PM takes Facebook fight to India and the world | How Oracle sells repression in China | US charges two more members of the 'Lazarus' North Korean hacking group
Follow us on Twitter. The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cyber, critical technologies & strategic issues like foreign interference.
Global leaders will be asked to back Australia in a fight with Facebook over its market power after the social media giant silenced news, health and emergency services in a bid to halt a federal law. The Sydney Morning Herald
In its bid for TikTok, Oracle was supposed to prevent data from being passed to Chinese police. Instead, it’s been marketing its own software for their surveillance work. The Intercept
The US DOJ described the North Korean hackers as "the world's leading bank robbers" and "a criminal syndicate with a flag." ZD Net
ASPI ICPC
Concerns Facebook's Australian news ban could limit people's access to emergency information
ABC Radio
@LaTrioli
Ariel Bogle, who is an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Cyber Centre and a former technology journalist at the ABC, said the decision could have big consequences for communities seeking emergency information, including from live press conferences.
Australia
‘We will not be intimidated’: PM takes Facebook fight to India and the world
The Sydney Morning Herald
@CroweDM @LisaVisentin
Global leaders will be asked to back Australia in a fight with Facebook over its market power after the social media giant silenced news, health and emergency services in a bid to halt a federal law.
Facebook ban opens door to ‘falsehoods and fictions’ ahead of vaccine rollout: Hunt
The Sydney Morning Herald
Health Minister Greg Hunt and health experts warn conspiracy theories and misinformation could thrive on Facebook following the social media giant’s “irresponsible and dangerous” ban on Australian media content just days out from the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
Facebook blocks Indigenous health groups, regional media as COVID vaccine rollout nears
ABC News
@Clarke_Melissa @jstorycarter
Indigenous health and media groups fear Facebook's shutdown of community pages could have a dangerous impact on regional communities during the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.
As a former Facebook chief, here’s my verdict: It’s a shameless demonstration of corporate might
The Age
Stephen Scheeler
Lying at the heart of Facebook’s abrupt ban on all Australian news is a global strategic gamble that will have a huge bearing not just on Mark Zuckerberg’s behemoth, but on the dynamic between Big Tech and democracy.
Statement on Facebook blocking science expertise
Australian Academy of Science
@Danwheels
The nation’s peak bodies representing science and scientific expertise have expressed deep concern about Facebook blocking content today from a range of non-news science organisations.
Facebook reported revenue it ‘should have never made’, manager claimed
The Financial Times
@MsHannahMurphy
A Facebook employee warned that the company reported revenues it “should have never made” by overstating how many users advertisers could reach, according to internal emails revealed in a newly unsealed court filing.
Facebook 'is taking money from China to promote propaganda denying crimes against humanity targeting Uyghur Muslims'
The Daily Mail
Facebook is taking money from China to promote Communist propaganda which denies atrocities against the Uyghur Muslims, an investigation has revealed.
New commissioner 'key' to targeting foreign interference
The Canberra Times
@sbasfordcanales
An independent statutory body aimed at addressing foreign interference might be the solution Australia needs, a national security expert has said. The threat of foreign interference has long existed but is now playing out in the homes of everyday Australians, an ANU National Security College policy paper outlined on Wednesday. Laws cracking down on foreign interference in government were introduced two years ago. New teams were established in the Department of Home Affairs for cyber interference while DFAT and ASIO would deal with foreign disinformation and human-centred interference attempts, respectively.
China
How Oracle Sells Repression in China
The Intercept
@MaraHvistendahl
In its bid for TikTok, Oracle was supposed to prevent data from being passed to Chinese police. Instead, it’s been marketing its own software for their surveillance work.
China ranks the world's worst offender in biometric data collection, study finds
Inkstone
@dustguest
A new study conducted by Comparitech, a UK-based technology firm ranked China the world’s worst offender for its invasive use of biometric data. Released in late January, the study looked at 96 countries and how they collect biometric data. Costa Rica, Iran and the US were ranked in second, third and fourth worst, while African nations, including Ethiopia, and Portugal and Ireland ranked in the top five nations with the best practices, based on their scores of either data protection regulations or the lack of data collection initiatives.
USA
Tension grows between Congress and the administration over how White House cyber policy should be run
The Washington Post
@nakashimae
Congress has been pressing for a greater role in overseeing how the administration conducts cyberpolicy, but the White House is wary of lawmakers exerting influence over a critical area of national security. At issue is how the White House will respond to a new law requiring the creation of a national cyber director, intended to be the principal person advising the president on policy and strategy, and who, significantly, is subject to Senate confirmation and public hearings. It’s what the law’s co-author, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), calls having “one throat to choke.”
Lawmakers Demand Answers from Military on Muslim App Data
VICE
@josephfcox
A group of over a dozen lawmakers led by Representative Mark Pocan, including Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are demanding answers from military and intelligence chiefs on how the U.S. military has purchased location data.
A quarter of Trump's 6,081 Facebook posts last year featured misinformation or extreme rhetoric
The Washington Post
@lizzadwoskin
Nearly a quarter of former president Donald Trump’s 6,081 Facebook posts from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 6, 2021, contained extremist rhetoric or misinformation about the coronavirus, the election or his critics, according to a new analysis by the left-leaning group Media Matters for America.
North Asia
US charges two more members of the 'Lazarus' North Korean hacking group
ZDNet
@campuscodi
The US DOJ described the North Korean hackers as "the world's leading bank robbers" and "a criminal syndicate with a flag."
Three North Korean Military Hackers Indicted in Wide-Ranging Scheme to Commit Cyberattacks and Financial Crimes Across the Globe US Department of Justice
South and Central Asia
India Visa Curbs for Chinese Workers Hurting Taiwan Tech Giants
Bloomberg
@shruti838 @sudhiranjansen
Geopolitical tensions between India and China are beginning to hurt some of Taiwan’s biggest technology companies, including suppliers to Apple Inc. and hindering New Delhi’s much-vaunted incentive program for electronics manufacturing. India has been slow to issue visas to Chinese engineers, who are needed to help Taiwanese companies set up factories in the South Asian nation, people with knowledge of the matter said.
Beyond an India-EU-U.S. Shared Vision on Emerging Technologies
German Marshall Fund of the United States
In keeping with its digital ambitions, India is keen to leave behind its role as a technology taker, and its engagement with EU and the United States is part of this broader ambition. It seeks to build its digital futures on its own terms, a fact that may sometimes put it at odds with its partners. Nevertheless, more than ten years of slow-burn research cooperation is giving way to deeper strategic cooperation on technology, as both the EU and the United States turn to India because of its massive and growing digital market as well as of shared visions of a rules-based technology order.
UK
Half London councils found using Chinese surveillance tech linked to Uighur abuses
Thomson Reuters
@AASchapiro
At least half of London's boroughs have bought and deployed China-made surveillance systems linked to the abuse of Uighurs, according to data exclusively given to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, raising alarm among privacy advocates and lawmakers. Freedom of information requests filed in late 2020 with all 32 London councils and the next 20 largest UK city councils found about two-thirds owned technology made by two Chinese companies accused of links to the repression of Uighurs.
Europe
Facebook mishandles ads from EU institutions and governments
POLITICO
@markscott82
Facebook mislabeled reams of ads from European Union institutions and European governments as political messages, according to a review by POLITICO.
Czech Republic turns to war-games to build cyber defences
Financial Times
@helenwarrell
The Czech Republic is carrying out war-gaming exercises with companies to strengthen its critical industries against cyber attacks, supply chain disruption and ownership bids by hostile states such as China and Russia.
Misc
The Grim Consequences of a Misleading Study on Disinformation
WIRED
@EmmaLBriant
An influential study relies too heavily on news media reporting—which has only recently acknowledged the social media manipulation problem at all.
Don’t Go Down the Rabbit Hole
The New York Times
@cwarzel
Critical thinking, as we’re taught to do it, isn’t helping in the fight against misinformation.
Research
Events
ASPI Webinar: TikTok & WeChat, where to now?
ASPI ICPC
Wednesday, February 24 2021 - 9am (AEDT)/5pm (Washington)
ASPI's International Cyber Policy Centre is delighted to invite you to the webinar, 'TikTok & WeChat, where to now?' A change in administration in the United States has given a brief reprieve to TikTok and WeChat, two Chinese apps targeted in a series of Executive Orders by former President Trump, but questions about the national security, privacy and censorship implications of these popular apps are set to persist in 2021.
At this webinar, ASPI analyst Fergus Ryan will be joined by Lindsay Gorman from the German Marshall Fund’s Alliance for Securing Democracy; Jordan Schneider, host of the ChinaTalk podcast; Joanna Chiu, journalist and Christopher Parsons from the Munk School's Citizen Lab, to examine and debate the challenges and threats posed by apps like TikTok and WeChat. The panellists will also discuss the policy options available to lawmakers, both in the United States and around the world, that go beyond blanket bans.