TechLetter #3 - cyber weapons, Privacy vs Competition, 5G vs Seafood
Welcome to the third letter!
Security
Telecoms Security. The UK unveiled the much-awaited Telecommunications Security Bill. It plans to equip the UK telecoms regulator with the powers of banning the use of systems from high-risk vendors. This goes way beyond 5G or a single vendor like Huawei. Meanwhile, the US has passed an IoT Cybersecurity Improvement Act.
Kinetic vs cyber weapons (article): “Cyber weapons offer unique value in all stages of conflict and confrontation”.
Ransomware-as-a-service pipeline (its elements) busted in Romania. “Common way for to circumvent antivirus detection is through the use of crypters which encrypt or hide the underlying code in a piece of software, typically malware, to masquerade as something harmless until it gets installed on a victim’s computer”. They offered this system for US$40 to US$300 to 1560 clients.
Healthcare cyberattacks. Continued issues (with long-lasting effects) due to the cyberattack on hospital systems in the US. Disrupted cancer treatments... Hospitals are attacked because criminals deliberately expect them to pay (“soft-targets”). "Unfortunate" is the least one can say. We sadly predicted some of these things during our work on the ICRC report on the humanitarian consequences of cyber operations.
Crypto backdoors. After Crypto AG, a second Swiss firm is suspected of selling backdoor encryption devices. Third firm is also being mentioned. Lots of details in this report (french) of the Swiss Parliament. These were the times…
Privacy
Privacy vs Competition. There’s a motion in the UK to stop Google’s Privacy Sandbox plans (the success of which would led to disablement of third-party cookies, largely seen as a move improving privacy) with the help of competition law. This follows Apple struct with a similarly competition-law-inspired motion in France for a desire to strip the tracking ID IDFA. Fascinating where this leads. 2020 keeps on delivering.
Tech policy
43 app banned in India - next batch. Many from China.
Data Governance Act proposed by the European Union. Policy strategy to make data sharing re-use of public data "easier". Lots of questions. They hope that sharing might be privacy-proofed. This is probably also the first such a regulation that is overtly referencing differential privacy techniques. The Act establishes a notion of "Data Altruism Organisations", the official status of an organisation that shares some data. Let’s hope this will be transparent and well-proofed to avoid misuses. Some people may wonder if it isn’t introducing holes in the GDPR.
5G vs Seafood? Australia banned Huawei from building 5G networks. So now apparently China imposed tariffs on Australian products such as wine, barley, beef, coal, seafood, and more. Retaliation for technology policies using other domains of trade?
Other
Covid-19 misinformation effects. Interesting research into the consequences of misinformation in the epidemic. The majority (54%) would like to be vaccinated. Then after watching an online post by a celebrity criticizing vaccination many (6%) change their minds and become 'against' vaccination. Misinformation/disinformation effects may have an impact on the dynamics of the epidemic.
That’s it this time, thanks!
In case you decide to forward this letter further for any reason, I’ll leave this thingy below: