Aus federal government introduces online dating safety code | S. Korea, US, Japan to team up for tracing N. Korea's illegal cyber activities | Russia influencers step up to influence U.S. election

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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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• New safety guidelines for online dating platforms in Australia require systems to detect harm, take action against violators, provide reporting mechanisms, and support user safety. Platforms must supply transparency reports. The code aims to reduce online abuse, with enforcement starting in April next year. News.com.au

• South Korea, the U.S., and Japan agreed to strengthen joint efforts against North Korea's illegal cyber activities targeting virtual currency, which funds WMD and missile programs. They emphasized collaboration with private sectors and international partners to combat these increasingly sophisticated threats. The Korea Times

• Russia's influence campaign to boost Trump in the 2024 U.S. election intensifies, spreading disinformation on immigration and targeting Kamala Harris. Despite U.S. countermeasures, Russia uses fake news sites, automated accounts, and misinformation networks, seeking to sway voters and undermine support for Ukraine. The Washington Post

ASPI

Eric Adams has a foreign corruption problem. New York’s is way bigger
The Rolling Stone
Noah Shachtman
Bethany Allen, author of Beijing Rules, echoing the sentiments of several U.S. officials. “If this is done extensively, consistently, quietly across many states, many state capitals, many state governments, local governments,” Allen tells me, “it can shape the debate. Have a strong downward pressure on the things that China wants to quiet.”

Sovereign data: Australia’s AI shield against disinformation
The Strategist
Andrew Horton
Any attempt to regulate artificial intelligence is likely to be ineffective without first ensuring the availability of trusted large-scale sovereign data sets. For the Australian government, AI presents transformative potential, promising to revolutionise the way in which government departments and agencies operate. The allure of AI-driven efficiency, precision and insight is irresistible. Yet, amid the chorus of AI evangelists, a discordant note rings true: establishment of robust AI policy guardrails now would be premature and potentially counterproductive without first addressing the fundamental issue of sovereign trusted data.

Australia

Federal Government introduces online dating safety code
News.com.au
Aisling Brennan
Aussies going online in the hopes of finding love, or at least a date, will now be protected by new rules designed to protect online daters from harm and abuse. The Australia-first guidelines will require online dating platforms, including Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and Grindr, to have systems in place to detect potential incidents of online-enabled harm from taking place. The code will also require dating apps to take actions against users who have violated a company’s online safety policies, provide prominent and transparent complaint and reporting mechanisms, offer more support resources on safe dating practices and online enabled harm, and remain proactively engaged with Australian law enforcement.

China

Cybersecurity threats jump in Hong Kong, as victims lose money to scammers, survey finds
South China Morning Post
Xinmei Shen
Online threats have surged in Hong Kong this year, with scams, phishing and malware among the most common attacks, a survey found, as a lack of cybersecurity awareness continues to plague the city. Forty-nine per cent of Hong Kong respondents have experienced online threats over the past 12 months, compared with 40 per cent in the previous period, according to a recent report by antivirus software vendor Norton.

China calls for realtime censorship of satellite broadband
The Register
Laura Dobberstein
Beijing has published its proposed regulations for satellite broadband, including a requirement that operators conduct censorship in real time. In its latest draft rules, the Cyberspace Administration of China proposes any organization or individual using terminal equipment with direct connection to satellite services is not allowed to "produce, copy, publish, or disseminate content prohibited by laws and administrative regulations, such as content that incites subversion of state power, overthrows the socialist system, endangers national security and interests, damages the national image, incites secession of the country, undermines national unity and social stability, promotes terrorism, extremism, ethnic hatred, ethnic discrimination, violence, pornography, and false information."

China Telecom say AI model with 1 trillion parameters trained with Chinese chips
South China Morning Post
Ben Jiang
A Chinese state-owned carrier said it has developed two large language models trained entirely on domestically produced chips, illustrating the progress China has made in its effort to achieve chip autonomy in artificial intelligence. The Institute of AI at China Telecom, one of the country’s large state-backed telecoms operators, said in a statement on Saturday that its open-source TeleChat2-115B and a second unnamed model were trained on tens of thousands of domestically produced chips, marking a milestone amid tightening US restrictions on China’s access to advanced semiconductors, including Nvidia’s latest AI chips.

USA

Russia-paid influencers, trolls step up efforts to influence U.S. election
The Washington Post
Joseph Menn
Russia’s attempts to influence the 2024 election in favor of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump are accelerating, federal officials and researchers say, adding to a sea of misinformation about immigration and his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, despite U.S. efforts to blunt the onslaught with indictments, seizures and public warnings.

China hawks prep tech investment screening measure
Roll Call
Gopal Ratnam
Lawmakers hoping to stanch the flow of U.S. money into China’s tech sectors are turning to a time-tested method to improve their odds by appending the measure to a must-pass defense policy bill. A bipartisan amendment by Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, appears among nearly 100 separate proposals that make up a manager’s package for the Senate fiscal 2025 National Defense Authorization Act. That package, with the underlying Senate Armed Services Committee bill, is to be the chamber’s offer in an informal conference with the House.

Defense-tech startups need a new supplier: anyone but China
The Wall Street Journal
Heather Somerville
Defense officials and industry executives expect Chinese motors and batteries will be restricted next, and there are few alternatives. China supplies more than 90% of the magnets needed for the motors that power everything from missiles to ships, drones and satellites. New U.S. magnet-production companies are trying to put a dent in that dominance, but it will take years. Reducing America’s reliance on China emerged as a bipartisan priority during the pandemic, which left industries without essential China-made goods. It has become a bigger focus since then as the U.S. has shifted its national security strategy to focus more on China. Small drones are on the front lines of America’s supply chain overhaul. Around one out of five of the drone systems the Defense Innovation Unit reviews don’t meet military requirements because they have prohibited parts.

Biden's AI advisor speaks on AI policy, deepfakes, and the use of AI in war
WPTV
Liz Landers , Cameron Couvillion , Nick Refuerzo
Ben Buchanan, the White House Special Advisor on AI, sat down with Scripps News to discuss how he's helping the Biden administration better understand an issue that can both excite and scare people.

California governor Vetoes sweeping A.I. legislation
The New York Times
Cecilia Kang
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday vetoed a California artificial intelligence safety bill, blocking the most ambitious proposal in the nation aimed at curtailing the growth of the new technology. The first-of-its-kind bill, S.B. 1047, required safety testing of large A.I. systems, or models, before their release to the public. It also gave the state’s attorney general the right to sue companies over serious harm caused by their technologies, like death or property damage. And it mandated a kill switch to turn off A.I. systems in case of potential biowarfare, mass casualties or property damage.

North Asia

S. Korea, US, Japan to team up for tracing N. Korea's illegal cyber activities
The Korea Times
Yonhap
South Korea, the United States and Japan have agreed to bolster joint efforts to combat North Korea's illegal cyber activities, which are increasingly targeting the virtual currency industry, the presidential office said Monday. The agreement was reached during a virtual meeting on Friday, attended by Wang Yun-jong, the third deputy national security adviser; Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy national security advisor for cyber and emerging technologies; and Keiichi Ichikawa, deputy head of Japan's National Security Secretariat.

Southeast Asia

Malaysia plans national cloud policy, AI regulations
Reuters
Danial Azhar and Rozanna Latiff
Malaysia plans to create a national cloud policy and introduce regulations to encourage the ethical use of artificial intelligence (AI), Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Tuesday. The announcement comes amid a wave of investments by global tech firms in Malaysia over the past year, as they seek to build critical infrastructure to cater to growing demand for their cloud and AI services.

Building resilience: the Philippines enhances cybersecurity
OpenGov Asia
Samaya Dharmaraj
As the Philippines celebrates Cybersecurity Awareness Month this October, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has emphasised the government’s ongoing initiatives to enhance the country’s readiness and resilience against cyber threats. DICT Secretary Ivan John Enrile Uy unveiled this year’s theme, “Cyber Tiwala, Cyber Handa, Cyber Tatag”, and encouraged the public to join in fostering trust, readiness, and resilience against these threats.

Russia

Russian Ransomware Gang Worked With Kremlin Spies, UK Says
Bloomberg
Ryan Gallagher
A Russian criminal gang secretly conducted cyberattacks and espionage operations against NATO allies on the orders of the Kremlin’s intelligence services, according to the UK’s National Crime Agency. Evil Corp., which includes a man who gained notoriety for driving a Lamborghini luxury sports car, launched the hacks prior to 2019, the NCA said in statement on Tuesday.

Europe

Watching China in Europe—October 2024
GMF
Noah Barkin
On October 4, if all goes according to plan, EU member states will vote to impose additional duties of up to 35% on imports of electric vehicles (EVs) from China. To those who have not been paying close attention, the move may look anything but groundbreaking. After all, the United States announced back in May that it was introducing tariffs of 100% on Chinese EVs, a move that was matched by Canada three months later. But make no mistake, the vote on Friday is significant. If it does result in the introduction of duties, it will be a major inflection point in European policy toward China—the meat on the bones, if you will, of the EU’s strategic outlook document of 2019 that labeled China a competitor and systemic rival.

• EU states plan Friday vote on Chinese EV tariffs
  France 24
  AFP
  The European Commission, in charge of EU trade policy, plans to levy additional duties of up to 36 percent on electric vehicles imported from China but the issue has divided the bloc. Brussels announced its plans in July for the tariffs -- on top of current duties of 10 percent -- after an anti-subsidy probe found Chinese state subsidies were unfairly undermining European competitors. The tariffs would become definitive for five years after a vote by the EU's 27 member states that must take place before the end of October.

EU picks experts to steer AI compliance rules
Reuters
Martin Coulter
The European Union has picked a handful of artificial intelligence experts to decide how strictly businesses will have to comply with a raft of incoming regulations governing the technology. On Monday, the European Commission will convene the first plenary meeting of working groups -- made up of external experts -- tasked with drawing up the AI Act’s “code of practice”, which will spell out how exactly companies can comply with the wide-ranging set of laws. There are four working groups, focused on issues such as copyright and risk mitigation. Experts selected to oversee the groups include Canadian scientist and “AI godfather” Yoshua Bengio, former UK government policy adviser Nitarshan Rajkumar, and Marietje Schaake, a fellow at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center.

Microsoft faces closer antitrust scrutiny in Germany
The Wall Street Journal
Mauro Orru
German antitrust officials said they were placing Microsoft under closer surveillance to prevent the tech giant from engaging in any anticompetitive practices, the latest salvo from European regulators against U.S. big tech. The country’s Federal Cartel Office said Microsoft would be subject to so-called special abuse control for five years after officials said the company was of paramount significance for cross-border competition. The measure allows German regulators to act early and prohibit companies from engaging in what they deem anticompetitive behavior.

UK

AUKUS eyes opportunities for expansion — on a ‘project-by-project’ basis
Defense Scoop
Brandi Vincent
The AUKUS trilateral security partnership is making progress in new discussions with Japan about deepening collaboration to jointly advance the interoperability of their militaries’ maritime drone systems. Additionally, the partnership — launched in 2021 between Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. — is also in ongoing consultations with Canada, New Zealand and Korea to pinpoint possible new areas of cooperation under AUKUS Pillar 2, which entails the co-development of disruptive defense technologies across six focus areas, members of Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin’s team confirmed last week ahead of AUKUS’ ministerial meetings in London.

UK-Kenya tech hub unveils digital toolkit to boost African entrepreneurship
Tech In Africa
Sylvia Duruson
UK-Kenya Tech Hub, in collaboration with PwC, has introduced a comprehensive digital toolkit designed to assist entrepreneurs in accessing markets across Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. This initiative addresses the growing challenges faced by entrepreneurs seeking to expand their operations within the African continent.

Big Tech

What happens in the Google ad tech antitrust trial now that testimony is done?
Digiday
Marty Swant
After three weeks in federal court, two dozen witnesses and hundreds of exhibits, the bulk of the U.S. vs Google ad-tech antitrust trial has wrapped until closing arguments, which are expected in late November. There’s also another wild card still in play: How everything will be seen through the legal lens of the court.

Man falsely accused of murder by Tommy Robinson calls for tighter rules on X
The Guardian
Alexandra Topping
A man falsely accused of murder by Tommy Robinson on X has called for legislation to control Elon Musk’s social media website, arguing it has become a “platform for racism, bigotry, bias, prejudice and disinformation”. Abdul Hai, who was acquitted of murdering the teenager Richard Everitt in 1994, told the Guardian that he is considering legal action against the social media site formerly known as Twitter, after Robinson, a far-right agitator, posted that he had been convicted of the crime.

Meta won’t say whether it trains AI on smart glasses photos
TechCrunch
Maxwell Zeff
Meta’s AI-powered Ray-Bans have a discreet camera on the front, for taking photos not just when you ask them to, but also when their AI features trigger it with certain keywords such as “look.” That means the smart glasses collect a ton of photos, both deliberately taken and otherwise. But the company won’t commit to keeping these images private. We asked Meta if it plans to train AI models on the images from Ray-Ban Meta’s users, as it does on images from public social media accounts. The company wouldn’t say.

Tech industry urges G7 to unify cloud security standards
TechXplore
Editors' notes
A leading tech industry group on Tuesday called on G7 nations to harmonize cloud security certification across the world's richest nations, in an effort to stoke cooperation and counter calls that data should stay within national borders. Industry group BSA The Software Alliance, which represents tech giants including Microsoft and IBM, argues that its initiative would reduce compliance burdens for cloud service providers while maintaining robust security standards.

Artificial Intelligence

Why bigger is not always better in AI
MIT Technology Review
Melissa Heikkiläarchive
In AI research, everyone seems to think that bigger is better. The idea is that more data, more computing power, and more parameters will lead to models that are more powerful. This thinking started with a landmark paper from 2017, in which Google researchers introduced the transformer architecture underpinning today’s language model boom and helped embed the “scale is all you need” mindset into the AI community. Today, big tech companies seem to be competing over scale above everything else.

Research

Seeing beyond the surface: digital trust emerges as key issue
The Age
Adobe sponsored report
As Australia gears up for an upcoming election, and the United States presidential campaign is in full swing, a recent study highlights rising concerns about digital trust. Namely, the role of misinformation and deepfakes. The Future of Trust study conducted by Adobe paints a sobering picture: the majority of consumers in Australia and New Zealand are deeply worried about the authenticity of online information, especially when it comes to choosing our leaders in a democratic process.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.