Israel denies Iranian cyber-attacks despite evidence | Ukrainian hackers breach Russian drone developers | Disinformation circulated around Bondi attacker
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Israel says there were no Iranian cyberattacks coinciding with the missile barrage, but reporting shows Iranian hackers potentially infiltrated key systems — including disrupting civilian radar systems. POLITICO
Ukrainian hackers claim to have breached the Russian drone developer Albatross, leaking 100 gigabytes of data, including internal documentation, technical data and drawings of various types of unmanned aerial vehicles. The Record by Recorded Future
The police operation in Bondi Junction was still under way on Saturday as false claims about the attacker’s motivations and identity began to circulate online. The Guardian
Australia
False claims started spreading about the Bondi Junction stabbing attack as soon as it happened
The Guardian
Ariel Bogle
The police operation in Bondi Junction was still under way on Saturday as false claims about the attacker’s motivations and identity began to circulate online. Police said on Sunday they had no indication that the stabbing spree committed by Queensland man Joel Cauchi was motivated by a particular belief system – but that didn’t stop speculation spreading on social media that the assailant was motivated by a variety of religious or political ideologies.
Benjamin Cohen was falsely accused of the Bondi Junction stabbings. Here's how the lie spread around the world
ABC News
Kevin Nguyen and Michael Workman
For 14 hours over the weekend, Sydney university student Ben Cohen was one of the most reviled men on the internet after he was falsely accused of being the knifeman who went on a stabbing rampage in a Sydney shopping centre, killing six people. The ABC has pieced together how anti-semitic and pro-Kremlin accounts turned Mr. Cohen into an internet villain.
‘Triple-0 fears’: ACCC snubs telcos’ call for help on 3G shutdown
The Australian
Jared Lynch
The competition watchdog is refusing to use its product recall power to alert hundreds of thousands of Australians that their mobile phone might not be able to call triple-0 when 3G is turned off this year, despite appeals from the big telcos. Telstra, Optus and TPG have met with an Australian Competition & Consumer Commission, asking to use its recall powers to assist with a public awareness campaign and inform people if they can still call emergency services on their phones.
Consulting giant builds $300m Aussie cyber group with acquisitions
Financial Times
Tess Bennett
Japanese multinational Fujitsu has built a 300-strong team of cybersecurity specialists following a string of acquisitions to win a larger slice of Australia’s $7.6 billion cyber consulting market. Over the past three years, the local arm of the global technology firm, which is still battling to restore its reputation from the infamous UK Post Office Horizon scandal, has invested more than $300 million to establish the division Fujitsu Cyber Security Services, which will operate in Australia and New Zealand.
USA
Biden-Harris Administration announces preliminary terms with Samsung Electronics to establish leading-edge semiconductor ecosystem in central Texas
US Department of Commerce
The Biden-Harris Administration announced that the U.S. Department of Commerce and Samsung Electronics have signed a non-binding preliminary memorandum of terms to provide up to $6.4 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen the resilience of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, advance U.S. technology leadership, and fuel U.S. global competitiveness. Samsung – the only leading-edge semiconductor company that is a leader in both advanced memory and advanced logic technologies – is expected to invest more than $40 billion dollars in the region in the coming years, and the proposed investment would support the creation of over 20,000 jobs.
Better broadband on the way for the Northern Marianas
RNZ
Mark Rabago
The Northern Marianas is set for better broadband, with Google announcing a USD$1 billion investment through two new subsea cables. These cables, named Proa and Taihei, are to improve digital connectivity between the United States and Japan.
Battle lines drawn as US states take on big tech with online child safety bills
The Guardian
Katie McQue
Maryland became the first state in the US to pass a “Kids Code” bill, which aims to prevent tech companies from collecting predatory data from children and using design features that could cause them harm. The measures are the latest in a salvo of proposed policies that, in the absence of federal rules, have made state capitols a major battlefield in the war between parents and child advocates, who lament that there are too few protections for minors online.
Trump Media shares tank after company reveals plan to sell more stock
The Guardian
Nick Robins-Early
Shares of the former president Donald Trump’s social media company slumped 12% on Monday, extending their string of losses, after the company said in a regulatory filing that it could sell millions of additional shares in coming months. The filing showed a potential sale of 146.1m shares in Trump Media & Technology Group, including 114.8m shares owned by Trump himself.
Trump Media’s first auditor quit months after being appointed
Financial Times
Stephen Foley and Ortenca Aliaj
Donald Trump’s social media company scrambled to find a new auditor after its first pick resigned after just a few months on the job, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump Media & Technology Group engaged WithumSmith+Brown to check its financial statements shortly after the company was founded in 2021, but by the end of the year the accounting firm had decided it did not want to be associated with a business venture by the former US president, these people said.
North Asia
Scientists in China, South Korea devise ‘pioneering strategy’ for breakthrough in semiconductor technology
South China Morning Post
Victoria Bela
Scientists in China and South Korea say they have made a breakthrough in the development of amorphous semiconductors, with a new method that could lead the way to a new generation of semiconductor chip technology. Amorphous semiconductors...have randomly distributed atoms, are more cost-effective, simple and uniformly manufactured, according to the team of researchers.
Japan to raise fines for app store monopolies to 20% of sales
Nikkei Asia
Riho Nagao
Japan plans to increase a penalty for monopolistic practices by tech companies to 20% or more of their applicable sales nationwide, Nikkei has learned, more than triple the percentage under current antitrust law. Mobile platform operators such as Apple and Google would be required to allow third-party app stores and payment systems. Violations would bring fines from the government.
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia’s potential in critical minerals
The Strategist
Han Phoumin
Global critical mineral demand is expected to increase dramatically in coming decades, from a 7.1 million tonnes in 2020 to 42.3 million tonnes in 2050. Global commitments to decarbonisation are the main drivers of this growth, because clean-energy technologies depend on large quantities of critical minerals.
Cambodia’s cyber-slavery trafficking denials reflect official complicity, experts say
The Diplomat
David Whitehouse
Cambodia’s continued attempts to minimize the extent of cyber-slavery on its territory reflect official complicity, as well as the need to embark on a learning curve that many other countries have yet to master, experts say. A huge volume of media reports concur that trafficking victims are recruited to work in cyber-slavery from China, and an ever-growing pool of other countries globally, with the promise of well-paid, legitimate employment in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia's Sarawak seeks to turn itself into a chip design hub
Nikkei Asia
Norman Goh
The resource-rich state of Sarawak is aiming for a bigger role in Malaysia's semiconductor industry as a chip design hub by building on past accomplishments through new partnerships with U.K.-based companies, SMD Semiconductor CEO Shariman Jamil told Nikkei Asia. Malaysia is gaining prominence in the global chip industry as key players make investments.
Ukraine - Russia
Ukrainian hacktivists claim to breach Russian drone developer
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Ukrainian hackers claim to have breached the Russian drone developer Albatross, leaking 100 gigabytes of data, including internal documentation, technical data and drawings of various types of unmanned aerial vehicles. A group calling itself Cyber Resistance said it shared the documents with the international volunteer community InformNapalm, which conducts investigations based on data leaks.
UK
UK rethinks AI legislation as alarm grows over potential risks
Financial Times
Anna Gross and Cristina Criddle
The UK government is beginning to craft new legislation to regulate artificial intelligence, months after the prime minister vowed “not to rush” setting up rules for the fast-growing technology. Such legislation would likely put limits on the production of large language models, the general-purpose technology that underlies AI products such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, according to two people briefed on the plans.
Middle East
How Israel’s cyber defenses fared during Iran strikes
POLITICO
Joseph Gedeon
Israel’s national cyber agency says Iranian hackers weren’t able to break through during this weekend’s missile barrage. But a major cybersecurity firm offered a conflicting view, reporting that Iranian government-linked hackers claimed to have pulled off some attacks timed around the drone strikes.
Google contract shows deal with Israel Defense Ministry
Time
Billy Perrigo
Google provides cloud computing services to the Israeli Ministry of Defense, and the tech giant has negotiated deepening its partnership during Israel’s war in Gaza, a company document viewed by TIME shows. The Israeli Ministry of Defense, according to the document, has its own “landing zone” into Google Cloud—a secure entry point to Google-provided computing infrastructure, which would allow the ministry to store and process data, and access AI services.
Meta to halt threads in Turkey on competition watchdog concerns
Bloomberg
Beril Akman
Meta Platforms Inc. said it will shut down its Threads platform in Turkey in two weeks to comply with an order from local authorities concerned about data sharing. The Turkish Competition Authority said last month that cross-platform data sharing between Threads and Instagram could violate Turkey’s laws and cause “irreparable damage.”
NZ & Pacific Islands
Companies and organisations underprepared and overconfident, says cyber security firm
Radio New Zealand
Nona Pelletier
A global cyber security firm says New Zealand companies and organisations are underprepared and overconfident and need to narrow their focus to combat cyber threats. Cisco's second annual Cybersecurity Readiness Index indicates cyber threats were much bigger than ransomware and phishing, with criminals increasingly exploiting vulnerabilities in older, common software applications.
Big Tech
Chinese-owned semiconductor company Nexperia hit by ransomware attack
The Record by the Recorded Future
Nexperia, a Chinese-owned semiconductor company headquartered in the Netherlands, has announced being hacked after a ransomware group uploaded what it claimed were stolen confidential documents to a darknet extortion site. In a statement late last week, the company said it had “become aware that an unauthorized third party accessed certain Nexperia IT servers in March 2024.”
Cisco Duo warns third-party data breach exposed SMS MFA logs
Bleeping Computer
Bill Toulas
Cisco Duo's security team warns that hackers stole some customers' VoIP and SMS logs for multi-factor authentication messages in a cyberattack on their telephony provider. Duo's homepage reports that it serves 100,000 customers and handles over a billion authentications monthly, with over 10,000,000 downloads on Google Play.
OpenAI seeks to collaborate with Japan's semiconductor industry
Nikkei Asia
Kazuyuki Okudaira and Akira Oikawa
OpenAI, known for its ChatGPT generative artificial intelligence platform, will seek partners in Japan's semiconductor industry to source the high-performance chips AI depends on, Brad Lightcap, the company's COO, told Nikkei during an interview in Tokyo on Monday. High-performance graphics processing units are essential for the learning process of generative AI.
Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Vietnam as US tech giant’s supply chain shift stirs unease in China
South China Morning Post
Coco Feng
Apple chief executive Tim Cook has kicked off his two-day visit to Vietnam, as the US tech giant’s efforts to diversify its supply chain comes into focus again, just weeks after the CEO concluded a tour in the company’s key market of China. On Monday, Apple announced on its Vietnam website that it would “increase spending on suppliers” in the country, adding that such expenditure has reached nearly 400 trillion Vietnamese dong since 2019.
Apple denies violating US court order in Epic Games lawsuit
Reuters
Mike Scarcella
IPhone maker Apple, opens new tab on Friday denied violating a court order governing its App Store and urged a California federal judge to reject a request by “Fortnite” developer Epic Games to hold it in contempt. Apple made the arguments in a filing, opens new tab to U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, who presided over Epic’s lawsuit in 2020 accusing Apple of violating antitrust law with its tight controls over how consumers download apps and pay for transactions within them.
Tesla to cut 14,000 jobs as Elon Musk aims to make carmaker ‘lean and hungry’
The Guardian
Dan Milmo and Graeme Wearden
Musk wrote that Tesla had grown rapidly in recent years and as a result there had been duplication of roles and job functions in certain areas. Referring to the job cuts, he wrote: “There is nothing I hate more, but it must be done. This will enable us to be lean, innovative and hungry for the next growth phase cycle.”
Artificial Intelligence
The AI revolution is already here
Defense One
Peter W. Singer
In just the last few months, the battlefield has undergone a transformation like never before, with visions from science fiction finally coming true. Robotic systems have been set free, authorized to destroy targets on their own.
AI pimps' and their fake influencers are mass-harvesting women's videos to peddle porn
ABC News
Kevin Nguyen and Michael Workman
An Australian man has been unmasked as an influential player in a new frontier of the artificial intelligence industry that harvests images of real women, without their permission, to create virtual influencers to make money. ABC Investigations has identified a north-east Adelaide man, Antonio Alvaro, as a member of an international network of these so-called "AI pimps" that is engaging in mass misuse of women's images to help sell porn subscriptions.
Bolstering AI-powered cybersecurity in the face of increasing threats
Technology Decisions
Chris Fisher
Striking a balance between the pursuit of innovation and expansion, and the rising necessity for cybersecurity is a dilemma that many are wrestling with. In fact, the Australian Government’s new Cyber Security Strategy is entirely underpinned by helping businesses improve their ability to shield against the increase in cyber threats.
Misc
Enhancing cybersecurity in outer space
The Diplomat
Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
Recently, there have been several cybersecurity policy announcements relevant to outer space. The European Space Agency (ESA) came out with a policy document, ESA Security for Space: Shaping the Future, Protecting the Present, in November 2023.
Events & Podcasts
The Sydney Dialogue
ASPI
The Sydney Dialogue was created to help bring together governments, businesses and civil society to discuss and progress policy options. We will forecast the technologies of the next decade that will change our societies, economies and national security, prioritising speakers and delegates who are willing to push the envelope. We will promote diverse views that stimulate real conversations about the best ways to seize opportunities and minimise risks.
JoiningFORCES
ASPI
The JoiningFORCES conference will explore ways to bridge national and international boundaries to deliver more joint, collective and effective defence. It will bring together government ministers, senior defence officials, leading industry figures, and international experts across the two-day event and formal dinner. We will also use collaborative wargaming and scenario exercise techniques to generate insights on enhancing regional deterrence. Our focus will be on strategic and operational level challenges and will consider the vital role of industry in delivering capability at the speed needed to meet the strategic threats Australia faces.
Stop the World: Human rights in 2024
ASPI
In our first episode, ASPI’s Executive Director Justin Bassi is joined by Elaine Pearson, Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, and Daniela Gavshon, Australia Director of Human Rights Watch. They discuss the big issues to watch in 2024, the challenges human rights researchers face today, and the difficulty of keeping public attention on human rights issues as multiple crises unfold around the world. They also explore the practice of arbitrary detention, including the case of Australian writer and academic Dr Yang Hengjun, and how governments can respond.
2024 Cyber Dialogues: Part III
UNIDIR
Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
Calls for gender responsive, tailored, sustainable, effective, and efficient cyber capacity-building continue to intensify from diplomats, policymakers, and technical experts. With high-level discussions on mainstreaming gender within other pillars of the framework and initiatives, the dialogues will convene all relevant stakeholders to share viewpoints.
Jobs
Director of Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS)
ASPI
ASPI is looking for an exceptional and experienced leader to lead our largest team focused on emerging security challenges, particularly in cyberspace and the information domain. Director CTS leads ASPI’s largest team to develop and deliver a range of applied research projects on existing and emerging security challenges. CTS’ projects range across cyber and critical infrastructure security, critical and emerging technologies, national resilience and social cohesion, and hybrid threats. The closing date for applications is 22 April 2024 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.
China Analyst or Senior Analyst
ASPI
ASPI has an exciting opportunity for an analyst or senior analyst to explore China's evolving foreign and security policy, political economy and impact on the Indo-Pacific and the world. ASPI’s China analysts conduct rigorous data-driven research, publish impactful reports that shape the public policy discourse and contribute to the wide catalogue of influential China work published by ASPI. The difference between the analyst and senior analyst levels will depend on experience level and demonstration of past work. The closing date for applications is 10 May 2024– an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.
Research Internship, Cyber Power and Future Conflict Programme, IISS-Asia
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The Cyber Power and Future Conflict Programme explores global strategic competition and future warfare, with a focus on emerging cyber strategies and emerging and disruptive technologies. While the CPFC programme is based in Singapore, its research scope is global. Other research programmes based at the IISS-Asia office cover a broad range of regional issues, including Southeast Asian politics and foreign policy and Indo-Pacific defence and strategy.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.