News Story: Brunei's Sultan cautions army of cyber-related threats

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- Brunei's armed force should be ready to deal with the cyber-related threats which prevailed in the digital age, said Haji Hassanal Bolkiah, Brunei's Sultan on Sunday.

Delivering a speech on the 56th Royal Brunei Armed Forces (RBAF) anniversary, the Sultan, who is also the country's minister of defense and supreme commander of RBAF, emphasized the importance for RBAF personnel to strengthen their respective internal fortress and adhere to the ethics of social media usage as part of the wider efforts to safeguard against radicalization and extremism.

Apart from this, the Sultan also raised the increasing prevalence of cyber-related threats in today's digital age and took note of the on-going efforts undertaken by the Ministry of Defense and the RBAF in enhancing Cyber Defense.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: ASEAN police to set up integrated database to support fight against terrorism

JAKARTA, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Police in Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will establish an integrated database system which can be accessed fast and safely by investigators of member states, so as to support the fight against terrorism, a police officer said on Thursday.

The police in ASEAN member nations have agreed to set up the electronic Aseanapol database system (e-ADS) as supporting facility to battle militants and other transnational crimes, according to Head of Crime Unit of Indonesian National Police Senior Commissioner Ari Dono Sukmanto, who is attending the 37th Aseanapol conference in Singapore.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Int'l computer emergency response drill held in Vietnam

HANOI, Sept. 11 (Xinhua) -- The 2017 ASEAN Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Incident Drill, or ACID, took place here on Monday with the participation of 10 Southeast Asian nations and Australia, China, India, Japan and South Korea.

Addressing the 2017 ACID themed "The Dangers of Insufficient Authentication and Poor Access," Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Information and Communications Nguyen Thanh Hung said the drill aimed to reinforcing smooth communication channels among countries and strengthening their coordination to better respond to network security incidents.

During the drill, computer emergency response teams from the 15 countries participated in reporting, handling, investigating, analyzing, and overcoming specific incidents.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Indonesia to work with Google in fight against cyber terror attack

JAKARTA, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will cooperate with Google to counter spread of radicalism in cyber media following a spate of suicide attacks in the country which used internet as a facility, a minister said on Friday.

Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara said the inclusion of Google in the move would shorten the period required to filter out and delete the internet contents with links with radicalism.

"Google and the ministry will apply a system of 'trusted flagger and legal removal programs.' Basically, we will settle all the problems," the minister said after meeting with the representatives of Google.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Senior official stresses use of big data, AI in policing

GUIYANG, July 13 (Xinhua) -- A senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official has called on the country's police force to make full use of big data technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

Meng Jianzhu, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks during a two-day inspection in southwest China's Guizhou Province, which concluded Wednesday.

Guizhou has been a pioneer of the application of big data technology in various sectors including police work.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Australia Launches New Cyber Warfare Unit

Phil Mercer

SYDNEY — Australia has a new Information Warfare Unit that will start operations within days. It will defend Australian military targets from cyber attacks and will be able to launch its own assaults on foreign defense forces.

Australia’s newest frontline forces are ‘keyboard warriors’ - analysts, technicians and computer experts who will lead the fight against cyber attacks.

The unit will run both defensive and offensive operations. It will allow Australia to respond to modern digital forms of conflict, as the United States, China and Russia increase their investment in electronic warfare.

The Information Warfare Unit will have 100 staff members, but that figure is expected to grow to about 900 in a decade’s time.

AUS: Prime Minister, Minister for Defence and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security - Capability to fight cyber criminals

The Turnbull Government is committed to protecting Australians online and stopping cyber criminals.

Cybercrime is conservatively estimated to cost the Australian economy $1 billion a year.

Since its inception at the end of 2014, there have been over 114,000 reports of cybercrime registered with the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN).

Notably 23,700 of these have been reported over the last 6 months, highlighting a growing occurrence of cyber criminal activity.

Given the growing cost of cybercrime to the Australian economy, the Government has directed the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) to use its offensive cyber capabilities to disrupt, degrade, deny and deter organised offshore cyber criminals. This follows the Government’s public acknowledgement of ASD’s offensive cyber capability when we launched Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy in April 2016.

The use of this capability, which is currently used to help target, disrupt and defeat terrorist organisations such as Daesh, is subject to stringent legal oversight and consistent with our obligations under international law.

News Report: Australia to Set Up Cyber Warfare Unit to Protect Country From Hacking Attacks

The Australian Defense Forces will create a cyber warfare unit, which will improve the country's defense against cyberattacks and enable it to launch own attacks, local media reported Friday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – One hundred personnel and public service employees will work for the unit, with this number expected to grow to 900 in ten years, the ABC broadcaster reported.

The unit will be tasked with defending Australian military targets from cyberattacks, identifying foreign targets and launching own attacks. The targets could reportedly include China's South Sea Fleet.

The news come against the background of recent worldwide cyberattacks, with such malicious software as WannaCry and ExPetr affecting work of computers in companies and state agencies in many countries.

Australian authorities reportedly also fear alleged cyberthreat coming from Russia, as Washington repeatedly accused Moscow of meddling with US presidential election with the help of hackers, which Kremlin refuted as groundless.

This story first appeared on Sputnik & is reposted here with permission.

News Story: Australian gov't announces new offensive cyber warfare division

CANBERRA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The Australian government has announced that a new cyber warfare division with offensive capabilities will go online from July 1 to ensure the country remains at the "cutting edge" of the cyber security landscape.

Making the announcement in Canberra on Friday, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Cyber Security Dan Tehan said the new Information Warfare Division would conduct both offensive and defensive cyber attacks, in a move he said was necessary due to the changing nature of modern warfare.

"From tomorrow, Australia will have an Information Warfare Division within the Defence Department," Tehan told the press.

"This is a result of the changing character of contemporary conflict. The division will have the responsibility for military cyber operations, military intelligence, joint electronic warfare, information operations and our military's space operations.

"It will integrate existing operations across our forces to protect and support our Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel and systems, and the division is authorized to conduct self-defence, passive defence, active defence and offensive operations."

The minister said Australia's defence personnel were among the best in the world, and that under the new cyber warfare division, they would be able to stay "ahead of the curve" to keep Australians, businesses and governments safe from cyber attacks.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Spyware to Tap Into Smartphones Puts Users’ Rights at Risk

Michelle Quinn

SAN FRANCISCO — Governments around the world are using surveillance software that taps into individual smartphones, taking screenshots, reading email and tracking users’ movements, according to security experts and civil liberties groups.

The rise of so-called spyware comes as electronic communications have become more encrypted, frustrating law enforcement and governments’ surveillance efforts.

Over the past several years, private companies have begun selling advanced software that first appears as a text message with a link. When a person clicks on the link, the phone becomes infected. A third party can then read emails, take data and listen to audio, as well as track users’ movements.

The companies that sell this spyware exclusively to government agencies insist that the software must be used only in a legal manner, to fight crime and terrorism. However, security researchers and civil liberties groups contend that some governments use the programs to track human rights activists, journalists and others.

​A recent story in The New York Times focused on activists and journalists in Mexico who have received text messages and emails with links that, if clicked on, would infect their devices with spyware. In some cases, the messages appeared to come from legitimate sources, such as the U.S. Embassy.

The Mexican government says it does not target activists, journalists and others with spyware unless it has “prior judicial authorization.”

News Report: Australia Moves to Protect Classified Docs from Cyber Espionage

Phil Mercer

SYDNEY — Australia says it will move classified government information from a private data center in Sydney after a Chinese consortium bought a major stake in the company. The move comes despite assurances from the company, Global Switch, that its files are secure.

Global Switch owns two secure data facilities in downtown Sydney, and stores classified Australian government defense and intelligence files.

Its ownership changed in December when its UK-based parent company accepted a $3 billion bid from Chinese investors for a 49 percent stake in the Sydney-based firm. Among the investors was an entrepreneur who owns part of China's leading data enterprise, the Daily Tech.

In response, Australian officials said they would move classified files from the private storage facility to a state-run data unit when its current contract expires in 2020, despite a promise from Global Switch that its services are secure.

News Story: Australia flags crackdown on encrypted communication ahead of "Five Eyes" meeting

CANBERRA, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Attorney-General George Brandis said Australia would be pushing its "Five Eyes" intelligence partners this month to crack down on encrypted technology in the global fight against terrorism.

Brandis said Australia would list the issue as a top agenda item at a meeting of the "Five Eyes" alliance, which comprises Australia, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand, in Canada at the end of June.

Speaking to the Australian media on Tuesday night, Brandis said encrypted Internet communication was the biggest challenge facing law enforcement and security agencies around the world.

Brandis called upon telecommunications companies, social media outlets and Internet giants to cooperate with authorities on terrorism investigations, saying they had a "corporate social responsibility" to help combat terrorist activity.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Report: Chinese Firms Help Government Monitor Citizens with Big Data

Saibal Dasgupta

BEIJING — A Chinese city is using big data provided by a phone company to track the movement of its migrant worker population, expanding the many ways China is using big data to not just enhance performance but also track the daily lives of its citizens.

"When you buy a mobile phone SIM card, you need to register your identity information," said an officer of China Mobile designated at the company's booth during the recent Big Data Expo in southwest China's Guiyang city. He was explaining how the mobile phone company is assisting Guiyang police about the movement of migrants in the city on a real-time basis.

"So, we can obtain information about the people in a given area and details like whether they are men or women, their age, and where they come from," he said.

Very suddenly, big data is set to take up many of the responsibilities of the Communist Party's feedback mechanism. It is also expected to act as feedstock for the anti-corruption campaign, which has been using information about spending on wines and luxury buying for the purpose of investigations.

News Story: Singapore, Australia vow to expand bilateral cooperation

SINGAPORE, June 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on Singaporean President Tony Tan Keng Yam and met with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for the second Singapore-Australia Leaders' Summit on Friday.

In a press release, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Tan and Turnbull welcomed the implementation of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) and looked forward to increased exchanges between the two countries.

At the Leaders' Summit, both Lee and Turnbull reaffirmed the longstanding and excellent bilateral ties underpinned by similar perspectives and strategic trust.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Weaponizing the internet for terrorism

Terrorism is a fact of life as are the collectives and networks to which counter-terrorism organizations and the media have given various labels and names. These networks are well versed in exploiting modern information technology through social media awareness, marketing and recruitment campaigns.

However, there is the more insidious use by terrorists groups of online networks and exploits in the creation of so-called bots (computers that have been compromised through the implementation of malware and control over which has been assumed by a third party, or more likely a third party control a lot array of such bots in a botnet.

Writing in the International Journal of Collaborative Intelligence, Emmanuel Ogu of the Department of Computer Science, at Babcock University, in Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria, and colleagues suggest that the problems caused by botnets in terms of interfering with infrastructure, healthcare services, transport, power supply and other critical parts of the modern world are not very different to those caused by the more familiar notion of terrorist attacks involving explosives and weapons.

Read the full story at SpaceWar

News Story: Thailand announces new cyber security law

Hanoi (VNA) – The Thai government on May 17 announced a new cyberspace law, allowing agencies to access private computer systems, ostensibly to tackle hacking.

The law was issued after the WannaCry cyber attack, which affected computer systems worldwide.

It proposed the founding of a national cyber security committee led by Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha. The committee will supervise cyber defence and have the right to access the computer of any local companies and citizens with a court order.

Read the full story at VietnamPlus

News Report: Hackers Who Leaked Tools For Global CyberAttack Set To Sell Secret Code

A hacker group that took credit for leaking some of the NSA cyber tools used in last week’s ransomware attack that hit systems more than 150 countries has announced that they will soon begin selling code that can help hack into some of the world’s most critical and ubiquitous technology.

In an online statement, the Shadow Brokers group said that beginning in June, they will release software to access secret spying tools, which would give anyone willing to pay the ability to break into phone handsets, network routers and web browsers on some of the most popular consumer devices. 

The hackers said that they would also be selling zero-days, secret vulnerabilities that could be used to break into Windows 10. Without revealing many details, the group said there may in addition be a dump of data from nuclear and missile programs in Iran, China, North Korea and Russia.

They also will supply data from international banks that use the SWIFT international money transfer network. 

As researchers investigate the source of the attack, there is some indication that North Korea may have been involved. 

News Story: India hit by ransomware virus

NEW DELHI, May 13 (Xinhua) -- A massive cyber attack that has struck organizations in dozens of countries across the world since Friday evening, has hit India too.

Indian officials said Saturday that the global WannaCry ransomware cyber attack has affected about 25 percent of the computers - more than 100 in number - used by the police in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

"The 25 percent of police computers infected with the ransomware were mostly using the Windows operating system. Cyber experts were trying to debug the hacked computers," Inspector General of Andhra Pradesh Police E. Damodarm told the media.

Gulshan Rai, director general of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team, has also confirmed the attack.

Read the full story at Xinhua

News Story: Manhunt for hackers behind global cyberattack

By Robin MILLARD

International investigators hunted Saturday for those behind an unprecedented cyber-attack that affected systems in dozens of countries, including at banks, hospitals and government agencies, as security experts sought to contain the fallout.

The assault, which began Friday and was being described as the biggest-ever cyber ransom attack, struck state agencies and major companies around the world -- from Russian banks and British hospitals to FedEx and European car factories.

"The recent attack is at an unprecedented level and will require a complex international investigation to identify the culprits," said Europol, Europe's police agency.

Europol said a special task force at its European Cybercrime Centre was "specially designed to assist in such investigations and will play an important role in supporting the investigation".

The attacks used ransomware that apparently exploited a security flaw in Microsoft operating systems, locking users' files unless they pay the attackers a designated sum in the virtual currency Bitcoin.

Read the full story at SpaceDaily

News Story: Trump signs executive order on cybersecurity

WASHINGTON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order aimed at strengthening cybersecurity of federal networks and critical infrastructure.

"We've seen increasing attacks from allies, adversaries, primarily nation-states, but also non-nation-state actors, and sitting by and doing nothing is no longer an option," Trump's homeland security adviser Tom Bossert said at a daily briefing.

When asked if it's the Russian hack that led to this order, Bossert said, "It wasn't a Russia-motivated issue. It was a United States of America-motivated issue."

He said the priorities on protecting networks, which is the first section of the order, include agency heads being held accountable for implementing risk management measures and a preference in federal procurement for shared IT services, including moving to the cloud services.

Read the full story at Xinhua