Warnings of cyber threats after US strikes on Iran | Leak of 16 billion credentials across major platforms | Iranian hackers target Albania over dissidents
Silicon Valley executives being inducted into a special detachment of the US Army Reserve
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The US Department of Homeland Security has warned of a heightened threat environment following military strikes on Iran, citing potential low-level cyber attacks by pro-Iranian hacktivists and state-affiliated actors. Reuters
According to a report, 30 datasets or around 16 billion credentials on popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple, are explosed online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day. Associated Press
A group linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard targeted Tirana’s government systems in retaliation for hosting Iranian dissidents, causing a major server outage that disrupt key public services and expose data of nearly 800,000 residents. POLITICO
ASPI
The Scottish universities accepting millions from organisations linked to China
INKL
Jamie Mann
Some universities accepted money from Chinese organisations with military ties. Strathclyde University received £130,000 in research funding from Wuxi Paike New Materials Technology, which makes metal forgings for the Chinese military. Strathclyde did not specify when it received the money from the firm, which was sanctioned by the US government in December 2020 due to its military links. Strathclyde also accepted £22,100 for “research studentship/knowledge exchange” from the Chinese Academy of Sciences on an undisclosed date. The academy is designated “medium risk” by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, due to its alleged weapons research. ASPI is a defence think tank founded by the Australian Government.
The future of Iran’s nuclear program: views from ASPI analysts
The Strategist
ASPI Staff
Australia is unlikely to play a prominent role in any deal or US military action in Iran. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong reminded the media of this, repeating that ‘we are not a central player in the Middle East’. Even so, Australia’s diplomatic networks and technical non-proliferation capabilities could help prime or verify a deal. Australia abandoned its work on acquiring nuclear weapons upon joining the NPT, but deliberately maintained the skills and institutions required for nuclear research and the technical verification of non-proliferation agreements.
World
Billions of logins for sites such as Google and Facebook leaked, compiled online
Associated Press
Researchers at cybersecurity outlet Cybernews say that billions of login credentials have been leaked and compiled into datasets online, giving criminals “unprecedented access” to accounts consumers use each day. According to a report published, Cybernews researchers have recently discovered 30 exposed datasets that each contain a vast amount of login information — amounting to a total of 16 billion compromised credentials. That includes user passwords for a range of popular platforms including Google, Facebook and Apple. Sixteen billion is roughly double the amount of people on Earth today, signaling that impacted consumers may have had credentials for more than one account leaked.
Australia
Legislation, not technology, is the biggest problem for ADF drone defence
The Strategist
David Goodrich
Ukraine’s Operation Spider’s Web has fundamentally redefined the nature of drone warfare and highlighted just how vulnerable Australia’s precious cache of exquisite systems truly is. Similarly, Israel’s Operation Rising Lion, which began on 13 June, reportedly used drones launched within Iran to strike Iran’s surface-to-air missile batteries. From this, it’s not hard to see the implications for the safety of Australian defence equipment and facilities. But it may surprise you to learn that the biggest barrier preventing the Australian Defence Force from countering drones on Australian soil is not technological but legislative.
Stability, alliances and renewables: Australia is the place for AI computing
The Strategist
Greg Sadler and Jisoo Kim
Artificial-intelligence computing infrastructure is more critical to Australia’s strategic future than developing sovereign AI models. The country should indeed aim at becoming a dependable computing hub for its allies. Markets forecast that AI systems could match or exceed human performance in most cognitive tasks within two years. Australia must not misjudge this moment. AI is on track to result in a significant wealth transfer from AI takers to AI makers. Without a foothold in the AI value chain, Australia risks being relegated to the economic periphery.
Company in charge of proposed incinerator outside Geelong has direct links to the Chinese government
ABC News
Harrison Tippet
A controversial waste-to-energy project proposed for Geelong's suburban fringe has direct links to two major Chinese state-owned enterprises, it can be revealed. The waste incinerator is designed to burn through 400,000 tonnes of rubbish annually — redirecting the trash from landfill and transforming it into energy for the state's grid. But the proposal has prompted local backlash, with residents concerned the incinerator would be built too close to homes and produce toxic emissions. Community frustrations also centre around the transparency of who is behind the project, as the facility's purported cost balloons from $300 million to $700 million.
As the media works to win trust, people say they want the truth
ABC News
Gareth Hutchens
Why are people turning away from mainstream media and seeking alternative sources of news? Last week, the University of Canberra released its annual survey of trust in the media, which made fascinating reading. Among its results, it found Australians' concern about misinformation was the highest globally. It said Australia "urgently needed" a national media and digital literacy campaign to help news consumers feel confident about their ability to spot misinformation. When it comes to media literacy, Australian audiences might be shocked to learn how difficult it is for the media to write about the world in plain language sometimes, given how strict defamation law is in this country, among other laws.
China
China unleashes hackers against its friend Russia, seeking war secrets
The New York Times
Megha Rajagopalan
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, groups linked to the Chinese government have repeatedly hacked Russian companies and government agencies in an apparent search for military secrets, according to cyberanalysts. And they have continued steadily, with Chinese groups worming into Russian systems even as President Putin of Russia and President Xi Jinping of China publicly professed a momentous era of collaboration and friendship. The hacking campaign shows that, despite this partnership and years of promises not to hack each other, China sees Russia as a vulnerable target. In 2023, one group, known as Sanyo, impersonated the email addresses of a major Russian engineering firm in the hunt for information on nuclear submarines, according to TeamT5, a Taiwan-based cybersecurity research firm that discovered the attack last year and linked it to the Chinese government.
China tightens internet controls with new centralized form of virtual ID
CNN
John Liu
China has mastered the craft of policing the internet, operating one of the world’s most extensive online censorship and surveillance regimes. With mandatory identity checks on every online platform, it has become almost impossible for users to stay anonymous. But this rigidly moderated online environment is about to face even stricter controls with the introduction of a state-issued national internet ID. Instead of requiring individuals to submit their personal information for identity checks separately on each platform, the government now seeks to centralize the process by issuing a virtual ID that will allow users to sign in across different social media apps and websites. The rules for the new system, currently voluntary, were released in late May and will be implemented in mid-July.
China to lead global space weather network to monitor dangerous solar eruptions
South China Morning Post
Dannie Peng
China has set out to lead the construction of the world’s most comprehensive space weather monitoring and warning network, an ambitious ground-based system comprising the largest chain of observatories on Earth, passing through more than 10 countries and regions. The International Meridian Circle Programme is aimed at building a matrix of surveillance stations to better understand and forecast solar activity such as solar storms, which can severely disrupt satellite communications, navigation and power grids on Earth. The programme covers a huge section of the Earth – extending halfway around the planet and forming the largest network of observatories ever built.
USA
Advisory warns of 'heightened threat environment' in US after Iran strikes
Reuters
Kanishka Singh
An advisory from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned on Sunday of a "heightened threat environment in the United States" following overnight U.S. military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. Rights advocates have already noted heightened Islamophobia and antisemitism in the U.S. since the start of U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza following an October 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas. The DHS issued Sunday's bulletin, opens new tab through its National Terrorism Advisory System and said the ongoing Iran conflict was causing the heightened threat environment. Low-level cyber attacks against U.S. networks by "pro-Iranian hacktivists" are likely, the bulletin said, adding cyber actors affiliated with Iran's government may also conduct cyber attacks.
What big tech's band of execs will do in the Army
WIRED
Steven Levy
According to an official press release, big tech’s execs’re in the Army now, specifically Detachment 201: the Executive Innovation Corps. Boz is now lieutenant colonel Bosworth. The other newly commissioned officers include Kevin Weil, OpenAI’s head of product; Bob McGrew, a former OpenAI head of research now advising Mira Murati’s company Thinking Machines Lab; and Shyam Sankar, the CTO of Palantir. These middle-aged tech execs were sworn into their posts wearing camo fatigues, as if they just wandered off some Army base in Kandahar, to join a corps that is named after an HTTP status code. Detachment 201, wrote the Army in a press release, is part of a military-wide transformation initiative that “aims to make the force leaner, smarter, and more lethal.”
Senate can keep ban on state AI rules in Trump tax bill
Bloomberg
Emily Birnbaum and Steven T. Dennis
A Republican effort to block US states from enforcing new AI regulations will remain in President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending package for now, marking a win for tech companies pushing to stall and override dozens of AI safety laws across the country. In a surprise decision, Democrats said the Senate parliamentarian ruled the provision aligns with the special budgetary process Republicans are using to consider the tax package. That process allows the GOP to avoid making concessions to Democrats, who otherwise could filibuster legislation. The Senate version of the AI moratorium would deny states federal funding for broadband internet projects if they enforce AI regulations.
Musk says Tesla launching robotaxis today in Austin
Reuters
Norihiko Shirouzu and Abhirup Roy
After driverless Tesla Model Ys were spotted traversing Austin, Texas streets on Sunday morning, CEO Elon Musk posted on his social platform X that Tesla's "robotaxi launch" would start this afternoon with rides for a flat fee of $4.20. A Reuters witness saw several Tesla "robotaxis" on Sunday morning in a popular area of the Texas capital called South Congress with no one in the driver's seat but one person in the passenger seat. Tesla planned to have front-seat riders acting as "safety monitors," though it remained unclear how much control they would have over the vehicles. As the date of the planned robotaxi launch approached, Texas lawmakers moved to enact rules on autonomous vehicles in the state. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Friday signed legislation requiring a state permit to operate self-driving vehicles.
Americas
Argentina uncovers suspected Russian spy ring behind disinformation campaigns
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Argentina’s intelligence service reportedly has uncovered a group of suspected Russian spies accused of spreading disinformation to promote Moscow's interests in the region. The group was allegedly part of an organization called “The Company,” which is reportedly linked to the Kremlin and Project Lakhta — a Russian interference operation targeting citizens in the U.S., Europe and Ukraine. The suspected leader of the spy ring, Lev Andriashvili, and his wife, Irina Iakovenko — both Russian citizens — are believed to have been responsible for receiving funding and establishing connections with local collaborators. Their goal, according to presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni, was “to form a group of people loyal to Russia's interests” and carry out disinformation campaigns targeting the Argentine state.
Chinese tech giants have big ambitions in Brazil
The New York Times
Meaghan Tobin
Chinese companies urgently need to find new markets. Competition is intense at home, where the collapse of the real estate market has left consumers reluctant to spend. And escalating trade tensions have made it more difficult and costly to sell things in the United States and Europe, long two of the largest destinations for Chinese exports. Brazil has emerged as the most coveted prize. Latin America’s largest economy, with a population of more than 200 million people, is a beacon for China’s delivery and ride-hailing companies looking to export their ruthlessly low-cost business models. Chinese e-commerce giants also see promise in Brazil as they seek new buyers for a flood of products after tariffs and other restrictions in the United States shut off their biggest export market.
North Asia
Apple joins Google in push to export Korea's high-precision map data
The Korea Herald
Jie Ye-eun
The debate over the overseas transfer of South Korea’s high-precision map data, a sensitive issue that had been largely dormant since the launch of President Lee Jae Myung’s administration, has reignited. The government is moving to develop countermeasures as global tech giants intensify their efforts to gain access to the data. Apple recently sought legal advice from a Korean law firm regarding its application to export 1:5,000 scale map data. The move follows the company’s earlier attempt in 2023, which was aimed at enhancing services, such as its Find My device tracking feature, Apple Pay’s local operations and the in-car navigation system integrated into Apple CarPlay, according to industry sources. Experts caution that granting US access may open door to similar demands from China under its data-sharing laws.
Southeast Asia
The $10 billion delivery empire built on Shein and TikTok orders
Rest of World
Lam Le
A courier firm that conquered Southeast Asia’s logistics industry and scaled globally riding the Chinese e-commerce wave is now grappling with new pressures. Broken roads, chaotic traffic, nameless alleys, and fragmented island provinces make Southeast Asia a tough terrain for online deliveries – tough enough that even Amazon has struggled to expand there. Yet, a Chinese entrepreneur saw an opportunity in the region, launching J&T Express in Jakarta in 2015. Today, the company holds a 28.6% market share in Southeast Asia, generating $10 billion in revenue globally and turning its first profit in 2024. It has since expanded into 13 countries, from China to Latin America and the Middle East.
South & Central Asia
The battle for control over Central Asia’s digital future
The Times of Central Asia
Joe Luc Barnes
Central Asia is digitalizing quickly. Governments across the region have invested in smart cities, 5G, and AI-powered platforms. Kazakhstan ranks 24th in the world in global e-government indexes, and in Tashkent and Bishkek, young, tech-savvy populations are pushing for innovation. But such progress is not without risks. A new report from the German Marshall Fund, a Washington-based think tank, outlines how Central Asia is becoming ever more reliant on Chinese and Russian technology. These two countries, the report argues, are using digital tools not just to supply infrastructure but to shape how governments in the region manage data, surveillance, and speech. Beijing and Moscow’s tech exports act as snares, tying customers into their own economies.
Ukraine - Russia
Russian dairy supply disrupted by cyberattack on animal certification system
The Record by Recorded Future
Daryna Antoniuk
Russian dairy producers have reported supply disruptions following a cyberattack on the country’s digital system for certifying animal-based products. The Mercury platform, part of Russia’s Federal State Information System for Veterinary Surveillance, was taken offline earlier this week due to the attack — the third such incident this year and the most severe to date, according to local media reports. The outage forced producers and suppliers to revert to paper-based veterinary certificates. This shift caused logistical chaos: Several regional distribution centers refused to accept goods, reports said, and major retailers such as Lenta, Yandex Lavka, and Miratorg experienced supply chain interruptions.
Europe
Iranian hackers target Albania in retaliation for hosting dissidents
POLITICO
Una Hajdari
Thousands of miles away from the Israeli airstrikes raining down on Iran, the Iranian hacker group Homeland Justice is chipping away at the digital infrastructure of a southern European country. Homeland Justice, a group the Albanian government has directly tied to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, launched a cyberattack on the capital of Tirana, saying it was “just the beginning” in a post on Telegram. “Tirana’s municipal services were paralyzed and it was all your own choice," the group said, referring to Albania hosting about 3,000 members of an exiled Iranian opposition group. Albania has been the headquarters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, better known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK, since 2013 when the U.S. government requested that a camp be built to host the exiled opposition group that participated in the overthrow of the Shah of Iran and then clashed with the Revolutionary Guard.
Europe’s growing fear: How Trump might use US tech dominance against it
The New York Times
Adam Satariano and Jeanna Smialek
When President Trump issued an executive order in February against the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court for investigating Israel for war crimes, Microsoft was suddenly thrust into the middle of a geopolitical fight. For years, Microsoft had supplied the court — which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands and investigates and prosecutes human rights breaches, genocides and other crimes of international concern — with digital services such as email. Mr. Trump’s order abruptly threw that relationship into disarray by barring U.S. companies from providing services to the prosecutor, Karim Khan. Soon after, Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash., helped turn off Mr. Khan’s I.C.C. email account, freezing him out of communications with colleagues just a few months after the court had issued an arrest warrant for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel for his country’s actions in Gaza.
Cyber firms lick lips at NATO spending buffet
POLITICO
Antoaneta Roussi
The cybersecurity sector hopes to profit as NATO allies prepare to approve a new defense spending target at summit in The Hague. Defense allies are poised to support a new target of 5 percent of GDP. Unlike NATO’s previous target of 2 percent, this new target is divided into two parts: 3.5 percent would go to conventional defense, while the remaining 1.5 percent would cover security at large. That additional security funding could mean a significant boost for the cybersecurity industry. It comes as Western governments rush to patch their national security defenses against everything from cyberattacks and digital espionage to disinformation, sabotage and attacks on critical infrastructure like subsea internet cables.
Chinese cyber threat to Europe on par with Russia’s, warns Czech president
Financial Times
Raphael Minder
China and Russia are posing similar cyber threats to Europe, according to the Czech president whose government was recently targeted by a hacker group linked to Beijing’s security services. President Petr Pavel considered the two countries to be on a par when it comes to state-sponsored hacking and espionage. Prague last month said that its foreign ministry had been the target of a “malicious cyber campaign” by APT31, a hacking group connected to the Chinese state security ministry. The group last year faced similar accusations from the US and UK, with some of its members subject to American and British sanctions. Beijing has denied the allegations. Czech foreign minister Jan Lipavský described the attack as “a clear act of espionage”, made easier by his ministry operating on an outdated and vulnerable network infrastructure.
UK
BBC threatens legal action against AI start-up Perplexity over content scraping
Financial Times
Daniel Thomas and Cristina Criddle
In a letter to Perplexity chief Aravind Srinivas, the British national broadcaster says it has evidence that the US start-up’s “default AI model” was “trained using BBC content”. The letter states it could seek an injunction unless the San Francisco-based company ceases scraping all BBC content, deletes any copies of the broadcaster’s material held for the purposes of developing its AI systems, and provides “a proposal for financial compensation” for the alleged infringement of its intellectual property so far. The move is the first time that the British broadcaster has sought to tackle AI companies over this matter, and reflects growing concerns that its content — much of which is freely and easily available as a public sector broadcaster — is being widely ripped off.
Nearly half of UK investors turn to social media for financial information
Financial Times
Maisie Grice
Nearly half of UK investors put their trust in social media, finfluencers and AI tools when making financial decisions, as unregulated sources continue to pull consumers away from professional advice. Two-fifths of UK investors have used social media to inform financial decisions over the past two years in spite of nearly 50 per cent of consumers expressing trust in financial advisers, new research from investment platform Fidelity International found. Just one in three investors who responded to Fidelity’s survey had used a professional qualified adviser in the past two years to inform a financial decision, while more than 60 per cent had never accessed the advice system, indicating many are unable to access professional advice.
Middle East
Israeli officials warn Iran is hijacking security cameras to spy
Bloomberg
Marissa Newman
Aafter Iranian ballistic missiles tore through high-rise buildings in Tel Aviv, a former Israeli cybersecurity official went on public radio to issue a stark warning: Turn off your home surveillance cameras or change the password. Iran is using private security cameras in Israel to gather real-time intelligence, a tactic also used by Hamas and Russia in other conflicts. The private surveillance market is growing, but many cameras are vulnerable to hacking due to weak passwords, lack of firmware updates, and poor installation. Experts warn that consumers should prioritize security features when buying cameras and be aware that they may be providing unintended access to sensitive information.
Radware reports hybrid warfare as cyberattacks, disinformation escalate in 2025 Israel-Iran conflict
Industrial Cyber
Ana Riberio
New insights from Radware identified that Israel launched high-impact cyber strikes targeting Iranian financial infrastructure. In response, Iran turned to disinformation campaigns and psychological warfare to counter the attacks. Hacktivist activity surged in the aftermath, with the majority of operations skewed heavily in favor of Iran. Disinformation efforts, including the use of AI-generated media, continue to shape and distort the online narrative. The ongoing cyber conflict now poses a growing risk of regional destabilization and potential global spillover. Israeli cybersecurity officials report that Iranian-linked actors have launched waves of phishing emails, DDoS attacks, and fake alert messages aimed at Israeli civilian systems in the days following the initial strikes.
NZ & Pacific Islands
Tonga Ministry of Health hit with cyberattack affecting website, IT systems
The Record by Recorded Future
Jonathan Greig
Tonga’s top health official warned the island country’s residents that a ransomware attack has taken down its National Health Information System. The Ministry of Health published statements on Wednesday explaining that it is dealing with a cyberattack on its IT systems affecting the organization’s website and other tools. Minister of Health Ana ‘Akau’ola then told parliament on Thursday that an unnamed ransomware gang attacked the National Health Information System, demanding millions in ransom to restore the system.
Gender & Women in Tech
AI threatens to widen gender gap for regional girls
AAP News
Artificial intelligence could disrupt more than just technology – it could widen the gender gap between boys and girls studying science, technology, engineering and maths. Women 4 STEM spokeswoman Sharon Samson issued the warning, while calling for industry, educators and governments to do more to encourage girls to study science and to support women to stay in STEM careers. AI technology has become a major force in Australian business, with the National AI Centre finding 40 per cent of small to medium enterprises use the technology.
Big Tech
Reddit in talks to embrace Sam Altman’s iris-scanning Orb to verify users
Semafor
Reed Albergotti
Reddit is considering using World ID, the verification system based on iris-scanning Orbs whose parent company was co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. According to two people familiar with the matter, World ID could soon become a way for Reddit users to verify that they are unique individuals while remaining anonymous on the platform. Talks between representatives of Reddit and World ID parent Tools for Humanity highlight the growing market for new identity verification technologies, as artificial intelligence floods online platforms with inauthentic content and governments around the world consider new age verification laws to prevent children and teenagers from accessing social media.
Artificial Intelligence
AI avatars in China just proved they are ace influencers. It only took a duo 7 hours to rake in more than $7 million
CNBC
Evelyn Cheng
Avatars generated by artificial intelligence are now able to sell more than real people can, according to a collaboration between Chinese tech company Baidu and a popular livestreamer. Luo Yonghao, one of China’s earliest and most popular livestreamers, and his co-host Xiao Mu both used digital versions of themselves to interact with viewers in real time for well over six hours on Sunday on Baidu’s e-commerce livestreaming platform “Youxuan”, the Chinese tech company said. The session raked in 55 million yuan or $7.65 million. In comparison, Luo’s first livestream attempt on Youxuan last month, which lasted just over four hours, saw fewer orders for consumer electronics, food and other key products, Baidu said.
Top AI models will lie, cheat and steal to reach goals, Anthropic finds
Axios
Ina Fried
Large language models across the AI industry are increasingly willing to evade safeguards, resort to deception and even attempt to steal corporate secrets in fictional test scenarios, per new research from Anthropic. The findings come as models are getting more powerful and also being given both more autonomy and more computing resources to "reason" — a worrying combination as the industry races to build AI with greater-than-human capabilities. Anthropic tested various simulated scenarios across 16 major AI models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, Meta, xAI, and other developers, and found consistent misaligned behavior. Models that would normally refuse harmful requests sometimes chose to blackmail, assist with corporate espionage, and even take some more extreme actions, when these behaviors were necessary to pursue their goals.
Can AI quicken the pace of math discovery?
The New York Times
Alexander Nazaryan
Artificial intelligence can write a poem in the style of Walt Whitman, provide dating advice and suggest the best way to cook an artichoke. But when it comes to mathematics, large language models like OpenAI’s immensely popular ChatGPT have sometimes stumbled over basic problems. Some see this as an inherent limitation of the technology, especially when it comes to complex reasoning. A new initiative from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, seeks to account for that shortfall by enlisting researchers in finding ways to conduct high-level mathematics research with an AI “co-author.” The goal of the new grant-making program, Exponentiating Mathematics, is to speed up the pace of progress in pure, as opposed to applied, math — and, in doing so, to turn AI into a superlative mathematician.
Trust in AI strongest in China, low-income nations, study shows
Bloomberg
Magdalena Del Valle
A United Nations study found a sharp global divide on attitudes toward AI, with trust strongest in low-income countries and skepticism high in wealthier ones. More than 6 out of 10 people in developing nations said they have faith that AI systems serve the best interests of society, according to a UN Development Programme survey of 21 countries seen by Bloomberg News. In two-thirds of the countries surveyed, over half of respondents expressed some level of confidence that AI is being designed for good. In China, where steady advances in AI are posing a challenge to US dominance, 83% of those surveyed said they trust the technology. Like China, most developing countries that reported confidence in AI have “high” levels of development based on the UNDP’s Human Development Index, including Kyrgyzstan and Egypt.
AI sceptic Emily Bender: ‘The emperor has no clothes’
Financial Times
George Hammond
According to Bender, we are being sold a lie: AI will not fulfil those promises, and nor will it kill us all, as others have warned. AI is, despite the hype, pretty bad at most tasks and even the best systems available today lack anything that could be called intelligence, she argues. Recent claims that models are developing a capacity to understand the world beyond the data they are trained on are nonsensical. We are “imagining a mind behind the text”, she says, but “the understanding is all on our end”. Bender is an expert in how computers model human language. She spent her early academic career in Stanford and Berkeley, two Bay Area institutions that are the wellsprings of the modern AI revolution, and worked at YY Technologies, a natural language processing company.
Misc
Defense tech startup Onebrief hits $1.1B valuation
Axios
Chris Metinko
Onebrief, a maker of military workflow software, raised $20 million in new funding led by Battery Ventures at a $1.1 billion valuation, CEO Grant Demaree tells Axios Pro exclusively. The valuation almost doubles the company's $650 million valuation in a February deal led by General Catalyst. Onebrief's collaborative workflow platform helps military staff from different organizations stay up to date in real-time planning, while its AI features help with decision making. Defense tech funding has been on a roll, as best illustrated by Anduril's $2.5 billion raise led by Founders Fund at a $30.5 billion valuation earlier this month.
Research
Data brokers are a killer's best friend
Lawfare
Tom Uren
A Minnesota man has allegedly used people search services to locate, stalk, and eventually murder political targets. The alleged shooter, Vance Boelter, is accused of killing Democratic state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark. He is also facing charges for shooting Democratic state Sen. According to an FBI affidavit, notebooks containing the names of more than 45 Minnesota state and federal public officials were found in Boelter's abandoned car. One notebook listed 11 different people search services that sell personal information of individuals online, including physical addresses, emails, and phone numbers.
Events & Podcasts
Going post-nuclear: Kylie Moore-Gilbert on the future of Iran
As Iran’s government flails in response to Israel’s attacks, and with Donald Trump mulling a two-week window for Tehran to negotiate an end to its nuclear program, speculation is turning to how the dramatic events will reshape Iran’s politics, nearly half a century since the Islamic Republic was created. Kylie Moore-Gilbert is a Melbourne-based academic, author and political scientist with deep expertise on Iran and the Middle East. In 2018 she was wrongfully arrested by the Iranian regime and went on to spend more than two years in harrowing conditions in Iranian prisons.
Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly 2025
The Digital Rights Asia-Pacific Assembly returns for a third edition this August 26 to 27, 2025, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, continuing the vital work of fostering resilience and solidarity within the digital rights community in the Asia-Pacific. Building upon the foundations of DRAPAC23 Chiang Mai and DRAPAC24 Taipei, the assembly will unite diverse stakeholders to combat rising digital authoritarianism in the region by collaboratively shaping rights-based digital governance, bolstering the resilience of at-risk human rights defenders, and pioneering innovative strategies through cross-sector alliances.
The Daily Cyber & Tech Digest is brought to you by the Cyber, Technology & Security Programs team at ASPI and supported by partners.
For more on China's pressure campaign against Taiwan—including military threats, interference and cyberwarfare, check out ASPI’s State of the Strait Weekly Digest.
