Ukrainian cyber resistance group targets Russian infrastructure | Australian anti-vaccine groups switch to Putin praise | German court rules against online hate-speech law
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A Ukrainian cyber guerrilla warfare group plans to launch digital sabotage attacks against critical Russian infrastructure such as railways and the electricity grid, to strike back at Moscow over its invasion, a hacker team coordinator told Reuters. Reuters
Australian anti-vaxxer groups are awash with conspiracy theories praising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an attack on the “deep state”, with some followers of the Covid-sceptic movement expressing admiration for Vladimir Putin. The Guardian
A German court ruled on Tuesday against a new law that obliges social media firms to block or delete criminal content and report particularly serious offences to the police. Reuters
ASPI ICPC
The Sydney Dialogue: Who Works? The Crisis of Automation in the Indo-Pacific
The Sydney Dialogue
In this panel discussion, speakers will discuss where the effects of automation pose the greatest challenges for the region and how we can ensure career pathways for those displaced to mitigate the risk of civil unrest and ensure that critical skills gaps do not open up and restrict growth in the long term. Streaming Monday March 7th at 17:30-18:30 AEDT.
Ukraine-Russia
Ukrainian cyber resistance group targets Russian power grid, railways
Reuters
Joel Schectman, Christopher Bing and James Pearson
A Ukrainian cyber guerrilla warfare group plans to launch digital sabotage attacks against critical Russian infrastructure such as railways and the electricity grid, to strike back at Moscow over its invasion.
Cyberattack on NATO could trigger collective defence clause
Reuters
James Pearson and Jonathan Landay
A cyberattack on a NATO member state could trigger Article 5, its collective defence clause, a NATO official said on Monday, amid concerns that chaos in cyberspace around Russia's invasion of Ukraine could spill over into other territories.
Google Maps blocked edits after claims it may have been used to coordinate Russian air strikes
Buzzfeed News
Sarah Emerson and Richard Nieva
Responding to claims that its Maps were being used to coordinate Russian military activity in Ukraine, Google on Tuesday began removing user-submitted locations within the borders of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus.
Conti Ransomware Group Diaries, Part I: Evasion
Krebs on Security
Brian Krebs
A Ukrainian security researcher this week leaked several years of internal chat logs and other sensitive data tied to Conti, an aggressive and ruthless Russian cybercrime group that focuses on deploying its ransomware to companies with more than $100 million in annual revenue.
Cyber realism in a time of war
Lawfare
Ciaran Martin
The reality is that cyber capabilities, as currently understood, can do everything from low-level harassment to serious disruption of everyday economic and social activity. But they can’t do what missiles, fighter jets and soldiers do.
Australia
Australian online anti-vaccine groups switch to Putin praise and Ukraine conspiracies
The Guardian
Josh Butler and Sarah Martin
Australian anti-vaxxer groups are awash with conspiracy theories praising Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an attack on the “deep state”, with some followers of the Covid-sceptic movement expressing admiration for Vladimir Putin.
Keep looking up: Australia’s next steps in space surveillance
The Strategist
Malcolm Davis
Australia’s role in critical space domain awareness (SDA) is becoming a major mission for the defence force.
China
Overhaul of online platforms run by Chinese fintech firms including Ant Group ‘went well’, though more work is needed, says regulator
South China Morning Post
Eric Ng
Beijing unleashed a raft of new fintech regulations and an antitrust inquiry into the country’s technology sector late in 2020. Some internet services providers had expanded aggressively into the online finance business in a ‘disorderly manner’, posing ‘major financial risks’.
Analysis: China’s CIPS won’t rescue Russian banks from SWIFT ban
Caixin Global
Peng Qinqin, Denise Jia and Kelsey Cheng
While China’s homegrown CIPS payment system may help blunt Russian banks’ exclusion from SWIFT, it lacks the capacity to fully make up for the ban from the global mechanism.
How China’s tech giants, from TikTok to Tencent, are reacting to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Business Insider
Weilun Soon
Unlike their Silicon Valley counterparts — many of whom don’t rely as heavily on Chinese consumers — Chinese tech giants find considerable support for their products and services both within China and elsewhere.
China’s tech giants face a domestic backlash for plans to exit from Russia
Quartz
Jane Li
US and European firms have scrambled to comply with sweeping western sanctions issued in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But for many Chinese tech companies, it will be tough to satisfy both the west and their home audience.
USA
Cyber Incident Disclosure Bill passes in Senate amid fears of Russian attacks
SecurityWeek
Eduard Kovacs
A recently introduced legislative package whose goal is to strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure and government networks has passed in the Senate as the U.S. is increasingly concerned about Russian cyberattacks.
Senators want to know if Russia can use cryptocurrencies to skirt sanctions.
The New York Times
Emily Flitter and David Yaffe-Bellany
Four Democrats have asked Treasury officials to explain how they’re overseeing digital assets while Russia is largely frozen out of traditional commerce.
U.S. states probing TikTok’s effects on young people
Reuters
Eight states announced on Wednesday that they had launched a bipartisan, nationwide probe on TikTok, focusing on whether the popular video-sharing app causes physical or mental health harm on young people.
UK
Russian broadcaster RT may lose UK licence, regulator says
Reuters
Britain's media regulator Ofcom said on Wednesday it was considering whether news broadcaster RT should retain its licence in the country, after it stepped up investigations into the Russian-backed television channel.
Europe
German court rules against online hate-speech law
Reuters
A German court ruled on Tuesday against a new law that obliges social media firms to block or delete criminal content and report particularly serious offences to the police.
European officials aiding Ukrainian refugees targeted with malware
Reuters
James Pearson
An unidentified state actor is targeting European officials with malicious software in an apparent attempt to try and disrupt efforts to assist Ukrainian refugees, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint said on Wednesday
Europe is in danger of using the wrong definition of AI
WIRED
Joanna Bryson
Some intelligent systems are at risk of being excluded from oversight in the EU's proposed legislation. This is bad for both businesses and citizens.
Russia
Russia space agency head says satellite hacking would justify war
Reuters
Russia will treat any hacking of its satellites as a justification for war, the head of the country's space agency was quoted as saying in a news report on Wednesday.
Russia threatens to block Wikipedia for stating facts about its war casualties
VICE
Samantha Cole
Russia’s censorship office is threatening to block all of Wikipedia in the country if the website doesn’t delete information about Russian soldier casualties and military violence against civilians.
Crypto exchange Binance blocks Russian users targeted by sanctions
Reuters
Tom Wilson
Crypto exchange Binance is blocking the accounts of any Russian clients targeted by sanctions, but will not freeze the accounts of others after Ukraine called for a block on Russian users at major digital currency platforms.
Crypto exchange boss rejects Russian user ban
BBC
The boss of one of the world’s biggest crypto-currency exchanges has ruled out restricting ordinary Russians from using the service.
Spotify closes its office in Russia in response to attack on Ukraine
Reuters
Spotify said on Wednesday it has closed its office in Russia indefinitely in response to what the audio streaming platform described as Moscow's "unprovoked attack on Ukraine.
Netflix pauses future projects in Russia
BBC
James Clayton and Jasmin Dyer
Streaming giant Netflix has announced it has paused all future projects and acquisitions from Russia. The company said it was assessing the impact of the current invasion of Ukraine.
Americas
A conversation with Brazil’s cyber diplomat
The London School of Economics and Political Science
Louise Marie Hurel
The recurrence of major global cyberattacks, that historically range from 2011’s Stuxnet to the latest ones reported in Ukraine, made it clear that cyberspace is the realm of ongoing geopolitical disputes.
Middle-East
Egyptians seen in jail ‘torture’ videos charged with spreading fake news
The Guardian
Ruth Michaelson
Detainees seen in videos allegedly showing torture in a Cairo police station inflicted their injuries on themselves, according to Egyptian authorities, who have charged the prisoners with spreading “fake news”.
Africa
Can Africa enter the metaverse?
African Business
Will McBain
As Africa’s population becomes the largest workforce in the world by 2035, big tech firms insist that the metaverse will gradually open up economic opportunities in Africa, pointing to its relevance to the evolving post-pandemic world of work.
Big Tech
Flood of Russian misinformation puts tech companies in the hot seat
The Guardian
Kari Paul
With Facebook and other platforms key to spreading news from Ukraine, officials and activists urge broader crackdown.
Twitter to label all state-affiliated Russia media
Politico
Samuel Benson
Twitter will begin labeling content from Russian state-affiliated media websites, the company announced Monday, amid a flood of Russian-backed disinformation related to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.
As Ukraine misinformation rages, Twitter’s fact-checking tool is a no-show
The Washington Post
Will Oremus and Jeremy Merrill
The social platform touted Birdwatch, a crowdsourced project to flag misleading tweets. A year later, it’s little-used — and invisible to the average user.
Should tech stay or go in Russia?
The New York Times
Shira Ovide
The international business community is getting out of Russia. Global tech companies including Google, Facebook and Apple remain mostly open for business there.
Apple to pause product sales in Russia as tech firms feel pressure over Ukraine
The Guardian
Kari Paul
Apple has said it will pause all product sales in Russia, heeding requests from Ukrainian officials to take action against the country in response to its invasion.
Facebook is shutting down its college student-only social network, Campus
TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
Facebook attempted a return to its roots as a college-focused social network with the fall 2020 launch of Campus, a private section within Facebook that was only open to those with a @.edu email address. However, the initiative didn’t succeed, as Facebook is now alerting users that Campus will fully shut down on March 10.
Misc
Research
Jobs
ICPC Senior Analyst or Analyst - China
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for exceptional and experienced China-focused senior analysts or analysts to join its centre. This role will focus on original research and analysis centred around the (growing) range of topics which our ICPC China team work on. Our China team produces some of the most impactful and well-read policy-relevant research in the world, with our experts often being called upon by politicians, governments, corporates and civil society actors to provide briefings and advice. Analysts usually have at least 5 years, often 7-10 years’ of work experience. Senior analysts usually have a minimum of 15 years relevant work experience and, in addition to research, they take on a leadership role in the centre and tend to be involved in staff and project management, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.
ICPC Data Analyst
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has an outstanding opportunity for talented Data Analysts to join its growing centre. ASPI’s ICPC undertakes complex research on some of the most challenging issues at the intersection of technology and public policy. How do we develop international norms to deter information operations and coercive diplomacy, how should we build international cooperation on the development of emerging critical technologies, what is the right balance between regulation and innovation? We deliver empirical research that is policy-relevant and we’re looking for people who can help us analyse data at scale.
The Sydney Dialogue - Senior Events Coordinator
ASPI ICPC
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is currently recruiting for an experienced events professional to coordinate the planning and logistics of the second iteration of ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue - the world’s premier summit on emerging, critical and cyber technologies.
The Sydney Dialogue - Director
ASPI ICPC
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) is currently recruiting for a Director to lead the second iteration of ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue - the world’s premier summit on emerging, critical and cyber technologies.
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
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