Pager explosions strikes Hezbollah in hybrid cyberattack | Meta bans Russian state media for 'foreign interference' | TikTok whistleblower claims Chinese police kidnapped and threatened his father
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At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers [of Hezbollah members] received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured. The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials. The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives. The New York Times
Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online. The ban, strongly criticised by the Kremlin, marks a sharp escalation in measures by the world's biggest social media company against Russian state media, after years of more limited steps such as blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts. Reuters
A former employee of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, claims Chinese national police detained his father and took him to “a remote secret facility” to interrogate and intimidate him after the former employee spoke to Western press about ByteDance’s censorship of content on TikTok. Forbes
ASPI
Aukus risks being just ‘a label’ if it fails to curb China’s regional ‘adventurism’
South China Morning Post
Maria Siow
Nishank Motwani, a senior defence and security analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Aukus must focus on delivering on these goals promptly to show how the three allies could work together to address their collective security challenge over China. Pointing out that the central purpose of Aukus was to deter Beijing from engaging in armed conflict, Motwani said credible deterrence was needed to “complicate China’s decision-making calculus to use force by making the risk of failure too high”. “Given the stakes, it is imperative for Aukus to contribute to deterrence,” he said, adding that the grouping would otherwise “risk being nothing more than a label”.
Australia
Australian Federal Police raids 'dismantle' crime syndicate, see alleged creator of app for criminal underworld arrested and charged
ABC News
Alysia Thomas-Sam and Rhiana Whitson
The AFP also says the operation has dismantled a criminal syndicate that used the app to organise drug importations and manufacture a false terrorism plot to pervert the course of justice. Six men were arrested and charged on Tuesday with a combined 43 offences following a joint investigation with NSW Police into the syndicate communicating via the encrypted mobile application.
Kamala Harris’ potential defence chief backs Labor supercomputer deal
The Australian Financial Review
Andrew Tillett
Quantum computing coupled with artificial intelligence will be the 21st century’s equivalent of the nuclear bomb as the West races with China to develop the technology first, says the woman who could be Kamala Harris’ defence secretary if she becomes US president.
Joint Leaders statement to mark the third anniversary of AUKUS
Prime Minister's Office
Anthony Albanese, Keir Starmer and Joe Biden
We the leaders of Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, mark the third anniversary of AUKUS – an enhanced security partnership that promotes a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable. We reaffirm our shared commitment to this historic partnership and acknowledge the considerable progress to date.
China
‘Keep your mouth shut’: TikTok whistleblower claims Chinese police kidnapped and threatened his father
Forbes
Emily Baker-White
A former employee of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, claims Chinese national police detained his father and took him to “a remote secret facility” to interrogate and intimidate him after the former employee spoke to Western press about ByteDance’s censorship of content on TikTok.
What scared Ford’s CEO in China
The Wall Street Journal
Mike Colias
Jim Farley had just returned from China. What the Ford Motor chief executive found during the May visit made him anxious: The local automakers were pulling away in the electric-vehicle race. In an early-morning call with fellow board member John Thornton, an exasperated Farley unloaded. The Chinese carmakers are moving at light speed, he told Thornton, a former Goldman Sachs executive who spent years as a senior banker in China. They are using artificial intelligence and other tech in cars that is unlike anything available in the U.S. These Chinese EV makers are using a low-cost supply base to undercut the competition on price, offering slick digital features and aggressively expanding to overseas markets.
The Chinese chipmaker at the heart of the U.S.-China tech war
The New York Times
Ana Swanson, John Liu and Paul Mozur
Efforts by the Beijing-backed Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, or SMIC, to break through innovation barriers have landed it in a geopolitical tech battle.
USA
Why China hawks care so much about cranes
Axios
Sam Sabin
Many China hawks now believe that Beijing holds the power to knock out most of the U.S.'s cargo cranes — potentially disrupting the global trade of consumer goods, military equipment and other resources. A new congressional investigation found that China-based Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries, or ZPMC, installed cellular modems onto cranes operating at certain U.S. ports — creating a backdoor for easy information collection and nation-state spying.
How A.I., QAnon and falsehoods are reshaping the presidential race
The New York Times
Stuart A. Thompson
Three experts on social media and disinformation share their predictions for this year’s chaotic election. The risk that violence could spring from election denialism seems as pressing as in the weeks after the 2020 election, when Trump supporters — incensed by false claims of voter fraud — stormed the Capitol building, they argue. But the day-to-day churn of falsehoods and rumors that spread online may be getting largely drowned out by the billions spent on political advertising. In a series of emails with The Times, the authors laid out their predictions for the year. These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
Americas
Two MPs fear contacts in diaspora communities were exposed by China’s cyber attack on their mobile devices
The Globe and Mail
Robert Fife and Steven Chase
Two MPs, known as strong critics of Beijing’s human rights abuses, say they can’t be certain that diaspora community contacts were not compromised by Chinese cybersecurity attacks on their parliamentary and personal mobile devices. China’s hacking of Canadian members of IPAC were discovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigations which passed on the information to Ottawa in 2022. The government then informed the House of Commons but MPs and Senators were not told of this warning.
North Asia
Taiwan chip industry suppliers set sail for Japan's 'Silicon Island'
Nikkei Asia
Yoshinaru Sakabe
For Taiwanese chip-industry suppliers, the island of Kyushu has become a gateway for growing their business with a Japanese semiconductor industry bent on revival. Greenfiltec, which makes air filters for semiconductor plants, is moving into the island's Kumamoto prefecture following TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker.
Japan to issue grants to build academic ties with Europe on AI, chips
Nikkei Asia
Hiroyuki Omoto
Ten Japanese universities will receive a total of more than 100 million yen ($700,000) in annual grants to help foster talent in fields like semiconductors and artificial intelligence in collaboration with European universities, the education ministry announced Thursday.
Southeast Asia
Indonesia’s new cyber force needs to be planned, not rushed
The Strategist
Yokie Rahmad Isjchwansyah
Given predictions that it will consume quite a substantial amount of the military budget, the establishment of the cyber force should not hamper the modernisation of the TNI’s main weaponry system, as this equipment will define Indonesia’s deterrence and active combat capabilities far into the future. Furthermore, Indonesia is currently failing to meet the minimum essential force. Without the right amount of personnel, the cyber force will be a hollow shell from the very start.
Ukraine-Russia
Leaked files from Putin’s troll factory: how Russia manipulated European elections
VSQUARE
Martin Laine and Anastasiia Morozova
Leaked internal documents from a Kremlin-controlled propaganda center reveal how a well-coordinated Russian campaign supported far-right parties in the European Parliament elections — and planted disinformation across social media platforms to undermine Ukraine.
Middle East
Israel planted explosives in pagers sold to Hezbollah, officials say
The New York Times
Sheera Frenkel and Ronen Bergman
At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers [of Hezbollah members] received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives. Lebanon’s health minister told state media at least nine people were killed and more than 2,800 injured. The devices were programmed to beep for several seconds before exploding, according to three of the officials. The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, according to some of the officials. The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.
9 killed, almost 3,000 injured as vast wave of pager explosions strikes Hezbollah
The Times of Israel
Gianluca Pacchiani, Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman, TOI Staff and Agencies
During the apparent cyberattack, some Hezbollah members felt their pagers heating up and disposed of them before they exploded, an unnamed Hezbollah official told The Wall Street Journal. The official reportedly added that hundreds of fighters had these communication devices, speculating that they may have heated up and detonated due to malware.Experts: Lebanon Pager Explosions Likely Not Lithium Batteries Alone
404 Media
Jason Koebler
While it is still unclear exactly what happened in Lebanon, Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attacks. Videos of the explosions and their aftermath and conversations with experts make it hard to believe that single, small lithium-ion batteries alone could have caused the level of reported damage, suggesting that additional explosives may have been added to the devices by those responsible for the attack. “There's no way that just a battery hurt someone other than the person wearing the pager,” Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit, which has studied lithium battery explosions, said. “I also can't really see a lithium battery exploding killing a person. 3rd degree burns, yes.”Did Israel Hack Hezbollah Pagers To Make Them Explode? Former Intel Agents Have A More Likely Explanation
Forbes
Thomas Brewster
A more likely scenario, the agent said, is that devices were intercepted prior to delivery and outfitted with explosives and software that would detonate them when they received a trigger message. Cybersecurity researcher and former NSA analyst Patrick Wardle, now CEO of security firm DoubleYou, said it would not have been particularly difficult to do this. “It’s basically putting a bomb into a device and connecting with a software-based trigger,” Wardle said.Hezbollah suspicions forced Israel to expedite Lebanon pager attack
al-Monitor
Gabrielle Debinski , Tyler Huffman
It was not Israel’s preferred course of action to detonate the pagers ahead of a full-scale war with Hezbollah, but security officials made an 11th-hour decision after at least two Hezbollah members suspected something was amiss with the devices.
Big Tech
Meta bans Russian state media for 'foreign interference'
Reuters
Katie Paul
Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online. The ban, strongly criticised by the Kremlin, marks a sharp escalation in measures by the world's biggest social media company against Russian state media, after years of more limited steps such as blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts.
Hackers force chrome users to hand over Google passwords. Here’s how
Forbes
Davey Winder
Newly published research has revealed how threat actors are using a devious new technique to force Chrome browser users to reveal their Google account passwords out of nothing more than sheer frustration. The credential-stealing campaign, which uses malware called StealC, locks the user’s browser in kiosk mode while blocking both the F11 and ESC keys to prevent them from escaping out of this full-screen mode. The only thing displayed on the browser screen while in this annoying and seemingly unescapable kiosk mode is a login window, most often for your Google account itself.
Intel foundry business to make custom chip for Amazon, chipmaker's shares jump
Reuters
Max A. Cherney
Intel's foundry, or contract manufacturing business, has signed up Amazon's cloud services unit as a customer for making custom artificial intelligence chips, the companies said on Monday, a deal that gives the chip maker a vote of confidence.
CEO Lisa Su says AMD is now a data center-first company — DC is now 4X larger than its gaming sales
Tom's Hardware
Anton Shilov
Back in the day, the bulk of AMD's business was client CPUs for midrange PCs, but today, most of AMD's money comes from its sales of EPYC processors for data centers. To that end, AMD had every right to call itself a data center company for quite some time. Yet, this week, Lisa Su, chief executive of the chip designer, formally said that AMD is now a 'data center first' company.
Misc
When infrastructure gets hacked
Practical Engineering (YouTube)
Grady Hillhouse
Digital systems interact with every aspect of our daily lives and basic needs: water, electricity, sanitation, public health, transportation, and more can all be seriously disrupted by someone or some group, anywhere in the world, if we let our guard down. With great computer power comes great computer responsibility. And just because many of these industrial control systems are only used or understood by a small number of people, security through obscurity just isn’t realistic anymore.
Chipotle adds automation, 'autocado' robot helps make guacamole
Reuters
Waylon Cunningham
Chipotle moved an automated bowl-and-salad maker and an avocado-processing robot out of its test kitchen and into a couple of locations in California. The chain announced the deployment on Monday and said feedback will determine whether it makes a broader rollout of the technology. Both locations are in California, where all fast food chains must pay $20 an hour to workers with more possible increases on the horizon. Chipotle said in a statement that it is testing the technology to find efficiencies and "help our restaurant employees continue providing great hospitality for our guests."
Events & Podcasts
ASPI Women in Defence and Security Network 10th Anniversary Gala
ASPI
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Women in Defence and Security Network is celebrating its 10-year anniversary and, to mark this significant milestone, you are invited to join us for a special gala dinner at The Marion on Wednesday, October 16. This event will be a celebration of the WDSN's achievements over the decade and an opportunity to look back on the gains made as well as where work remains to improve the recruitment, retention development and advancement of women in the different fields of national security. Tickets are available now, with discounted tickets for students and groups.
Jobs
ASPI Research Internship
ASPI
Have you recently completed your studies (undergraduate or postgraduate) and want to develop your expertise in defence, foreign and national security policy, including in areas such as strategic competition, defence, deterrence, foreign interference, technology, and security? Do you want to inform the public and government on the critical strategic choices facing Australia and learn what it takes to be a professional analyst? If so, apply for the ASPI Research Internship Program! Please note that this is a paid internship program. Applications will close at midnight Friday 27 September 2024.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.