New Zealand stock exchange hit by cyber attack for second day | Israeli phone hacking company faces court fight over Hong Kong sales | U.S. Sanctions Chinese Firms Active in the South China Sea
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New Zealand’s stock market has been interrupted by an apparent overseas cyber attack for the second day running. The Wellington-based NZX exchange went offline at 11.24am on Wednesday and although some connectivity was restored for investors, some trading was halted. The Guardian
Human rights advocates filed a new court petition against the Israeli phone hacking company Cellebrite, urging Israel’s ministry of defense to halt the firm’s exports to Hong Kong, where security forces have been using the technology in crackdowns against dissidents as China takes greater control. Technology Review
The U.S. added 24 Chinese companies active in the South China Sea—including five CCCC subsidiaries—to a Commerce Department list that restricts American companies from supplying U.S.-origin technology to them without a license. The State Department said it was rendering ineligible for U.S. visas a group of unspecified executives whom Washington alleges have been involved in malign activities in the South China Sea. The Wall Street Journal
ASPI ICPC
EVENT: Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue - Taiwan
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is delighted to host our inaugural Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue session to discuss the future of Taiwan, featuring a keynote address from Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen.
Register here.
Do intelligence agencies need restructuring for the digital disinformation age?
ZDNet
ASPI's Danielle Cave said she's worried about recruitment, not just in the intelligence community, but also in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Home Affairs, and "the whole sort of foreign affairs and security space". "When I meet new people coming into different departments and agencies, I'm shocked by how little those people are different from the people I met 15, 20 years ago," she said. "There's a lot of scope to go out and attract people in, and go poach talent from all different kinds of places."
Procurement power and cybersecurity capability
InnovationAus
The federal government should use its significant procurement powers to improve cybersecurity across the economy and stimulate innovation, according to a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Read Dr Rajiv Shah's ICPC report Working Smarter, Not Harder here.
‘Australia is Brutus, China is Caesar’: envoy likens coronavirus inquiry call to Shakespearean betrayal
South China Morning Post
Nathan Attrill, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said Wang’s speech did not suggest Beijing would offer “a truce in the current diplomatic chill”. “While there are signs the economic relationship is still strong, the diplomatic relationship is yet to be mended – and doesn’t appear to be going in a positive direction any time soon,” said Attrill, whose institute is part-funded by the Australian and US governments.
Australia
Australia needs a cyber minister and a new cyber agency
The Australian Financial Review
@lesleyseebeck
To broadly paraphrase his report, the Australian digital and cyber community is fragmented, poorly co-ordinated and organised; it lacks proper guidance and control; it does not have good or close relations with the system of government it should serve; it has either lacked funds and other resources (for example, adequate staff) to do the job expected of it, or it has used lack of funds as an alibi for not doing jobs it should have.
Morrison to tear up Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative deal with Beijing
The Australian
Mr Morrison — whose calls for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and pushback against foreign interference and state-based cyber attacks have sparked anger in China — added: “Australians rightly expect the federal government they elect to set foreign policy. These changes and new laws will ensure that every arrangement done by any Australian government at any level now lines up with how we are working to protect and promote Australia’s national interest.”
Google a suspect in ‘scare tactics’
The Australian
A scare campaign against Australia’s media bargaining code has escalated, with federal MPs and senators receiving thousands of letters of opposition to the proposed legislation as part of alleged dirty tactics from tech giant Google.
NSW pledges AU$60m to create cyber 'army'
ZDNet
The New South Wales government has announced an investment into the state's cybersecurity capabilities, hoping to use AU$60 million to create an "army" of cyber experts.
China
Israeli phone hacking company faces court fight over sales to Hong Kong
Technology Review
Human rights advocates filed a new court petition against the Israeli phone hacking company Cellebrite, urging Israel’s ministry of defense to halt the firm’s exports to Hong Kong, where security forces have been using the technology in crackdowns against dissidents as China takes greater control.
U.S. Sanctions Chinese Firms and Executives Active in Contested South China Sea
The Wall Street Journal
The U.S. added 24 Chinese companies active in the South China Sea—including five CCCC subsidiaries—to a Commerce Department list that restricts American companies from supplying U.S.-origin technology to them without a license. The State Department said it was rendering ineligible for U.S. visas a group of unspecified executives whom Washington alleges have been involved in malign activities in the South China Sea.
Censored Contagion II: a Timeline of Information Control on Chinese Social Media During COVID-19
Citizen Lab
In March, we released a report documenting censorship on WeChat (the preeminent chat application in China) and YY (a popular Chinese live streaming platform) between December 2019 and February 2020… Since the publication of that report, we have conducted daily tests on WeChat and collected 2,174 censored keywords related to COVID-19 between January 18 through May 14, 2020 (see Appendix for details on our methods).
USA
Palantir CEO rips Silicon Valley in letter to investors
CNBC
In Palantir's filing to go public on Tuesday, CEO Alex Karp said Silicon Valley engineers may be able to build good software but they don't know "how society should be organized or what justice requires.”
Q&A with Lindsay Gorman: How Does TikTok Pose a National Security Risk to the United States?
Securing Democracy
Much of the rhetoric in the United States surrounding TikTok—including the language used to justify the executive orders—focuses on the national security threat the app, and other Chinese social media apps, poses. What are these national security risks?
Armed militias mobilize on social media hours before deadly Kenosha shooting
DFR Lab
Users on Facebook and reddit encouraged armed individuals to “give them hell” and “shoot to kill.”
Southeast Asia
After block, new Facebook group criticising Thai king gains 500,000 members
Reuters
More than half a million Thai users flocked to join a new Facebook group created by a critic of the powerful king after the social media company blocked its predecessor under pressure from the government. The “Royalist Marketplace” group, which had over 1 million members, was blocked within Thailand late on Monday after the digital ministry threatened legal action against Facebook under the country’s Computer Crime Act.
New Zealand
New Zealand stock exchange hit by cyber attack for second day
The Guardian
New Zealand’s stock market has been interrupted by an apparent overseas cyber attack for the second day running. The Wellington-based NZX exchange went offline at 11.24am on Wednesday and although some connectivity was restored for investors, some trading was halted.
Africa
Ethiopia is set to launch its second satellite into space, again with China’s help
Quarz Africa
Ethiopia is finishing plans to launch its second satellite into orbit next month, just eight months after the launch of its ETRSS-1 Satellite last December. The country’s space ambitions, backed by China’s funds and its satellite launch sites, has seen Ethiopian engineers design the satellites in an initiative co-funded by both countries. The ET-SMART-RSS earth observation nano satellite is expected to take off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site, in Wenchang, Hainan province.
Misc
Malicious Autodesk plugin at root of cyber-espionage campaign
CyberScoop
A company involved in billion-dollar real estate deals in New York, London, Australia, and Oman has recently become the target of a cyber-espionage campaign from a set of well-resourced hackers, according to new Bitdefender research published Wednesday.
Facebook Says Apple’s New iPhone Update Will Disrupt Online Advertising
The Wall Street Journal
The social-media company says Apple’s privacy changes will affect its Audience Network business, which connects users’ Facebook identities with their off-platform activities