McKinsey & Co under scrutiny for advising Pentagon and Chinese enterprises | Huawei recruits smartphone partners to sidestep US sanctions | Skills shortage risks Australia's cybersecurity
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Global consulting giant McKinsey & Co.’s work with both the Pentagon and powerful Chinese state-owned enterprises poses a potential risk to national security that federal agencies can no longer ignore, lawmakers and critics say. NBC News
Huawei Technologies Co., whose smartphone business has been devastated by U.S. sanctions, is planning to license its handset designs to third parties as a way to gain access to critical components, people with knowledge of the matter said. Bloomberg
The government’s plan to beef up its offensive cyber attacking capabilities against criminals could be undermined by a massive skills shortage across the sector and competition to attract the best talent, cyber security industry insiders have warned. Australian Financial Review
ASPI ICPC
World
Advising both Chinese state companies and the Pentagon, McKinsey & Co. comes under scrutiny
NBC News
Dan De Luce, Yasmine Salam
Global consulting giant McKinsey & Co.’s work with both the Pentagon and powerful Chinese state-owned enterprises poses a potential risk to national security that federal agencies can no longer ignore, lawmakers and critics say. McKinsey’s consulting contracts with the federal government give it an insider’s view of U.S. military planning, intelligence and high-tech weapons programs. But the firm also advises Chinese state-run enterprises that have supported Beijing’s naval buildup in the Pacific and played a key role in China’s efforts to extend its influence around the world, according to an NBC News investigation.
Australia
Skills shortage poses risk to government’s cyber strategy
Australian Financial Review
Max Mason
The government’s plan to beef up its offensive cyber attacking capabilities against criminals could be undermined by a massive skills shortage across the sector and competition to attract the best talent, cyber security industry insiders have warned.
Cyber attacks a growing threat for the professional services industry
Consultancy
In a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape, Australian businesses increasingly find themselves in the crosshairs of cyber criminals and state-nexus adversaries alike. Nick Lowe, a Director at CrowdStrike, reflects on the threats facing the professional services industry and why the threat should be taken seriously.
Extremists, conspiracy theorists, politicians and ordinary Australians mingled at Melbourne protests
Crikey
Cam Wilson
The bonds between establishment politics and fringe movements in Victoria seem to be increasingly strong.
China
Huawei Recruits Smartphone Partners to Sidestep U.S. Sanctions
Bloomberg
Huawei Technologies Co., whose smartphone business has been devastated by U.S. sanctions, is planning to license its handset designs to third parties as a way to gain access to critical components, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Chinese official punished for supporting cryptocurrency mining companies is expelled from Communist Party
South China Morning Post
Josh Ye
A top provincial official in China has been removed from his post and the Communist Party after an investigation found that he abused his power in supporting cryptocurrency mining.
China’s internet police losing man-versus-machine duel on social media
South China Morning Post
Stephen Chen
Automated social media accounts engaging in political discussions are stretching China’s internet police to the limit, a new study has found. These social media bots are difficult to identify because they use artificial intelligence technology to mimic human language and online behaviour. Often working in groups, they are able to generate and spread a huge amount of information within a short time.
China’s burned-out tech workers are fighting back against long hours
MIT Technology Review
Siyuan Meng
The draining 996 work schedule—named for the expectation that employees work 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—has persisted in Chinese companies for years despite ongoing public outcry. Even Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma once called it a “huge blessing.”
Deep concern' for missing Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai as WTA calls for probe into assault claim
SBS News
The WTA Tour has called on the Chinese government to investigate allegations of sexual assault made by tennis star Peng Shuai against a former Chinese vice premier, while also demanding an end to censorship of the former top-ranked doubles player.
USA
INSIGHT-'Scary and chilling': AI surveillance takes U.S. prisons by storm
Thomson Reuters Foundation
Avi Asher-Schapiro, David Sherfinski
U.S. prisons are installing AI-powered surveillance to fight crime, documents seen by the Thomson Reuters Foundation show, but critics say privacy rights are being trampled.
U.S. to partner with Israel to combat ransomware attacks
Reuters
Kanishka Singh
The U.S. Treasury Department said on Sunday it will partner with Israel to combat ransomware, with the two countries launching a joint task force to address cybersecurity. The task force will develop a memorandum of understanding supporting information sharing related to the financial sector, including cybersecurity regulations and threat intelligence, the Treasury Department said.
U.S. Department of the Treasury Announces Partnership with Israel to Combat Ransomware
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Building on the long-standing relationship between the Israeli Ministry of Finance and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo met with Finance Minister Avigdor Lieberman and Director General of the National Cyber Directorate Yigal Unna in Israel today to establish a bilateral partnership to protect critical financial infrastructure and emerging technologies and expand international cooperation to counter the threat ransomware poses to countries and the global economy.
The White House needs a better plan to curb misinformation pronto, commission argues
The Washington Post
Cristiano Lima
The U.S. government is in dire need of a federal strategy to counter the spread of misinformation and disinformation online and it’s up to the White House to create one, according to a sweeping report released Monday by the Aspen Institute’s Commission on Information Disorder.
Commission on Information Disorder Final Report
Aspen Institute
America is in a crisis of trust and truth. Bad information has become as prevalent, persuasive, and persistent as good information, creating a chain reaction of harm. It makes any health crisis more deadly. It slows down response time on climate change. It undermines democracy.
FBI email system compromised by hackers who sent fake cyberattack alert
The Washington Post
Rachel Pannett
Hackers compromised the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s external email system on Saturday, sending spam emails to potentially thousands of people and companies with a faked warning of a cyberattack. The FBI said in a statement that the fake emails were sent from the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal system used to communicate with state and local officials, not part of the FBI’s larger corporate email service.
The Man, the Myth, and the Metaverse
WIRED
Lisa Messeri
Despite Mark Zuckerberg bloviating about the world-changing virtues of the metaverse for 87 minutes last month, his Connect 2021 keynote’s most truthful and telling moment came in a disclaimer that appeared before he even began speaking. “Actual results may differ materially than those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements,” it read. “We undertake no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to these forward-looking statements.”
Why Facebook won’t let you control your own news feed
The Washington Post
Will Oremus
In at least two experiments over the years, Facebook has explored what happens when it turns off its controversial news feed ranking system — the software that decides for each user which posts they’ll see and in what order, internal documents show. That leaves users to see all the posts from all of their friends in simple, chronological order.
North Asia
Samsung's Lee visits U.S ahead of likely $17 bln chip plant decision-media
Reuters
Joyce Lee
Samsung Electronics vice chairman Jay Y. Lee is visiting North America in his first high-profile trip after serving jail time for bribery, with a decision imminent on the company's planned $17 billion U.S. chip plant.
As autos go electric, Toyota chases hydrogen dream
Reuters
Tim Kelly, Maki Shiraki
As U.N. climate conference delegates considered how to save the planet over the weekend in Glasgow, Toyota Motor's chief executive was in Japan racing an experimental hydrogen car - a vehicle he says could preserve millions of auto jobs.
UK
Online hate speech rose 20% during pandemic: 'We've normalised it'
BBC News
Michael Baggs
Online hate speech in the UK and US has risen by 20% since the start of the pandemic, according to a new report. Youth charity Ditch the Label commissioned the study, which analysed 263 million conversations in the UK and US, between 2019 and mid-2021. It found 50.1 million discussions about, or examples of, racist hate speech in that time.
Europe
China Bought Italian Military-Drone Maker Without Authorities’ Knowledge
The Wall Street Journal
James Marson, Giovanni Legorano
In 2018, a Chinese state-controlled company bought an Italian manufacturer of military drones. Soon after, it began transferring the company’s know-how and technology—which had been used by the Italian military in Afghanistan—to China.
EU to rival China's Belt and Road with overseas infrastructure plan
Nikkei Asia
Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa
The European Union will soon announce a new overseas infrastructure investment framework to compete with China's Belt and Road Initiative. The "Global Gateway" will emphasize sustainability and the EU's values to strengthen ties with partners. In the Indo-Pacific, the framework is set to focus on digital connectivity as the 27-nation bloc looks to increase engagement with the region.
The Crypto Capital of the World
The New York Times
David Segal, Ivan Nechepurenko
A buccaneering 37-year-old educated in a British private school, Michael Chobanian is fluent both in English and the folkways of Ukraine, which he regards as a largely lawless frontier and which he likes to traverse in his black Ferrari 612. He is the founder of Kuna, one of Eastern Europe’s first cryptocurrency exchanges. To him, his native country is a terrific place to run a business, as long as you have the nerve to navigate a system rife with corruption.
The Americas
Banning Huawei from 5G networks in Canada a 'no-brainer', say analysts
National Post
Anja Karadeglija
Banning Huawei from Canada’s 5G networks is a “no-brainer” that would send a strong message to China, the U.S. and our Five Eyes allies, according to analysts. The Liberals have been postponing a decision on Huawei for almost three years, but with the recent release of the Two Michaels from Chinese prisons an announcement is expected to be made within weeks of Parliament returning on November 22.
Events
The Sydney Dialogue - Social Reset: A New Compact Between Technology and Government
ASPI
The information environment everywhere has come under strain and is being exacerbated by geopolitical tensions. State and non-state actors are actively distorting and manipulating the public square in a way that is both inauthentic and degrading to democratic systems. This disruption has created a rift between social media companies and governments. What is now at stake is the integrity of our information environment and ultimately the stability of societies. But the evolving dynamic of antagonism between governments and social media platforms is inhibiting the type of collaboration needed to overcome this challenge. There is an opportunity for technology platforms and legislators to reset their relationships and build online ecosystems that support free societies. This session on 18 Nov at 12:30-13:30 AEDT will propose new ideas for governments and technology companies to ‘reset’ their relationship and work more collaboratively to restore truth in the public sphere.
The Sydney Dialogue - Contested Space: Collaborating in the New Golden Age of Space
ASPI
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
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.
China's Fintech Future
China is where you’ll find ubiquitous payment via QR codes, credit ratings built from whole cloth by Big Tech using Big Data and a central bank digital currency with use cases well beyond China’s borders. How will China shape the future of fintech in the medium and long term — and what does that mean for the existing financial system? In this event, we’ll talk about Beijing’s latest moves to test the CBDC, what we know already about how the CBDC does (and doesn’t) work and in-country Fintech innovations we should adopt globally.
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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