US to roll out 'Cyber Trust Mark' label on secure devices | Japan links Chinese hacking group MirrorFace to dozens of cyberattacks | Britain to make sexually explicit 'deepfakes' a crime

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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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• The U.S. will begin rolling out a program to label certain internet-connected products as meeting a basic cybersecurity standard, a White House official said Tuesday. NBC News

• Japan on Wednesday linked more than 200 cyberattacks over the past five years targeting the country's national security and high technology data to a Chinese hacking group, MirrorFace, detailing their tactics and calling on government agencies and businesses to reinforce preventive measures. Nikkei Asia

• Creating and sharing sexually explicit "deepfakes" will become a criminal offence in Britain, the government said on Tuesday, in a bid to tackle a surge in the proliferation of such images, mainly targeting women and girls. Reuters

ASPI

Albanese’s green tape tangle over critical minerals
The Australian
Noah Yim and Brad Thompson
Australian Strategic Policy Institute national security director John Coyne said it was imperative for Australia to develop resilient supply chains for critical minerals given China’s dominance in the market and its previous history of using it in a coercive way. “When it comes to critical minerals and rare earths, China has a history of manipulating the market,” he told The Australian. “If we look at rare earths, it did weaponise rare earths for a period of 90 days against the Japanese after an issue in the Senkaku Islands. “So, you know, it’s not a hypothetical. What we’ve seen is investments and price setting, and the prevention of exporting and processing technologies. “The only way forward in this is to have a very clear-eyed focus that the aim here isn’t about cutting China out of the market. It’s about creating resilient alternative supply chains.”

Australia

Meta’s ‘catastrophic’ move leaves Australians exposed
InnovationAus
Joseph Brookes
Meta’s surprise move to end fact checking shows Australia can’t rely on the US for effective tech regulation, according to experts who are now urging policymakers to step up local protections. The social media giant’s changes will start in the US, where fact checkers are being shelved and content rules loosened, sparking concern about the potential for a rise in misinformation and hate speech online. Behind closed doors, Meta has moved to assure Australian regulators that no immediate changes are underway in this market, but won’t publicly commit to retaining local fact checking in the long term.

AEC watching for Meta move on Australian fact-checking as election looms
Capital Brief
Anthony Galloway
The Australian Electoral Commission is monitoring whether Meta’s decision to stop using independent fact-checking organisations will extend to Australia ahead of the federal election, as the agency looks to boost its own presence on digital and mainstream channels.

Innovation for security: why Australia needs its own DARPA
The Strategist
Jack Dalton
Australia should establish a national centre for breakthrough technologies along the lines of the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. An Australian Advanced Research Projects Agency is needed to stay competitive with other powers in the Indo-Pacific in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and biotechnology. China, well aware of the power of state guidance and funding for high-risk, high-reward technological development, aims to position itself as a world leader in those technologies. It has spent more than US$15 billion on quantum computing, US$220 billion on biotech and US$184 billion on AI, guided by the Chinese Communist Party’s five-year strategic plans.

China

China's carmakers have set bar for autonomous driving, says Nvidia's Huang
Nikkei Asia
Yifan Yu
Chinese automakers such as BYD, Nio, Xiaomi and Xpeng have set the bar for autonomous driving functions in vehicles, US chipmaker Nvidia's Jensen Huang said here Tuesday at the CES 2025 electronics show. "The single greatest impact is the incredible technology coming out of China," Huang said, calling the technology in cars made by the four automakers and others "so good."

USA

U.S. to roll out 'Cyber Trust Mark' label on secure devices starting this year
NBC News
Kevin Collier
The US will begin rolling out a program to label certain internet-connected products as meeting a basic cybersecurity standard, a White House official said Tuesday. Called the US Cyber Trust Mark, the initiative is comparable to the “Energy Star“ program, and will label products like baby monitors, fitness trackers and security cameras that have passed a US cybersecurity audit. Products that qualify can legally display the mark on advertising and packaging. The program does not apply to computers or smartphones.

• White House Launches “U.S. Cyber Trust Mark”, Providing American Consumers an Easy Label to See if Connected Devices are Cybersecure
  The White House
  The White House announced the launch of a cybersecurity label for internet-connected devices, known as the US Cyber Trust Mark, completing public notice and input over the last 18 months. During that time, FCC Commissioners decided in a bipartisan and unanimous vote to authorise the program and adopt final rules, as well as the trademarked, distinct shield logo that will be applied to products certified for the US Cyber Trust Mark label. In December 2024, the FCC announced the conditional approval of 11 companies as Cybersecurity Label Administrators and the conditional selection of UL Solutions as the Lead Administrator.

TikTok's fate divides Trump and fellow Republicans as Supreme Court action looms
Reuters
Andrew Chung
While President-elect Donald Trump has asked the Supreme Court to block a looming US ban on TikTok in a major case being argued on Friday that pits free speech rights against national security concerns over the Chinese-owned short-video app, many of his Republican allies have urged the opposite.

Tech group urges US to halt rule that would limit global access to AI chips
Reuters
Karen Freifeld
A technology industry group on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden's administration to refrain from issuing a last-minute rule that would control global access to AI chips, warning the restrictions would jeopardize U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence.

• Tech war: US firm SiFive opens China office to tap growing appetite for open-source chips
  South China Morning Post
  Xinmei Shen
  US semiconductor company SiFive, which designs chips based on the open-source RISC-V architecture, has set up a China arm to tap the mainland’s fast-growing market for processors developed without foreign proprietary technology.

North Asia

Japan links Chinese hacking group MirrorFace to dozens of cyberattacks
Nikkei Asia
Japan on Wednesday linked more than 200 cyberattacks over the past five years targeting the country's national security and high technology data to a Chinese hacking group, MirrorFace, detailing their tactics and calling on government agencies and businesses to reinforce preventive measures. The National Police Agency said its analysis on the targets, methods and infrastructure of the cyberattacks by MirrorFace from 2019 to 2024 concluded they were systematic attacks linked to China with an aim of stealing data on Japanese national security and advanced technology.

• Japan says Chinese hackers targeted its government and tech companies for years
  TechCrunch
  Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
  The Japanese government published an alert on Wednesday accusing a Chinese hacking group of targeting and breaching dozens of government organizations, companies, and individuals in the country since 2019. Japan’s National Police Agency and the National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity attributed the years-long hacking spree to a group called MirrorFace.

Southeast Asia

Philippines says Chinese hackers didn’t get ‘sensitive information’ from Palace
Rappler
Bea Cupin
A Philippine security official said on Tuesday, January 7, that “no sensitive information was compromised” despite a report that said China state-sponsored hackers had allegedly infiltrated the computer systems of Malacañang. “Based on assessment of our cybersecurity experts, no sensitive information was compromised,” said the National Security Council’s spokesperson Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya in a message to Rappler.

Ukraine - Russia

Ukrainian cyber market grows amid war but still lacks support and funding, report says
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Ukraine's cybersecurity market has grown rapidly in recent years, driven by rising threats, increased digitisation and international assistance. However, new research shows that the sector remains heavily reliant on foreign aid and faces significant challenges, including insufficient investment, a lack of competitive advantage and weak regulations. The report by the Ukrainian consulting firm DataDriven tracked the value of the country’s cyber companies over the past eight years. Over that span the market increased fourfold, reaching an estimated value of $138 million last year.

Russian internet provider confirms its network was ‘destroyed’ following attack claimed by Ukrainian hackers
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Russian internet provider Nodex reported on Tuesday that its network had been ruined in a cyberattack, which it suspects originated from Ukraine. In a statement on the Russian social media platform VKontakte, the St. Petersburg-based company said the “planned” attack “destroyed” its infrastructure overnight. Nodex added that it was working to restore systems from backups but could not provide a timeline for when operations would fully resume.

Europe

Court orders European Commission to pay its first-ever GDPR fine
The Record by Recorded Future
Suzanne Smalley
For the first time, the European General Court on Wednesday fined the European Commission for violating the EU’s own data privacy rules. The court said that when the commission transferred a German citizen’s personal data to the U.S. without appropriate protections it violated the data protection standards encompassed in the General Data Privacy Regulation.

EU Commission urged to act over Elon Musk’s ‘interference’ in elections
The Guardian
Jennifer Rankin
The EU executive has been too slow in enforcing a major law intended to ensure good behaviour of social media companies, MEPs have said, amid growing concern about the aggressive forays of Elon Musk into European politics. Pressure on the European Commission to act is growing as Musk, the X owner and world’s richest man, prepares to host a livestream conversation on the platform on Thursday with the leader of the far-right Alternative for Deutschland, Alice Weidel.

We do not censor social media, EU says in response to Meta
Reuters
Philip Blenkinsop
The European Commission rejected on Wednesday Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg's assertion that European Union data laws censored social media and said they only required large platforms to remove illegal content...The European Commission, the EU executive, said its Digital Services Act did not force or request platforms to remove lawful content but only to take down content that may be harmful, such as to children or to the EU's democracies.

Albania’s TikTok ban raises rule of law questions
POLITICO
Eliza Gkritsi and Jakob Weizman
It’s not just Washington or Bucharest. Albania is coming down on TikTok with a fresh ban — a move that could draw scrutiny from Brussels as the country works to clear the bar on civil rights protections to join the European Union. Prime Minister Edi Rama announced in late December that he would “block TikTok for one year.” His decision was fueled by outrage over the fatal stabbing of a 14-year-old in November following a series of arguments the teen had on social media. After the stabbing, videos surfaced on TikTok showing young people expressing support for the killing.

Finland finds Russian ‘spy’ ship anchor as subsea cable company demands ship’s seizure for compensation
The Record by Recorded Future
Alexander Martin
Finnish authorities investigating a series of submarine cable breaks that took place on Christmas Day have located and retrieved an anchor suspected of being dragged along the Baltic Sea floor by the Eagle S, an alleged Russian spy ship. The discovery was announced on Tuesday, at the same time that Cinia — a Finnish telecommunications company that owns and operates the C-Lion1 submarine cable, one of those that was broken — submitted a court application to seize the Eagle S so it could secure compensation over the break.

Europe needs shared defence capabilities
The Strategist
Lars Frolund and Fiona Murray
Following Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, Europe has recognised the need to strengthen its security and bolster its economic resilience. European defence industry leaders have called for more investment in the sector, and defence ministries are spending more on science and technology to ensure their countries’ readiness for the wars of today and tomorrow. But it is not enough for each country to act alone. The European Union and Britain must approach technological innovation with the goal of building shared defence capabilities.

UK

Britain to make sexually explicit 'deepfakes' a crime
Reuters
Catarina Demony
Creating and sharing sexually explicit ""deepfakes"" will become a criminal offence in Britain, the government said on Tuesday, in a bid to tackle a surge in the proliferation of such images, mainly targeting women and girls. Deepfakes are videos, pictures or audio clips made with artificial intelligence to look real, and such technology can be used to digitally alter pornographic images into the likeness of someone else.

British AI startup with government ties is developing tech for military drones
The Guardian
Jasper Jolly
A company that has worked closely with the UK government on artificial intelligence safety, the NHS and education is also developing AI for military drones. The consultancy Faculty AI has “experience developing and deploying AI models on to UAVs”, or unmanned aerial vehicles, according to a defence industry partner company. Faculty has emerged as one of the most active companies selling AI services in the UK. Unlike the likes of OpenAI, Deepmind or Anthropic, it does not develop models itself, instead focusing on reselling models, notably from OpenAI, and consulting on their use in government and industry.

Big Tech

Meta’s fact-checking overhaul widens global rift on disinformation
The Washington Post
Cristiano Lima-Strong
Meta plans to scale back fact-checking in the United States for now, the company said, nodding to domestic political realities in a way that is set to widen the gap between what users experience on social media in and outside the country...The changes deepen a growing schism between how platforms tackle disinformation and other potentially harmful posts inside the U.S. vs. its global allies, particularly in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s election win.

• Meta is abandoning fact checking – this doesn’t bode well for the fight against misinformation
  The Conversation
  Ned Watt, Michelle Riedlinger and Silvia Montaña-Niño
  Zuckerberg claimed Meta’s fact-checking program did not successfully address misinformation on the company’s platforms, stifled free speech and lead to widespread censorship. But the head of the International Fact-Checking Network, Angie Drobnic Holan, disputes this.

• Alliance between Meta and Trump is likely to create informational, economic and geopolitical conflicts around the world
  The Conversation
  Gilberto Scofield Jr.
  Zuckerberg has announced an alliance with Donald Trump’s yet-to-be sworn-in government in an imaginary crusade against censorship of freedom of expression inside and outside the US. Taking into account what is known about Trump and Musk’s way of acting digitally, it would be better to say a crusade in defence of disinformation and the social chaos and polarisation caused in large part by the contamination of public debate by disinformation, hate speech and the far right. These are tactics that benefit the two billionaires politically and economically, as well as in gaining and maintaining power.

• Meta is not returning to its free speech origins – It’s preparing for an autocratic future
  Tech Policy Press
  João C. Magalhães
  That is not because it will mark a return of spaces like Facebook and Instagram to some idyllic past when speech was free and everyone had a voice, as Zuckerberg wants us to believe. Rather, the importance of his statement lies in how, under the pretense of correcting his alleged mistakes, Zuckerberg is admitting that one of the world’s most politically consequential corporations is ready and indeed eager to serve the interests of the world’s most powerful aspiring autocrat – President-elect Donald Trump.

Meta drops rules protecting L.G.B.T.Q. community as part of content moderation overhaul
The New York Times
Kate Conger
Meta on Tuesday said it would drop some of its rules protecting L.G.B.T.Q. people. The changes included allowing users to share “allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality.”

Jobs

ASPI Deputy Director – Cyber, Technology & Security Program
ASPI
ASPI is seeking a talented leader for the Deputy Director of Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS) Operations. This is an exceptional opportunity to contribute to one of the Indo-Pacific’s leading think tanks, focused on advancing policy and research at the intersection of cyber, technology, and national security. The CTS Program is ASPI’s largest program, and includes ASPI’s China Investigations and Analysis team. The closing date for applications is Friday, 17 January 2025 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.

ASPI Analyst – Hybrid Threats – Cyber, Technology & Security Program
ASPI
ASPI is seeking a motivated and detail-oriented individual to join the Cyber, Technology & Security (CTS) program as an Analyst – Hybrid Threats. This role involves contributing to the analysis of hybrid threats and information manipulation, including election integrity, resilience of critical technologies, and cybersecurity. The closing date for applications is Friday, 17 January 2025 – an early application is advised as we reserve the right to close the vacancy early if suitable applications are received.

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