New ASPI report: Persuasive technologies in China: implications for the future of national security | Trump 2.0: Clash of the tech bros | Pakistan tests secret China-like ‘firewall’

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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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• ASPI has identified case studies of Chinese technology companies, including Silicon Intelligence, OneSight and Mobvoi, that are leading in the development of persuasive technologies spanning generative AI, neurotechnologies and emerging ambient systems. We find that those companies have used such solutions in support of the CCP in diverse ways—including overt and attributable propaganda campaigns, disinformation campaigns targeting foreign audiences, and military–civil fusion projects. ASPI CTS

• The Trump and Biden administrations emphasized AI leadership, restricting China’s tech influence, and fostering innovation. Trump’s deregulation approach contrasts with Biden’s emphasis on trustworthy AI, sparking divisions among tech leaders globally. Fortune

• Pakistan has deployed a Chinese-built national firewall, enhancing internet monitoring and app control. Trials caused widespread slow internet, raising concerns over surveillance, censorship, political targeting, and economic risks to its IT sector. Al Jazeera

ASPI

New ASPI report: Persuasive technologies in China: implications for the future of national security
ASPI CTS
Daria Impiombato, Dr Nathan Attrill, Albert Zhang, Fergus Ryan & Bethany Allen
The rapid adoption of persuasive technologies—any digital system that shapes users’ attitudes and behaviours by exploiting physiological and cognitive reactions or vulnerabilities—will challenge national security in ways that are difficult to predict. Emerging persuasive technologies such as generative artificial intelligence, ambient technologies and neurotechnology interact with the human mind and body in far more intimate and subconscious ways, and at far greater speed and efficiency, than previous technologies. This presents malign actors with the ability to sway opinions and actions without the conscious autonomy of users.

November update on Arakan State
ASPI CTS
Nathan Ruser
A year-long offensive by the Arakan Army in Burma's west has split the Junta troops remaining into 7 pockets, with four currently under attack and likely to fall soon. In this update, ASPI Analyst Nathan provides detailed assessments of the whole state with timelines and maps.

Australia

Google, Meta urge Australia to delay bill on social media ban for children
Reuters
Renju Jose
Google and Facebook-owner Meta Platforms urged the Australian government on Tuesday to delay a bill that will ban most forms of social media for children under 16, saying more time was needed to assess its potential impact. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's centre-left government wants to pass the bill, which represents some of the toughest controls on children's social media use imposed by any country, into law by the end of the parliamentary year on Thursday.

• Australia’s teen social media ban loophole means kids can still use TikTok and YouTube Shorts
  Crikey
  Cam Wilson
  Australia’s teen social media ban won’t require TikTok or YouTube to stop children from using their algorithmically driven short-video platforms, significantly undermining the government’s major motivations for the policy.

• If so many experts oppose a social-media age ban, why is the government intent on rushing it through?
  The Guardian
  Josh Taylor
  A dominant theme of the hastily written submissions to the federal government’s one-day review of its social-media ban bill is that the process is far too rushed to consider its wide-ranging effects on all Australians. A year from now, every Australian logging on to Facebook, Instagram or TikTok may be confronted with a prompt that the company is requiring you to prove your age.

China

Huawei fuels China-US tech split with phone launch
Financial Times
Jonathan Moules
Huawei is poised to launch its first flagship phone that can run its own apps on a homegrown operating system, in the latest sign of how technology is dividing into competing US and Chinese ecosystems.

China’s tech firms at the front of the queue for loans amid policy tilt
South China Morning Post
Mia Nulimaimaiti
China’s central bank urged key government ministries and major banks to accelerate loans to tech companies, pushing for the implementation of its large-scale stimulus efforts that started in late September.

Underwater geopolitics: how China’s control of undersea cables and data flows reshapes global power
Real Clear Defence
Carlo J.V. Caro
The rapid construction of undersea cables has brought a hidden but crucial issue into focus: the manipulation of the protocols that control how data travels beneath the sea. These protocols determine the pathways internet data takes, influencing speed, costs, and even exposure to surveillance.

USA

Trump 2.0: Clash of the tech bros
Fortune
Susan Ariel Aaronson
In 2016, tariff man couldn’t care less about tech. Newly elected U.S. President Donald J. Trump knew that the people who created and ran America’s tech giants were richer and smarter than him. Moreover, they had different values.

How America’s war on Chinese tech backfired
Foreign Affairs
Scott Kennedy
In late September, the Biden administration issued a draft rule that would ban Chinese connected and autonomous vehicles and their components from the U.S. market. This is one of the latest of many steps that U.S. policymakers have taken to protect the United States’ economic security.

New AI-enabled cameras improve airspace monitoring in Washington area
DOD News
Katie Lange
Around Washington, D.C., the National Capital Region is partially protected by an integrated air defense system installed after 9/11 to keep an eye on the skies and defend against airborne threats. It's monitored through a network of cameras and lasers that are in the process of being upgraded.

Former Verizon employee gets four-year sentence for sharing cyber secrets with Chinese government
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
A 59-year-old IT worker living in Florida was sentenced to four years in prison on Monday for sharing sensitive information with the Chinese government’s intelligence agency. Ping Li, a U.S. citizen living in Wesley Chapel, pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiring to act as an agent of the People’s Republic of China and will have to pay a $250,000 fine.

South Americas

Mexico gets cold feet over new Chinese EV plant after Trump win
The Wall Street Journal
Santiago Pérez and Raffaele Huang
Chinese electric-vehicle maker BYD is finalizing plans for a factory in Mexico, a push that will test Donald Trump’s trade policies and the Mexican government’s appetite for conflict with the president-elect. BYD officials say the company is aiming to reach a deal with Mexico state officials to break ground on a factory near one of the automotive hubs in central or northern Mexico.

North Asia

Japan competition authorities raid Amazon Japan, source says
Nikkei Asia
NIKKEY
Japan's Fair Trade Commission on Tuesday conducted an on-site inspection of Amazon Japan on suspicion of violating anti-monopoly laws, a government source said. The unit of Amazon.com is suspected of inappropriately urging sellers to lower their prices on its e-commerce site in exchange for giving their products advantageous placement on the site, the source said.

Southeast Asia

China’s Salt Typhoon hackers target telecom firms in Southeast Asia with new malware
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
The Chinese state-sponsored hacker group known as Salt Typhoon has been targeting telecommunications companies in Southeast Asia with a previously unseen backdoor, according to researchers.

South Asia

Pakistan tests secret China-like ‘firewall’ to tighten online surveillance
Al Jazeera
Abid Hussain
Pakistan’s government has deployed Chinese technology to build what some senior officials familiar with the project are calling a new, national internet “firewall” that will allow authorities to monitor online traffic and regulate the use of popular apps with greater control than before.

• Pakistan tightens online censorship with crackdown on VPNs
  Nikkei Asia
  Adnan Aamir
  Pakistan is set to ban most Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), putting it on the path of countries including China and Russia that have throttled internet access to crack down on dissent. Islamabad said it is trying to curb militancy and online crime. But the planned ban, expected to begin this weekend, is the latest in a series of online censorship moves by Pakistani officials and comes as authorities lock down the capital Islamabad and clash with thousands of anti-government protesters calling for the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan.

South Asian hackers target Pakistani entities in new espionage campaign
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
A threat actor known as Mysterious Elephant has been observed targeting Pakistani entities in a new espionage campaign. The group, also tracked as APT-K-47, has been active since 2022 and likely originates in South Asia, according to a new report from China-based cybersecurity firm Knownsec.

Ukraine-Russia

EU proposes sanctions on Chinese firms for helping Russia
Bloomberg
Chian-Wei Teo
The EU is proposing to sanction several Chinese firms that it claims helped Russian companies develop attack drones that were deployed against Ukraine. The European Commission is also looking into imposing restrictions on additional Russian oil tankers to curb Moscow’s ability to circumvent existing restrictive measures, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

Europe

Norway’s digital transformation: how advanced internet technologies are shaping a modern society
Associated Press
KISS PR Brand Story PressWire
As Norway continues to innovate and expand its digital infrastructure, its journey serves as a model for other countries aiming to achieve digital inclusivity and economic growth through technology. By prioritizing accessibility, competition, and consumer empowerment, Norway is not only enhancing its own societal fabric but also contributing to the global advancement of digital technologies.

Tech-wary Germans get hooked with online shopping habit
Reuters
Maria Martinez
In only a few years, Germans have become a nation of online shoppers, with most now turning to devices to buy clothes, groceries and medicines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey showed that 99% of adults in Germany, where more than 70% of companies still use fax machines, now shop online, with 39% of respondents doing so at least once a week. This is despite Germans being more negative on technology trends than the European average, with a 2022 McKinsey study finding them particularly critical of hyper-personalisation.

UK

British army, KDF test advanced military tech
Mirage News
UK Gov
The British Army and Kenya Defence Forces conducted a joint training exercise (Ex. Haraka Storm Bravo) in Laikipia County using new state of the art training technology to better monitor and train soldiers - a vital part of the UK-Kenya defence partnership to make the region safer and more secure.

Africa

Orange partners with OpenAI, Meta to develop custom African-language AI models
CNBC
Ryan Browne
Orange is working with OpenAI and Meta to build custom AI models that can understand West African languages not understood by most conversational systems. To start with, the telco giant will roll out AI models incorporating two West African regional languages, Wolof and Pulaar, in early 2025.

Big Tech

Google to build subsea cable linking Australia's Darwin to Christmas Island
Reuters
Kirsty Needham
Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island will be connected by subsea cable to the northern garrison city of Darwin, a project backed by Alphabet's Google that Australia says will boost its digital resilience. Christmas Island is 1,500 km (930 miles) west of the Australian mainland, with a small population of 1,250, but strategically located in the Indian Ocean, 350 km (215 miles) from Jakarta.

Intel gets up to $7.9 Billion award for U.S. Chip-plant construction
The Wall Street Journal
Thomas Gryta
The U.S. government is granting Intel to $7.87 billion to help fund new chip plants in four states, the largest award in the Biden administration program aimed at reviving American chip-making. The funds are less than the $8.5 billion estimated for Intel in the preliminary award in March. That is because of previously announced funding of up to $3 billion to build secure facilities producing microchips for U.S. military and intelligence applications, according to senior administration officials.

Google proposes further changes to search results in Europe
The Wall Street Journal
Dominic Chopping
Alphabet’s Google proposed further changes to the way its search results work in Europe to satisfy requests from competitors and regulators. Under the European Union’s Digital Markets Act, Google said it had to make substantial changes to the services it can provide in the continent, including redesigning certain features and removing others to ensure its own services aren’t favored over competitors.

Investors mining new data to predict retailers' results
Reuters
Nicholas P. Brown and Carolina Mandl
Heading into holidays some expect to disappoint, Wall Street investors like Goldman Sachs are using new ways to monitor shoppers' actions and intentions to help determine the season's winners and losers. They are tapping into the quickly evolving field of "alternative data" to help them predict retailer performance and provide an advantage over other investors. Historically, Wall Street relied on traditional data like earnings reports and company filings - with an assist from their well-seasoned gut instincts

Artificial Intelligence

ChatGPT, Meta and Google generative AI should be designated 'high-risk' under new laws, bipartisan committee recommends
ABC News
Jake Evans
A dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) act should be created that can regulate the most high-risk technologies, a bipartisan committee has agreed. It also accused tech giants of stealing from Australian creators, and urged the government to develop a scheme to ensure fair remuneration when creative work is used by AI tools.

Salt Typhoon hackers backdoor telcos with new GhostSpider malware
Bleeping Computer
Bill Toulas
The Chinese state-sponsored hacking group Salt Typhoon has been observed utilizing a new "GhostSpider" backdoor in attacks against telecommunication service providers. The backdoor was discovered by Trend Micro, which has been monitoring Salt Typhoon's attacks against critical infrastructure and government organizations worldwide.

Research

How ‘Made in China 2025’ helped supercharge scientific development in China’s cities
Nature
Gemma Conroy
One of the fastest growing cities in China, Hefei is catching up to Beijing and Shanghai as a buzzing centre of innovation. In just a few years, the city has replaced vast swathes of farmland with sprawling technology parks and scientific facilities, and much of its high-tech industry has moved away from sourcing equipment and components from overseas to producing them in-house.

Events & Podcasts

Radio interview
2GB Sydney Radio
Michael McLaren and Justin Bassi
In this interview with Michael McLaren on @2GB873, Justin Bassi discusses advanced Chinese technologies & how they could be used against us, whether we are doing enough to respond to Chinese hackers targeting critical infrastructure & the US ban on Chinese tech in cars.

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