NEW ICPC REPORT: Working Smarter, Not Harder | U.S. tightening restrictions on Huawei access to tech & chips | Google delays local licensing deal, prepares for ACCC fight
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The Australian government’s 2020 cybersecurity strategy included a headline figure of $1.67 billion in funding. This is significant, but spread over 10 years it’s certainly not going to solve the problem on its own. As the strategy makes clear, effective cybersecurity for the nation will depend on businesses as well as governments taking action. After all, it’s surely reasonable to expect that the products and services we buy are appropriately secured by the businesses that provide them. As I describe in my new ASPI report, Working smarter, not harder, released today, the problem is that the information and communications technology market, right now, doesn’t seem to provide the right incentives to suppliers. ASPI Strategist
The Trump administration on Monday announced it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL], aimed at cracking down on its access to commercially available chips. Reuters
Google's plans to improve relationships with some local publishers including Crikey and The Saturday Paper have been put on the ice after the competition watchdog told US tech giants they would have to pay all publishers for using their content. The Sydney Morning Herald
ASPI ICPC
NEW REPORT: Working Smarter, Not Harder
ASPI ICPC
Rajiv Shah
Australian governments are the nation’s largest spenders on ICT, but they’re failing to maximise the leverage that market power gives them to drive improved cybersecurity and more secure supply chains. Government can harness its spending power to not only improve its own cybersecurity, but to drive better cybersecurity throughout the wider economy. However, current approaches are fragmented and having limited impact, so a concerted national effort is needed, underpinned by major strategic changes in approach.
Event: Working smarter, not harder: Leveraging government procurement to improve cybersecurity and supply chains
ASPI
Date: Today, 18 August
Time: 1:00 - 2:00
This paper will be launched with Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, the Hon Karen Andrews MP on 18 August. The launch by the Minister will be followed by a panel discussion with and Q&A. 18 August 2020, 1:00 - 2:00pm.
Register to attend here.
Cybersecurity must be a key part of Australian government procurement decisions
ASPI Strategist
The Australian government’s 2020 cybersecurity strategy included a headline figure of $1.67 billion in funding. This is significant, but spread over 10 years it’s certainly not going to solve the problem on its own.
Truss leads China hawks trying to derail TikTok's London HQ plan
The Guardian
Critics of the company are relying on research from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute released late last year. The thinktank said other ByteDance-owned apps were used to promote Chinese government content, particularly in Xinjiang. Citing local media coverage, ASPI concluded that ByteDance “collaborates with public security bureaus across China, including in Xinjiang, where it plays an active role in disseminating the party state’s propaganda on Xinjiang”.
Read ASPI ICPC’s report Mapping (more) of China’s tech giants here.
Australia
Google delays local licensing deal, prepares for ACCC fight
The Sydney Morning Herald
Google's plans to improve relationships with some local publishers including Crikey and The Saturday Paper have been put on the ice after the competition watchdog told US tech giants they would have to pay all publishers for using their content.
Open letter to Australians Google Australia
Response to Google open letter Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
Sims accuses Google of misinformation The Australian Financial Review
ASIO joins Twitter with 'dad joke' about following citizens
The ABC
More than a decade since parody ASIO accounts began appearing on Twitter, the domestic intelligence agency has decided it is finally time to join the fun.
Human Rights Commission warns government over 'dangerous' use of AI
The Sydney Morning Herald
The Human Rights Commission has warned that the federal government's growing reliance on artificial intelligence and automated decisions is dangerous and will increasingly put vulnerable Australians at risk.
National Scams Awareness Week: 'This is Not Your Life'
ScamWatch
The ACCC has launched a podcast series for this year’s National Scams Awareness Week to provide Australians with tips on how to protect their personal and financial details from scammers.
China
Chinese dronemaker DJI makes sweeping cuts in 'Long March' reforms
Reuters
Chinese drone giant SZ DJI Technology Co Ltd has been making sweeping cuts to its global sales and marketing teams as it faces coronavirus headwinds and mounting political pressure in key markets, current and former staff told Reuters.
Beijing May Score Its Biggest 5G Win at Home
Bloomberg
Beijing is attempting this upward shift across China by emplacing a vast network of fifth generation infrastructure. When it is fully operational, Chinese netizens will have faster internet connections to stream yet more videos or to download high-definition movies in under 10 seconds. Internet penetration will rise rapidly. Connected self-driving vehicles could ply the streets of urban centers like Shanghai and Hangzhou. Heaps more information will be transmitted over clouds.
Who's been spoofing the FT?
The Financial Times
In the first few days of August, Financial Times journalists started receiving a sudden surge of LinkedIn requests from suspicious accounts. They all looked like new accounts, with no profile pictures, no biographies, and few contacts. Their only connection was that they claimed to work for the Financial Times in China.
US
U.S. tightening restrictions on Huawei access to technology, chips
Reuters
The Trump administration on Monday announced it will further tighten restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co [HWT.UL], aimed at cracking down on its access to commercially available chips.
Commerce Department Further Restricts Huawei Access to U.S. Technology and Adds Another 38 Affiliates to the Entity List U.S. Department of Commerce
Google giving far-right users' data to law enforcement, documents reveal
The Guardian
A little-known investigative unit inside search giant Google regularly forwarded detailed personal information on the company’s users to members of a counter-terrorist fusion center in California’s Bay Area, according to leaked documents reviewed by the Guardian.
Trump’s Attacks on TikTok and WeChat Could Further Fracture the Internet
The New York Times
The president’s restrictions on Chinese tech may be part of an eye-for-an-eye logic called reciprocity. The price could be a global patchwork of online fiefs.
The Company Behind Fortnite Is Waging a Righteous War Against Apple
Slate
Last week, Epic, makers of the blockbuster game Fortnite, engineered an antitrust lawsuit against Apple: The company violated one of Apple’s most indefensible (and jealously guarded) rules, waited for Apple to punish it, then immediately filed suit and pushed a brilliant PR campaign to accompany it.
The Senate Created a Playbook to Counter Foreign Influence. Then it Did the Opposite.
Just Security
Russia’s attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are a matter of fact.
The Kremlin’s Plot Against Democracy Foreign Affairs
USAID's Digital Strategy
U.S. Agency for International Development
Building on decades of USAID leadership in digital development, the strategy outlines USAID’s deliberate and holistic commitment to improve development and humanitarian assistance outcomes through the use of digital technology and strengthen open, inclusive, and secure digital ecosystems.
North Asia
India
India's 'digital revolution' needs cyber shield: A blueprint of the new cybersecurity strategy
India Today
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his Independence Day 2020 speech, announced that India will soon have a new cybersecurity policy. India Today has details of the skeletal framework of the new policy that is being planned. A key aspect of the policy is that security strategies are to be planned for short durations of not more than 5 years to ensure they are not outdated.
China’s Huawei, ZTE set to be shut out of India’s 5G trials
The Economic Times
China’s Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp. are set to be kept out of India’s plans to roll out its 5G networks as relations between the two countries hit a four decade low following deadly border clashes. The South Asian nation will apply investment rules amended on July 23 that cite national security concerns to restrict bidders from nations it shares land borders with to keep out the companies, people familiar with the issue said, asking not to be identified citing rules.
Europe
Misc
World's largest cruise line operator Carnival hit by ransomware
BleepingComputer
Cruise line operator Carnival Corporation has disclosed that one of their brands suffered a ransomware attack over the past weekend.
Internet platforms should exercise their own free expression to protect democracy
The Hill
Should internet companies have the power, or even the responsibility, to prohibit or demote political disinformation to protect the integrity of our elections? Debate around this question is brewing as we head toward the November election.
Events
Webinar Launch - 'Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage'
ASPI and Foreign Policy
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and Australian Foreign Affairs is delighted to invite you to a panel discussion on the new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs: Spy vs Spy: The New Age of Espionage.
This issue of Australian Foreign Affairs explores the threat facing Australia as changes in technology enable malign actors to target individuals, officials, businesses and infrastructure – challenges that have only sharpened due to Covid-19. Speakers: Professor Anne-Marie Brady, Danielle Cave, Andrew Davies, Kim McGrath, Jonathan Pearlman and Penny Wong.
19 August 2020, 11:00am - 12:10pm.
Register to attend here.