Millions of Australians set to get ultra-fast broadband under upgrade to the NBN | Largest global dark web takedown results in 179 arrests | China to use social credit to punish academic plagarism

Sep 23, 2020

Follow us on Twitter. The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cyber, critical technologies & strategic issues like foreign interference.

Millions of Australians are set to get access to ultra-fast broadband under a $3.5 billion upgrade to the NBN, expected to be finished by 2023, in a backdown that has drawn the ire of Labor figures past and present. ABC.
In one of the largest global dark web takedowns to date, Operation Disruptor has resulted in 179 arrests spread across six countries; 500 kilograms of drugs seized; $6.5 million in cash and cryptocurrency confiscated. WIRED.
Plagiarizing academic papers can now negatively affect an individual’s social credit score in China. A new guideline on postgraduate education published Tuesday stipulates that academic fraud will be recorded in China’s social credit system. Sixth Tone.

ASPI ICPC

‘Page not found’: what happens when diplomatic statements meet the WeChat censor
The Strategist
@DariImpio
That the Chinese ‘superapp’ WeChat is subject to political control by the Chinese Communist Party is no secret; many studies have tracked its powerful censorship regime over time and documented the content that is routinely taken down from the app. In recent months, debate over the potential risk that WeChat poses to national security has again flared up in Western countries.

Elise Thomas @elisethoma5

My colleague Leanne Close and I had a chat in the latest episode of @ASPI_org's podcast about the dynamics of right wing movements online, as well as about the growing risks from conspiracy movements bit.ly/2ZN7pse

The Age @theage

ASIO raises concerns about a rise in right-wing extremism https://t.co/pSxT7KKP98

The U.S. government thinks TikTok is a national security threat. So why can’t the government decide what to do?
The Washington Post
@sarahbauerle
TikTok engages in global censorship, advancing the priorities of the Chinese government and stifling free speech. ASPI’s report on TikTok and WeChat uncovered extensive evidence that the platform engages in more aggressive forms of censorship — targeting pro-gay rights and anti-police brutality messages, for instance — and does so in a more global context than it has acknowledged publicly.

Read ASPI ICPC’s report TikTok and WeChat -Curating and controlling global information flows.

Tracking the modern slavery landscape: recent developments
Allens
Reports by human rights organisations, human rights reporting and benchmarking initiatives, and think tanks are increasingly shining a spotlight on companies' responses to modern slavery risks. A report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute into the use of forced labour in China's Xinjiang region implicated over 80 companies, including major apparel and electronics companies such as H&M, Amazon and Samsung. This 'name and shame' method led many of the companies to provide official responses to the Business Human Rights Resource Centre..These changing expectations are beginning to manifest themselves in government and regulator action.

Read ASPI ICPC's report 'Uyghurs for Sale'.

Elise Thomas @elisethoma5

Do you like Musk bitcoin scams? No, you don't. Nobody likes Musk bitcoin scams, but if you're interested in using #OSINT to investigate them you can see how I do it, along with many other brilliant #OZINT2020 presentations for free! @osintcombine

Elise Thomas - Investigating information campaignsRecorded sessions from the inaugural Australian OSINT Symposiumacademy.osintcombine.com

TikTok deal fails to address data security and information influence concerns
The Strategist
@AudreyFritz5
The proposed TikTok partnership deal between US-based companies Oracle and Walmart and China-based ByteDance fails to address the concerns associated with user data being tied to a Chinese company. Even if majority ownership goes to the US, a continued ByteDance stake in TikTok—regardless of whether it’s as a minority or majority holder—would enable connections between the app’s data and the Chinese Communist Party to be maintained.

Australia

Millions of extra households to be given access to faster NBN speeds by 2023 under $3.5b upgrade plan
ABC
@GeorgiaHitch
Millions of Australians are set to get access to ultra-fast broadband under a $3.5 billion upgrade to the NBN, expected to be finished by 2023, in a backdown that has drawn the ire of Labor figures past and present.

Facebook suddenly refuses to appear before foreign interference committee
ABC
@MattDoran91
Facebook has suddenly refused to appear before a parliamentary committee into foreign interference, asking instead for its evidence to be rescheduled after the US election in November.

China

China Uses Social Credit System to Punish Academic Misconduct
Sixth Tone
Plagiarizing academic papers can now negatively affect an individual’s social credit score in China. A new guideline on postgraduate education published Tuesday stipulates that academic fraud will be recorded in China’s social credit system.

USA

State Department cut funding for controversial “Iran Disinfo” project — but kept working with its creators
The Intercept
@negarmortazavi @MazMHussain
Internal documents show a multi-front effort to keep funding and collaboration alive, because the public was unaware of the links.

In apparent play for QAnon supporters, GOP attack ads claim Democrat lawmakers are defending 'sex offenders'
Yahoo! News
@Isikoff
But to some, the harsh attack ad is part of a nationwide “QAnon strategy” that the Republican campaign committee appears to be deploying to exploit the fears and paranoia fueled by the bizarre conspiracy cult convinced that the Democrats are working with “deep state” sex traffickers and pedophiles to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidency.

Twitter to start testing voice DMs
The Verge
@chriswelch

After rolling out audio tweets for iOS in June, Twitter is now experimenting with the idea of letting people record and send voice messages through direct messages. Alex Ackerman-Greenberg, product manager for direct messages at Twitter, let me know that the company will be testing voice DMs soon. Brazil will be the first country included in that test. He shared the news... through a 20-second voice message. “We know people want more options for how they express themselves in conversations on Twitter — both publicly and privately,” he said.

Secret Service looks to outsiders to boost financial security probes
CyberScoop
@shanvav
But to some, the harsh attack ad is part of a nationwide “QAnon strategy” that the Republican campaign committee appears to be deploying to exploit the fears and paranoia fueled by the bizarre conspiracy cult convinced that the Democrats are working with “deep state” sex traffickers and pedophiles to sabotage Donald Trump’s presidency.

Misc

Social-media platforms are destroying evidence of war crimes
The Economist
It is not hard to see why investigators have increasingly turned to social media to gather evidence. Conflict zones are difficult and dangerous to visit. Eyewitness reports are fallible and can be manipulated. Gathering information remotely allows investigators to corroborate evidence or generate new leads and information.

179 Arrested in Massive Global Dark Web Takedown
WIRED
@brbarrett
It's one of the largest global dark web takedowns to date: 179 arrests spread across six countries; 500 kilograms of drugs seized; $6.5 million in cash and cryptocurrency confiscated. And while it was announced this morning, Operation Disruptor traces its roots back to May 3, 2019. That’s the day that German police seized Wall Street Market, the popular underground bazaar that gave international authorities everything they needed to upend the dark web drug trade.