Nike to review supply chains in China I Congressional study finds US ill-prepared to deter cyber attacks I Microsoft takes down one of the world’s largest botnets
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Nike said it was reviewing its suppliers’ hiring practices in China, after The Washington Post and an Australian think tank reported that members of the Uighur Muslim minority were making shoes for the American brand in conditions that suggested they were coerced. The Washington Post
A yearlong congressional study of American cyberspace strategy concludes that the United States remains ill-prepared to deter attacks, including from Russia, North Korea and Iran. The New York Times
Microsoft organized 35 nations on Tuesday to take down one of the world’s largest botnets. The action, which was eight years in the making, was an unusual disruption of an internet criminal group, because it was carried out by a company, not a government. The New York Times
ASPI ICPC
Nike to review supply chains in China after reports Uighurs forced to make shoes
The Washington Post
@annafifield
A Post reporter who visited the Taekwang factory saw dozens of Uighur workers, mostly women in their early 20s, walking around the factory area. The women were too afraid to talk, but local residents who interact with them said that they did not come to the factory freely but were sent there. While ASPI could not categorically confirm that the labor was forced, their report said there was clear evidence of “highly disturbing coercive labor practices” that was consistent with the International Labour Organization’s definition of forced labor.
U.S. Lawmakers Propose Tough Limits on Imports from Xinjiang. The New York Times
Nike Reviewing China Supply Chain After Report on Uighur Abuse. Bloomberg
U.S. senator calls for action on forced labor in China's Xinjiang. Reuters
The World
A Botnet Is Taken Down in an Operation by Microsoft, Not the Government
The New York Times
@SangerNYT
Microsoft organized 35 nations on Tuesday to take down one of the world’s largest botnets — malware that secretly seizes control of millions of computers around the globe. It was an unusual disruption of an internet criminal group, because it was carried out by a company, not a government. The action, eight years in the making, was aimed at a criminal group called Necurs, believed to be based in Russia.
Johns Hopkins coronavirus map changes "Taiwan" to "Taipei and environs"
Axios
@BethanyAllenEbr
The Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center, which maintains an interactive map tracking the number of coronavirus cases worldwide, has changed how it refers to Taiwan, Axios has learned. Instead of "Taiwan," the map now uses "Taipei and environs."
A Call to Arms: Under Attack, Pro-Vaccine Doctors Fight Back
The New York Times
@JanHoffmanNYT
Providers who defend vaccines face online death threats and negative reviews from fake patients. Now the staid medical establishment is finally speaking out.
Australia
Defence encourages women to consider a career in cyber
Department of Defence
Following weekend celebrations around the world of International Women’s Day, women from across Defence participated in a day of cyber-centric activities as part of an initiative to encourage women to consider a career in cyber. The Women in Cyber: Find Your Path event introduced women to the possibility of a cyber or cyber-related role within Defence.
Facebook imposes new transparency rules on political ads in Australia
WA Today
@fergushunter
The social media tactics of Australia's political campaigners will be laid bare from next week as Facebook imposes new transparency measures designed to bolster discourse on the platform. From March 18, Australian political advertising on Facebook will face rules that have already been rolled out in the United States and some other countries since 2018 in response to concerns about online misinformation and foreign interference in democracies.
China
Beijing's coronavirus propaganda blitz goes global
Axios
@BethanyAllenEbr
As China begins to get its coronavirus outbreak under control, authorities are going on the offensive to rewrite the narrative that the global epidemic is Beijing's fault. Chinese diplomats are taking to Twitter and email, pushing talking points that deflect blame from Beijing and instead praise its response.
Chinese companies get back to work — but with stricter rules
Financial Times
@rwmcmorrow @QianerLiu
Chinese companies are beta-testing a return to their offices as new coronavirus cases in the country dwindle, coming up with innovative strategies to resume work without setting off another wave of infections. Their baby steps back into the office offer a road map for peers around the world — many of which, like Facebook, Google and Amazon, have asked some of their employees to work from home in recent days as coronavirus spreads in their local communities.
Coronavirus Is Making Life Hell for China’s Tech Workers
Bloomberg
@pingroma @ClaireYChe
An industry already notorious for long hours and overtime now expects employees to be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Even mask-wearers can be ID'd, China facial recognition firm says
Reuters
@martinpollard21
A Chinese company says it has developed the country’s first facial recognition technology that can identify people when they are wearing a mask, as most are these days because of the coronavirus, and help in the fight against the disease.
USA
Google recommends all North America employees work from home over coronavirus fears
Reuters
@robaeprice @GrahamStarr
Google is recommending that all of its tens of thousands of North American employees work from home in its latest move to try and protect its employees from the growing coronavirus outbreak.
Congress, Warning of Cybersecurity Vulnerabilities, Recommends Overhaul
The New York Times
@julianbarnes @SangerNYT
A yearlong congressional study of American cyberspace strategy concludes that the United States remains ill-prepared to deter attacks, including from Russia, North Korea and Iran. It calls for an overhaul of how the United States manages its offensive and defensive cyberoperations.
Read the Cyberspace Solarium Commission’s (CSC) report here.
U.S. government commission rolls out doomsday plan for cyberwar. Reuters
‘Surveillance creep’ as cameras spread on campus
Financial Times
@carlyminsky
Slowly but surely, surveillance technology is becoming commonplace in many schools and universities. Its deployment ranges from facial and fingerprint recognition to the creation of personalised teaching and detailed monitoring of pupils’ — and teachers’ — behaviour.
Gender and Women in Cyber
Female workers may be more vulnerable to automation
Axios
@bryanrwalsh
Experts disagree about whether female workers will be more vulnerable to automation than men. What's clear is that automation will accentuate existing gender gaps in the workforce, and that without policies to assist the transition, older and less educated women in particular risk being left behind.
Misc
We Built a Database of Over 500 iPhones Cops Have Tried to Unlock
Motherboard
@josephfcox
Law enforcement around the country have had varying degrees of success in trying to access evidence from locked iPhones seized from criminal suspects, Motherboard has learned as part of the most comprehensive analysis yet of iPhone search warrants.
Google has been unusually proactive in fighting COVID-19 misinformation
The Verge
@CaseyNewton
Tech Giant Google has come around, belatedly, to the idea of editorial intervention in the COVID-19 crisis. While the company had previously begun directing COVID-19 queries on YouTube to the World Health Organization, it has since gone further. Google searches related to the virus now trigger an “SOS Alert,” with news from mainstream publications followed by information from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization displayed prominently.
Research
Digitalising Defence: Protecting Europe in the age of quantum computing and the cloud
European Union Institute for Security Studies
@DanielFiott
Any discussion about the digitalisation of defence is hampered by the imprecision of associated terms and words. ‘Cyber’, ‘the cloud’, ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), ‘block chain’ and ‘quantum computing’ are widely used but their exact meaning or application can be quite fuzzy. The truth is that we may be intellectually ill-equipped to understand the full intricacies and implications of digitalisation, even if the economic rationale for digitalisation is clear.
Jobs
Cyber-dialogue Project Officer
Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue
The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue is looking for a Cyber-dialogue Project Officer to support its work around building regional confidence building mechanisms among competitors in cyberspace.
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