Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers | DOGE staffer provided tech support to cybercrime ring | U.S. blacklists over 50 Chinese companies in bid to curb Beijing’s AI
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A network of companies operated by a secretive Chinese tech firm has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers, according to job ads and a researcher who uncovered the campaign. Reuters
The best-known member of Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters. Reuters
The U.S. on Tuesday added dozens of Chinese tech companies to its export blacklist in its first such effort under the Donald Trump administration, as it doubles down on curtailing Beijing’s artificial intelligence and advanced computing capabilities. CNBC
ASPI
Transcript: The Futurist: America’s Technological Edge
The Washington Post
It's important to go back and remember that in what was called the long century between the late 1700s and the early 1900s, Britain led the world geopolitically, because it led the world technologically in technologies like coal and steam. In the 20th century, America led the world, largely because we led in mass-production material science. The open question is, who leads the world in the 21st century? And there's some concerning trends out there. ASPI, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, does a study every few years about technological leadership. Roughly, in 2000, America led the world in 60 of 64 different key technologies, everything from batteries to chemistry. Today China leads the world in 57 of those 64 technologies.
FIMI with Chinese characteristics: EUvsDisinfo in conversation with Daria Impiombato
EUvsDisinfo
We spoke with Daria Impiombato, analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, about the characteristics of China as a foreign information manipulation & interference (FIMI) actor, including using foreign influencers to help improve Beijing’s image abroad, suppression of critical voices, and what we can do collectively to counter some of these malign activities.
Australia
Inquiry into Canberra's MyWay+ hears some users' personal details were accessible before and after launch
ABC News
Harry Frost
A Legislative Assembly inquiry into the procurement and rollout of Canberra's troubled MyWay+ ticketing system has been told the personal details of public transport users could be accessed on the internet before and after its launch. Australian National University computer science students Patrick Reid and Shaun Fulham were among witnesses who fronted a public hearing today. Mr Fulham was among the user testers recruited to provide feedback on the MyWay+ system before it was launched on November 27. He told the inquiry that around a week after the system launched, he received an automatically generated email about his account that included a link to a development server — rather than the usual link to the MyWay+ portal.
China
Exclusive: Secretive Chinese network tries to lure fired federal workers, research shows
Reuters
A. J. Vicens
A network of companies operated by a secretive Chinese tech firm has been trying to recruit recently laid-off U.S. government workers, according to job ads and a researcher who uncovered the campaign. Max Lesser, a senior analyst on emerging threats with the Washington-based think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said some companies placing recruitment ads were "part of a broader network of fake consulting and headhunting firms targeting former government employees and AI researchers."
Cutting through the narrative: What China’s deep-seacable-cutter really signals
The Interpreter
Cynthia Mehboob
A weekend headline from the South China Morning Post declaring “China unveils a powerful deep-sea cable-cutter that could reset the world order” caught plenty of attention and amplified anxieties about undersea infrastructure vulnerability and geopolitical competition. The SCMP described China’s new cable-cutting device as capable of severing heavily fortified submarine cables at depths of up to 4,000 metres, twice the operational depth of most existing subsea communications infrastructure.
USA
Exclusive: DOGE staffer 'Big Balls' provided tech support to cybercrime ring, records show
Reuters
Raphael Satter
The best-known member of Elon Musk's U.S. DOGE Service team of technologists once provided support to a cybercrime gang that bragged about trafficking in stolen data and cyberstalking an FBI agent, according to digital records reviewed by Reuters. Edward Coristine is among the most visible members of the DOGE effort that has been given sweeping access to official networks as it attempts to radically downsize the U.S. government. Past reporting, opens new tab had focused on his youth - he is 19 - and his chosen nickname of "bigballs," which became a pop culture punchline, opens new tab. Musk has championed the teen on his social media site X, telling his followers, opens new tab last month that "Big Balls is awesome."
U.S. blacklists over 50 Chinese companies in bid to curb Beijing’s AI, chip capabilities
CNBC
Anniek Bao
The U.S. on Tuesday added dozens of Chinese tech companies to its export blacklist in its first such effort under the Donald Trump administration, as it doubles down on curtailing Beijing’s artificial intelligence and advanced computing capabilities. The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security added 80 organizations to an “entity list,” with more than 50 from China, barring American companies from supplying to those on the list without government permits. The companies were blacklisted for allegedly acting contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy interests, the agency said, as part of its efforts to further restrict Beijing’s access to exascale computing tech.
US adds dozens of Chinese entities to export blacklist, including Inspur units
Reuters
Karen Freifeld and David Shepardson
The U.S. added six subsidiaries of Inspur Group, China's leading cloud computing and big data service provider, and dozens of other Chinese entities to its export restriction list on Tuesday. The Inspur units were listed for contributing to the development of supercomputers for the Chinese military, the Commerce department said in a posting. Five of the subsidiaries are based in China and one in Taiwan. Inspur Group itself was placed on the list in 2023.
Trump administration hits China with slew of tech export controls
Nikkei Asia
Kenji Kawase
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has significantly expanded the trade blacklist it inherited from the previous Joe Biden team, aiming to further constrict China's capabilities to develop artificial intelligence and advanced computing, as well as direct military technologies like hypersonic missiles. The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) of the U.S. Commerce Department has added 80 organizations to the Entity List for actions "contrary to U.S. national security and foreign policy."
Cyber Command official is Trump’s choice for Pentagon policy job
The Record by Recorded Future
Martin Matishak
President Donald Trump has selected a cyber policy veteran to serve as the Pentagon’s next top digital security official. A notice posted on Monday shows that the president has nominated Katherine Sutton, who currently serves as chief technology adviser to the commander and director of Pentagon Operations at U.S. Cyber Command, to be assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. She previously served in a number of roles for the Senate Armed Services Committee, including as the GOP staff leader for the cybersecurity subcommittee under Sen. Mike Rounds.
Rounds reintroduces legislation to leverage artificial intelligence for pandemic preparedness and response
Mike Rounds, U.S Senator for South Dakota
U.S. Senators Mike Rounds and Martin Heinrich , co-chairs of the Senate Artificial Intelligence Caucus, today reintroduced the MedShield Act of 2025. This legislation would implement a recommendation of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence to create a program titled MedShield to leverage AI for national pandemic preparedness and response. MedShield would be the United States’ “shield” to protect the nation against future pandemics. MedShield would foster collaboration between the public and private sectors as well as with global allies and partners.
Signal head defends messaging app's security after US war plan leak
Reuters
James Pearson
Signal's Meredith Whittaker did not directly address the blunder, which Democratic lawmakers have said was a breach of U.S. national security. But she described the app as the "gold standard in private comms" in a post on X, which outlined Signal's security advantages over Meta's WhatsApp messaging app. "We’re open source, nonprofit, and we develop and apply (end-to-end encryption) and privacy-preserving tech across our system to protect metadata and message contents," she said.
Why government workers and military planners all love Signal now
The Washington Post
Shira Ovide, Danielle Abril and Hannah Natanson
Days after Donald Trump took office, Jonathan Kamens realized he couldn’t speak freely in his two digital group chats with fellow government employees of the U.S. Digital Service. A friend cautioned that at least one of the group members might rat him out for warning the new administration would gut his agency. So Kamens started inviting colleagues, one by one, to join him in a group chat on Signal, a messaging app known for its security and privacy.
Americas
Alleged Snowflake hacker consents to extradition from Canada after US charges
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
The hacker allegedly behind several of the biggest cybersecurity incidents of 2024 consented to be extradited from Canada to the U.S. Connor Riley Moucka, also known as Alexander Antonin Moucka, signed a consent order on Friday in Ontario Superior Court in Kitchener that would allow him to be transferred to U.S. custody to face multiple charges. The consent order was first reported by CyberScoop. Canadian officials declined to say when Moucka would be extradited. Moucka was arrested in October after U.S. authorities said he was involved in a wide-ranging cyberattack on Snowflake, a large data storage company.
Southeast Asia
Malaysia Airports Says Cyber Security Threat Detected at KLIA
Bloomberg
Anisah Shukry
A cyber security threat affecting computer systems at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport was detected on Sunday, the National Cyber Security Agency and Malaysia Airports said in a joint statement. The operations at KLIA were not impacted and authorities are monitoring the situation and supporting Malaysia Airports, NACSA Chief Executive Megat Zuhairy Megat Tajudin said in a statement Tuesday. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said separately on Tuesday that hackers demanded a $10 million ransom for the cyberattack.
Vietnam to allow SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service
Reuters
Vietnam's government said on Wednesday it will allow SpaceX to launch its Starlink satellite internet service on a trial basis in the country. There is no limit on foreign ownership of the service, the government said in a statement, adding that the trial period will last until the end of 2030. Allowing the U.S. firm to launch its internet service is seen by some analysts as one of the measures the Southeast Asian industrial hub has taken to avoid being hit with U.S. tariffs.
South & Central Asia
India ditches its 'Google Tax', perhaps to tickle Trump and dodge tariffs
The Register
Simon Sharwood
India again ditches a tech tax, perhaps to tickle Trump and dodge tariffs Already binned an e-commerce tax last year. The lower house of India’s parliament on Tuesday passed the nation’s budget for 2025, after making a last-minute change that removed a tax on digital ads. The tax is called an equalisation levy and since its introduction in 2016 has seen non-resident companies required to pay six percent of earnings derived from digital advertising. The measure was nicknamed the “Google Tax” and according to Indian media raised INR 3,343 Cr ($390 million) in the last financial year.
Europe
EU lawmakers warn against ‘dangerous’ moves to water down AI rules
Financial Times
Melissa Heikkilä and Barbara Moens
Architects of the EU’s landmark artificial intelligence act have urged Brussels to halt “dangerous” moves to water down the rules, which would spare big US tech groups such as OpenAI and Google from key elements of the law. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, is holding discussions that could result in more parts of the law — considered the world’s strictest regime regulating the development of AI — becoming voluntary rather than compulsory.
European investors say clock is ticking for AI adopters to deliver
Reuters
Lucy Raitano
European companies that are spending big on generative artificial intelligence need to start showing returns on their massive outlays by next year, or risk investors losing patience after they paid sky-high prices to join the market boom. AI-exposed stocks have been caught in a down-draught with broader equity markets in recent weeks as recession fears rise, adding to pressure on the sector since January, when the launch of low-cost Chinese AI model DeepSeek spurred a tech selloff.
‘No substitute’: Europe’s battle to break Elon Musk’s stranglehold on the skies
Financial Times
Peggy Hollinger, Euan Hearly and Barney Jopson
Europe is proposing to fund a homegrown alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink, following US threats to switch off the dominant satellite company’s broadband services in Ukraine.In a boost to the bloc’s struggling satellite operators, the European Commission’s defence white paper last week said that Brussels “should fund Ukrainian [military] access to services that can be provided by EU-based commercial providers”.Miguel Ángel Panduro, chief executive of Spain’s Hispasat, told the Financial Times that Brussels had asked his company, Eutelsat, and SES to present an “inventory” of services for Ukraine.
Africa
Bitcoin in the bush - the crypto mine in remote Zambia
BBC
Joe Tidy
The roar of the Zambezi is deafening as millions of gallons of water crash over rocks and tumble down rapids. But there's another sound cutting through the trees of the Zambian bush - the unmistakable high-pitched whine of a bitcoin mine. "It's the sound of money!" says a smiling Philip Walton as he surveys the shipping container with 120 computers busily crunching through complex calculations that verify bitcoin transactions. In exchange they are automatically rewarded bitcoin by the network. We're in the far north-western tip of Zambia near the border with the DRC, and of all the bitcoin mines I've visited - this one is the strangest.
Gender & Women in Tech
Gender Parity in the Intelligent Age
World Economic Forum
Developed in collaboration with LinkedIn as part of an ongoing data partnership for the Global Gender Gap Report, this paper addresses the challenges and opportunities of an AI-driven economic transformation from a gender parity perspective. In an exploration of workforce, skilling, and innovation scenarios, the paper provides strategic insights on how women and men are engaging with AI. Raising timely reflections for industry, policy and multilateral leaders, this paper sets the tone for further exploration of GenAI as an accelerant for gender parity
Big Tech
With a U.S. Ban Looming, TikTok Portrays Itself as a Force for Good
The New York Times
Sapna Maheshwari
In an emotional advertisement running on Facebook and Instagram over the past month, a young woman, Katie, talks about being diagnosed with an illness that resulted in kidney failure at age 19. But she was able to find a transplant match “because a stranger was scrolling on TikTok.” Thanks to that stranger’s kidney, she continued, she was here today. “For some people, having TikTok has literally been life saving,” the company wrote in a caption punctuated by a tearful smiling emoji.
Artificial Intelligence
What makes a good search engine? these 4 models can help you use search in the age of AI
The Conversation
Every day, users ask search engines millions of questions. The information we receive can shape our opinions and behaviour. We are often not aware of their influence, but internet search tools sort and rank web content when responding to our queries. This can certainly help us learn more things. But search tools can also return low-quality information and even misinformation. Recently, large language models (LLMs) have entered the search scene. While LLMs are not search engines, commercial web search engines have started to include LLM-based artificial intelligence (AI) features into their products. Microsoft’s Copilot and Google’s Overviews are examples of this trend.
‘Use it or lose it’ — a grim mantra for the AI age
Japan Times
Brad Glosserman
I was 11 years old when Texas Instruments released the TI 2500, one of the first pocket calculators. While I remember one around the house — it might still be in or on my father’s desk — it wasn’t mine. My father was generous but he wouldn’t have shelled out $150 (a lot of money in those days) to save me some mental effort. That wasn’t an issue because my teachers banned the use of calculators at home and at school. They worried that relying on those devices would undermine development of our own ability to do calculations, even relatively menial ones.
Your A.I. lover will change you
The New Yorker
Jaron Lanier
Is it important that your lover be a biological human instead of an A.I. or a robot, or will even asking this question soon feel like an antiquated prejudice? This uncertainty is more than a transient meme storm. If A.I. lovers are normalized a little—even if not for you personally—the way you live will be changed. Does this notion disturb you? That’s part of the point. In the tech industry, we often speak of A.I. as if it were a person and of people as if they might become obsolete when A.I. and robots surpass them, which, we say, might occur remarkably soon.
Research
The intervention journey: A roadmap to effective digital safety measures
World Economic Forum
With the increasing digitization of society, online harms – such as child sexual exploitation, scams, privacy violations and disinformation – are growing in complexity and volume. Many organizations struggle to implement interventions due to limited resources, regulatory complexity and rapidly evolving threats, putting them at risk of legal and reputational consequences. The Intervention Journey: A Roadmap to Effective Digital Safety Measures proposes a detailed plan for how to implement digital safety interventions. As part of the proposed roadmap, the insight report advises identifying risks, designing tailored safety measures, continuously evaluating effectiveness and collaborating by sharing expertise and resources.
New Paradigms in Trust and Safety: Navigating Defederation on Decentralized Social Media Platforms
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Samantha Lai, Yoel Roth, Renée DiResta, Kate Klonick, Mallory Knodel, Evan Prodromou, and Aaron Rodericks
Imagine two cities on opposite sides of a river, connected by a bridge but governed by different laws, values, and norms. Now imagine that the government of either city has the ability to blow up the bridge and take unilateral action to cease all engagement between citizens of the cities at any time. How should a government acting in the best interests of its citizens wield this immense power to blow up the bridge? Are there any circumstances under which doing so would be acceptable—such as a perceived threat of violence from the opposing city? How should they weigh the risks and benefits of doing so?
Oxford Intersections: AI in Society
Oxford Academic
Philipp Hacker
AI in Society provides an interdisciplinary corpus for understanding artificial intelligence (AI) as a global phenomenon that transcends geographical and disciplinary boundaries. Edited by a consortium of experts hailing from diverse academic traditions and regions, the 11 edited and curated sections provide a holistic view of AI’s societal impact. Critically, the work goes beyond the often Eurocentric or U.S.-centric perspectives that dominate the discourse, offering nuanced analyses that encompass the implications of AI for a range of regions of the world. Taken together, the sections of this work seek to move beyond the state of the art in three specific respects.
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