Judge rules Anthropic's AI training didn't violate copyright law | US lawmakers push for ban on government use of Chinese AI | Iran-backed hackers targeting US critical infrastructure
Plus AI willing to blackmail researchers to stop itself from being reset
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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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A federal judge this week ruled that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not break the law when it used copyrighted books to train its chatbot, Claude, without the consent of the texts’ authors or publishers — but he ordered the company to go to trial for allegedly using pirated versions of the books. The Washington Post
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Wednesday planned to introduce a bill in both houses of Congress that would bar US executive agencies from using artificial intelligence models developed in China, including those from DeepSeek. Reuters
Hackers backing Tehran have targeted US banks, defense contractors and oil industry companies following American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — but so far have not caused widespread disruptions to critical infrastructure or the economy. ABC News
ASPI
The Sydney Dialogue 2025
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is pleased to announce the Sydney Dialogue, the world’s premier policy summit for critical, emerging and cyber technologies, will return on 4-5 December. Now in its fourth year, the dialogue attracts the world’s top thinkers, innovators and policymakers, and focusses on the most pressing issues at the intersection of technology and security. TSD has become the place where new partnerships are built among governments, industry and civil society, and where existing partnerships are deepened.
Australia
Australia to boost cyber security and provide vehicles for Solomon Islands Pacific Islands Forum
ABC
Stephen Dziedzic
Australia will provide Solomon Islands with dozens of vehicles and cyber security support to help it host a high-profile meeting of Pacific leaders in September, as well as ramping up funding for aerial surveillance to track illegal fishing flotillas across the region.
eSafety Commissioner to register three adult content codes
InnovationAus
Trish Everingham
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant says her office will register three industry-prepared online safety codes to protect children from exposure to pornography and age-inappropriate content. But Ms Inman Grant has sought further commitments from industry before registering five other proposed adult content codes, including those covering app stores, devices, social media and AI systems.
Indo-Pacific contest demands an Australian Silicon Valley
The Strategist
Jason Van der Schyff
Against the backdrop of strategic contest in the Indo-Pacific, Australia’s defence innovation effort remains skewed toward long-horizon bets such as quantum computing, hypersonics and artificial intelligence. These technologies are important, but they offer more distant promise than near-term operational effect. With a near-exclusive focus on the perfect, Australia risks overlooking what is good enough now.
Australian companies recover faster from cyberattacks after tougher regulation
Reuters
Byron Kaye
Australian companies have sharply reduced the time it takes to recover from cyberattacks, a sign of improved preparedness amid heightened regulatory pressure following high-profile breaches at Optus and Medibank. Businesses in Australia and New Zealand now take 28 days on average to recover from an incident, down from 45 days a year earlier, according to a survey of 408 IT executives that was shared exclusively with Reuters. That still trails the global average of 24 days.
China
China is tracking down its rare-earth Experts—and taking away passports
The Wall Street Journal
Jon Emont
China has told companies in its rare-earth industry to give the government lists of employees with technical expertise, aiming to ensure they don’t divulge trade secrets to foreigners. The queries point to the growing geopolitical significance of China’s control over the materials, which are widely used in cars, electronics and weapons and stand at the center of the US-China trade war.
China is taking Silicon Valley’s market ‘hacks’ to a whole new level
South China Morning Post
Karman Lucero
Just as Silicon Valley companies “hacked” markets by upending traditional notions of best business practices and industry dynamics, many Chinese companies are doing the same with the global economy – and transforming policymakers’ understanding of scale.
Chinese cars are the ones to beat
Axios
Joann Muller
The spectacular rise of China's auto industry — seemingly overnight — has rattled industry leaders and policymakers, catching many off guard. There's a dawning realization across the industry that China's ascendance is both an existential business threat and a national security risk.
USA
US lawmakers introduce bill to bar Chinese AI in US government agencies
Reuters
Stephen Nellis
A bipartisan group of US lawmakers on Wednesday planned to introduce a bill in both houses of Congress that would bar US executive agencies from using artificial intelligence models developed in China, including those from DeepSeek. The introduction of the bill, dubbed the "No Adversarial AI Act," comes after Reuters reported that a senior US official has concluded that DeepSeek is aiding China's military and intelligence operations.
FBI cyber leader: US can’t forget about China's 'Typhoon' groups amid Mideast conflict
The Record by Recorded Future
Martin Matishak
Beijing’s malicious cyber activity “unfolds in silence. You don’t see a fireball on the news. But the strategic damage — damage to us — is real and it continues to accumulate over time,” Brett Leatherman, the newly appointed head of the FBI’s Cyber Division, said Monday during a phone interview.
Debate over future of US AI regulation hinges on broadband funding
iTnews
Jody Godoy and David Shepardson
The fight over a proposed 10-year US moratorium on state regulation of artificial intelligence has heated up, with Republican and Democratic Senate leaders differing on whether such a measure would be tied to billions of dollars in funding to help states improve broadband infrastructure.
As US dismantles Voice of America, rival powers hope to fill the void
The New York Times
Tiffany Hsu
In the months since, China, Russia and other US rivals have moved to commandeer the communications space abandoned by the Americans. They have pumped more money into their own global media endeavors, expanded social outreach programs abroad and cranked up the volume when publicizing popular cultural exports.
The US’s clean tech finance advantage is looking vulnerable
Financial Times
Simon Mundy
Nearly three years on, the IRA is in the process of being gutted by Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Clean energy projects worth billions of dollars have been cancelled, as high-profile green tech companies like Sunnova and Wolfspeed lurch into bankruptcy. And investors in the sector, who have long been heavily focused on the US, are moving their money elsewhere at a striking pace — with Europe the chief beneficiary.
Americas
Brazilian ambassador denounces disinformation campaign on Mercosur deal
Euronews
Peggy Corlin
The Brazilian ambassador to the EU has told MEPs in Brussels that a disinformation campaign surrounds the trade deal signed in December 2024 between the EU and the Mercosur countries - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The Mercosur agreement aims to establish a transatlantic free trade zone encompassing 750 million people and nearly one-fifth of the global economy.
Canada should press pause on the Digital Services Tax
Financial Post
Rick Tachuk
On Monday, the federal government will begin collecting an estimated $2.4 billion in revenue from its new Digital Services Tax, which targets big companies — mostly US-based — that earn revenue from digital activities and services they provide to Canadians. Business groups on both sides of the border have urged Ottawa to delay this first payment and give trade negotiations more time to succeed.
North Asia
China vows ‘forceful measures’ after Taiwan’s Huawei export curb
Bloomberg
Joann Muller
Taiwan last week joined a yearslong US campaign to curtail China’s technological ascent by adding the country’s AI and chipmaking champions — Huawei and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. — to its entity list. That bars the island’s firms from doing business with the pair without a license, the first time Taipei has used the blacklist on major Chinese companies.
Taiwan has upped the ante in the cold war over chips
Financial Times
June Yoon
Taiwan’s new entity list will not immediately disrupt Chinese businesses. Many Taiwanese companies have local subsidiaries in mainland China and beyond Taipei’s jurisdiction. It also does not undo existing contracts. But its significance lies in what it enables going forward.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Fiji, Japan boost digital safety
Fiji Sun
Rariqi Turner
The Project for Improving Cyber security Capability in the Pacific Island Countries agreement will run for three years; it aims to protect critical infrastructure and government systems in the region. The Pacific has seen a surge in cyber incidents in recent years.
Tonga's government mum on health cyber breach
RNZ
Don Wiseman
The Tongan government has yet to reveal more details about a cyber breach of its health records that occurred 10 days ago. The breach by hackers and their subsequent demand for payment were revealed in parliament four days after the event.
Ukraine - Russia
Russia releases REvil members after convictions for payment card fraud
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
A Russian court sentenced several members of the notorious REvil ransomware gang to five years in prison but let them walk free right after the verdict, saying they had already spent enough time behind bars while awaiting trial. Previous reports suggest that Russia is increasingly turning to cybercriminals to conduct espionage and hacking operations against its adversaries.
Social engineering and Signal chats led to new Russian malware attacks
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
A hacking group linked to Russian military intelligence is targeting Ukrainian state agencies with newly discovered malware delivered through the Signal messaging app, according to Ukraine’s cybersecurity officials. The two malware strains used in the latest campaign — dubbed BeardShell and SlimAgent — were identified by Ukraine’s computer emergency response team.
Drone debris found in Ukraine indicates Russia is using new technology from Iran
Euronews
Ukrainian drone hunters picking up the debris from Russia’s nightly assault on their cities found a weapon last week that stood out from the rest. It had an advanced camera, a computing platform powered by artificial intelligence and a radio link, allowing an operator to pilot it remotely from Russia. It also contained new, Iranian-made, anti-jamming technology, according to a Ukrainian drone expert.
Killing machines: how Russia and Ukraine’s race to perfect deadly pilotless drones could harm us all
The Guardian
Daniel Boffey
The dubious gift to the world from the war in Ukraine is cheap, scaleable autonomous weaponry, which is increasingly battlefield proven. The race to perfect remote killing is being run at a furious pace.
Europe
Most major online platforms perform poorly on fact-checking, study finds
EURACTIV
Anupriya Datta
Most major online platforms performed poorly in meeting fact-checking obligations according to an investigation conducted by the European Digital Media Observatory, which is tasked with monitoring the EU's disinformation work. Meta, Microsoft, and TikTok scored "partial" to "low" in their commitment to empowering fact-checkers in the EU, while Google scored "high", the investigation found.
UK
Verizon wins private 5G contract for UK's Thames Freeport
Reuters
Gianluca Lo Nostro
Verizon Business has won a contract to build multiple private 5G networks at Thames Freeport, one of Britain's busiest shipping and logistics centers, the US telecom giant said on Wednesday. The deal, in partnership with Finland's Nokia, will see Verizon deploy private 5G networks across multiple industrial sites along the River Thames Estuary, including major ports and Ford's largest London manufacturing facility.
Middle East
Iranian-backed hackers go to work after US strikes
ABC News
David Klepper
Hackers backing Tehran have targeted US banks, defense contractors and oil industry companies following American strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — but so far have not caused widespread disruptions to critical infrastructure or the economy.
US and Israel should prepare for destructive Iranian cyberattacks, ex-Intel officer says
Forbes
Thomas Brewster
In lieu of a nuclear bomb or significant firepower in the face of US and Israeli military might, Iran may turn to cyberattacks. US cyber infrastructure, however, may not be adequately prepared because of staff losses at the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency.
Africa
INTERPOL confirms Africa cyber-crime surge
African Law & Business
Natasha Doris
INTERPOL has confirmed spiking rates of cyber-crime across Africa in its latest Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report. The dominant issues included phishing and other online scams, business email compromise, ransomware and digital sextortion. Two-thirds of African states confirmed that cyber-crime made up a medium-to-high proportion of all criminal activity.
Big Tech
The people who clean up your TikTok feed are starting to fight back
Rest of World
Kaya Genç
The company measures employees’ productivity by clocking the average handling time for each post. Those who fail to handle their responsibilities adequately may be reprimanded, placed on a performance improvement plan, and ultimately terminated. Moderators started speeding up videos to 1.5 times the normal speed to keep up.
Tech giants' net zero goals verging on fantasy
France24
Apple, Google and Meta said they would stop adding CO2 into the atmosphere by 2030, while Amazon set that target for 2040. But those vows, made before the AI boom transformed the sector, are starting to look like a fantasy even as these companies have doubled down on them, according to independent analysts.
Artificial Intelligence
Federal court says copyrighted books are fair use for AI training
The Washington Post
Andrew Jeong
A federal judge this week ruled that artificial intelligence company Anthropic did not break the law when it used copyrighted books to train its chatbot, Claude, without the consent of the texts’ authors or publishers — but he ordered the company to go to trial for allegedly using pirated versions of the books.
The prompt: A copyright win for Anthropic
Forbes
Rashi Shrivastava
The judge said Anthropic’s use of the books was "exceedingly transformative” and did not violate copyright.
Getty drops copyright allegations in UK lawsuit against Stability AI
Associated Press
Kelvin Chan
Getty Images dropped copyright infringement allegations from its lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI as closing arguments began Wednesday in the landmark case at Britain’s High Court. It was a hard case to make in the UK, in part because of a technicality. Stability, though based in London, did its AI training elsewhere on computers run by US tech giant Amazon.
At Amazon’s biggest data center, everything is supersized for AI
The New York Times
Karen Weise and Cade Metz
The complex — so large that it can be viewed completely only from high in the sky — is the first in a new generation of data centers being built by Amazon, and part of what the company calls Project Rainier, after the mountain that looms near its Seattle headquarters. Project Rainier is Amazon’s entry into a race by the technology industry to build data centers so large they would have been considered absurd just a few years ago.
Anthropic: All the major AI models will blackmail us if pushed hard enough
The Register
Thomas Claburn
Anthropic published research last week showing that all major AI models may resort to blackmail to avoid being shut down – but the researchers essentially pushed them into the undesired behavior through a series of artificial constraints that forced them into a binary decision. The company insists this behavior shouldn't concern anyone because it hasn't been seen in real-world deployments.
Asian countries are pioneers in balancing AI regulation and innovation
Nikkei Asia
Wilson White
Asia is not just participating in the global AI discourse, it is pioneering distinctive and innovative approaches to AI policy and regulation. This is grounded on a deep understanding of the opportunity of AI to unlock a prosperous future for its citizens and solve some of its biggest societal challenges.
I’ve spent my life measuring risk. AI rings every one of my alarm bells
Time
Paul Tudor Jones
We should pause to consider the societal cost of these new tools. We need vigorous debate—at the highest levels of government, in corporate boardrooms, and in society at large—about what “AI for good” looks like. We need to ask how society might share in the coming productivity gains. What responsibilities do AI companies have in developing these new technologies safely? And what is the government’s role in ensuring that these innovations benefit us all?
Misc
Who is most at risk from the billions of leaked Facebook and Google passwords?
Rest of World
Damilare Dosunmu
Developing countries face the greatest risk from this breach due to rapid digital adoption coupled with inadequate cybersecurity infrastructure, experts said. The vulnerability is particularly acute in Asia and Latin America, which represent the largest user bases for many affected platforms.
Research
Cyber crossroads in the Indo-Pacific
Center for a New American Security
Vivek Chilukuri, Lisa Curtis, Janet Egan, Morgan Peirce, Elizabeth Whatcott and Nathaniel Schochet
To assess how Washington and its Indo-Pacific partners are navigating this cyber crossroads, the Center for a New American Security’s Technology and National Security Program and Indo-Pacific Security Program led a year-long research project that combined extensive desk research with in-person field research and expert workshops in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines. This report draws on this research to offer in-depth assessments of the cyber landscapes in all four countries to identify key trends, challenges, and opportunities to strengthen cybersecurity and resilience in partnership with the United States.
Jobs
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
For more on China's pressure campaign against Taiwan—including military threats, interference and cyberwarfare, check out ASPI’s State of the Strait Weekly Digest.