Huawei running out of processor chips | State Department mass texting Iran and Russia | The heist of Taiwanese semiconductor chips.
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Chinese tech giant Huawei is running out of processor chips to make smartphones due to U.S. sanctions and will be forced to stop production of its own most advanced chips, a company executive says, in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from American pressure. AP News.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday that it was responsible for a text message campaign that left a trail of confusion and ridicule across Russia and Iran. In an email, a spokesperson for the department said the unsolicited text messages - which promoted a multimillion dollar bounty for information about cyber threats to the upcoming U.S. election - were aimed at building awareness internationally. Reuters
Taiwan has faced existential conflict with China for its entire existence and has been targeted by China's state-sponsored hackers for years. But an investigation by one Taiwanese security firm has revealed just how deeply a single group of Chinese hackers was able to penetrate an industry at the core of the Taiwanese economy, pillaging practically its entire semiconductor industry. Wired
ASPI ICPC
With WeChat sanctions, Trump strikes at China’s heart
Washington Post
“WeChat is not just a chat app,” said Danielle Cave, deputy director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Center. “It is really one of the world’s few ‘all-in-one’ super apps, in that users rely on it for their news, to pay their bills, to book their travel and shop online.” The ban is likely to trigger wide-ranging consequences across sectors, she said.
What is TikTok and why is it so controversial?
The Sydney Morning Herald
@carawaters
However, Fergus Ryan, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), says China has a suite of national security laws that effectively remove any firewall between TikTok's user data and Chinese authorities. "In the United States, a company like Apple can publicly refuse the FBI access to an iPhone. That simply wouldn't happen in China [that a company such as TikTok would refuse] and there is no evidence it has ever happened," he says.
How Much of a Threat Is TikTok?
World Politics Review
On the Trend Lines podcast this week, Samantha Hoffman and Fergus Ryan, both experts on China at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, joined WPR’s Elliot Waldman to talk about the extent to which TikTok and ByteDance could be using—and abusing—the app’s user data. They also discussed the broader issues posed by China’s stringent government oversight over its technology sector, and what lessons Western observers can take from the rapid growth of Chinese tech companies.
What are ‘offensive cyber capabilities’?
MediaNama
In contrast, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) in Defining Offensive Cyber Capabilities notes that “In the context of cyber operations, having a capability means possessing the resources, skills, knowledge, operational concepts and procedures to be able to have an effect in cyberspace.” The ASPI’s emphasis on resources, skills and knowledge merits special attention.
Read ASPI’s Defining offensive cyber capabilities report.
AFP will bust cyber crims in their lairs
The Australian
AFP officers will be deployed to Africa, Europe and the US as authorities pursue previously out-of-reach cyber criminals including sexual predators.
Australia
Encryption powers not used by ASIO, police as tech companies volunteer help
The Sydney Morning Herald
@Gallo_Ways
Australia's domestic spy agency and police forces have not needed to use compulsory powers to hack into messages under encryption laws passed in 2018, as tech companies have voluntarily allowed them to spy on targets instead.
PM open to virtual participation in federal Parliament
Australian Financial Review
@TomMcIlroy
Federal MPs could participate in parliamentary debates online after Scott Morrison left open consideration of alternative sitting rules during COVID-19 outbreaks.
Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy
Covert Contact: The Blogs of War Podcast
Australian journalist Stilgherrian, who’s been covering internet policy for more than a decade, and has been closely following Australia’s cybersecurity and digital surveillance laws for global tech site ZDNet returns to Covert Contact to discuss Australia’s recently released 2020 cyber security strategy.
Swarm of killer bees': warning social media tools no match for trolls
The Sydney Morning Herald
@niltiac
The internet commissioner has warned social media users are at risk from "brigades" of trolls coordinating attacks across multiple platforms, while the victims have little recourse.
Australian universities investigating 'deeply concerning' hack of controversial exam software
SBS News
@essamalghalib
Personal records of 444,000 ProctorU users have reportedly been obtained in a hack and leaked online in hacker forums.
Australian universities should think twice before installing spyware on students’ computers. ASPI Strategist
Atlassian lets its staff stay at home forever
Australian Financial Review
@SaysSmithy
Australian tech giant Atlassian says it will 'measure outcomes, not clock hours,' and hire talent from anywhere in the world, as it commits to a permanently flexible workforce.
China
Huawei: Smartphone chips running out under US sanctions
The AP
Chinese tech giant Huawei is running out of processor chips to make smartphones due to U.S. sanctions and will be forced to stop production of its own most advanced chips, a company executive says, in a sign of growing damage to Huawei’s business from American pressure.
China is now blocking all encrypted HTTPS traffic that uses TLS 1.3 and ESNI
ZDNet
@campuscodi
The Chinese government is currently using the Great Firewall censorship tool to block certain types of encrypted HTTPS connections.
Cyber sovereignty cuts both ways
The Lowy Interpreter
@elliottzaagman
China’s barricades against foreign tech helped its companies grow massive. Now they’re being blocked in other markets.
USA
State Department: We're responsible for Russian, Iranian text message campaign
Reuters
The U.S. State Department said on Friday that it was responsible for a text message campaign that left a trail of confusion and ridicule across Russia and Iran. In an email, a spokesperson for the department said the unsolicited text messages - which promoted a multimillion dollar bounty for information about cyber threats to the upcoming U.S. election - were aimed at building awareness internationally.
Russia is trying to ‘denigrate’ Biden while China prefers ‘unpredictable’ Trump not be reelected, senior U.S. intelligence official says
The Washington Post
Russia is “using a range of measures” to interfere in the 2020 election and has enlisted a pro-Russian lawmaker from Ukraine — who has met with President Trump’s personal lawyer — “to undermine former vice president [Joe] Biden’s candidacy and the Democratic Party,” a top U.S. intelligence official said in a statement Friday.
U.S. National Security Adviser Says China Targeting 2020 Election
The Wall Street Journal
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said Sunday that Chinese hackers were targeting U.S. election infrastructure in the lead up to the Nov. 3 presidential election, making a new claim about the level of Beijing’s activity in the election.
Targeting WeChat, Trump Takes Aim at China’s Bridge to the World
The New York Times
The all-purpose app, which the administration is restricting along with TikTok, is how many Chinese living abroad stay in touch with each other, and with people back home.
How Trump's WeChat ban could devastate Apple's Chinese business. The Verge
Trump's Orders on WeChat and TikTok Are Uncertain. That May Be the Point. The New York Times
Twitter expressed interest in buying TikTok's U.S. operations. Reuters
Is TikTok More of a Parenting Problem Than a Security Threat? The New York Times
TikTok Suits Over Children’s Privacy Combined in Illinois Court. Bloomberg
TikTok’s fate was shaped by a ‘knockdown, drag-out’ Oval Office brawl. The Washington Post
Inside the Plot to Kill the Open Technology Fund
Vice
This U.S. program provides encryption technologies to journalists and activists living under repressive regimes. But a Trump appointee wants to tear it all down.
Sensitive to claims of bias, Facebook relaxed misinformation rules for conservative pages
NBC News
@oliviasolon
Facebook has allowed conservative news outlets and personalities to repeatedly spread false information without facing any of the company's stated penalties, according to leaked materials reviewed by NBC News.
U.S. Government Contractor Embedded Software in Apps to Track Phones
The Wall Street Journal
@ByronTau
A small U.S. company with ties to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities has embedded its software in numerous mobile apps, allowing it to track the movements of hundreds of millions of mobile phones world-wide.
Bill Gates on Covid: Most US Tests Are ‘Completely Garbage’
Wired
The techie-turned-philanthropist on vaccines, Trump, and why social media is “a poisoned chalice.”
Qualcomm Lobbies U.S. to Sell Chips for Huawei 5G Phones
Qualcomm Lobbies U.S. to Sell Chips for Huawei 5G Phones
@asafitch @Kate_OKeeffe
The American chip company Qualcomm Inc. is lobbying the Trump administration to roll back restrictions on the sale of advanced components to the Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies Co., wading into the intensifying technology battle between the U.S. and China.
Election interference efforts have shifted, NSA and Cyber Command election threats leads say
CyberScoop
@shanvav
With Election Day less than 100 days away, the National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command are carefully monitoring threats to the 2020 U.S. presidential election from Russia, China, Iran, and groups of criminal actors, two officials said Friday.
Why the Founding Fathers would want us all to have fast Internet
Yahoo Finanace
According to an Alliance for Excellent Education report released in June, some 31% of Black families don’t have high-speed internet. (It’s even worse for Native American families.) Some 44% of households with an income of less than $25,000 don’t have broadband.
Hackers are defacing Reddit with pro-Trump messages
ZDNet
@campuscodi
A massive hack has hit Reddit today after tens of Reddit channels have been hacked and defaced to show messages in support of Donald Trump's reelection campaign.
North-East Asia
Chinese Hackers Have Pillaged Taiwan's Semiconductor Industry
Wired
Taiwan has faced existential conflict with China for its entire existence and has been targeted by China's state-sponsored hackers for years. But an investigation by one Taiwanese security firm has revealed just how deeply a single group of Chinese hackers was able to penetrate an industry at the core of the Taiwanese economy, pillaging practically its entire semiconductor industry.
China warns Japan a TikTok ban would affect relations
Japan Today
China has warned Japan that a ban on Beijing-based ByteDance's short-video app TikTok would have a"large impact" on bilateral relations, broadcaster TBS reported on Friday, citing unnamed Japanese government sources.
Japan's Cybersecurity Policy: An Introduction
Stiftung Neue Verantwortung
@juschuetze
Japan’s cybersecurity policy and international engagements on cybersecurity have been developing rapidly. This paper aims to give a current (2018–2019) state of affairs taking into account that the field of cybersecurity and Japan’s approach towards solving cybersecurity challenges are changing fast.
South Asia
Eric Yuan: India is our second biggest user base, opening new office in Bangalore: Zoom founder Eric Yuan
India Times
When asked about what the future of video communications look like when the world will come out of Covid-19, Yuan said even after the coronavirus outbreak will be gone, work from home will become a preferred working style for many.
PM Narendra Modi to inaugurate 2300-km undersea cable project to boost connectivity to Andaman & Nicobar Islands on August 10
Zee News
@ritesh_ks
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the 2300-km undersea Optical Fibre Cable project connecting Chennai and Port Blair on Monday.
Europe
TikTok finds safe haven in Europe
Politico
@LauKaya @vmanancourt
A European ban on the Chinese-owned app looks unlikely.
The Americas
Second Canadian Sent to China’s Death Row in as Many Days
The Wall Street Journal
@ByChunHan
The death sentences handed down this week come amid unresolved tensions between Beijing and Ottawa over Canada’s arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou.
Misc
Digital Clones Could Cause Problems for Identity Systems
DarkReading
@roblemos
Three fundamental technologies -- chatbots, audio fakes, and deepfake videos -- have improved to the point that creating digital, real-time clones of people is merely a matter of integrating the systems.
Taking steps to break down systemic racism in cybersecurity
CyberScoop
Racism, like cybersecurity, is a national security issue. Systemic racism prevents diverse perspectives from informing policy and security. As a result, it hampers our ability to understand and combat misinformation and to address our society’s vulnerabilities so as to prevent our adversaries from exploiting them.
Whoops, our bad, we just may have 'accidentally' left Google Home devices recording your every word, sound, sorry
The Register
@katyanna_q
Your Google Home speaker may have been quietly recording sounds around your house without your permission or authorization, it was revealed this week.
How Amazon puts misinformation on your reading list
The Guardian
It’s a truism that we live in a “digital age”. It would be more accurate to say that we live in an algorithmically curated era – that is, a period when many of our choices and perceptions are shaped by machine-learning algorithms that nudge us in directions favoured by those who employ the programmers who write the necessary code.
Intel investigating breach after 20GB of internal documents leak online
ZDNet
@campuscodi
Leak confirmed to be authentic. Many files are marked "confidential" or "restricted secret."
We Aren’t Holding The Right People Responsible For Cancel Culture
Buzzfeed News
The way we talk on the internet is broken, but users are not the ones who broke it — tech companies did that, and they did it for profit.
Events
Webinar Launch - 'Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage'
ASPI and Foreign Policy
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Australian Foreign Affairs is delighted to invite you to a panel discussion on the new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs: Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage. This issue of Australian Foreign Affairs explores the threat facing Australia as changes in technology enable malign actors to target individuals, officials, businesses and infrastructure – challenges that have only sharpened due to Covid-19. Speakers: Professor Anne-Marie Brady, Danielle Cave, Andrew Davies, Kim McGrath, Jonathan Pearlman and Penny Wong.
Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity and supply chains
ASPI
ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to the virtual launch of our latest report, 'Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity and supply chains', with the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, the Hon Karen Andrews MP on 18 August. The report, Working smarter, not harder looks at how Australian governments - as the nation's largest spenders on ICT - can maximise the leverage that market power gives them to drive improved cybersecurity, more secure supply chains, and build local industry. The launch by the Minister will be followed by a panel discussion with and Q&A.
LIVE From America: Cybersecurity
AmCham
Australia has a lot of serious threats, whether it is taking down the power grid,. holding healthcare systems hostage stealing money from your bank account, cyber threats collectively now exceed the danger of physical attacks against us. Our democratic process and freedom depend on a collaboration of government, private sectors and individuals to prevent future cyber attacks.
Jobs
Senior Expert
European Institute for Security Studies
The EUISS seeks to hire a non-resident Senior Expert who will contribute to the implementation of the project “Global mapping on cybersecurity capacity building and portal” funded by the European Commission, Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development. The selected candidate will report to the Brussels Executive Officer acting in his capacity of Project Coordinator. The deadline for submitting applications is Friday, 21 August 2020, 14:00 CEST.
Fall 2020 Internship, Alliance for Securing Democracy
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
The Alliance for Securing Democracy is seeking fall interns to assist with research on malign actors’ attempts to undermine democracies. Interns will be responsible for tracking and compiling research and developments in this area, including tracking real-time developments in Europe and the United States, and researching partner organization’s work. Interns will benefit from exposure to GMF’s network, and will gain valuable research, analysis, and writing experience. During COVID-19, all internships will be on a remote, work-from-home basis.