‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza | US reprimands Microsoft for security failures that allowed Chinese hack | Google looks to AI paywall option
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A new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals that the Israeli army has developed an artificial intelligence-based program known as “Lavender,” unveiled here for the first time. +972 Magazine
In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying “a cascade of errors” by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior US officials including commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo. The Guardian
Google, the search engine used by more than a billion people around the world, is reported to be considering charging for premium content generated by artificial intelligence. BBC News
World
EU and US look to attract developing countries into critical raw materials partnership
Euractiv
Eliza Gkritsi
Roughly 24 countries have been invited to attend a launch event of the Minerals Security Partnership Forum on Friday (5 April), during the EU-US Trade and Technology Council, a forum for cooperation between the two jurisdictions, said the official. The MSP Forum is building on a previous partnership launched by the US in 2022 “to accelerate the development of diverse and sustainable critical energy minerals supply chains.”
China
China is betting on battery swaps to tackle EV chargers shortage
Rest of World
Caiwei Chen
Battery swapping is rarely seen globally because it requires both specialized EVs that support the feature and a network of swapping stations. But it has found a strong foothold in China. By the end of 2023, the total number of battery swapping stations in China reached 3,567, of which 2,333 were operated by Nio. The International Energy Agency hailed China a “leader in global battery swapping infrastructure.”
Citizen Lab submission to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China about the state of human rights in China
The Citizen Lab
Snigdha Basu
Emile Dirks, Research Associate at the Citizen Lab, prepared a written submission for the Congressional-Executive Commission on China about the state of human rights in the country. The CECC was established by Congress in October 2000, with the legislative mandate to monitor human rights and the development of the rule of law in China, and to present an annual report to the President and the Congress. The Citizen Lab sent in this submission on February 1, 2024.
USA
US reprimands Microsoft for security failures that allowed Chinese hack
The Guardian
In a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying “a cascade of errors” by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior US officials including commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo. The Cyber Safety Review Board, created in 2021 by executive order, describes shoddy cybersecurity practices, a lax corporate culture and a lack of sincerity about the company’s knowledge of the targeted breach, which affected multiple US agencies that deal with China.
What an effort to hack chatbots says about AI safety
Foreign Policy
Rishi Iyengar
Last summer, more than 2,000 people (including this reporter) gathered at a convention center in Las Vegas for one of the world’s biggest hacking conferences. Most of them were there to do one thing: try to break the artificial intelligence chatbots developed by some of the biggest tech companies out there. With those companies’ participation, as well as the blessing of the White House, the goal was to test the chatbots’ potential for real-world harm while in a safe environment, through an exercise known in the security world as “red teaming.”
North Asia
South Korea's SK Hynix to build $3.9bn AI chip plant in U.S.
Nikkei Asia
Kim Jaewon
SK Hynix will spend $3.9 billion to build an advanced chip packaging fabrication plant in the U.S. state of Indiana, as the administration of President Joe Biden aims to revive the domestic semiconductor manufacturing sector. The world's second-largest memory chip manufacturer announced the plan at an investment agreement ceremony on Wednesday at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.
Japan, U.S., Philippines to form defence network against cyberattacks, Nikkei says
Reuters
Kiyoshi Takenaka
Leaders from Japan, the U.S. and the Philippines are set to agree on forming a defence network against cyberattacks by sharing information and expertise when they meet for a summit on April 11, the Nikkei business daily said on Wednesday.
Japan eyes hydrogen production using next-gen nuclear reactor
Nikkei Asia
Kazunari Hanawa
The Japanese government plans to start field testing clean hydrogen production using nuclear power as soon as 2028, Nikkei has learned, with the move following a successful safety test of a next-generation reactor last week. The Japan Atomic Energy Agency tested the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor in Ibaraki prefecture on March 28. The trial was conducted in conjunction with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Japanese lens maker Hoya halts production after cyber attack
iTnews
Kantaro Komiya
Japanese lens maker Hoya said the production of several of its products have stopped after a system failure, which was "most likely caused by unauthorised access" to its servers. Hoya said the company discovered a system discrepancy in one of its overseas offices on Saturday and confirmed the disruption despite its efforts to isolate affected servers.
Southeast Asia
Malaysia passes Cyber Security Bill 2024
Vietnam Plus
The Dewan Negara (upper house) of Malaysia passed the Cyber Security Bill 2024 on April 3 to enhance the nation’s cyber security through compliance with specific measures, standards, and processes in managing cyber security threats. Earlier, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo, when winding up debate, said the implementation of the bill could help the government ensure the viability and efficiency of the Critical National Information Infrastructure in handling cyber security incidents.
South & Central Asia
X rolls out support for posting community notes in India ahead of elections
TechCrunch
Ivan Mehta
Weeks before the national elections in India, Elon Musk-owned X said it is rolling out support for posting Community Notes — the company’s crowd-sourced fact-checking program — in the key overseas market. The first set of contributors from India will start posting notes from today and more will be accepted over time, X said. The contributors typically provide more context to popular posts to debunk any myth or offer broader insights. These submissions are then rated by users on factors such as the helpfulness they provide or the accuracy.
Europe
Macron has no doubt Russia will target Paris Olympics
The Canberra Times
French President Emmanuel Macron says he has no doubt Russia will malevolently target the Paris Olympics this summer, in comments that underline the fraught geopolitical backdrop to the Games. "I have no doubt whatsoever, including in terms of information," Macron said in response to a reporter's question on Thursday about whether he thought that Russia would try to target the Olympics.
French senators blame Macron government for long delay in adopting SREN digital bill
Euractiv
Théophane Hartmann
On Tuesday (2 April), French Senators blamed the Macron government for the eight-month delay in the legislative process on a landmark digital bill, saying that the government failed to prepare the text effectively. The EU Commission objected to some provisions in the legislation, which delayed the process in France. The Commission’s objections were only a result of bad preparation on the French government’s part, said the opposition politicians.
UK
Police launch inquiry after MPs targeted in apparent ‘spear-phishing’ attack
The Guardian
Ben Quinn and Eleni Courea
A police investigation has been launched after MPs were apparently targeted in a “spear-phishing” attack, in what security experts believe could be an attempt to compromise parliament. A police force said it had started an inquiry after receiving a complaint from an MP who was sent a number of unsolicited messages last month.
Middle East
‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
+972 Magazine
Yuval Abraham
A new investigation by +972 Magazine and Local Call reveals that the Israeli army has developed an artificial intelligence-based program known as “Lavender,” unveiled here for the first time. According to six Israeli intelligence officers, who have all served in the army during the current war on the Gaza Strip and had first-hand involvement with the use of AI to generate targets for assassination, Lavender has played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of Palestinians, especially during the early stages of the war.
‘The machine did it coldly’: Israel used AI to identify 37,000 Hamas targets
The Guardian
Bethan McKernan and Harry Davies
The Israeli military’s bombing campaign in Gaza used a previously undisclosed AI-powered database that at one stage identified 37,000 potential targets based on their apparent links to Hamas, according to intelligence sources involved in the war. In addition to talking about their use of the AI system, called Lavender, the intelligence sources claim that Israeli military officials permitted large numbers of Palestinian civilians to be killed, particularly during the early weeks and months of the conflict.Report: Israel used AI to identify bombing targets in Gaza
The Verge
Gaby Del Valle
Israel’s military has been using artificial intelligence to help choose its bombing targets in Gaza, sacrificing accuracy in favor of speed and killing thousands of civilians in the process, according to an investigation by Israel-based publications +972 Magazine and Local Call.
Big Tech
The App Store was down, along with Apple TV, Apple Podcasts, and Apple Music
The Verge
Richard Lawler
Apple’s online services were hit with an outage that cut many of us off from the App Store, Apple TV, and Apple Music on Wednesday night. The system status page for Apple’s online service noted an outage beginning at 6:31PM ET affecting those services, as well as Arcade, Audiobooks, Books, Podcasts, Fitness Plus, and its new Apple Sports app. Now, the status page lists them all as “outage resolved” as of 7:35PM ET, and they seem to be working again.
Artificial Intelligence
Google looks to AI paywall option, claims report
BBC
Jemma Dempsey
Google, the search engine used by more than a billion people around the world, is reported to be considering charging for premium content generated by artificial intelligence. The company, owned by Alphabet Inc, is said to be revamping its business model and looking at putting some of its core product behind a paywall. It would be the first time Google had charged for any of its content.
Google considers charging for AI-powered search in big change to business model
Financial Times
Madhumita Murgia and Richard Waters
Google is considering charging for new “premium” features powered by generative artificial intelligence, in what would be the biggest ever shake-up of its search business. The proposed revamp to its cash cow search engine would mark the first time the company has put any of its core product behind a paywall, and shows it is still grappling with a technology that threatens its advertising business, almost a year and a half after the debut of ChatGPT.
Google just scored a big win in the AI talent war
Business Insider
Jyoti Mann
Google has a new feather in its cap after luring OpenAI's former head of developer relations. Logan Kilpatrick, who left OpenAI last month, announced on Tuesday that he's joining Google to "lead product for AI Studio and support the Gemini API." The move shows the transfer window of AI expertise is firmly open as Big Tech companies battle it out to lure top AI talent.
AI-driven cyber attacks – the alarming 85% surge
Tech Business News
Matthew Giannelis
As reliance on artificial intelligence grows across various sectors, from customer service to operational streamlining, a darker side of AI emerges: its potential to facilitate cyber threats. The magnitude of the threat is evident. Almost half (46%) of cybersecurity professionals anticipate that AI will heighten companies’ vulnerability levels.
Business schools are going all in on AI
The Wall Street Journal
Lindsay Ellis
Top business schools are pushing M.B.A. candidates and undergraduates to use artificial intelligence as a second brain. Students are eager for the instruction as employers increasingly hire talent with AI skills. American University’s Kogod School of Business is putting an unusually high emphasis on AI, threading teaching on the technology through 20 new or adapted classes, from forensic accounting to marketing, which will roll out next school year.
GPT-4 is 82% more persuasive than humans, and AIs can now read emotions
New Atlas
Loz Blain
GPT-4 is already better at changing people's minds than the average human is, according to new research. The gap widens the more it knows about us – and once it can see us in real time, AI seems likely to become an unprecedented persuasion machine. We don't tend to like thinking of ourselves as being particularly easy to manipulate, but history would appear to show that there are few things more powerful than the ability to sway people to align with your view of things.
How AI can help you skip more meetings
The Australian Financial Review
Euan Black
Workers who use products such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom can now use AI to find out what they’ve missed when they’re late to a meeting. “When you turn [the AI tools] on, they’ll transcribe the conversation, and they can create summaries of that conversation,” says Bede Hackney, head of Zoom in Australia and New Zealand.
Misc
Sticks. And the people who love them.
The New York Times
Steven Kurutz
In any other era, the idea of weighing in on the aesthetic qualities of sticks might have been left behind in the wilderness like stray bits of gorp. Instead, Mr. Hogg and Mr. Jugler created Official Stick Reviews on Instagram. The account, which bills itself as “the internet’s go-to for stick reviews,” quickly attracted 40,000 followers, many of whom offer commentary on the sticks under discussion. They also submit photos or videos of the specimens they have come across for possible review.
Carefluencers are helping older loved ones, and posting about it
The New York Times
Frank Rojas
On the east side of San Jose, Calif., there is an abuela who seems to have more grandchildren than she can count. Her likeness has been featured in a painting in the San José Museum of Art and in a mural in the city’s mission district. But it’s her online presence that has captivated the thousands of people who have come across the photos and videos posted by her grandson Yosimar Reyes.
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.
Jobs
Data Scientist
ASPI
ASPI is looking for an inquisitive and problem-solving open-source data scientist who will be responsible for developing and implementing automated techniques for a variety of open-source data collection requirements. We are open to experienced data scientists and those beginning their career. Role equivalency would be between levels 3 – 7 of Data Science category of SFIA 8. The closing date for applications is 15 April 2024– an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.
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.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.