WhatsApp hacked to spy on top government officials at U.S. allies | A hacker group of Chinese spies is stealing text messages | Hong Kong court bans posting & sharing online messages inciting violence
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Senior government officials in multiple U.S.-allied countries were targeted earlier this year with hacking software that used Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp to take over users’ phones. Reuters
A hacker group linked to Chinese espionage is illicitly installing software at telecommunications companies to steal text messages from specific users and regarding specific topics, according to cybersecurity firm FireEye. Axios
A court on Thursday granted Hong Kong’s embattled government an interim injunction banning anyone from posting or spreading messages online that could incite violence as authorities struggle to get a grip on nearly five months of protest chaos and social unrest. South China Morning Post
ASPI ICPC
ASPI ICPC Researcher Elise Thomas on a 7:30 investigation into pro-Turkish social media campaigns.
Open source data turning private citizens into intelligence analysts
ABC 7:30
@elisethoma5
Intelligence gathering is usually the work of government agencies and spies. But now, thanks to social media, amateur sleuths can do their own intelligence gathering and are getting to the bottom of what's really going on in conflict zones around the world.
World
WhatsApp hacked to spy on top government officials at U.S. allies
Reuters
@Bing_Chris @razhael
Senior government officials in multiple U.S.-allied countries were targeted earlier this year with hacking software that used Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp to take over users’ phones.
Australia
Hostile actors', cybercrime seeking to undermine democracy, PM warns
SBS News
@StaynerThomas
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has urged Australians to maintain their “irrepressible optimism” in the face of “hostile actors” intent on undermining our democracy. The PM delivered his warning in a speech covering the national security threats confronting Australia in an “increasingly challenging” global environment.
Real possibility' of a 'cyber Pearl Harbour' hitting Australia
The Canberra Times
@katie_b_burgess
Australian Cyber Security Centre boss Rachel Noble has said there is a "very real possibility" Australia will face a "cyber Pearl Harbour" attack.
Police want faster data from the US, but Australia's encryption laws could scuttle the deal
ABC News
@arielbogle
Australian police could quickly access data held by companies like Google and Facebook under a planned deal with the United States. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton recently trumpeted the beginning of negotiations about the potential data swap, but some US officials and lawyers told the ABC they were sceptical about the deal and its prospects.
Australia’s last chance': Huawei pleads for lift in 5G ban as UK dithers
The Sydney Morning Herald
@Laura_R_chung @latikambourke
Telecommunications equipment provider Huawei says Australia risks being left behind in a global technology arms race if the federal government's ban on its 5G technology isn't lifted.
Former ASIO head asks for more cyber support from government
ZDNet
@ashabeeeee
David Irvine has called for the development of a new Australian cybersecurity service industry that draws on R&D, supports startups, and has a global commercialisation plan.
British spy chiefs back Huawei role in 5G plan
The Australian
@jacquelinmagnay
Influential British security and intelligence chiefs have downplayed Australia’s intelligence concerns about China’s telecommunications giant Huawei, but have expressed alarm about the numbers of Chinese students being trained in British universities.
Russian hackers attempt to steal Australian athletes’ medical records
The Daily Telegraph
Russian operatives attempted to steal highly confidential drug test and medical records of every Australian athlete to discredit the world as their own Olympic team faces expulsion from Tokyo.
China
A hacker group of Chinese spies is stealing text messages
Axios
@JoeUchill
A hacker group linked to Chinese espionage is illicitly installing software at telecommunications companies to steal text messages from specific users and regarding specific topics, according to cybersecurity firm FireEye.
Hong Kong court order bans posting and spreading of online messages inciting violence as anti-government protests continue
South China Morning Post
@jasmine_siu
A court on Thursday granted Hong Kong’s embattled government an interim injunction banning anyone from posting or spreading messages online that could incite violence as authorities struggle to get a grip on nearly five months of protest chaos and social unrest.
Hong Kong police ask Facebook to remove ‘defamatory’ posts on officers’ handling of protesters, leading to accusations force is stifling free speech
South China Morning Post
Hong Kong police have asked Facebook to remove posts containing what they said were defamatory or unfounded allegations about their handling of anti-government protests, leading to accusations the force was interfering with free speech.
China Is About to Switch On 5G. It’s Behind the U.S., but Not for Long.
WSJ
@stuwoo
China plans to turn on its first 5G networks on Friday, setting up the country to leapfrog other nations in deploying the superfast cellular technology at the center of a technological arms race between China and the U.S.
A screenshot from a Notepad++ blog post announcing their new “Freww Uyghur” Release.
Just take a look at the carnage on Notepad++'s GitHub: 'Free Uyghur' release sparks spam tsunami by pro-Chinese
The Register
On Tuesday, Don HO, the developer of Notepad++, a free GPL source code editor and notepad application for Microsoft Windows, released version 7.8.1, prompting a social media firestorm and a distributed denial of service attack. Notepad++ v7.8.1 was designated "the Free Uyghur edition,".
Alibaba to resume Hong Kong listing plans as soon as November
Reuters
Alibaba Group is eyeing a listing in Hong Kong as early as November to raise up to $15 billion, after political unrest put the move on ice earlier this year, people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.
USA
Rudy Giuliani needed Apple genius help to unlock his iPhone after being named Trump cybersecurity advise
NBC News
@richschapiro
Less than a month after he was named President Donald Trump’s cybersecurity adviser in 2017, Rudy Giuliani walked into an Apple store in downtown San Francisco. He wasn’t looking for a new gadget. Giuliani was looking for help. He was locked out of his iPhone because he had forgotten the passcode and entered the wrong one at least 10 times.
South Asia
WhatsApp confirms: Israeli spyware was used to snoop on Indian journalists, activists
Indian Express
@seemay
It is learnt that at least two dozen academics, lawyers, Dalit activists and journalists in India were contacted and alerted by WhatsApp that their phones had been under state-of-the-art surveillance for a two-week period until May 2019.
United Kingdom
Britain delays Huawei decision, potentially until 2020
@latikambourke
The decision on whether or not Huawei will be allowed to build Britain's 5G network has once more fallen victim to Britain's political chaos, with a decision due this week now delayed, possibly until next year.
UK Government Faces Court Over ‘Biased’ Visa Algorithm
Artificial Lawyer
@ArtificialLawya
The UK’s Home Office is facing a landmark Judicial Review to reveal how an algorithm it uses to triage visa applications works – in what appears to be the first case of its kind here, and which could open up a series of future similar demands in the public and private sectors if successful.
Europe
Germany's Refusal to Ban China's Huawei From 5G Is Dangerous for the West
Newsweek
@JohnRDeni
This month, two relatively small, obscure German ministries made a decision with strategic implications: They published draft set of rules for the construction of Germany's 5G network that permits Huawei to have an even greater role than it currently does. Some worry the ubiquity of Huawei's equipment could provide Beijing a decisive advantage.
Hard Choices on China
Berlin Policy Journal
@noahbarkin
But the debate over 5G is just the beginning. Europe is likely to be confronted with a host of similarly difficult choices in the months and years to come. And it needs to think hard, at the national level and collectively, about where it wants to end up.
Misc
A Facebook content moderation vendor is quitting the business after two Verge investigations
The Verge
@CaseyNewton
The professional services firm Cognizant will exit the content moderation business after two Verge investigations into working conditions at sites dedicated to Facebook, the companies said today. Cognizant had hired thousands of moderators around the world to remove hate speech, terrorism, and other inappropriate content from platforms including Facebook, Google, and Twitter.
Google Hosted an Insecure App for Searching Personal Data of Palestinians
Motherboard
An Android app on the Google Play Store allowed anyone to look up biographical information on a large number of people in Palestine, including names, dates of birth, place of residence, and details on their family.
GitHub is trying to quell employee anger over its ICE contract. It’s not going well
The LA Times
@JmBooyah
When GitHub Chief Executive Nat Friedman announced on Oct. 9 his company would donate half a million dollars to nonprofits helping communities affected by the Trump administration’s immigration policies, it was a peace offering of sorts. It didn’t work.
A Facebook fact-checker will propose a possible solution to the company's false ad debacle
CNN
@donie
One of the companies that Facebook hired to fact-check posts on its platform will propose a change to Facebook's policy allowing politicians to run ads containing falsehoods.
Aaron Sorkin: An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg
The New York Times
@RealAaronSorkin
It was hard not to feel the irony while I was reading excerpts from your recent speech at Georgetown University, in which you defended — on free speech grounds — Facebook’s practice of posting demonstrably false ads from political candidates.
Jobs
Research
CSIIF: Hacker House Ltd Grant Award
UK Government
An independent report by the Government Internal Audit Agency into the grant award for Hacker House Ltd and publication of related documentation.
Events
CyberWarCon 2
AESIR
CYBERWARCON is a one-day (Novembre 21st) conference in the Washington D.C. area focused on the specter of destruction, disruption, and malicious influence on our society through cyber capabilities.
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