US prosecutors say cybersecurity pros ran cybercrime operation | EU Police arrests suspects linked to €600 million crypto fraud ring | Reddit and Kick added to child social media ban
Plus, YouTube quietly erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations
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Prosecutors said three American cybersecurity professionals secretly ran a ransomware operation aimed at shaking down companies across the United States. Reuters
European law enforcement authorities have arrested nine suspected money launderers who set up a cryptocurrency fraud network that stole over €600 million ($689 million) from victims across multiple countries. Bleeping Computer
Australia’s world-first social media ban for children under 16 will apply to messaging board Reddit and live-streaming platform Kick, the online safety regulator has ruled. ABC News
ASPI
US and Australia deepen critical-minerals engagement to counter China
The Strategist
Alice Wai
Engagement between Australia and the United States on critical minerals has matured from technical cooperation into a strategic partnership, aligning resource security with clean energy and defence priorities. Both governments recognise the urgency of diversifying supply chains as China entrenches its dominance across critical mineral extraction and processing. US policy has so far delivered strong domestic signals and backed its producers, but outcomes of its recent allied contributions remain to be seen.
India and Indonesia are managing cyber strategy and cyber diplomacy on their own terms
BindingHook
Arindrajit Basu and Gatra Priyandita
So why have democratic emerging powers like India and Indonesia taken a different path? Despite being active in cyber diplomacy and possessing growing digital capabilities, neither has published a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy nor appointed a dedicated cyber envoy, thus differentiating themselves from more established cyber powers in the West. By relying on a context- and issue-specific approach to cybersecurity, driven by ad hoc interagency coordination, they maintain flexibility in a complex geopolitical environment.
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Australia
Reddit and Kick added to child social media ban
ABC News
Clare Armstrong
Australia’s world-first social media ban for children under 16 will apply to messaging board Reddit and live-streaming platform Kick, the online safety regulator has ruled. Communications Minister Anika Wells will on Wednesday confirm the two platforms are joining Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook and Instagram, which includes Threads, as “age-restricted” from December 10.
AI policy quagmire drags Australia to its lowest digital rank
InnovationAus
Joseph Brookes
Australia has tumbled out of the top 20 most digitally competitive nations for the first time after a lack of AI policy and complacent companies dragged on global rankings for technology and future readiness. The rankings, released annually by the International Institute for Management Development, place Australia at 23rd in 2025, down from 15th last year and 10 spots back from a 2018 high.
Vendor pulled plug on NSW Police facial recognition tool
InnovationAus
Justin Hendry
NSW Police only stopped using a facial recognition algorithm that it had used for more than a decade when the vendor pulled support, not because the force acted on accuracy concerns. In February, the country’s largest policing agency revealed the algorithm had been deactivated within NSW Police’s PhotoTrac Suspect Identification System, a platform used to create photographic lineups.
AFP developing AI tool to decode gen Z slang amid warning about ‘crimefluencers’ hunting girls
The Guardian
Sarah Basford Canales
Australian federal police will develop an AI tool to decode gen Z and Alpha slang and emojis in an effort to crackdown on sadistic online exploitation and “crimefluencers”.The AFP commissioner, Krissy Barrett, used a speech at the National Press Club on Wednesday to warn of the rise of online crime networks of young boys and men who are targeting vulnerable teen and preteen girls.
USA
US prosecutors say cybersecurity pros ran cybercrime operation
Reuters
Raphael Satter
Prosecutors said three American cybersecurity professionals secretly ran a ransomware operation aimed at shaking down companies across the United States. The three people, only two of whom - Ryan Goldberg and Kevin Martin - were identified by name, collaborated with the notorious hacking gang ALPHV BlackCat to encrypt companies’ networks in a bid to extort their owners out of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency, prosecutors alleged in an indictment filed last month in federal court in Miami.
Prosecutors allege incident response pros used ALPHV/BlackCat to commit string of ransomware attacks CyberScoop
Treasury sanctions 8 for laundering North Korea earnings from cybercrime, IT worker scheme
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
Eight people and two companies face U.S. sanctions for their role in laundering money earned for the government of North Korea through cybercrime and a long-running IT worker fraud scheme. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted IT company Korea Mangyongdae Computer Technology Company and financial institution Ryujong Credit Bank with sanctions — accusing the North Korean businesses of being key cogs in Pyongyang’s effort to evade sanctions and bring home earnings from criminal activity.
US CFPB data security ‘not effective’ after Trump clampdown, watchdog report says
Reuters
President Donald Trump’s clampdown on the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau earlier this year has compounded IT security lapses at the agency through the cancellation of contracts, according to an audit report released on Monday. The information security program at CFPB which maintains sensitive and confidential data from investigations, the oversight of companies and complaints received from members of the public is “not effective,” according to the Office of Inspector General, which also covers the Federal Reserve.
US races to train tech workers for manufacturing, but will AI get the jobs first?
Nikkei Asia
Yifan Yu
Laughter, cheers and applause filled the Arizona Science Center on a rainy October morning as kids ran around a rack of white “bunny suits” in a mock semiconductor clean room. A mother pointed to a laptop and told her young son and teenaged daughter that semiconductors are powering the devices that they use every day, while another group of teens looked into a microscope pretending to be chip inspectors. The semiconductor playground recently opened in Phoenix, Arizona, to spark kids’ interest in the chip industry.
North Asia
Nippon Steel to mass-produce high-grade steel for US data centers
Nikkei Asia
Nippon Steel will begin commercial production of high-grade steel used in U.S. data centers, Nikkei has learned. U.S. Steel, which Nippon Steel bought for $14.1 billion in June, will build new production capabilities at an existing plant in Arkansas. The total investment is expected to reach billions of dollars.
South & Central Asia
Google, Perplexity tap telecom companies to boost AI rollout in India
Nikkei Asia
SOUMYAJIT SAHA
Google and Perplexity are tying up with India’s telecom giants to offer free services as the biggest names in artificial intelligence up their efforts to win over the country’s billion internet users. Such moves which OpenAI has matched by making its intermediate-level services free since Tuesday this week -- are replicating a strategy that helped boost digital media distribution companies and spending on mobile data usage.
Europe
Police arrests suspects linked to €600 million crypto fraud ring
Bleeping Computer
Sergiu Getlan
European law enforcement authorities have arrested nine suspected money launderers who set up a cryptocurrency fraud network that stole over €600 million ($689 million) from victims across multiple countries. The fraudsters allegedly created fake cryptocurrency investment platforms that looked legitimate and promised high returns, and recruited victims through various means, including social media and cold calling. Once the victims transferred their cryptocurrency, they were unable to recover their funds, while the criminals successfully laundered more than €600 million in stolen assets using blockchain tools.
UK
Getty Images largely loses landmark UK lawsuit over AI image generator
Reuters
Sam Tobin
Getty Images largely lost its London lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI over its image generator on Tuesday, prompting Getty and some lawyers to call for stronger protections for copyright owners in Britain. Seattle-based Getty, which produces editorial content and creative stock images and video, accused Stability AI of using its images to “train” its Stable Diffusion system, which generates images from text inputs.
Middle East
Microsoft to invest over $15 billion in UAE, secures US export licenses for Nvidia chips
Reuters
Federico Maccioni
Microsoft plans to bring its total investment in the United Arab Emirates to $15 billion by the end of 2029 and has the Trump administration’s approval to export Nvidia chips for its data centres there, a senior executive told Reuters on Monday. The UAE has been spending billions of dollars to become a global artificial intelligence hub, leveraging its close relations with Washington to secure access to U.S. technology, including some of the world’s most advanced chips.
YouTube quietly erased more than 700 videos documenting Israeli human rights violations
The Intercept
Nikita Mazurov and Jonah Valdez
A documentary featuring mothers surviving Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A video investigation uncovering Israel’s role in the killing of a Palestinian American journalist. Another video revealing Israel’s destruction of Palestinian homes in the occupied West Bank. YouTube surreptitiously deleted all these videos in early October by wiping the accounts that posted them from its website, along with their channels’ archives. The accounts belonged to three prominent Palestinian human rights groups: Al-Haq, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights.
The bombing of Gaza Sky Geeks
Rest of World
Mohammed R. Mhawish and Aseel Mousa
In late September 2023, staff at Gaza Sky Geeks were preparing for an October full of milestones. The pioneering tech hub, headquartered in Gaza City, was planning a traveling hackathon that would connect programmers in Gaza and the West Bank. Staff had just circulated invitations to a graduation ceremony for the largest-ever cohort to complete the group’s startup accelerator. At least 100 people were expected to attend the October 10 celebration.
Big Tech
IBM to cut thousands of jobs in fourth quarter amid software focus
Reuters
IBM will cut roles this quarter, the company said on Tuesday, potentially impacting thousands of employees while it shifts focus towards its high-margin software segment, as Wall Street hones in on the company’s ability to benefit from AI-linked cloud demand. “We routinely review our workforce ... and at times rebalance accordingly,” the company said in a statement. “In the fourth quarter we are executing an action that will impact a low single-digit percentage of our global workforce.”
IBM to lay off thousands of employees before end of year The Wall Street Journal
Amazon demands Perplexity stop AI agent from making purchases
Bloomberg
Shirin Ghaffary and Matt Day
Amazon has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity AI Inc. demanding that the artificial intelligence search startup stop allowing its AI browser agent, Comet, to make purchases online for users. The e-commerce giant is accusing Perplexity of committing computer fraud by failing to disclose when its AI agent is shopping on a user’s behalf, in violation of Amazon’s terms of service, according to people familiar with the letter sent on Friday.
Amazon equips next underwater cable with ‘robust armoring’ to prevent cuts
PC Mag
Emily Forlini
Amazon Web Services will lay a new subsea cable across the ocean floor, connecting Maryland and Ireland. Amazon is already working on the cable, dubbed Fastnet, which should be up and running in 2028, David Selby, Director of Global Network Infrastructure Development at AWS, tells us in an interview. Fastnet promises to be a “state-of-the-art” fiber optic cable system, transporting over 320 terabits per second. That’s enough to stream 12.5 million high-definition films simultaneously, or “transmit the entire digitized Library of Congress three times every second,” Amazon says.
Google wants to build solar-powered data centers — in space
Semafor
Reed Albergotti
The demand for AI data centers has grown so large that there isn’t enough energy on earth to power the buildout. Google’s engineers think they may have an answer: Put some of them in space. The idea could help Google meet a portion of the soaring demand for compute, but also reduce its carbon footprint on Earth, where data centers are increasing greenhouse gas emissions and have drawn criticism from environmentalists.
Artificial Intelligence
You don’t need to swipe right. A.I. is transforming dating apps.
The New York Times
Eli Tan
After swiping aimlessly for years on dating apps like Hinge and Tinder, Emma Inge, a 25-year-old project manager in San Francisco, decided to try something different. In September, after following an ad to the website of a start-up called Known, Ms. Inge spent 20 minutes confiding in an artificial intelligence matchmaker. The matchmaker — essentially an A.I. chatbot — asked her over a phone call what she was looking for in a partner, and she relayed her preferences (athletic) and red flags (codependent).
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.
