt new principles in critical technologies
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A group of hackers compromised a popular London-based news website that focuses on the Middle East with the goal of hacking its visitors, according to researchers. On Tuesday, cybersecurity firm ESET published a report detailing the hacking campaign. According to the report, hackers compromised around 20 websites, including Middle East Eye, a popular independent news site that covers the Middle East and Africa and is based in the UK. VICE News
A move to force thousands of academics to disclose their memberships of overseas political parties has been abandoned by the federal government after push back from university leaders over new foreign interference guidelines. Universities will instead decide which staff, based on a risk assessment, must disclose their connections to foreign governments, military and intelligence agencies, as well as any financial support they receive for research from other countries. The Sydney Morning Herald
Australian businesses will be expected to adopt new principles bolstering the security, transparency and integrity of critical technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, as the federal government continues its cyber policy blitz. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews is expected to stress the importance of the new principles in light of "increasing geostrategic uncertainty" in a closed panel on Thursday at the inaugural Sydney Dialogue event, organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The Canberra Times
ASPI ICPC
Australia to Beef Up High-Tech Prowess After Security Pact With U.S.
The Wall Street Journal
@Mike_Cherney
Australia will strengthen its capabilities in quantum science and other technologies that could be used to counter threats from China, providing more detail on the type of innovations Australia might develop alongside the U.S. under a new security partnership..“AUKUS is about much more than nuclear submarines,” Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said at an event Wednesday hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. Mr. Morrison said officials from the three nations are developing an AUKUS work plan to facilitate the partnership.
Dozens of emerging technologies declared national security risks
ABC News
The Federal Government has released a list of more than 60 critical technologies that will require greater scrutiny over national security risks. The technologies include vaccines, genetic engineering, future weapons and artificial intelligence.
Tech security critical amid 'increasing geostrategic uncertainty'
The Canberra Times
@sbasfordcanales
Australian businesses will be expected to adopt new principles bolstering the security, transparency and integrity of critical technologies, including artificial intelligence and blockchain, as the federal government continues its cyber policy blitz. Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews is expected to stress the importance of the new principles in light of "increasing geostrategic uncertainty" in a closed panel on Thursday at the inaugural Sydney Dialogue event, organised by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Research role in regional peace
The Australian
Government focus on funding for quantum technology is welcome.
New technologies investment to combat China’s ‘authoritarian developments’
Sky News
The Morrison government’s pledge to invest $100 million into new defence technologies is a strategic action to combat China’s authoritarian and assertive actions, says ASPI’s Fergus Hanson.
Modi to unveil India’s innovation agenda
The Strategist
@brendan_aspi
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Sydney Dialogue this week on the potential for his nation’s tech industry to produce answers for a range of critical global problems.
Australia
Government abandons plan to force academics to disclose overseas political party membership
The Sydney Morning Herald
@LisaVisentin
A move to force thousands of academics to disclose their memberships of overseas political parties has been abandoned by the federal government after push back from university leaders over new foreign interference guidelines. Universities will instead decide which staff, based on a risk assessment, must disclose their connections to foreign governments, military and intelligence agencies, as well as any financial support they receive for research from other countries.
Far-right protester charged by counter-terror police amid talk of killing Daniel Andrews
The Age
@ageinvestigates
Counter-terrorism officials have charged a Victorian man who encouraged anti-lockdown protesters to bring firearms to State Parliament and execute Premier Daniel Andrews, and are continuing to investigate other alleged extremists involved in the Melbourne pandemic bill protests.
China
$8 Billion Takeover Offer Could Avert One of China's Biggest Potential Corporate Failures
Bloomberg
A consortium led by Alibaba has emerged as the frontrunner to take over Tsinghua Unigroup, a deal that could fetch more than 50 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) to help keep China’s indebted chip champion afloat.
With WeChat Money Frozen, Exasperated Expats Light Up Groups
ThatsOnline
Starting on Monday November 15, 7pm, expats across China started lighting up WeChat groups and posting on Moments with complaints about WeChat Pay suddenly locking up when trying to pay for an item or send money.
USA
Biden promotes EVs with Hummer test drive: 'These suckers are something else!'
Reuters
U.S. President Joe Biden climbed behind the wheel of an electric Hummer vehicle on Wednesday and sped off with a screeching of tires, in a test drive to tout billions in electric vehicle investment.
House, Mostly Along Party Lines, Censures Gosar for Violent Video
The New York Times
@jonathanweisman @CatieEdmondson
A bitterly divided U.S. House of Representatives voted narrowly on Wednesday to censure Representative Paul Gosar, Republican of Arizona, for posting an animated video that depicted him killing a Democratic congresswoman and assaulting President Biden. The formal rebuke of the far-right congressman who has allied himself with white nationalists — the first censure since 2010 and only the 24th in the history of the republic — also stripped him of his committee assignments.
Jan. 6 Defendant Known as QAnon Shaman Sentenced to 41 Months
The New York Times
@alanfeuer
Jacob Chansley, who wore a horned helmet and a fur pelt as he stormed onto the Senate floor during the Capitol riot, had earlier pleaded guilty to a single felony count.
South-East Asia
Big Tech warns Vietnam data rules risk 'damage' to digital economy
Nikkei Asia
@lienh
Internet users in Vietnam may see more pop-ups the next time they access TikTok or Amazon after Hanoi follows Europe and China in enacting extensive rules governing how companies use and move data.
UK
Nvidia £30 billion takeover of ARM faces national security inquiry
The Times
Ministers are poised to pull the trigger on a full-blown investigation into the sale of ARM, Britain’s biggest technology company, in a move that threatens to scupper the controversial $40 billion (£30 billion) deal. Nadine Dorries, digital and culture secretary, will this week order a “phase 2” probe into US chip giant Nvidia’s acquisition of the Cambridge-based semiconductor design company from Japan’s SoftBank. She will instruct the competition watchdog to carry out an in-depth inquiry into antitrust concerns, as well as scrutinise national security fears raised by the takeover, which was agreed in September 2020.
Europe
How the EU’s Flawed Artificial Intelligence Regulation Endangers the Social Safety Net: Questions and Answers
Human Rights Watch
The proposed Artificial Intelligence Act comes amid growing concern, in Europe and beyond, about how AI and other forms of algorithmic decision-making are increasingly woven into the social safety net, affecting social and economic rights.
The Americas
Barbados to Become First Sovereign Nation With an Embassy in the Metaverse
CoinDesk
@Blockanalia
In what could be seen as a historic step toward the legitimization of the metaverse, the island nation of Barbados is preparing to legally declare digital real estate sovereign land with the establishment of a metaverse embassy.
Middle East
Hackers Compromised Middle East Eye News Website to Hack Visitors, Researchers Say
VICE News
@lorenzofb
A group of hackers compromised a popular London-based news website that focuses on the Middle East with the goal of hacking its visitors, according to researchers. On Tuesday, cybersecurity firm ESET published a report detailing the hacking campaign. According to the report, hackers compromised around 20 websites, including Middle East Eye, a popular independent news site that covers the Middle East and Africa and is based in the UK.
US, UK, and Australia warn of Iranian hacking activity after Microsoft report
The Record
@campuscodi
Cybersecurity agencies from the US, UK, and Australia have published a joint security alert to raise awareness of an ongoing wave of intrusions carried out by Iranian government-sponsored hacking groups since the start of the year. The joint advisory, authored by the FBI, CISA, ACSC, and NCSC, comes a day after Microsoft has published its own report on the matter, detailing a rise in the sophistication and number of attacks carried out by Iranian groups.
Misc
Peloton and Zoom were two of the hot stocks of the pandemic. Now what?
The New York Times
@MatthewPhillips
Shares of companies like Peloton, the home fitness equipment maker, and Zoom Video, the online conference software that replaced face-to-face communications for countless schools and businesses, were darlings of the stock market for the better part of last year. But as the economic reopening gains speed — aided by rising vaccination numbers and promising new treatments for those who get sick — some of the stocks at the center of the so-called stay-at-home trade collapsed.
Events
The Sydney Dialogue - Contested Space: Collaborating in the New Golden Age of Space
ASPI
@ASPI_ICPC
This session will convene on 19 Nov at 12:00-13:00 AEDT with space leaders from the US, Japan, India, and Australia. It will consider challenges and opportunities in a contested, congested, and competitive space domain. It will explore how the Quad states can work together towards achieving the next giant leap in space exploration - specifically the return of humans to the lunar surface to achieve the ability to undertake crewed missions to Mars. Finally, the panel will consider how a high visibility collaborative project between Quad members in space can deliver a key advance in space globally.
The Sydney Dialogue - Democracies and Global Technology Governance
ASPI
@ASPI_ICPC
There is rising awareness that how technologies are designed, where they come from, and how they are deployed, matters. To preserve human rights and free societies, democracies are coming to realise they need to play a more active role, as a group, shaping global tech governance. Be it standard setting, design principles, ethical frameworks or law enforcement access to digital content, there is a pressing need to ensure the interests of citizens are kept central. This panel on 19 Nov at 13:00-14:00 AEDT will look at how states can best advance global technology governance to preserve freedoms and the important role for the Indo-Pacific.
Research
Jobs
ICPC Analyst & Project Manager - Coercive diplomacy
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for an Analyst and Project Manager to manage, and help lead, a project on coercive diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific region... This new role will focus on analysis, workshops and stakeholder engagement centred around coercive diplomacy, including how countries in the Indo-Pacific can work together to tackle this complicated policy challenge.
ICPC Senior Analyst or Analyst - China
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for exceptional and experienced China-focused senior analysts or analysts to join its centre. This role will focus on original research and analysis centred around the (growing) range of topics which our ICPC China team work on. Our China team produces some of the most impactful and well-read policy-relevant research in the world, with our experts often being called upon by politicians, governments, corporates and civil society actors to provide briefings and advice. Analysts usually have at least 5 years, often 7-10 years’ of work experience. Senior analysts usually have a minimum of 15 years relevant work experience and, in addition to research, they take on a leadership role in the centre and tend to be involved in staff and project management, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.
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