Australian government drops misinformation bill | Chinese hackers preparing for conflict | Emerging details of Chinese hack leave US officials increasingly concerned
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The Australian government has withdrawn a bill that would have fined online platforms up to 5 percent of their global revenue if they failed to stop the spread of misinformation. The bill, which was backed by the Labor government, would have allowed the Australian Communications and Media Authority to create enforceable rules around misinformation on digital platforms. TechCrunch
Chinese hackers are positioning themselves in US critical infrastructure IT networks for a potential clash with the United States, a top American cybersecurity official said on Friday. Morgan Adamski, executive director of US Cyber Command, said Chinese-linked cyber operations are aimed at gaining an advantage in case of a major conflict with the US Reuters
Leaders of the big telecommunications companies were summoned to the White House to discuss strategies for overhauling the security of the nation’s telecommunications networks amid growing alarm at the scope of a Chinese hack. The New York Times
Australia
Australian government drops misinformation bill
TechCrunch
Anthony Ha
The Australian government has withdrawn a bill that would have fined online platforms up to 5 percent of their global revenue if they failed to stop the spread of misinformation. The bill, which was backed by the Labor government, would have allowed the Australian Communications and Media Authority to create enforceable rules around misinformation on digital platforms.
Bunnings keen to roll out facial recognition tech to all its stores
The Sydney Morning Herald
David Swan
Bunnings aims to roll out facial recognition technology in all stores, despite a determination from the privacy commissioner that the hardware giant’s use of the technology breached Australia’s privacy laws. The retailer said last week that it would seek a review of the privacy commissioner’s determination that it breached the privacy of hundreds of thousands of customers, arguing its use of facial recognition technology appropriately balanced privacy with the need to protect staff against violent and organised crime.
Trump may use tariffs to hit back at PM’s tech crackdown
The Australian Financial Review
John Kehoe, Matthew Cranston and Tom McIlroy
American and Australian officials are warning the Albanese government that its crackdown on social media platforms and attempts to force US tech giants to pay for local news content increases the risk of Donald Trump imposing tariffs on Australia’s $33 billion of exports to the US.
China
Chinese hackers preparing for conflict, US cyber official says
Reuters
Chinese hackers are positioning themselves in US critical infrastructure IT networks for a potential clash with the United States, a top American cybersecurity official said on Friday. Morgan Adamski, executive director of US Cyber Command, said Chinese-linked cyber operations are aimed at gaining an advantage in case of a major conflict with the US.
China to crack down on unfair algorithm-based internet practices
Bloomberg
The Chinese government has started a special program to crack down various unfair and non-compliant practices on the internet to safeguard the interests of netizens and companies, according to a statement from the Cyberspace Administration of China on Sunday.
Chinese scientists build ‘recoilless AK-47’ that can be wielded by almost any drone
South China Morning Post
Stephen Chen
An automatic rifle specifically tailored for drones has been developed by Chinese scientists, marking a huge step forward in unmanned warfare technology. The firearm uses the same 7.62mm calibre bullet as the famous AK-47, while the bullet’s velocity can reach 740 to 900 metres per second (2,427 to 2,952 feet per second), 10 metres (33 feet) away from the muzzle, matching the AK-47’s power. But the main innovation that sets this weapon apart is its almost non-existent recoil. The recoil is as mild as tapping a keyboard.
USA
Emerging details of Chinese hack leave US officials increasingly concerned
The New York Times
David E. Sanger, Julian E. Barnes, Devlin Barrett and Adam Goldman
Leaders of the top telecommunications companies were summoned to the White House on Friday to discuss a security problem that has been roiling the government: how to expel Chinese hackers from the deepest corners of the nation’s communications networks. The meeting in the Situation Room came after weeks in which officials grew increasingly alarmed by what they had uncovered about the hack.
US Supreme Court tosses case involving securities fraud suit against Facebook
Reuters
John Kruzel
The US Supreme Court sidestepped on Friday a decision on whether to allow shareholders to proceed with a securities fraud lawsuit accusing Meta's of misleading investors about the misuse of the social media platform's user data. The justices, who heard arguments in the case on Nov. 6, dismissed Facebook's appeal of a lower court's ruling that allowed a 2018 class action led by Amalgamated Bank to proceed.
Chamber of Commerce sees new US export crackdown on China, email says
Reuters
Alexandra Alper
The Biden administration is set to unveil new export restrictions on China as soon as next week, the US Chamber of Commerce told members in a Thursday email. The new regulations could add up to 200 Chinese chip companies to a trade restriction list that bars most US suppliers from shipping goods to the targeted firms, the email from the powerful Washington-based lobbying group said, according to an excerpt seen by Reuters on Friday.
Supreme Court steps into fight over FCC’s $8 billion subsidies for internet and phone services
Associated Press
The Supreme Court on Friday stepped into a major legal fight over the $8 billion a year the federal government spends to subsidize phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas, in a new test of federal regulatory power. The justices will review an appellate ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Universal Service Fund.
Americas
Courts in Buenos Aires are using ChatGPT to draft rulings
Rest of World
Victoria Mendizabal
In May, the Public Prosecution Service of the City of Buenos Aires began using generative AI to predict rulings for some public employment cases related to salary demands. Since then, justice employees at the office for contentious administrative and tax matters of the city of Buenos Aires have uploaded case documents into ChatGPT, which analyzes patterns, offers a preliminary classification from a catalog of templates, and drafts a decision. So far, ChatGPT has been used for 20 legal sentences.
Southeast Asia
Philippines uses the media spotlight to fight back against China
The Japan Times
Brad Glosserman
Best to control the narrative. That is why in an age of information warfare, lawfare and gray-zone conflict, ensuring that your version of the truth prevails in the media is critical to claiming legitimacy and support, both domestic and international. Over the last year and a half, the Philippines has conducted a master class in winning that information battle in its contest with China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Tuvalu: The disappearing island nation recreating itself in the metaverse
BBC
Sophie Yeo
Facing erasure due to climate change, the Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu is digitally backing up everything from its houses to its trees as it endeavors to save whatever it can. Tuvalu, a small country in the Pacific Ocean made up of nine coral islands, is reckoning with a future where it may no longer be habitable. Sea level rise, caused by climate change, is eating away at its shores.
Ukraine-Russia
Russia ‘aggressive’ and ‘reckless’ in cyber realm and threat to Nato, UK minister to warn
The Guardian
Agence France-Presse
Russia is “exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm” and “no one should underestimate” the threat to Nato, a senior UK minister will warn in a speech on Monday. Pat McFadden, whose portfolio includes national security, will tell a Nato cybersecurity conference in London that Moscow “won’t think twice about targeting British businesses”, according to excerpts of his address released on Sunday by his ministry.
Winter is coming. So are Russia’s elite hackers.
POLITICO
On the eve of another European winter, one of Russia’s most skilled, stealthy hacking groups is targeting the Continent’s energy infrastructure. Sandworm, a group linked to Russian intelligence, has been hacking Ukrainian targets in recent years, but “we’re now seeing that they’re interested in the energy sector across Europe,” Jamie Collier, lead threat intelligence adviser at Google, told POLITICO.
Europe
French MPs’ Telegram accounts hacked
POLITICO
Océane Herrero and Paul de Villepin
Multiple Telegram accounts belonging to French lawmakers were hacked in recent days, the French National Assembly said in an email to parliamentarians on Wednesday seen by POLITICO. The MPs whose accounts were compromised appear to have been the victims of phishing attacks. Some clicked on a link purporting to offer them the opportunity to view pictures of their old primary school teachers.
Big Tech
How ‘Scattered Spider’ hacked some of the world’s biggest tech giants, and got caught
TechCrunch
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
After evading capture for more than two years following a hacking spree that targeted some of the world’s biggest tech companies, US authorities say they have finally caught at least some of the hackers responsible. In August 2022, security researchers went public with a warning that a group of hackers had targeted over 130 organizations as part of a sophisticated phishing campaign that stole the credentials of almost 10,000 employees.
Google takes down fake news sites, wire services run by Chinese influence operation
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
Google’s security team has removed hundreds of news sites and domains from Google News for running pro-China content sourced back to a handful of companies allegedly working together as part of an influence operation. Google’s Threat Analysis Group and security subsidiary Mandiant published a report detailing the operations of Glassbridge, which they say is an umbrella group of four companies based in China that operate hundreds of inauthentic news sites and newswire services.
TikTok CEO Chew Shou Zi sought Elon Musk’s input ahead of Trump takeover, report says
South China Morning Post
ByteDance-owned TikTok Chief Executive Officer Chew Shou Zi has sought input on US matters from Elon Musk, a close adviser to US president-elect Donald Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday citing people familiar with the matter. Chew initiated messages with the Tesla CEO in recent weeks and asked for his opinions on topics ranging from the incoming administration to potential tech policy, the report added.
Tesla’s path in China clears as Musk courts both Trump and Xi
The Guardian
Amy Hawkins
If it pays to have friends in high places, few among us can claim to be better placed than Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and one of the only people to have cosy relationships with both Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. His commercial and political connections to both may prove pivotal as the feud between the US and China plays out over the next four years, particularly as Trump promises steep tariffs.
Artificial Intelligence
The unspoken rule of conversation that explains why AI chatbots feel so human
The Conversation
Celeste Rodriguez Louro
Earlier this year, a Hong Kong finance worker was tricked into paying US$25 million to scammers who had used deepfake technology to pretend to be the company’s chief financial officer in a video conference call. Thinking the images on screen were his colleagues, the financier authorised the multi-million dollar transfer to fraudsters posing as friends.
Startups side with Draghi: EU red tape hampers growth
POLITICO
Europe's tech scene has a message for Brussels: Your artificial intelligence and data rules are bad for business. In a landmark survey on European tech performance, startup founders and investors lamented that the EU's rulebooks on AI and data protection have "negatively" affected the conditions for starting or scaling up a tech company.
Misc
Wire cutters: how the world’s vital undersea data cables are being targeted
The Guardian
Dan Milmo
The lead-clad telegraphic cable seemed to weigh tons, according to Lt Cameron Winslow of the US navy, and the weather wasn’t helping their attempts to lift it up from the seabed and sever it. “The rough water knocked the heavy boats together, breaking and almost crushing in their planking,” he wrote. Eventually, Winslow’s men managed to cut the cable with hacksaws and disrupt the enemy’s communications by slicing off a 46-metre section.
Events & Podcasts
Navigating digital safety: Exploring security and trust in online spaces for young Australians
ASPI
Join us from 6:00 – 8:30pm on 27 November at ASPI in Canberra for an important discussion on the challenges of privacy, internet security, and online safety. As users of online platforms, young Australians are exposed to varied and increasing risks, including risks to their personal data privacy.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security team at ASPI.