MI5: Chinese spies using LinkedIn to target UK lawmakers | Supply‑chain hacks hit Australian weapons programs | Danish election websites hit by pro-Russian DDoS campaign
Plus, Big tech wants direct access to our brains
Good morning. It's Wednesday, 19th of November.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest focuses on the topics we work on, including cybersecurity, critical technologies, foreign interference & disinformation.
Follow us on Bluesky, on LinkedIn, and on X.
Britain’s MI5 warned Parliament that Chinese intelligence operatives are using LinkedIn to “recruit and cultivate” lawmakers, aides and policy experts, posing as headhunters. The alert, relayed by Commons and Lords leaders, named suspected recruiters, drew a Chinese denial, and prompted fresh scrutiny of political interference. The New York Times
Cyberattacks on Australian defence contractors exposed files on weapons programs, including $7b Redback IFV, Hunter-class frigates and Collins-class submarines. Hackers Cyber Toufan and J Group claimed breaches, with IKAD Engineering infiltrated for five months. ASIO warns state-backed threats; experts say ‘non‑sensitive’ data has strategic value. ABC News
On the eve of local elections in Denmark, a pro-Russian hacker group known as NoName057(16) launched distributed-denial-of-service attacks against multiple political-party and government websites. Officials confirmed the incidents but said voting, which is manual, was unaffected. Such attacks have become “part of the normal picture” in Denmark The Record by Recorded Future
ASPI
We’re updating ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker. This expansion incorporates 2024 data, adds 10 new technologies—from generative AI to brain-computer interfaces to geoengineering—and features a new at-a-glance overview of performance across all the technologies we track. Be the first to get early-access invites and launch updates: https://techtracker.aspi.org.au/
Australia
Australia’s weapons programs exposed in defence industry cyber attacks
ABC News
Annika Burgess
A series of cyber attacks on defence industry supply chain contractors has exposed threats to Australia’s weapons programs, security analysts say. Over the past week, it was revealed that a hacker group shared material about Australia’s $7 billion Land 400 military program after allegedly breaching several Israeli defence companies. The Cyber Toufan group posted images and details on Telegram about the Australian Defence Force’s next-generation Redback infantry fighting vehicle.
Here’s what the government is tracking to see if the teen social media ban is a success
Crikey
Cam Wilson
Thousands of young Australians’ experiences will be tracked as part of the government’s evaluation of whether its “world-first” teen social media ban has been a success, with this information set to be combined with data taken from social media companies themselves to understand the policy’s impact. Efforts have already begun to collect data on what young people know and think about the ban, on compliance and circumvention, and on their well-being to establish a baseline that will be used to assess the program.
‘There will be deaths’: Youth workers are dreading the teen social media ban
Crikey
Cam Wilson
The first time Cody heard about Australia’s teen social media ban was from a client earlier this year. “I was quite shocked because I thought that news would come from like a government agency,” she said. Now, the youth worker — who works predominantly with queer and neurodiverse people — hears her clients mention the ban almost every day.
Cybersecurity guru to review critical infrastructure laws
InnovationAus
David Allen
Veteran cybersecurity academic Dr Jill Slay has been appointed by the federal government to lead an independent review of Australia’s critical infrastructure laws. The review — the first since the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act was introduced in 2018 — comes a year after the country’s first standalone Cybersecurity Act passed into law.
CSIRO to cut up to 350 research jobs in major overhaul
ABC News
Lily Nothling
The CSIRO has announced it will slash up to 350 jobs as the national science agency grapples with long-term financial challenges. The organisation said it had reached a “critical inflection point”, with funding failing to keep pace with the rising costs of running a modern science agency. Chief executive Doug Hilton said the organisation would axe between 300 and 350 full-time equivalent roles across its research units, with conversations with staff to begin on Wednesday.
Industry experts say TPG Telecom should have done more to address Triple Zero issue
ABC News
Michael Atkin and Lucy Kent
There are growing questions about whether one of Australia’s largest telecommunications companies could have done more to ensure customers would be able to call Triple Zero (000) and avoid a death that followed failed emergency call attempts. TPG Telecom revealed yesterday that a Sydney customer died late last week when outdated software blocked a Samsung phone from making Triple Zero calls on its Vodafone network via its budget brand Lebara.
The Sydney mathematician finding a better way to keep your data safe
The Sydney Morning Herald
Siena Fagan
If you have ever digitised anything – bank details, your faceID or a text conversation with your mum – you have an encryption key. This number with thousands of digits acts like a cipher for every “message” that you send over the internet, including online shopping and browsing social media. It is created by multiplying two large prime numbers to produce a third number.
China
A Chinese firm bought an insurer for CIA agents - part of Beijing’s trillion dollar spending spree
BBC
Celia Hatton
Since 2018, the United States has been tightening its laws to prevent its rivals from buying into its sensitive sectors – blocking investments in everything from semiconductors to telecommunications. But the rules weren’t always so strict. In 2016, Jeff Stein, a veteran journalist covering the US intelligence community, got a tip-off: a small insurance company that specialised in selling liability insurance to FBI and CIA agents had been sold to a Chinese entity.
China has lent $200B to U.S. tech and infrastructure projects, report finds
The Washington Post
Christian Shepherd
Chinese financial institutions have lent more than $200 billion to the United States over the past 25 years — more than they have advanced to any other country — as part of a vast global spending spree to take control of Western companies working on sensitive technologies, according to new research released Tuesday. China discloses very little about the operations of its state-owned banks and asset managers.
USA
Trump: I will sell F-35s to Saudi Arabia
The Telegraph
Connor Stringer
Donald Trump said he will sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia amid concerns that China could steal the state-of-the-art technology. The US president said he plans to sell the jets to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, in a landmark agreement that would make his the first Arab nation to own the stealth fighters. The Trump administration had been trying to hammer out details on the sale of 48 F-35 jets but faced hurdles from some Pentagon officials who feared the proprietary technology could be stolen by Beijing’s spies.
Coinbase explains donation to Trump’s ballroom
Axios
Jason Lalljee
Coinbase donated to President Trump’s $300 million White House ballroom project as an appeal to the administration, Emilie Choi, the cryptocurrency exchange’s president and COO, said at Axios’ BFD event on Tuesday. Major companies including Google, Amazon, Palantir Technologies donated to the project, which critics have argued amounts to a pay-for-play relationship with the federal government.
From lasers to logistics: Pentagon CTO announces top six tech priorities
Breaking Defence
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr
Pentagon research chief Emil Michael today formally announced a previously promised purge of tech priorities. By slashing a Biden-era list of “critical technology areas” in half, Michael aims to focus resources on key R&D projects and accelerate them into “sprints” that produce usable technology in three years or less. “When I stepped into this role, our office had identified 14 critical technology areas,” Michael said in a video announcement on X.
North Asia
Taiwan to further tighten export controls for dual-use technology
Reuters
Ben Blanchard and Jeanny Kao
Taiwan will tighten its export controls for potential dual-use civilian-military technology to include quantum computers and advanced semiconductor equipment to fulfil its obligations to stop weapons proliferation, its economy ministry said. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Taiwan has announced successive updates to its export control regime to prevent Taiwanese high-tech goods from being illicitly used for military purposes.
Southeast Asia
Viettel teams up with UAE’s tech giant to develop high-tech defence industry products
Vietnam+
The Viettel Military Industry and Telecoms Group announced on November 11 that it inked a Memorandum of Understanding with EDGE Group of the United Arab Emirates at the Dubai Airshow 2025 on the same day. the MoU creates a clear foundation for potential broad cooperation in high-tech defence industry products and advanced technology.
South & Central Asia
Russia proposes full tech transfer for Su-57 fighter jet production in India ahead of Putin visit
WION
Siddhant Sibbal
Ahead of Russian President Putin’s visit, Russia has restated its offer to India for full licensed production of its Su-57 fifth-generation stealth fighter, complete with unrestricted technology transfer. Speaking on the sidelines of the Dubai Air Show, a senior representative of Russia’s state arms exporter Rosoboronexport laid out the proposal in direct terms. “We are ready to organize the supply of Su-57 aircraft produced in Russia and the production of aircraft in India, which includes technology transfer,” the official said.
Ukraine – Russia
Seven contemporary insights on the state of the Ukraine war
CSIS
Mick Ryan
The war in Ukraine remains a rapidly evolving conflict. The battlefield, strategic strike, information operations, and industrial production campaigns remain crucial to both Ukraine’s and Russia’s war efforts. In all of these endeavors, there is an ongoing adaptation spiral occurring that is spinning out innovative techniques and technologies. At the same time, this is providing insights for Western strategists and force structure planners.
Europe
Pro-Russian group claims hits on Danish party websites as voters head to polls
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Cyberattacks claimed by pro-Russian hackers briefly knocked offline Danish political party and government websites on the eve of local elections, officials said, adding that the incidents did not disrupt voting. Several party websites — including those of the Conservatives, the Red-Green Alliance, the Moderates and the ruling Social Democrats — were hit by distributed denial-of-service attacks on Monday, temporarily preventing access. DDoS attacks flood targeted servers with traffic to disrupt normal operations.
Europe aimed to set standards for tech rules, now it wants to roll them back
The Wall Street Journal
Bertrand Benoit, Kim Mackrael and Sam Schechner
Europe is moving to relax some of the world’s tightest digital regulations in a bid to boost growth and reduce its reliance on U.S. tech. Germany and France on Tuesday backed an effort by the European Union, long seen as a global rulesetter for technology, artificial intelligence and digital services, to loosen regulatory strictures on the fast-growing, U.S.-dominated sectors.
EU Commission to float new project for boosting defence technologies
Reuters
Lili Bayer
The European Commission will propose a new initiative to help speed up the development and purchase of innovative defence technologies, according to a draft document seen by Reuters on Tuesday. Europe is bolstering its defences amid concerns about an increasing threat from Russia since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and uncertainties about the future U.S. presence on the continent.
Amazon, Google named by EU among ‘critical’ tech providers for finance industry
Reuters
Elizabeth Howcroft
European Union regulators on Tuesday designated 19 technology companies, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft, as critical third-party computing providers for the bloc’s finance industry. Under the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act, which started being applied in January 2025, three EU-level financial regulators can together name certain technology providers as critical and supervise them directly.
EU’s Ribera weighs ‘serious’ Google offer in Ad tech probe
Bloomberg
Samuel Stolton
Teresa Ribera, the European Union’s competition chief, said regulators are examining a “serious” offer from Google to fix alleged antitrust violations linked to its ad tech business that sparked a fine of nearly €3 billion ($3.5 billion). Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Tuesday, Ribera tentatively welcomed Google’s recent proposals even though they fall short of a partial investment previously favored by watchdogs.
French agency Pajemploi reports data breach affecting 1.2M people
Bleeping Computer
Bill Toulas
Pajemploi, the French social security service for parents and home-based childcare providers, has suffered a data breach that may have exposed personal information of 1.2 million individuals. The incident impacts registered professional caregivers working for private employers, typically parents using the Pajemploi service part of URSSAF - the French organization that collects social security contributions from employers and individuals.
Italy’s defence minister wants new 5,000-strong unit against hybrid warfare
Reuters
Angelo Amante
Italy urgently needs a new civilian and military unit employing 5,000 people to combat hybrid warfare threats, Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in a strategic report published on Tuesday. The recent surge in suspect incidents across Europe has put governments on high alert, raising questions about the vulnerability of the region to Russian attacks combining military and non-military action.
UK
Chinese spies are using LinkedIn to target U.K. lawmakers, MI5 warns
The New York Times
Michael D. Shear
Britain’s domestic intelligence agency warned on Tuesday that China has been using headhunters on LinkedIn and other covert operatives in an effort to recruit and compromise lawmakers and parliamentary staff members. The warning came just two months after a political scandal erupted in Britain over the collapse of an espionage case against a parliamentary researcher and a teacher accused of funneling sensitive information to Beijing.
MI5 warns of Chinese spies using LinkedIn to gain intel on lawmakers The Record by Recorded Future
Middle East
Czech–Israeli tech partnership confronts China’s grip on 3D printing
The Jerusalem Post
A prosthetic hand printed with rigid bones and soft fingertips in a single run. A medical device emerging from a printer already sealed, sterile, and ready within hours. This is no longer science fiction; it is what modern 3D printing already delivers across many industries.
Big Tech
Cloudflare says it has resolved outage that disrupted parts of the Internet
The New York Times
Victor Mather
Cloudflare, a company that helps websites secure and manage their internet traffic, experienced issues with its global network, the company said early Tuesday, disrupting service for many websites and apps. The company said it believed the problems were mostly resolved by around 9:30 a.m. Eastern, roughly four hours after issues were first reported. At 12:45 it said the service was “operating normally.”
Big tech wants direct access to our brains
The New York Times
Linda Kinstler
On a recent afternoon in the minimalist headquarters of the M.I.T. Media Lab, the research scientist Nataliya Kosmyna handed me a pair of thick gray eyeglasses to try on. They looked almost ordinary aside from the three silver strips on their interior, each one outfitted with an array of electrical sensors. She placed a small robotic soccer ball on the table before us and suggested that I do some “basic mental calculus.” I started running through multiples of 17 in my head.
Why one of the nation’s most prosperous industries is shedding jobs
The Washington Post
Danielle Abril and Federica Cocco
After more than a decade in tech, Casey Engler thought he was prepared for another round of industry layoffs. But when Microsoft cut his job in July, the shock still hit hard — and the long odds of finding new work in a year marked by job losses quickly set in.
Amazon’s AWS and Microsoft’s Azure face EU probe into Cloud power
Bloomberg
Samuel Stolton
Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Corp.’s Azure are under investigation by the European Union to determine whether the world’s two biggest cloud platforms should be hit by rules designed to curtail Big Tech’s market power. The European Commission said Tuesday the pair “occupy very strong positions” and that it will assess “whether they act as important gateways between businesses and consumers” under the Digital Markets Act.
Mastodon CEO steps down as the social network restructures
TechCrunch
Sarah Perez
Mastodon’s creator, Eugen Rochko, is stepping down as CEO of the open source, decentralized social network and X rival, as part of the organization’s transition to a non-profit structure, announced at the beginning of the year. The change is Mastodon’s most significant leadership overhaul to date, and one designed to ensure Mastodon’s longevity.
Jeff Bezos reportedly launches new AI startup with himself as CEO
The Guardian
Johana Bhuiyan
After stepping down as Amazon’s CEO four years ago, Jeff Bezos, the billionaire founder and former chief executive of the online shopping company, is going to be a CEO again. This time, Bezos has appointed himself co-CEO of an AI startup called Project Prometheus, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources. The startup, which will focus on developing AI for engineering and manufacturing in various fields, has already received $6.2bn in funding – more than many companies are able to raise in their lifetimes
Artificial Intelligence
Google boss says trillion-dollar AI investment boom has ‘elements of irrationality’
BBC
Faisal Islam and Rachel Clun
Every company would be affected if the AI bubble were to burst, the head of Google’s parent firm Alphabet has told the BBC. Speaking exclusively to BBC News, Sundar Pichai said while the growth of artificial intelligence investment had been an “extraordinary moment”, there was some “irrationality” in the current AI boom. It comes amid fears in Silicon Valley and beyond of a bubble as the value of AI tech companies has soared in recent months and companies spend big on the burgeoning industry.
Major study finds widespread misuse of AI risks company security
The Australian
Ewin Hannan
Almost one in two employees using artificial intelligence at work admit they have uploaded sensitive company information, including financial, sales or customer data, into public AI tools, creating privacy and security risks. New findings from a comprehensive global study into the public’s trust, use, and attitudes towards AI details how workers have used AI inappropriately in their workplace, including complacent reliance on unverified outputs, concealed use to present AI-generated work as their own, or malevolent use to harm others.
Amazon vs Perplexity: the AI agent war has arrived
The Guardian
Blake Montgomery
A tech titan and a startup are fighting over who controls the next phase of artificial intelligence. Amazon has sued Perplexity AI, a prominent artificial intelligence startup, over a shopping feature in that company’s browser that allows it to automate placing orders for users. Amazon accused Perplexity AI of covertly accessing customer accounts and disguising AI activity as human browsing.
Are we living in a golden age of stupidity?
The Guardian
Sophie McBain
Step into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Cambridge, US, and the future feels a little closer. Glass cabinets display prototypes of weird and wonderful creations, from tiny desktop robots to a surrealist sculpture created by an AI model prompted to design a tea set made from body parts. In the lobby, an AI waste-sorting assistant named Oscar can tell you where to put your used coffee cup.
Research
Driving Australia’s digital future: 2025 Implementation Plan
Australian Government
The Australian Government has released the Data and Digital Government Strategy’s (the Strategy) 2025 Implementation Plan. It outlines how the Government is continuing to deliver on its data and digital transformation agenda. The 2025 Implementation Plan is the latest annual update of the significant innovation, reform, and service uplift across government. It outlines the achievements delivered over the past year and sets out the key actions that support the Strategy’s 2030 vision. The Strategy is co-led by the DTA and the Department of Finance.
Events & Podcasts
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.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
