Russia, China and Iran interfering in the Presidential Election | US finalizes rules to curb AI investments in China | Russia targets Ukrainian conscripts with Windows, Android malware

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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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• Eight years after Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, foreign influence with American voters has grown more sophisticated. That could have outsize consequences in the 2024 race. When Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, spreading divisive and inflammatory posts online to stoke outrage, its posts were brash and riddled with spelling errors and strange syntax. The New York Times

• The Biden administration said on Monday it is finalizing rules that will limit U.S. investments in artificial intelligence and other technology sectors in China that could threaten U.S. national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the U.S. Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in August 2023.  Reuters

• A hybrid espionage/influence campaign conducted by the Russian threat group 'UNC5812' has been uncovered, targeting Ukrainian military recruits with Windows and Android malware. According to Google's threat intelligence, the campaign impersonated a "Civil Defense" persona along with a website and dedicated Telegram channel to distribute malware through a fake recruitment avoidance app. Bleeping Computer

ASPI

How Russia, China and Iran are interfering in the Presidential Election
The New York Times
Sheera Frenkel, Tiffany Hsu and Steven Lee Myers
When Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, spreading divisive and inflammatory posts online to stoke outrage, its posts were brash and riddled with spelling errors and strange syntax. They were designed to get attention by any means necessary. In an echo of Russia’s scheme, Chinese operatives have been cultivating a network of foreign influencers to help spread its narratives, creating a group described as “foreign mouths,” “foreign pens” and “foreign brains,” according to a report last fall by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Australia

Australia looks to mining waste for cutting-edge chip materials
Nikkei Asia
Shaun Turton
Scientists in Australia are looking at mining waste to potentially supply the world with materials essential for cutting-edge semiconductors and other advanced technologies. Chemist Chris Vernon, lead researcher for green mineral technologies at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, part of a multiagency effort to study Australia's potential to extract gallium and germanium as by-products from existing mining operations.

Most Australians have experienced a cyber attack: NAB
CyberDaily
Ben Squires
Almost two-thirds (63 per cent) of Australians experienced a cyber attack or data breach during the last 12 months, according to a new report released by National Australia Bank.

China

China warns of deep-sea spying devices, underwater 'lighthouses' that guide foreign submarines
Reuters
Joe Cash
China's Ministry of State Security said on Tuesday that it had retrieved spying devices both on the ocean surface and in the depths of the sea, including underwater "lighthouses" that could guide the transit of foreign submarines. The ministry said it had uncovered devices that had been hidden on the ocean floor and were sending back information that could "pre-set the field for battle," in an article on its official WeChat account, China's most popular social media app.

China takes down fake news about its military, closes social media accounts
South China Morning Post
Phoebe Zhang
Chinese internet regulators are removing social media accounts that use fake information to hype the country’s military strength, including false reports of “cyberwarfare” in the South China Sea.

Xi stimulus clues found in protest data showing economic stress
Bloomberg
Rebecca Choong Wilkins
To figure out how far President Xi Jinping will go to revive his struggling economy, a growing number of money managers are taking cues from a once-jailed Chinese dissident now living in Canada. From a basement in Calgary, often accompanied by his pet cat, Lu Yuyu spends 10 hours a day scouring the internet to compile stats on social instability before they are scrubbed by China’s censors.

USA

US finalizes rules to curb AI investments in China, impose other restrictions
Reuters
David Shepardson, Michael Martina and Trevor Hunnicutt
The Biden administration said on Monday it is finalizing rules that will limit U.S. investments in artificial intelligence and other technology sectors in China that could threaten U.S. national security. The rules, which were proposed in June by the U.S. Treasury, were directed by an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in August 2023 covering three key sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies and certain AI systems.

Trump family members and Biden aides among China hack targets
The New York Times
Devlin Barrett, Ben Protess and Maggie Haberman
Members of former President Donald J. Trump’s family, as well as Biden administration and State Department officials, were among those targeted by the China-linked hackers who were able to break into telecommunications company systems, according to people familiar with the matter.

State Department’s little-known weapon for countering foreign disinformation faces uncertain future
POLITICO
Joseph Gedeon
This year, a little-known center within the State Department exposed a major Russian disinformation campaign in Africa, scoring a rare but decisive victory as America’s adversaries seek to sow chaos and confusion around the world. Now, the Global Engagement Center, which acts as America’s nerve center in combating foreign, state-backed disinformation campaigns in other countries, is itself under threat — not from foreign capitals but from within the halls of Congress.

How America’s fourth-largest county is preparing for election interference
Foreign Policy
Rishi Iyengar
While speaking onstage in Phoenix earlier this month, Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes was asked what keeps him up at night—a question he faces so often that he joked it was “the center block on my bingo card” for conversations about the upcoming U.S. election. But his answer was serious.

Ukraine-Russia

Russia targets Ukrainian conscripts with Windows, Android malware
Bleeping Computer
Bill Toulas
A hybrid espionage/influence campaign conducted by the Russian threat group 'UNC5812' has been uncovered, targeting Ukrainian military recruits with Windows and Android malware. According to Google's threat intelligence, the campaign impersonated a "Civil Defense" persona along with a website and dedicated Telegram channel to distribute malware through a fake recruitment avoidance app dubbed "Sunspinner" by the researchers.

Europe

EU president denounces Russian influence campaigns targeting Western Balkans
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen criticized Russia’s use of disinformation to destabilize democracies in the Western Balkans region. Speaking at a press conference in Kosovo this weekend — part of her trip to aspiring European Union member states in the region — von der Leyen emphasized that the EU is working daily to debunk misinformation and expose Russian propaganda “for the benefit of the whole region.”

Why Europe’s car crisis is mostly made in China
Financial Times
Kana Inagaki, Edward White and Sarah White
In its 87-year history, Volkswagen has never closed a factory in its German heartland. It is now considering shutting three and cutting workers’ pay by 10 per cent. The plans were disclosed at an employee meeting by the head of VW’s powerful works council and have not been confirmed by the company, which is due to report third-quarter results on Wednesday.

UK

Sanctions for Russian disinformation linked to Kate rumours
BBC
Sean Coughlan
Six Russian agencies and individuals accused of being part of a disinformation network face sanctions from the UK government. The so-called Doppelganger group had been linked earlier this year to spreading false rumours about the Princess of Wales.

Gender and Women in Cyber

Australia looks to boost women in cyber with second annual Quad Cyber Challenge
CyberDaily
Daniel Croft
The challenge, which coincides with National Cyber Security Awareness Month, was led by the Quad Senior Cyber Group from October 21 to 25. For the 2024 challenge, Home Affairs said it was particularly seeking interest from female students and future cyber professionals, a demographic that is massively underrepresented, with women only making up 16 per cent of all Australian cybersecurity professionals.

Big Tech

Microsoft says Google is running ‘shadow campaigns’ in Europe to influence regulators
CNBC
Jordan Novet
Microsoft took the unusual step Monday of publicly accusing longtime rival Google of running “shadow campaigns” in Europe designed to discredit the software giant with regulators. Microsoft lawyer Rima Alaily wrote in a blog post that Google hired a firm to recruit European cloud companies to represent the search company’s case.

CrowdStrike, Delta Air Lines suing each other
iTnews
David Shepardson
CrowdStrike said it has now sued Delta Air Lines in US District Court in Georgia after a faulty software update prompted a global outage in July. The July 19 incident led to worldwide flight cancellations and hit industries including banks, healthcare, media companies and hotel chains.

Misc

Brazen crims selling stolen credit cards on Meta's Threads
The Register
Jessica Lyons
Brazen crooks are selling people's pilfered financial information on Meta's Threads, in some cases posting full credit card details, plus stolen credentials, alongside images of the cards themselves. SpyCloud security researcher Kyla Cardona says she spotted some of these posts while scrolling her feed.

Redline, Meta infostealer malware operations seized by police
Bleeping Computer
Bill Toulas
The Dutch National Police seized the network infrastructure for the Redline and Meta infostealer malware operations in "Operation Magnus," warning cybercriminals that their data is now in the hands of law enforcement. Operation Magnus was announced on a dedicated website that disclosed the disruption of the Redline and Meta operations, stating that legal actions based on the seized data are currently underway.

Forget the new MacBook Pro M4, hackers are targeting your old one
Forbes
Davey Winder
As the excitement surrounding the launch of the latest MacBook Pro range featuring the new M4 chip mounts, users of existing hardware have been warned to be aware that hackers are targeting their older devices. Although not something that Apple fans will want to hear, it looks as if the ransomware threat to macOS has started to become more than just fear, uncertainty and doubt. Say hello to NotLockBit.

New cyber attack warning—confirming you are not a robot can be dangerous
Forbes
Davey Winder
The Ukrainian Computer Emergency Response Team has issued a new security warning after discovering a cyber attack campaign carried out by the APT28 threat group, also known as Fancy Bear. This group is thought, with a high degree of confidence, to be affiliated with Russian military intelligence operations. Here’s what we know so far and what you need to watch out for if you think you might be at risk of being targeted.

Wiz CEO says company was targeted with deepfake attack that used his voice
TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
Even cybersecurity companies aren’t safe from deepfake attacks. Speaking onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco, Wiz’s CEO and co-founder Assaf Rappaport, who recently turned down a $23 billion acquisition offer from Google, noted that his employees had been targeted by a deepfake attack just two weeks ago.

School ransomware attacks are on the rise. What can districts do?
K-12 Dive
Kara Arundel
The Tucson Unified School District and Nantucket Public Schools seem to have little in common. Tucson schools, with 42,000 students, is one of the largest districts in Arizona and sits in a bustling urban area. Nantucket schools, on the other hand, enrolls fewer than 2,000 students and populates a small island off the coast of Massachusetts. But in early 2023 — just one day apart on Jan. 30 and 31 — both school systems fell victim to ransomware attacks that disrupted operations, leading to school closures in Nantucket and the compromise of personally identifiable data in Tucson.

Singapore jails man who created deepfake porn of wife’s niece
South China Morning Post
CNA
A married man in Singapore who filmed voyeuristic videos of his wife’s niece and superimposed her face into pornographic videos was sentenced to 21 weeks’ jail on Monday. The 50-year-old Singaporean cannot be named due to court orders protecting the identity of the victim, who was 23 at the time of the offences.

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