Canada shuts down TikTok office over national security risks | TSMC to suspend production for some Chinese AI chip customers | US: AI didn’t sway the election, but it deepened the partisan divide

Good morning. It's Monday 11th November.

The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.

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• In a dramatic move that underscores growing global concerns over TikTok’s handling of user data, the Canadian government has ordered the social media giant to wind down its business operations in the country by the end of 2024. Forbes

• Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has told multiple Chinese customers that it will suspend production of their AI and high-performance computing chips, sources told Nikkei Asia, as the chipmaker steps up efforts to ensure compliance with U.S. export controls. Nikkei Asia

• AI seems to have done less to shape how people voted and far more to erode their faith in reality. The new tool of partisan propaganda amplified satire, false political narratives and hate speech to entrench partisan beliefs rather than change minds, according to interviews and data from misinformation analysts and AI experts. The Washington Post

ASPI

Australia should lead efforts to address online gender-based violence
The Strategist
Fitriani and Angela Suriyasenee
Since the UN Security Council adopted the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda in 2000, the world has started to facilitate women’s participation in peace and security processes while protecting them from gender-based violence. But technology-facilitated gender-based violence is undermining these advancements. An October report by UN Women focussing on TFBGV highlighted an intensification of online misogyny and hate speech targeting women. Australia should address this global phenomenon with a new bill and lead international efforts to improve transparency and accountability on major digital platforms.

Australia

With a 'CCTV camera in every laptop' as workplace surveillance extends to the home, governments are trying to determine a limit
ABC News
Daniel Ziffer
Workplace surveillance is widespread and largely unregulated. Depending on who you talk to it is a productivity booster, a morale-crusher, a life-saver, helping companies to comply with laws or putting a CCTV camera in the homes of millions of workers. The reality — as multiple ongoing inquiries are finding — is complex.

As a teen I learned how harmful social media can be, but Albo’s ban shirks responsibility
Crikey
Varsha Yajman
Yesterday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the government’s proposal to ban social media use by children under 16, saying social media companies would have to take “reasonable steps” to enforce this. While Albo claimed it was for the “mum and dads” because “social media harms”, it sounded like the government was once again shirking its responsibility and failing to hold social media companies to account. My experience with social media began at 13. At 14, I fell into the spiral of an eating disorder.

Australian AI start-up founder accused of faking financials in US
The Australian Financial Review
Max Mason
The Australian founder of a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence start-up allegedly fabricated the revenue of his company while he was raising almost $60 million, the US securities commission claims. Baba Nadimpalli, 41, has been charged with securities and wire fraud after the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged he inflated the performance of his start-up, Skael, between 2020 and 2022.

Vulnerable Australians ‘force-fed’ gambling and alcohol ads on Facebook, report finds
The Guardian
Josh Butler
Vulnerable Australians at high risk of gambling and alcohol problems are being “force fed” Facebook ads for that content, with experts claiming they are being targeted by social media marketing. A study by University of Queensland researchers found that gambling and alcohol ads can be served up many times in a short period to people at high risk of gambling or alcohol-related harms.

USA

AI didn’t sway the election, but it deepened the partisan divide
The Washington Post
Pranshu Verma, Will Oremus and Cat Zakrzewski
This was the year that artificial intelligence was expected to wreak havoc on elections. For two years, experts from D.C. to Silicon Valley warned that rapid advances in the technology would turbocharge misinformation, propaganda and hate speech. That, they worried, could undermine the democratic process and possibly skew the outcome of the presidential election. Those worst fears haven’t been realized — but other fears have been.

State Department division that battles foreign disinformation faces closure
The Washington Post
Michael R. Gordon and Dustin Volz
A State Department office that uses high-level U.S. intelligence to combat Russian and Chinese information operations abroad faces a possible shutdown at the end of the year, just weeks before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House. Its fate is seen as an early sign of the willingness of the second Trump administration and its congressional allies to push back against foreign disinformation plots.

Silicon Valley’s Trump supporters envision ascendant startups, Vance run in 2028
Bloomberg
Lizette Chapman
Venture capitalists and technologists who bet early on Trump’s campaign are celebrating, and imagining a Republican presidency that could benefit them in a number of ways. The new administration could provide clearer and more favorable cryptocurrency regulations, skip tax increases on capital gains and take a lighter touch approach to antitrust — a top VC priority that would allow for more startup acquisitions and investor payouts.

Dissecting the cyberattacks of the US election
Cyber Magazine
Kristian McCann
The internet has become an integral part of modern elections, from online voter registration to digital campaign platforms. However, this technological evolution has introduced new challenges, particularly in cybersecurity. As countries worldwide strive to protect their electoral processes from digital threats, the experiences of major elections, such as the 2024 US presidential race, offer valuable lessons for the global tech community.

How Barron Trump connected his father to the manosphere
The Australian
Joshua Chaffin and Sara Ashley O’Brien
One day in the midst of a vicious election campaign whose outcome, Donald Trump had warned, could threaten America’s very survival, the former president spent 90 minutes with a foul-mouthed 24-year-old who has achieved a certain kind of stardom by playing videogames for an online audience. In meeting Adin Ross in August for a livestreamed chat, Trump was entering the manosphere.

Americas

Canada shuts down TikTok over national security risks
Forbes
Lars Daniel
In a dramatic move that underscores growing global concerns over TikTok’s handling of user data, the Canadian government has ordered the social media giant to wind down its business operations in the country by the end of 2024. The decision, announced on November 6, 2024, is based on national security concerns tied to TikTok’s Chinese ownership and follows a year-long review of the app’s Canadian operations.

• Our response to the government of Canada's order to shut-down TikTok Canada
  TikTok
  Shutting down TikTok’s Canadian offices and destroying hundreds of well-paying local jobs is not in anyone's best interest, and today's shutdown order will do just that. We will challenge this order in court. The TikTok platform will remain available for creators to find an audience, explore new interests and for businesses to thrive.

North Asia

TSMC to suspend production for some Chinese AI chip customers
Nikkei Asia
Cheng Ting-Fang and Lauly Li
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has told multiple Chinese customers that it will suspend production of their AI and high-performance computing chips, sources told Nikkei Asia, as the chipmaker steps up efforts to ensure compliance with U.S. export controls. The Chinese chip design clients affected are those working on high-performance computing, graphic processing units, and AI computing-related applications using chip production technologies of 7-nanometer or better, but not those making mobile, communication and connectivity-related chips with that technology, sources said. The overall impact on TSMC's revenue will be minimal, they said.

• TSMC to close door on producing advanced AI chips for China from Monday
  Financial Times
  Kathrin Hille and Ryan McMorrow
  Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has notified Chinese chip design companies that it will suspend production of their most advanced artificial intelligence chips, as Washington continues to impede Beijing’s AI ambitions.

• US ordered TSMC to halt shipments to China of chips used in AI applications
  Reuters
  Karen Freifeld and Fanny Potkin
  The U.S. ordered Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to halt shipments of advanced chips to Chinese customers that are often used in artificial intelligence applications starting Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

North Korean hackers abuse cloud-based services to deploy malware
Cyber Security News
Aman Mishra
ESET’s recent report details the activities of various advanced persistent threat groups from April to September 2024, highlighting key trends and developments observed during this period, including the use of sophisticated techniques such as targeted phishing attacks, malware distribution, and vulnerability exploitation. APT groups are notorious for their capacity to compromise vital national infrastructure, government agencies, and private businesses.

Japan, Peru to agree on cooperation in mineral mining technology
Mining.com
The leaders of Japan and Peru will sign a joint statement later this month on cooperation in mineral mining technology, aimed at strengthening their supply chains for critical minerals through Japanese technology, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who plans to visit Peru for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ summit on Nov. 15-16, will also hold a bilateral meeting with Peru’s leader, according to Nikkei.

China's Taobao trying to crack Taiwan market during Singles' Day shopping festival
ABC News
Ilham Issak
”A war is afoot", "hand chopping", "bleed out" and "killing spree" — these seemingly violent terms are frequently seen on Taiwan's news pages and social media posts at this time of year, every year. That's because the November 11 Singles' Day shopping festival has begun, when brands and e-commerce sites offer generous discounts to lure customers for year-end spending, similar to Black Friday sales in Western countries. The Singles day — so called as the digits of the date symbolise "bare stick", or bachelor, in Chinese slang, was originally a humorous, self-deprecating celebration of bachelorhood.

South & Central Asia

How deepfake videos and exploitative tactics are driving a surge in online share-tading frauds
The Indian Express
Sushant Kulkarni
Deepfake videos of stock market experts and industry leaders urging investors to join WhatsApp groups or download spurious apps are the latest addition to the evolving strategies of cybercriminals perpetrating share-trading frauds. Investigations suggest that cybercriminals plan their moves to exploit compulsive trading habits. The constant evolution of their tactics gives cybercriminals an edge as gullible investors continue to fall prey.

NZ & Pacific Islands

Fake kidnaps and real dangers of disinformation in Pacific Islands
The Interpreter
Anouk Ride
In late October, fear set in following a set of online stories about men in dark-tinted vehicles without licence plates kidnapping children and young people in Honiara, Solomon Islands. Schools closed, communities erected roadblocks to outsiders, and there were at least two non-fatal attacks on foreigners suspected of being involved in kidnapping. However, most of the stories igniting panic are fake – to date, police have received only two reports of an attack. New social media accounts, from which kidnap stories originated, are now closed.

Ukraine-Russia

Ukrainian military’s anti-drone GPS spoofing spills into civilians’ phones
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
For Ukrainian tech specialist Roman, Tuesday morning didn’t go as planned. Roman — who asked not to be identified — said he was initially confused and thought something was wrong with his phone. Following the confusion, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces issued a statement explaining that disruptions to smartphone clocks or GPS signals may occur due to the use of electronic warfare systems to counter Russian air attacks.

Europe

Deleted tweets, missed warnings and calls for the ‘hangman’: the bitter political fallout from Spain’s floods
The Guardian
Sam Jones
Although the rain brought floods that have so far claimed at least 223 lives in Spain – six of them in Utiel – Gabaldón knows the death toll could have been far higher in his town had the schools been open. The foresight and initiative Gabaldón showed in the first moments of the worst natural disaster in Spain’s modern history were far from ubiquitous. The alerts that are pinged to people’s mobile phones in times of civil emergency were not sent out by the Valencian regional government until after 8pm on Tuesday.

UK

UK and South Korea strengthen cybersecurity cooperation
UK Defence Journal
George Allison
The United Kingdom and the Republic of Korea have reaffirmed their commitment to joint cybersecurity initiatives, following the 4th Republic of Korea-UK Cyber Dialogue held on 6 November 2024 in London. This high-level meeting was co-chaired by Andrew Whittaker, Cyber Director at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Rhee Dong-yeol, Ambassador for International Cyber Affairs in South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, according to a press release. The dialogue, involving around 50 officials from both nations’ cybersecurity-related agencies, highlighted both countries’ strategies and collaborative efforts to counter cyber threats.

Big Tech

Apple quietly introduced iPhone reboot code which is locking out cops
404Media
Joseph Cox
Apple quietly introduced code into iOS 18.1 which reboots the device if it has not been unlocked for a period of time, reverting it to a state which improves the security of iPhones overall and is making it harder for police to break into the devices, according to multiple iPhone security experts. On Thursday, 404 Media reported that law enforcement officials were freaking out that iPhones which had been stored for examination were mysteriously rebooting themselves. At the time the cause was unclear, with the officials only able to speculate why they were being locked out of the devices. Now a day later, the potential reason why is coming into view.

Xbox gets first dose of artificial intelligence –– an AI-powered chatbot
Indian Express
Microsoft is doubling down on Artificial Intelligence by supercharging the Xbox support chatbot with AI––a move that signals the company’s broader AI vision for its gaming console series. Called “Support Virtual Agent,” the chatbot can be accessed from within the Xbox console or the Xbox app on smartphones and PCs. According to Microsoft, it is “designed to help Xbox players more efficiently solve their support-related gaming issues.”

Artificial Intelligence

Large behavior models surpass Large Language Models to create AI that walks and talks
Forbes
Lance Eliot
In today’s column, I closely explore the rapidly emerging advancement of large behavior models that are becoming the go-to for creating AI that runs robots and robotic systems. You might not be familiar with LBMs. No worries. I will be explaining what an LBM is, along with identifying how they end up leveraging large language models and contemporary generative AI. All told, large behavior models are quite promising and an exciting new combination consisting of LLMs boosted with behavior-oriented specialized capacities. It is a real meal deal, one might cheekily say.

Events & Podcasts

In-conversation discussion with Gilberto C. Teodoro Jr.
ASPI
The Philippines is currently at the centre of strategic tensions in the South China Sea, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s administration faces daily pressure from China’s maritime forces, including physical intimidation. After decades focused on internal security, the Armed Forces of the Philippines are modernising and reorganising to address new external challenges across defence and security, and to strengthen national resilience through closer partnerships with Australia and the United States. At the event on 11 November from 5.30pm-6.30pm in Melbourne, ASPI’s Executive Director, Justin Bassi will deliver opening remarks and formally introduce Secretary Teodoro, before Senior Analyst, Dr. Euan Graham, leads a fireside conversation with the Secretary,

Navigating digital safety: Exploring security and trust in online spaces for young Australians
ASPI
As technology evolves, so do 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. Online spaces are also increasingly threatened by criminal and state-backed actors, and challenges to social cohesion. In our current digital context, what does it truly mean to be secure online, and how can we create a safer digital environment? This event will focus on digital safety through the lens of online security and safety as well as national security and law enforcement, with a strong emphasis on engaging young people and government representatives. Join us for an important discussion from 6:00 – 8:30pm on 27 November at ASPI in Canberra.

Untold story of chip war: Global tech supply chains under a new US President
Global Nikkei
The high-stakes battle for control of advanced semiconductor technology and chipmaking supply chains is reshaping the global economy. Nikkei has followed the twists and turns in this fight through our popular webinar series “Untold Story of Chip War.” Now we are proud to present a special session, “Global tech supply chains under a new U.S. president,” which will be held after the U.S. presidential election on November 27 at 8pm (New York time).

Faking it - Information integrity, AI and the law
University of Technology Sydney
With the advent of generative AI, manipulation of information and data is taking a new turn. Deepfakes and AI generated and propagated misinformation and disinformation are proliferating online. These trends are already undermining the reliability of news, disrupting elections, challenging democratic processes, and infringing rights globally. As automation rapidly expands the reach and scale of this phenomenon, policy and regulation are often held back by a lack of agreed principles and priorities. In the third episode of our Global Game Changers series on 25th November from 6pm - 7:30pm AEDT, we explore different dimensions of this problem and how we might go about tackling some of its more insidious effects.

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