Former ByteDance employee say company pushed pro-China content on TopBuzz | Spyware found on EU staff smartphones | Half of all Australian adults have experienced technology-facilitated abuse
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The Daily Cyber Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
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Former employees claim the company placed pieces of pro-China content in its now-defunct US news app, TopBuzz, and censored negative stories about the Chinese government. ByteDance says it did no such thing. BuzzFeed News
The European Union found evidence that smartphones used by some of its staff were compromised by an Israeli company's spy software, the bloc's top justice official said in a letter seen by Reuters. Reuters
The first-known representative study of its kind — commissioned by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) — has revealed half of all Australian adults have experienced technology-facilitated abuse at some point in their lives. ABC News
ASPI ICPC
Ukraine - Russia
How DDoSecrets built the go-to home for Russian leaks
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Together with an anonymous partner known as The Architect, Best founded the whistleblower site Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) in 2018. Since then, it has distributed hacked and leaked data from more than 200 entities, including U.S. law enforcement agencies, fascist groups, shell companies, tax havens, and the far-right social media sites Gab and Parler.
New Group to Promote Open-Source Intelligence, Seen as Vital in Ukraine War
The Wall Street Journal
Dustin Volz
Social media, satellite images, mobile-phone data can yield as much insight as traditional espionage, but few rules exist.
Apple network traffic takes mysterious detour through Russia
The Register
Thomas Claburn
Land of Putin capable of attacking routes in cyberspace as well as real world.
Australia
Half of all Australians have been victims of tech abuse, landmark study reveals
ABC News
Gemma Breen
The first-known representative study of its kind — commissioned by Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS) — has revealed half of all Australian adults have experienced technology-facilitated abuse at some point in their lives.
China
TikTok Owner ByteDance Used A News App On Millions Of Phones To Push Pro-China Messages, Ex-Employees Say
BuzzFeed News
Emily Baker-White
Former employees claim the company placed pieces of pro-China content in its now-defunct US news app, TopBuzz, and censored negative stories about the Chinese government. ByteDance says it did no such thing.
Inside TikTok's Attempts to ‘Downplay the China Association’
Gizmodo
Chris Stokel-Walker
Leaked documents detail what TikTok tells the media—and what it doesn’t.
TikTok to provide researchers with more transparency as damaging reports mount
The Verge
Emma Roth
The move comes hours after a report reveals TikTok’s efforts to distance itself from China.
Fallout from massive Shanghai Police data breach reverberates on dark web
CyberScoop
AJ Vicens
The availability of supposedly hacked Chinese data on the dark web appears to have surged in recent weeks on the heels of the massive Shanghai National Police breach, which was one of the largest ever recorded.
A Frozen Document in China Unleashes a Furor Over Privacy
The Wall Street Journal
Wenxin Fan
Writer’s panic over being locked out of a draft of her novel sparks fears of surveillance seeping into new territory.
A day in the life of a Chinese robotaxi driver
MIT Technology Review
Zeyi Yang
We spoke to Liu Yang, who has one of the strangest jobs around: to sit in the passenger seat and monitor how self-driving cars cope with Beijing’s streets.
USA
Experts urge congress to pressure commercial spyware vendors
Decipher
Dennis Fisher
In a hearing on Wednesday, researchers from Citizen Lab and Google detailed the extent of the use and abuse of these tools for members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence, and said that the companies’ claims of controlling their tools ring false.
ICE’s use of data brokers to ‘go around’ sanctuary laws under fire
The Washington Post
Cristiano Lima
Data brokers have long faced pressure to drop deals allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to search through databases to target immigrants. While those efforts have at times yielded results, the contracts are still common.
Senate passes bipartisan bill to subsidize U.S.-made semiconductor chips
The Washington Post
Amy B Wang and Mike DeBonis
The Senate passed a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would provide $52 billion in subsidies to domestic semiconductor manufacturers and invest billions in science and technology innovation, in a bid to strengthen the United States’ competitiveness and self-reliance in what is seen as a keystone industry for economic and national security.
Republicans Warn Google Not to Limit Search for Misleading Anti-Abortion Clinics...Or Else
Gizmodo
Mack DeGeurin
A coalition of 17 state attorney generals are pressuring Google to prevent it from limiting the search results of so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” known for masquerading as legitimate abortion clinics and persuading pregnant people away from receiving abortions.
North Asia
Sanctions, Cyber, and Crypto: How Pyongyang Can Exploit the War in Ukraine
The Diplomat
Jason Bartlett
North Korea now joins Russia and Syria in recognizing two Moscow-backed breakaway states in eastern Ukraine. That could provide a new foothold for sanctions evasion and cybercrime.
South & Central Asia
The second wave of India’s crackdown on Chinese tech is here
Rest of World
Itika Sharma Punit
Indians have learned to live without TikTok, but brands like Xiaomi and Realme might be hard to ban.
Europe
EU found evidence employee phones compromised with spyware
Reuters
Raphael Satter
The European Union found evidence that smartphones used by some of its staff were compromised by an Israeli company's spy software, the bloc's top justice official said in a letter seen by Reuters.
Microsoft says Austrian firm behind spyware targeting law firms, banks
Reuters
James Pearson
Security researchers at Microsoft have said an Austrian firm was behind a string of digital intrusions at banks, law firms and strategic consultancies in at least three countries.
Untangling KNOTWEED: European private-sector offensive actor using 0-day exploits
Microsoft
The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) and the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) found a private-sector offensive actor (PSOA) using multiple Windows and Adobe 0-day exploits, including one for the recently patched CVE-2022-22047, in limited and targeted attacks against European and Central American customers.
Spanish police arrest two accused of hacking radioactivity alert system
The Record by Recorded Future
Adam Janofsky
Spain’s National Police said Wednesday that two people have been arrested for allegedly hacking the country’s Radioactivity Alert Network (RAR) and disabling more than one-third of the sensors that are used to monitor excessive radiation levels across the country.
Americas
TikTok’s biggest rival in South America is pushing creators to make videos about domestic abuse
Rest of World
Juan Jose Relmucao
Creators on Kwai are disturbed by the demands of the app's algorithm, but need to work around it to get paid.
Privacy committee to study RCMP use of spyware tools
CTV News
Rachel Aiello
The House of Commons Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics Committee voted Tuesday to begin a special summer study to examine the RCMP's use of spyware, calling on the national police force to be more transparent about the software it uses to conduct surveillance or collect data as part of its investigations.
Big Tech
Zuckerberg says Meta and Apple are in ‘very deep, philosophical competition’ to build the metaverse
The Verge
Alex Heath
Mark Zuckerberg believes that Apple and his company are in a “very deep, philosophical competition” to build the metaverse, suggesting the two tech giants are ready to butt heads in selling hardware for augmented and virtual reality.
F.T.C. Sues to Block Meta’s Virtual Reality Deal as It Confronts Big Tech
The New York Times
David McCabe and Mike Isaac
The move is a potential blow to Meta’s metaverse efforts and signals a shift in how the Federal Trade Commission is approaching tech deals.
Top US regulator fires warning shot after Apple’s push into lending
Financial Times
Stefania Palma
Rohit Chopra says his agency will take a ‘very careful look’ at Big Tech’s foray into buy now, pay later.
Facebook considering ending restrictions on Covid misinformation
The Guardian
Alex Hearn
Social network turning to its ‘supreme court’ about decision, says head of global affairs, Nick Clegg.
Messaging Apps Tapped as Platform for Cybercriminal Activity
ThreatPost
Elizabeth Montalbano
Built-in Telegram and Discord services are fertile ground for storing stolen data, hosting malware and using bots for nefarious purposes.
Who Is Collecting Data from Your Car?
The Markup
Jon Keegan and Alfred Ng
A firehose of sensitive data from your vehicle is flowing to a group of companies you’ve probably never heard of.
Events and Podcasts
Emerging North Korean threats in cyber and outer space
North Korea News Podcast
Cho Dongyoun of Seokyeong University has spent decades on the frontline of these new and emerging threats. As a major in the ROK army, Cho helped interpret and expand intelligence capabilities and understand North Korean tactics on the battlefield, online and in space. She joins the NK News Podcast to talk about these new emerging threats from North Korea and how South Korea is rethinking defense in the 21st century.
The AI-Surveillance Symbiosis in China: A Big Data China Event
CSIS
The CSIS Trustee Chair in Chinese Business and Economics and the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) launch the third feature of the new collaboration, Big Data China, on July 27 at 12 p.m. EST.
Research
The PRC’s satellite programme: A growing threat
Observer Research Foundation
Samyak Rai Leekha
While digital connectivity proves to be a boon, many countries are concerned about the threat posed by the PRC’s satellite programme.
Jobs
International Cyber Policy Centre Coordinator
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) is seeking a Coordinator, who will support the day-to-day operations of ICPC through a range of administrative, coordination, internal and external communication functions. This role will include supporting the Director and the Deputy Director with the coordination and delivery of ICPC’s global research program as well as diary management for the Director and Deputy Director of ICPC.
ICPC Senior Analyst or Analyst - China
ASPI ICPC
ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) has a unique opportunity for exceptional and experienced China-focused senior analysts or analysts to join its centre. This role will focus on original research and analysis centred around the (growing) range of topics which our ICPC China team work on. Our China team produces some of the most impactful and well-read policy-relevant research in the world, with our experts often being called upon by politicians, governments, corporates and civil society actors to provide briefings and advice.
The Daily Cyber Digest is brought to you by the team at ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre.