U.S.-China tech fight opens new front in Ethiopia | MI5 chief accuses Facebook of giving ‘free pass’ to terrorists | Why Australia banned the world’s biggest telecoms firm

May 23, 2021

Follow us on Twitter. The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cyber, critical technologies & strategic issues like foreign interference.

A U.S.-backed consortium beat out one financed by China in a closely watched telecommunications auction in Ethiopia—handing Washington a victory in its push to challenge Beijing’s economic influence around the world. The East African country said Saturday it tapped a group of telecommunications companies led by the U.K.’s Vodafone Group PLC to build a nationwide, 5G-capable wireless network. The group had won financial backing for the multibillion-dollar project from a newly created U.S. foreign-aid agency. The Wall Street Journal
Facebook has given terrorists a “free pass” by allowing stronger encryption on its network, the head of MI5 has said in his first criticism of Mark Zuckerberg’s company. Ken McCallum said that the social media giant’s plans to install end-to-end encryption would block hundreds of counterterrorism investigations by the Security Service. The Times
Upgrading Australia’s communications network meant our national security experts had to get to grips with tech titan Huawei’s ties to the Chinese government. A ban would infuriate Chinese leaders. The alternative was worse. The Sydney Morning Herald

ASPI ICPC

Australian Strategic Policy Institute Report: Australia is Falling Behind, Now Last in National Investment
The Qubit Report
Australia is falling behind in the global quantum technology race despite its history of leadership in the field, according to a new Australian Strategic Policy Institute report, which calls for a “step change” in policy settings and investment. The policy recommendations include making quantum technology a key plank in a national technology strategy, a call for a new minister for critical and emerging technologies, and a new national quantum initiative involving states and the private sector.

Read our report, 'An Australian Strategy for the Quantum Revolution'

ASPI @ASPI_org

On PGM this week 🎙️ 1⃣ @DaniellesCave talks to @jleibold & @Nrg8000 about Xinjiang's falling birth rates 2⃣ Anastasia Kapetas & Dr Robert Glasser look at @IEA's Net Zero 2050 roadmap 3⃣ @tomatospy & @johncoyne14 discuss the fuel pipeline cyber attack 🎧: bit.ly/3hVaksy

Declining birth rates in Xinjiang, achieving net zero by 2050, fuel pipeline cyber-attackRecently, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre released a new report which found that birth rates in Uyghur-majority areas in Xinjiang have fallen by unprecedented amounts since 2017. Danielle Cavbit.ly

Alicia Wanless @lageneralista

Australia, Canada, EU, UK – all are pushing a variety regulation to control social media. Think of what we might already have learned about how the information environment works if they’d paired up and made an investment a year or two ago? aspistrategist.org.au/the-case-for-a… @ASPI_org

The case for a ‘disinformation CERN’ | The StrategistDemocracies around the world are struggling with various forms of disinformation afflictions. But the current suite of policy prescriptions will fail because governments simply don’t know enough about the emerging digital information environment, according to ...aspistrategist.org.au

Establishing a semiconductor cradle in the Northern Territory
The Strategist
@elena_yc_ho
Two major infrastructure projects, HyperOne and Project Echo, in conjunction with the Northern Territory government’s ‘Terabit Territory’ plan, have set Darwin on its way to becoming Australia’s national digital hub and the linchpin of telecommunications connecting the United States with the region. These projects are expected to provide Darwin with a powerful foundation on which to develop its cyber capability—with the goal of becoming home to Australia’s first science industrial park, manufacturing semiconductor chips.

The World

U.S.-China Tech Fight Opens New Front in Ethiopia
The Wall Street Journal
@stuwoo @alexandrawexler
A U.S.-backed consortium beat out one financed by China in a closely watched telecommunications auction in Ethiopia—handing Washington a victory in its push to challenge Beijing’s economic influence around the world. The East African country said Saturday it tapped a group of telecommunications companies led by the U.K.’s Vodafone Group PLC to build a nationwide, 5G-capable wireless network. The group had won financial backing for the multibillion-dollar project from a newly created U.S. foreign-aid agency.

The global chip shortage is here for some time
The Economist
The chip drought is the result of the covid-19 pandemic interacting with an industry that is notoriously prone to cycles of boom and bust. It is likely to persist for months, if not years.

Australia

Huawei? No way! Why Australia banned the world’s biggest telecoms firm
The Sydney Morning Herald
@PeterHartcherAO
Upgrading Australia’s communications network meant our national security experts had to get to grips with tech titan Huawei’s ties to the Chinese government. A ban would infuriate Chinese leaders. The alternative was worse.

TikTok takes down hundreds of Australian videos in misinformation crackdown
The Guardian
@joshgnosis
False claims about Covid vaccines – including that the Australian prime minister faked getting his jab – were among some of the hundreds of Australian videos TikTok removed from its platform as part of a misinformation crackdown.

China

Bitcoin’s Obstacles Mount Amid China Cryptocurrency Warning
Bloomberg
@VildanaHajric @ossingerj
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies slumped after the People’s Bank of China conveyed a statement reiterating that digital tokens can’t be used as a form of payment.

Stanford DigiChina Project @DigiChn

Vice Premier Liu He chairs financial stability meeting. Among the listed directives: "crack down on Bitcoin mining and transaction activities" 打击比特币挖矿和交易行为

刘鹤主持召开国务院金融稳定发展委员会第五十一次会议_滚动新闻_中国政府网会议指出，金融系统坚决贯彻党中央、国务院决策部署，加大对实体经济的支持力度，稳健的货币政策灵活适度，信贷政策精准适应市场主体需要，流动性保持合理充裕，金融服务水平提高，金融支持疫情防控和经济社会发展取得明显实效。,2021-05-21-22:05:00gov.cn

Embattled Chinese Property Tycoon Turns to Electric Cars. Cue $87 Billion Valuation.
The Wall Street Journal
@Trefor1
Evergrande founder Xu Jiayin hasn’t sold any vehicles yet and his real-estate empire is groaning with debt.

China’s Weibo Social Media Bans BTS Fan Accounts As ‘Butter’ Single Blows Up YouTube
Deadline
Bruce Haring
Weibo, a Chinese government-controlled social media service, is banning prominent accounts for fans of the South Korean pop group BTS…The Chinese government has been waging a campaign for years against K-pop and Chinese imitators of the style, claiming that the image of young men wearing cosmetics and sporting delicate beauty and high fashion threaten the future of the nation.

ByteDance staff and investors shocked as founder steps back
Financial Times
Since the end of 2020, China has been reining in its tech giants using antitrust and other regulations. Zhang’s resignation follows that of ecommerce giant Pinduoduo’s founder Colin Huang in March, whose departure also came as a surprise. Earlier that month, Ant Group’s chief executive Simon Hu also stepped down, months after their record-breaking dual listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong was cancelled by Beijing. “The government is weakening the central authority of all the leaders of the tech giants,” said Feng Chucheng, partner at Beijing-based consultancy Plenum.ai.

Alibaba’s Winning Cloud Formula Is Coming Under Pressure
The Wall Street Journal
@jingyanghk @lizalinwsj @QiZHAI
Pressure is mounting on Alibaba’s cloud-computing division after years of breakneck expansion, as competition in the industry intensifies and political issues hurt the Chinese company’s ability to win business overseas and government contracts at home.

USA

Leaked Emails Show Crime App Citizen Is Testing On-Demand Security Force
VICE
@josephfcox
Crime and neighborhood watch app Citizen has ambitions to deploy private security workers to the scene of disturbances at the request of app users, according to leaked internal Citizen documents and Citizen sources. The plans mark a dramatic expansion of Citizen's purview.

Shannon Vavra @shanvav

The State Dept today is wrapping a training course @SecBlinken teased a few wks ago on cyber attribution. 50 policymakers from other countries participated & goal was to share lessons on how public attribution of cyberattacks can be a policy tool, a State Dept official tells me.

FBI employee indicted for stealing classified info on FBI cybersecurity work
CyberScoop
@shanvav
A federal grand jury has charged an FBI employee for stealing classified documents and keeping them in her home between 2004 and 2017, the FBI announced Friday. The employee, Kendra Kingsley, allegedly took documents that detailed the FBI’s sources and methods the FBI uses to counter cyber threats, as well as those it uses in its counterterrorism and counterintelligence work, according to the indictment.

Facebook won’t take down an ad that Rep. Ilhan Omar’s office says could lead to harassment and death threats
The Washington Post
Facebook has refused to remove a widely viewed attack ad that links Rep. Ilhan Omar to Hamas, even after her aides told the tech giant the message is inaccurate, hateful and threatened to subject her to death threats.

Senators roll out bipartisan data privacy bill
The Verge
@kellymakena
Sen. Amy Klobuchar is back with a bill to protect consumer data privacy when collected by large tech platforms like Facebook and Google. Klobuchar (D-MN) has teamed up with a bipartisan group of senators, including Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA), Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Richard Burr (R-NC), to reintroduce the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act. The privacy legislation would force websites to grant users greater control over their data and allow them to opt out of data tracking and collection.

How Should the U.S. Respond to China’s Military-Civil Fusion Strategy?
China File
As the administration of President Joe Biden reviews the Trump administration’s posture towards China, policy responses to MCF are likely to attract scrutiny. Should the U.S. continue the past administration’s approach to MCF, or is a recalibration in order?

Check out our newly updated ‘China Defence University Tracker’ and this article by Audrey Fritz that explains our update in detail.

The Technology 202: Online disinformation has changed. Now the DNC is updating its response unit.
The Washington Post
@Cat_Zakrzewski
Online disinformation has drastically evolved since the days when politicians’ biggest concerns on social media were Russian troll farms. Now the Democratic National Committee is overhauling its counter disinformation unit to better respond to what it views as the more pressing digital threat: Republican politicians and right-leaning publications with large followings. This team will now be housed within the committee’s communications department to rapidly track and respond to purported falsehoods spreading online.

Peter W. Singer @peterwsinger

Trump's blog, which he+his team have promoted heavily in TV interviews and social media posts, has been shared on Facebook on average fewer than 2,000 times a day! washingtonpost.com/technology/202… That's what is so absurd about GOP leaders being scared of him/caving in. He was cooked

North Asia

Taiwan accuses China of spreading fake news about Covid outbreak
The Guardian
A Taiwanese official has accused China of spreading fake news about the Covid-19 outbreak on the island, saying this was why the government was publicising and refuting instances of false information circulating online…A security official watching Chinese activity in Taiwan said this week the Taipei government believed Beijing was engaged in cognitive warfare to “create chaos” and undermine public trust in how the pandemic is being handled.

John Hendel @JohnHendel

Via the White House: "President Biden and President Moon commit to work together to develop open, transparent, and efficient 5G and 6G network architectures using Open-RAN technology..." Among the 5G commitments:

The Chaebolization of Big Tech Has Made Its Way to America
The New York Times
@etammykim
When Moon Jae-in, South Korea’s president, meets with President Biden at the White House on Friday, many will watch with North Korea on their minds. But Mr. Biden may be consumed with something else. Demand for electronics during the coronavirus pandemic and concerns over the global supply in the U.S.-China “trade war” have caused a shortage of semiconductors, those magical bits of silicon or gallium arsenide that power nearly every digital aspect of our lives.

Southeast Asia

The equities of telco cyber exploitation: 5G and the Huawei ban
Observer Research Foundation
@RungRage
The Indian government has commenced the trials of 5G technology, but the Chinese company Huawei is notably absent from the list of approved vendors. The Indian strategic community is almost unanimously supportive of the decision, concerned about the emerging Chinese hegemony around 5G standards and architecture. Although think tanks and experts have delved into some of the technical intricacies of 5G, the commentary remains largely polemical and rooted in the complicated verbiage of Sino-Indian geopolitics.

South & Central Asia

Centre Asks Twitter To Remove ‘Manipulated Media’ Tag From Toolkit Tweets
Medianama
Aihik Sur
Hours after Twitter labelled tweets of BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra and others on the alleged toolkit prepared by Congress as ‘manipulated media’, the Central government has asked the social media platform to remove the tag as the matter is under investigation, news agencies PTI and ANI reported.

India’s decision on Huawei, ZTE may have been shaped by “espionage acts” globally
The Economic Times
Dipanjan Roy Chaudhury
India’s decision to bar Chinese telecom equipment makers Huawei and ZTE from 5G trials is because they have allegedly been involved in espionage activities in Europe, Africa and the Pacific region over the last few years, ET has learnt.

UK

MI5 chief Ken McCallum accuses Facebook of giving ‘free pass’ to terrorists
The Times
@Fhamiltontimes
Facebook has given terrorists a “free pass” by allowing stronger encryption on its network, the head of MI5 has said in his first criticism of Mark Zuckerberg’s company. Ken McCallum said that the social media giant’s plans to install end-to-end encryption would block hundreds of counterterrorism investigations by the Security Service.

Millions 'unwittingly tracked' by phone after vaccination to see if movements changed
The Telegraph
A report revealed that data from one in ten peoples' phones were tracked in February.

Europe

FBI involved in international response to HSE cyber attack
Business Post
@AarRogan @peterodwyer1
The cyberattack which forced the Health Service Executive’s systems offline has prompted an international response involving the FBI and European governments. The Irish health service is the largest public body to fall victim to cybercriminals in recent weeks. Private firms in the pharmaceutical, energy and logistics sectors here have also been targeted by hackers.

Martijn Rasser @MartijnRasser

1/ Dutch authorities are trying to find a middle of the road policy on the question of untrusted vendors on Netherlands 5G networks. Huawei equipment will not be allowed in network cores. Good news at first glance, but the details are worrisome.

Huawei verdwijnt uit de kern van Nederlandse telecomnetwerkenHuawei wordt niet meer gevraagd voor de meest kritische delen van de Nederlandse telecomnetwerken. Dat blijkt uit antwoorden van de omstreden Chinese fabrikant aan het FD. Voor T-Mobile zijn de gevolgen het grootst.fd.nl

A Ryanair Flight Carrying An Opposition Journalist Is Forced To Land In Belarus
NPR
@lilkat_bigworld
Authorities in Belarus ordered a Ryanair flight to make an emergency landing in the capital city of Minsk, after reports that a bomb was on board the aircraft. Officials then boarded the plane and arrested Roman Protasevich, the former editor and founder of an opposition blog and social media channel…Protasevich founded the blog and Telegram channel Nexta, which has tens of thousands of followers on Twitter, and played a key role in organizing anti-government protests last fall. He currently lives in Lithuania, where the Ryanair flight was headed, but is wanted in Belarus on multiple charges

Europe’s Digital Future
Project Syndicate
@vestager @anubradford
In recent years, the European Union has unveiled a series of ambitious legislative and regulatory packages to rein in problems endemic to the new digital economy. Can leading the world in tech governance help to establish Europe's place in the twenty-first century?

Russia

FSB NKTsKI: Foreign ‘cyber mercenaries’ breached Russian federal agencies
The Record
@campuscodi
Foreign hackers have breached and stolen information from Russian federal executive bodies, the Russian government said in a report published last week. The attacks were identified in 2020.

Could the ransomware crisis force action against Russia?
MIT Technology Review
@HowellONeill
Moscow’s blind eye toward cybercriminals has made escalating attacks inevitable, say experts. But changing the approach is easier said than done.

Middle East

evelyn douek @evelyndouek

Another geopolitically fraught decision from the FOB. The bottom line is obviously important & may cause problems for Facebook in Turkey. But there are important details in the opinion: it's fundamentally a decision abt which side of the line to err on in making mistakes. 🧵 /1

Oversight Board @OversightBoard

The Board has overturned Facebook’s decision to remove a comment intended to criticize the Turkish government. https://t.co/H73F0307Os

Misc

Google’s New Dermatology App Wasn’t Designed for People With Darker Skin
VICE
@ToddFeathers
Google on Tuesday unveiled a dermatology app that it says can recognize 288 different skin conditions from pictures, and there’s something very Google about it. The deep learning system the app is based on was originally trained and tested on a dataset that—like the company itself—vastly underrepresents people with dark skin tones.

Google launches AI health tool for skin conditions
Financial Times
Google is taking one of the most significant steps yet by a big tech company into healthcare, launching an AI-powered tool that will assist consumers in self-diagnosing hundreds of skin conditions.

Apple’s head of software admits Macs have an unacceptable amount of malware
CNBC
@kifleswing
Apple’s head of software, Craig Federighi, said in court on Wednesday that Apple is not pleased with the amount of harmful software, or malware, on its operating system for Mac computers, MacOS.

I sold all my cryptocurrency – and you should too: endless growth is not sustainable
The Sydney Morning Herald
@bengrubb
What started off promising as the “people’s currency” and a middle finger to governments and central banks has since turned into one big joke.

Let’s make sure our personal data works for us – not against us – after the pandemic
The Guardian
@lfspinney
The Covid crisis has shown that consensual information-sharing does not have to erode our democratic rights.

Research

The Good Web: Democratic Values, Practices, and Procedures
Alliance for Securing Democracy
Amber Frankland
In December 2020, ASD held a security and geopolitics workshop as part of the Good Web project entitled “Democratic Values and the Internet.” Participants included experts in cyber policy, cybersecurity, foreign policy, law, human rights, and internet freedom, and they had regional expertise on Europe, the United States, India, and China.

Events & Podcasts

Lawfare @lawfareblog

Today’s Arbiters of Truth Lawfare Podcast: @evelyndouek and @qjurecic talk to @DiaKayyali about the two years since the Christchurch Call—a commitment by New Zealand, France, and tech companies “to eliminate terrorist and violent extremist content online.”

The Lawfare Podcast: The Christchurch Call, Two Years OnIn March 2019, a shooter carried out two mass killings at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, livestreaming the first shooting on Facebook. Two months later, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and French President Emmanuel Macron convened the Christchurch Call—a commitment joined by both go…lawfareblog.com

CSIS Cyber Feed @CyberCSIS

In the latest episode of Inside Cyber Diplomacy, @james_a_lewis and @C_Painter talk with Moctar Yedaly about internet shutdowns, and the need for more stakeholders in multilateral negotiations. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the… Spotify:

The AU and ICTs for DevelopmentListen to this episode from Inside Cyber Diplomacy on Spotify. In this episode, co-hosts Jim Lewis and Chris Painter talk with Moctar Yedaly, Africa Program Director for the GFCE, and former Head of the Information Society department within the African Union Commission. They discuss internet shutdow…open.spotify.com

Jobs

ICPC Analyst or Senior Analyst - Cyber & technology
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for an exceptional cyber-security or technology focused analyst or senior analyst to join its centre in 2021. Please note that interviews have commenced for this position and will continue until the end of June. This role will focus on policy relevant cybersecurity analysis, informed public commentary and either original data-heavy research and/or technical analysis. Analysts usually have around 7-15 years work experience. Senior analysts usually have a minimum of 15 years relevant work experience and tend to be involved in staff and project management, fundraising and stakeholder engagement.