Ukraine disrupts Russian attempt to take down Ukrainian energy supplier | U.S. Justice Department seizes RaidForums | Taiwan's premier pushes for new laws to prevent chip theft
Ukraine disrupts Russian attempt to take down Ukrainian energy supplier | U.S. Justice Department seizes RaidForums | Taiwan's premier pushes for new laws to prevent chip theft
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The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine has disrupted an attempt by Sandworm, a hacking group known to work for Russia’s military intelligence, to take down a Ukrainian energy provider. TechCrunch
The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the seizure of the RaidForums website, a popular marketplace for cybercriminals to buy and sell hacked data, and unsealed criminal charges against RaidForums’ founder and chief administrator, Diogo Santos Coelho, 21, of Portugal. Coelho was arrested in the United Kingdom on January 31, at the United States’ request. U.S. Department of Justice
Taiwan's premier has called for the swift passage of revisions to laws mandating tougher punishments to prevent China from stealing its chip technology, saying the threat from the "red supply chain" needed an effective deterrence. Reuters
Ukraine - Russia
Ukraine disrupts attempt by Russian hackers to take down energy provider
TechCrunch
Carly Page
The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine has disrupted an attempt by Sandworm, a hacking group known to work for Russia’s military intelligence, to take down a Ukrainian energy provider.
Industroyer2: Industroyer reloaded
WeLiveSecurity
ESET researchers have collaborated with CERT-UA to analyze the attack against the Ukrainian energy company. We assess with high confidence that the APT group Sandworm is responsible for this new attack.Russian hackers thwarted in attempt to take out electrical grid, Ukrainians say
CyberScoop
Ukrainians use drones, facial-recognition software as they investigate alleged war crimes
The Wall Street Journal
Brett Forrest
Two weeks after Russia’s retreat from areas around the Ukrainian capital, local and national authorities are embarking on a wide-ranging probe of alleged war crimes.
In Ukraine, a ‘full-scale cyberwar’ emerges
The Wall Street Journal
Dustin Volz and Robert McMillan
Ukrainian and Western intelligence officials feared Moscow’s elite corps of state-sponsored hackers would launch crippling cyberattacks to complement its invasion of Ukraine. Instead the cyberwar has been something closer to Internet trench warfare: a grinding conflict of relentless, if sometimes unsophisticated attacks that have taken casualties but had limited impact on the course of the fight.
‘The big one is coming’: Tech giant’s stark Russia warning
The Australian Financial Review
James Thomson
The chief technology officer of cybersecurity giant CrowdStrike has warned that Russia is still likely to launch large-scale cyberattacks against the West in response to sanctions.
In Ukraine, Facebook fact-checkers fight a war on two fronts
The Washington Post
Naomi Nix
Stepaniuk fact-checks content for Facebook as part of her job at a think tank called VoxUkraine. After scouring credible news sources, she and a handful of colleagues are compiling a report to debunk the misinformation flooding social media.
Australia
Mandatory cyber security incident reporting now in force
iTnews
Juha Saarinen
Home Affairs minister Karen Andrews has published the implementation of Australia's critical infrastructure legislation, which makes reporting of information security events mandatory for several industry sectors.
Professional athletes subjected to unjustified collection of personal data
The Australian Academy of Science
The degree of personal surveillance and body monitoring currently tolerated in professional sport may be permitted in community sports and other workplaces if the current status quo of collecting excessive personal data remains unchallenged, according to experts.
Talent shortage adds to security challenge
The Australian Financial Review
Mark Eggleton
Australian business leaders rank themselves pretty highly when it comes to cybersecurity maturity, according to the recently released The Future of Cybersecurity in Asia Pacific and Japan report, yet their bullishness is a tad optimistic.
China
Huawei suspends some Russian operations, reports say, treading carefully amid sanctions risks as it weighs options
The South China Morning Post
Iris Deng
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co, already under US sanctions, is preparing a retreat from Russia by furloughing some local employees and suspending new contracts with operators.
China’s echoes of Russia’s alternate reality intensify around the world
The New York Times
Paul Mozur, Steven Lee Myers and John Liu
China’s officials and state media are increasingly parroting Russian propaganda organs on the war in Ukraine, undercutting U.S. and European diplomatic efforts, even after the killings in Bucha.
USA
U.S. leads seizure of one of the world’s largest hacker forums and arrests administrator
U.S. Department of Justice
The U.S. Department of Justice today announced the seizure of the RaidForums website, a popular marketplace for cybercriminals to buy and sell hacked data, and unsealed criminal charges against RaidForums’ founder and chief administrator, Diogo Santos Coelho, 21, of Portugal. Coelho was arrested in the United Kingdom on January 31, at the United States’ request.
Justice Department seizes major cybercrime spot RaidForums
CyberScoopU.S. and European partners take down hacker website RaidForums
Reuters
Craig of Craigslist wants to mobilize citizens in the cyber fight
The Washington Post
Joseph Marks
Philanthropist Craig Newmark wants the United States to mobilize to improve cybersecurity the same way it did to fight World War II. The Craigslist founder is donating $50 million to what he’s dubbed a “civil cyber defense” effort aimed at broadly raising cybersecurity standards for small businesses and regular U.S. citizens.
North Asia
Taiwan premier calls for speedy passage of chip protection laws
Reuters
Taiwan's premier has called for the swift passage of revisions to laws mandating tougher punishments to prevent China from stealing its chip technology, saying the threat from the "red supply chain" needed an effective deterrence.
Southeast Asia
Philippine fintech Voyager raises $210m to claim unicorn status
Nikkei Asia
Cliff Venzon
Philippine fintech company Voyager Innovations on Tuesday said it reached unicorn status after raising $210 million to fund expansion from payments into banking and cryptocurrency trading.
Europe
Apple faces extra EU antitrust charge in music streaming probe
Reuters
Foo Yun Chee
Apple faces an additional EU antitrust charge in the coming weeks in an investigation triggered by a complaint from Spotify, a person familiar with the matter said, a sign that EU enforcers are strengthening their case against the U.S. company. The European Commission last year accused the iPhone maker of distorting competition in the music streaming market via restrictive rules for its App Store.
Greece: Journalist Thanasis Koukakis surveilled for 10 weeks with powerful new spyware tool
International Press Institute
The International Press Institute (IPI) today expressed serious alarm over the confirmed surveillance of Greek journalist Thanasis Koukakis for more than two months using a powerful spyware tool, Predator. IPI calls on the competent Greek law enforcement authorities to thoroughly investigate and publicly identify the source of the surveillance.
Big Tech
Apple CEO escalates fight over App Store regulation in rare D.C. speech
The Washington Post
Cat Zakrzewski
Apple chief executive Tim Cook went on the offensive against efforts to regulate the App Store in a rare public speech on Tuesday, warning that proposed legislation intended to improve competition could “undermine” the privacy and security protections on the company’s products.
YouTube services worldwide are experiencing issues, company confirms
TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
YouTube today confirmed the site is experiencing a variety of issues that are impacting users worldwide. The company acknowledged the service’s problems after numerous users reported error messages when trying to watch videos or noted various site elements weren’t available — like the sidebar navigation or the Setting menus, for example — among other things.
Twitter bots helped build the cult of Elon Musk and Tesla. But who’s creating them?
The Los Angeles Times
Russ Mitchell
Whether Twitter bots are being deliberately programmed to manipulate stock trading is among the questions that Kirsch and his research assistant, Moshen Chowdhury, are trying to answer. Their inquiry comes as Musk has been signaling an intention to use his wealth and gigantic Twitter following to influence the platform’s future direction and policies.
Twitter grapples with an Elon Musk problem
The New York Times
Mike Isaac and Kate Conger
Mr. Musk, Twitter’s biggest shareholder, is free to buy more stock in the company and could use the platform against itself. Some employees are dismayed.
Jobs
ICPC Data Scientist/Data Analyst
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ASPI ICPC
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ASPI ICPC
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Important disclaimer: This digest is a daily collation of material designed to provide authoritative information and commentary in relation to the subject matters covered. The views expressed in this material are those of the authors only. To provide feedback please contact: icpc@aspi.org.au