Twitter threatens legal action against nonprofit that tracks hate speech | EU sanctions individuals, organizations connected to Russian disinformation network | China imposes curbs on drone exports
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The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
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Elon Musk has over the last year threatened legal action against tech competitors, employees and people who use Twitter, which he owns. Now he is also taking aim at an organization that studies hate speech and misinformation on social media. X Corp., the parent company of the social media company, sent a letter on July 20 to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that conducts research on social media, accusing the organization of making “a series of troubling and baseless claims that appear calculated to harm Twitter generally, and its digital advertising business specifically” and threatening to sue. The New York Times
The European Union is drawing fresh attention to Russia's information war against Ukraine. The EU has imposed sanctions on a Kremlin-controlled disinformation network intended to undermine Western support for Ukraine. The sanctions, announced Friday, target seven Russian individuals and five entities involved in an operation called Recent Reliable News. The Record by Recorded Future
China imposed restrictions Monday on exports of long-range civilian drones, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and concern that drones might be converted to military use. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is friendly with Moscow but says it is neutral in the 17-month-old war. It has been stung by reports that both sides might be using Chinese-made drones for reconnaissance and possibly attacks. Associated Press
ASPI
Red alert – Security risks in Chinese AI, says ASPI
Tech Report
Krishi Chowdhary
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has called for heightened scrutiny of Chinese AI-enabled products, drawing parallels with the concerns about Chinese 5G equipment. Governments in the West have long regarded Chinese-made 5G equipment as a security risk, prompting bans and expensive replacement initiatives. Fears center around potential backdoors for espionage and the obligation of Chinese companies to comply with Beijing’s demands, a claim consistently denied by Huawei.
Australia
Bondi man allegedly ensnared by ‘tentacles’ of Chinese spies, court told
The Sydney Morning Herald
Perry Duffin
A Bondi executive told police he was ensnared by the “tentacles” of China’s spy agency but only fed lies and open-source information to his recruiters during cafe meetings in China’s busiest city, court documents show. Alex Csergo, 55, was arrested in April and became the first Australian charged with reckless foreign interference a month after returning from his life in China working on advertising algorithms for a telco giant. He is being held in Parklea Correctional Centre on remand, waiting to fight the charges.
ACSC and US partners sound alarm on web app abuse
iTnews
Richard Chirgwin
The advisory was published Friday by the Australian Cyber Security Centre and US partners, the National Security Agency and the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency. The advisory explains the vulnerabilities have been exploited to compromise the “personal, financial and health information of millions of users and consumers”. IDOR vulnerabilities allow attackers to issue requests “to a website or a web application programming interface specifying the user identifier of other, valid users,” the advisory states.
China
China imposes curbs on drone exports, citing Ukraine and concern about military use
Associated Press
Joe McDonald
China imposed restrictions Monday on exports of long-range civilian drones, citing Russia’s war in Ukraine and concern that drones might be converted to military use. Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s government is friendly with Moscow but says it is neutral in the 17-month-old war. It has been stung by reports that both sides might be using Chinese-made drones for reconnaissance and possibly attacks.
Chinese firms seek South Korean partners to skirt U.S. EV rules
Japan Times
Heejin Kim and Gabrielle Coppola
Chinese firms are lining up to invest in South Korea’s battery industry because they want to use it as a gateway to the U.S. market, undermining Washington’s efforts to limit China’s involvement in the electric car supply chain. Over the past four months, Chinese companies and their South Korean partners have announced some 5.1 trillion won ($4 billion) of investments in five new battery factories in South Korea. And at least one local government is in talks for more projects, officials from the Saemangeum Development and Investment Agency say.
Meta, Google hiring in China despite security concerns
Australian Financial Review
Max Mason
US technology giants Meta and Google are hiring engineers and developers in mainland China for virtual reality, cloud, mobile and smart home products, despite Western government fears that the Chinese Communist Party’s harsh intelligence laws can force companies to hand over information.
China’s tech distress grows as U.S. chip sanctions bite
The Wall Street Journal
Dan Strumpf and Clarence Leong
China’s tech sector is showing the strain from last year’s sweeping U.S. export restrictions, which seek to stall Beijing’s ambitions in cutting-edge industries such as artificial intelligence and supercomputing.
Intel’s new Chinese chip innovation centre is a collaboration with a Shenzhen district, deepening ties amid US scrutiny
South China Morning Post
Ben Jiang
US chip giant Intel is increasing its business ties in China with a new innovation hub in Shenzhen meant to help domestic start-ups, even as Washington puts increasing pressure on semiconductor firms to reduce trade with the country. The Santa Clara-based chip giant and the Nanshan district government in Shenzhen, a technology hub in southern China, launched the Intel Greater Bay Area Innovation Centre on Saturday, according to a post published to the centre’s official WeChat account. The centre will focus on artificial intelligence, chip applications and edge computing, among other technologies, the statement said.
USA
US, Europe are growing alarmed by China’s rush into legacy chips
Bloomberg
Jenny Leonard, Ian King, and Alberto Nardelli
US and European officials are growing increasingly concerned about China’s accelerated push into the production of older-generation semiconductors and are debating new strategies to contain the country’s expansion. President Joe Biden implemented broad controls over China’s ability to secure the kind of advanced chips that power artificial-intelligence models and military applications. But Beijing responded by pouring billions into factories for the so-called legacy chips that haven’t been banned. Such chips are still essential throughout the global economy, critical components for everything from smartphones and electric vehicles to military hardware.
California privacy regulator reviewing data collected by smart vehicles
The Hill
Miranda Nazzaro
California’s privacy regulator said Monday it will be reviewing the data privacy practices of connected car manufacturers. Connected cars offer drivers smart features including web-based entertainment, location sharing, cameras and smartphone integration. In its announcement Monday, the California Privacy Protection Agency said in order to provide these features, the vehicles “often automatically gather consumers’ locations, personal preferences, and details about their daily lives.”
Biden’s intelligence advisers recommend reforming FBI access to controversial spying tool
CyberScoop
Tonya Riley
A board of presidential advisers recommend the White House supports a series of changes to improve compliance with the use of a controversial surveillance program, yet overwhelmingly backs reauthorization of the intelligence gathering tool, according to a report released Monday. The report comes as Congress debates whether to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire at the end of the year. Lawmakers are expected to introduce legislation to reform the tool in the coming weeks.
To innovate, DoD must be allowed to move faster
Defense News
Michael R. Bloomberg
The U.S. private sector innovates like no other. American companies quickly adapt to changing market demands, develop and integrate new technologies at scale, deliver products with exceptional speed and compete to win. This dynamic environment has become the benchmark of success in the modern world, but sadly and needlessly, it is often foreign terrain for the U.S. military.
The United States’ quantum talent shortage is a national security vulnerability
Foreign Policy
Sam Howell
A critical technology area promises to transform nearly every industry dependent on speed and processing power, from agriculture and financial services to health care and defense: quantum information science and technology, or QIST. QIST is an interdisciplinary field studying how to apply the laws of quantum physics to various forms of information processing, including computation and messaging. Quantum technologies’ promising but unknown potential has led the Biden administration to rank U.S. leadership in this area among its highest priorities, but the United States currently lacks access to the talent required to maintain competitiveness. The United States’ QIST talent shortage is a national security risk—and the White House has no solid plan to fill critical vacancies.
North Asia
SK Hynix and Samsung’s early bet on AI memory chips pays off
Financial Times
Christian Davies and Song Jung-a
Shares in South Korea’s leading chipmakers rose this week despite heavy operating losses, as investor excitement builds over their dominance of a niche technology that has emerged as vital for the development of generative artificial intelligence.
Europe
EU sanctions individuals, organizations connected to Russian disinformation network
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
The European Union is drawing fresh attention to Russia's information war against Ukraine. The EU has imposed sanctions on a Kremlin-controlled disinformation network intended to undermine Western support for Ukraine. The sanctions, announced Friday, target seven Russian individuals and five entities involved in an operation called Recent Reliable News.
Italian watchdog OKs Google's commitments to end data case
Reuters
Elvira Pollina
Italy's AGCM competition watchdog said on Monday it had accepted commitments proposed by Google to end a case over the tech giant's alleged abuse of its dominant position in the user data portability market. The regulator opened the investigation last year following a complaint from Italian startup Hoda which accused Google of hindering the right of the U.S. company's users to share their personal data with other digital service platforms.
Big Tech
Twitter threatens legal action against nonprofit that tracks hate speech
The New York Times
Sheera Frenkel and Ryan Mac
Elon Musk has over the last year threatened legal action against tech competitors, employees and people who use Twitter, which he owns. Now he is also taking aim at an organization that studies hate speech and misinformation on social media. X Corp., the parent company of the social media company, sent a letter on July 20 to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit that conducts research on social media, accusing the organization of making “a series of troubling and baseless claims that appear calculated to harm Twitter generally, and its digital advertising business specifically” and threatening to sue.
WeChat: Why does Elon Musk want X to emulate China's everything-app?
BBC
Peter Hoskins & Fan Wang
Earlier this week Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X - another step in his plan to emulate Chinese mega app WeChat. Mr Musk has long said that he wants to transform his social media firm, which he bought last year for $44bn, into a much larger platform. He has previously praised WeChat - a so-called "everything app" that combines chat, dating, payments and social media - and has said creating something "even close to that with Twitter... would be an immense success".
Artificial Intelligence
Investors are happy to pay premium for tech, but not for AI
Bloomberg
Jackie Davalos
Investors on Wall Street and beyond are betting that the great tech rally of 2023 has staying power, even as they appear skeptical that the artificial-intelligence era will live up to the hype. Some 77% of the 514 respondents to the latest Markets Live Pulse survey are planning to either increase their exposure to technology stocks or keep it steady over the next six months. Meanwhile, less than 10% see a bubble in the sector bursting anytime soon.
Misc
The role of cybersecurity in protecting water disinfection systems
Energy Portal
The role of cybersecurity in protecting water disinfection systems has become increasingly crucial in our digital age. As water treatment facilities worldwide adopt advanced technologies to improve their operations, they inadvertently expose themselves to cyber threats. The recent surge in cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure underscores the need for robust cybersecurity measures to safeguard these essential services.
Safeguarding critical Infrastructures from cyber threats
IT Brief
Apu Pavithran
Providing essential services that preside over a country's economy and society, critical infrastructures form the backbone of our modern society. From electricity, water, food, transportation, and communication to commerce, banking, healthcare, law enforcement, and everything in between, these have become essential elements of everyday life. So, any hindrance to these infrastructures disrupts our daily lives, not to mention the havoc it will wreak on the socio-economic front. Since everything went digital, it is far more accessible than ever for cybercriminals to breach these services.
Research
Countering the weaponization of election administration mistakes
Alliance for Securing Democracy
David Levine and Krystyna Sikora
When people perform tasks in a complex work environment, mistakes are bound to happen. Election systems are no exception. Although the 2020 presidential and 2022 midterm elections in the United States were free, fair, and well-administered, broadly speaking, some election officials made mistakes conducting them. However, in some jurisdictions, these mistakes were subsequently exploited to support unfounded claims of fraud, try to overturn fair elections, and further erode trust in US democracy. In an election environment defined by hyperpolarization and election denialism, it is therefore more important than ever for election officials to understand how to respond to election administration mistakes in order to prevent and counter their weaponization.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.