India snubs Huawei in 5G trials | Belgian government's IT network down after DDoS attack | Female journalists are attacked online more frequently and severely than male colleagues
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India will allow mobile carriers to carry out 5G trials with equipment makers including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung's network unit, the government said on Tuesday, but did not name China's Huawei among the participants. Major carriers Reliance Industries' Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will conduct the trials along with state-run MTNL in urban, rural and semi-urban areas, the Ministry of Communications said in a statement. Reuters
Most of the Belgium government’s IT network has been down today after a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack knocked offline both internal systems and public-facing websites. The attack targeted Belnet, a government-funded ISP that provides internet connectivity for Belgian government organizations, such as its Parliament, educational institutes, ministries, and research centers. The Record
Around the globe, female journalists are attacked online more frequently and severely than their male colleagues. A recent global survey of journalists found that three out of four female respondents had experienced online violence. Now, to mark World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists have released a new report showing the alarming scale and impacts of these attacks, which have increased exponentially over the past decade. The Washington Post
China
US-China tech war: Beijing's secret chipmaking champions
Nikkei Asia
@ChengTingFang @Lauly_Th_Li
Once a month, senior executives of Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. fly to Beijing for a flurry of meetings with China's top economic management bodies. They focus on the company's efforts to build some of the world's most advanced computer memory chips -- and its progress on weaning itself off American technology.
Grim Image of India Prompts Debate Over China’s Swaggering Propaganda
The New York Times
Chris Buckley
An official social media post contrasting Beijing’s successes with its neighbor’s coronavirus woes drew a backlash from some, who called it callous.
China’s State-Backed Messengers See Opportunity in India’s Coronavirus Woes
The German Marshall Fund of the United States
@barros_bryce @EtienneSoula
China’s state-backed messengers are using India’s health crisis to denigrate the United States and encourage India to step back from its deepening partnership with the United States and other democracies.. Much of China’s messaging also attempted to undermine the deepening strategic partnerships between India and other democracies. Several comments were aimed explicitly at the rapprochement between India, Australia, Japan, and the United States in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
USA
The Instagram ads Facebook won't show you
Signal
@haradawins
We created a multi-variant targeted ad designed to show you the personal data that Facebook collects about you and sells access to. The ad would simply display some of the information collected about the viewer which the advertising platform uses. Facebook was not into that idea.
Signal Tries to Run the Most Honest Facebook Ad Campaign Ever, Immediately Gets Banned
Gizmodo
@swodinsky
A series of Instagram ads run by the privacy-positive platform Signal got the messaging app booted from the former’s ad platform, according to a blog post Signal published on Tuesday. The ads were meant to show users the bevy of data that Instagram and its parent company Facebook collects on users, by... targeting those users using Instagram’s own adtech tools.
Chinese Military-Civil Fusion and Section 1260H: Congress Incorporates Defense Contributors
Lawfare
Jordan Brunner @emily_sw1
One provision of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2021 requires the U.S. Department of Defense to publish an annual list of “Chinese military companies” (CMCs). Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo referenced the provision, Section 1260H, during her confirmation process as a way to handle the “substantial challenges China’s military-civil fusion policy poses to U.S. national security.”
Phishing' Sites Buying Workplace Login Details Linked to Well-Funded Startup
VICE
@josephfcox
Argyle says it provides access to employment and payroll history. Buying login details may fall afoul of U.S. hacking laws.
Your car is spying on you, and a CBP contract shows the risks
The Intercept
@samfbiddle
U.S. Customs and Border Protection purchased technology that vacuums up reams of personal information stored inside cars, according to a federal contract reviewed by The Intercept, illustrating the serious risks in connecting your vehicle and your smartphone.
Idaho legislative intern reports rape, is ID’d by lawmaker
Associated Press
@boiseboone
The harassment began soon after a report by a 19-year-old intern, who alleged an Idaho lawmaker raped her, became public.. Another shared links to a far-right blog post that included the intern’s name, photo and personal details about her life with thousands of people in a newsletter and on social media. And members of a far-right, anti-government activist group tried to follow and harass the young woman after she was called to testify in a legislative public ethics hearing.
Trump launches new communications platform months after Twitter, Facebook ban
Fox News
@brookesingman
Former President Trump on Tuesday launched a communications platform, which will eventually give him the ability to communicate directly with his followers, after months of being banned from sites like Twitter and Facebook.
Donald Trump’s ‘social media platform’ has launched and it’s just a blog
The Verge
@kellymakena
The new “platform” is styled like a generic version of Twitter but hosted as a running blog of commentary from Trump. People can sign up for post alerts on the platform through their email and phone numbers and are allegedly able to like them, although that function doesn’t appear to work as of publication.
Proud Boys saw wave of contributions from Chinese diaspora before Capitol attack
USA Today
@willcarless
The Proud Boys enjoy significant support from a slice of the Chinese American community and the broader Chinese diaspora. Some Chinese Americans have bought in to the rhetoric spread by the Proud Boys, conspiracy theorists such as Alex Jones and conservative commentators that America is under attack from communism.
The internet is excluding Asian-Americans who don’t speak English
MIT Technology Review
@TateRyMo
For millions of people on the wrong side of America's language gap, technology is creating barriers rather than removing them.
CIA forges unity in diversity: everybody hates their ‘woke’ recruitment ad
The Guardian
@julianborger
A social media campaign, Humans of CIA, aimed at boosting diversity at the agency has united critics on the right and left in a moment of shared derision, albeit for different reasons.
DOJ Threatened MIT Researchers With Subpoena in Collaboration With Bolivian Coup Regime
The Intercept
@kenklippenstein @ryangrim
A Justice Department trial attorney repeatedly contacted Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers asking, eventually under threat of subpoena, about research they had conducted on the 2019 Bolivian presidential election, according to emails obtained by The Intercept.
North Asia
Hongkongers rush to 'Save RTHK' from show purge
RTHK
Bruce Lui @timmysung
Hong Kong people rushed to save copies of RTHK programmes on Monday as the station began removing shows from the internet, with a journalism academic warning that the broadcaster's move will allow the authorities to create their own version of history.
South and Central Asia
India doesn't name Huawei among participants in 5G trials
Reuters
@sankalp_sp
India will allow mobile carriers to carry out 5G trials with equipment makers including Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung's network unit, the government said on Tuesday, but did not name China's Huawei among the participants. Major carriers Reliance Industries' Jio Infocomm, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea will conduct the trials along with state-run MTNL in urban, rural and semi-urban areas, the Ministry of Communications said in a statement.
Telecom Department gives go-ahead for 5G Technology and Spectrum Trials
Ministry of Communications
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), Government of India, approved today, permissions to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for conducting trials for use and applications of 5G technology. The applicant TSPs include Bharti Airtel Ltd., Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd., Vodafone Idea Ltd. and MTNL.
Social Media as ‘Godsend’: In India, Cries for Help Get Results
The New York Times
@suhasiniraj
With the Covid-19 crisis pushing the health care system past the breaking point, online grass-roots networks have sprung up to get aid to people who need it.
Analysis of SOS tweets during India’s COVID crisis shows how ordinary Indians helped each other
DFRLab
@kaulayush @onosmosis
Over 350,000 Indians banded together on Twitter and crowdsourced vital resources as India’s healthcare system collapsed
Europe
Belgium’s government network goes down after massive DDoS attack
The Record
@campuscodi
Most of the Belgium government’s IT network has been down today after a massive distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack knocked offline both internal systems and public-facing websites. The attack targeted Belnet, a government-funded ISP that provides internet connectivity for Belgian government organizations, such as its Parliament, educational institutes, ministries, and research centers.
German Authorities Break Up International Child Sex Abuse Site
The New York Times
@meddynyt
German prosecutors have broken up an online platform for sharing images and videos showing the sexual abuse of children, mostly boys, that had an international following of more than 400,000 members.
EU efforts to ratify China investment deal on ice after sanctions
Yahoo News
@VDombrovskis
The European Commission said Tuesday that efforts to win approval for the EU's massive investment deal with China were effectively "suspended" given the soured diplomatic relations between both sides after tit-for-tat sanctions.. "It's clear in the current situation with the EU sanctions in place against China and Chinese counter sanctions in place, including against members of European Parliament (that) the environment is not conducive for ratification of the agreement," Dombrovskis said.
Gender and Women in Cyber
Women journalists face escalating violence online. We should know.
The Washington Post
@mariaressa @julieposetti
Around the globe, female journalists are attacked online more frequently and severely than their male colleagues. A recent global survey of journalists found that three out of four female respondents had experienced online violence. Now, to mark World Press Freedom Day, UNESCO and the International Center for Journalists have released a new report showing the alarming scale and impacts of these attacks, which have increased exponentially over the past decade.
The Chilling: Global trends in online violence against women journalists
UNESCO
There is nothing virtual about online violence. It has become the new frontline in journalism safety - and women journalists sit at the epicentre of risk. Networked misogyny and gaslighting intersect with racism, religious bigotry, homophobia and other forms of discrimination to threaten women journalists - severely and disproportionately.
Misc
They Told Their Therapists Everything. Hackers Leaked It All
WIRED
@RalstonWilliam9
Vastaamo ran the largest network of private mental-health providers in Finland. In a country of just 5.5 million it was the “McDonald’s of psychotherapy". And because of that, the attack on the company rocked all of Finland. Around 30,000 people are believed to have received the ransom demand; some 25,000 reported it to the police.
Pandemic accelerates growth in cybercrime
Financial Times
@MishaGlenny
The coronavirus pandemic has fundamentally changed the way we work. And that includes cyber criminals, who have had a particularly busy and lucrative time. Canalys, a tech market analysis firm, has reported that 30bn data records were stolen in 2020 — which is more than in the previous 15 years put together.
Inside ‘Facebook Jail’: The Secret Rules That Put Users in the Doghouse
The Wall Street Journal
@kirstengrind
The site’s Oversight Board is expected to rule on Donald Trump’s case Wednesday. Breaking Facebook’s rules can mean removed posts and blocked privileges, but a vast number of guidelines aren’t made public.
How to Perform a Social Media Autopsy
Galaxy Brain
@cwarzel
There’s an iceberg-like quality to media manipulation and disinformation campaigns. What you can see is dramatic - but it’s a small fraction of the whole. Many media manipulators and trolls use the chaos and murky nature of big platforms as cover to spread falsehoods.
Anyone can use this powerful facial-recognition tool — and that's a problem
CNN
@rachelmetz
PimEyes is open to anyone with internet access. It's a stark contrast from Clearview AI, which became well-known for building its enormous stash of faces with images of people from social networks and limits its use to law enforcement (Clearview has said it has hundreds of such customers).
Research
Third Parties Caused Data Breaches at 51% of Organizations
Info Security Magazine
Sarah Coble
Remote access is becoming an organization's weakest attack surface, according to new research published today by the Ponemon Institute and third-party remote access provider SecureLink. The new report, titled “A Crisis in Third-party Remote Access Security,” reveals a disparity between an organization's perceived third-party access security threat and the protective measures it puts in place.
Rumor Control: a Framework for Countering Vaccine Misinformation
Virality Project
@mastersonmv @0xAA5A @ChaseSmall5
There has been a lot of good news recently about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the United States. Millions of Americans are getting vaccinated each day, and recent research findings have demonstrated the long term-effectiveness of the vaccines. However, as the United States begins to approach what appears to be a plateau in vaccination rates, we will likely see a transition in the type and pervasiveness of mis- and disinformation about the safety, availability and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Events
What exactly is ‘responsible AI’ in principle and in practice?
Brookings
On May 10, the Center for Technology Innovation at Brookings will host a webinar to unpack what is meant by “responsible AI” and how different sectors are building corollary frameworks to increase the technology’s accountability. Panelists will also discuss the roles of self-regulation, public policies, and consumer feedback.
The Facebook Oversight Board's Forthcoming Ruling on Trump’s Ban
Lawfare
This Friday, May 7, at 2 p.m. ET, Lawfare Managing Editor Quinta Jurecic and Evelyn Douek, a lecturer at Harvard Law School, will join Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare’s editor in chief, to take questions from the Lawfare community on the Facebook Oversight Board’s ruling on former President Trump’s ban from the platform.
Jobs
ICPC Analyst or Senior Analyst - Cyber & technology
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for an exceptional cyber-security or technology focused analyst or senior analyst to join its centre in 2021. Candidates must have the ability to synthesis complex cyber and technology developments and explain these developments to media and key stakeholders in plain language. The ability to engage with and brief seniors across parliaments, governments, civil society and the business community.
International Cyber Policy Centre – Strategic engagement, program & research coordinator
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has an outstanding early career role for a talented and proactive individual to support senior centre staff on strategic engagement, program and research coordination.