CyberSec & Datasec
February 2020 news
A broad collection of cybersec, datasec and infosec focused news reported across February 2020. Focusing on the broad Asia-Pacific region, Startup News Asia’s cybersec news round-ups also refer to points of reference in the wider world where useful or relevant for context and further information.
- ICYMI: Members of China’s People’s Liberation Army charged over hacking campaign to steal sensitive personal information of near 150M Americans
- So, what exactly is the difference between Cyber Security and Information Security?
- ICYMI: Mastercard to open Cyber Resilience Centre in Europe, aiming to foster cybersecurity collaboration between public and private sectors
- The Cyber Statecraft Initiative – 5 questions answered by 5 experts on the evolution of the internet and geopolitics
- Google open-sources OpenSK firmware for building hardware security keys, aiming to boost use by researchers, security key manufacturers and hardware hobbyists
- Meet Cybil, portal where the international cyber capacity-building community can find and share information to support program and project design and delivery
- Another layer to ransomware attacks – a doxxing extortion method, stealing files and using the threat of public posting of confidential information as extra leverage
- According to 2018 Internet Development Statistics, China’s cybercrime underground was worth more than $15BN, nearly twice the size of its information security industry
- Australia: FifthDomain gains $1.19M from gov’t AustCyber program to address cybersecurity skills shortage with cybersec education and training programs
- Meet Cybil, portal where the international cyber capacity-building community can find and share information to support program and project design and delivery
- India: Hyderabad’s JNTU engineering university to introduce mandatory cyber-security class as part of studies, regardless of stream or course
- Singapore: CYFIRMA cybersecurity firm raises Series A funding with cyber threat analytics looking at both dark and surface web spaces
- 5G’s security problems: “Solutions are few and far between, and not very satisfying”
- Australian Red Cross faces new bushfire-related challenge – hundreds of bot-generated submissions for bushfire relief grants
- India: Lawsuit launched by company to shut down access to US cybersecurity journalism website – after site helps them identify and fix data security issue
- An overview of the emerging cyber-warfare threats to Pakistan
- ICYMI: “Allegations that the [Philippines] National Grid can easily be controlled by foreign entities are being taken seriously by the government”
- Singapore: 2020 Budget will see Singapore spend $719M over 3 years on improving government cyber- and data-security systems
- In their rush to automate cities, planners also need to ensure that they build in cybersecurity to protect from a variety of online threats
- ICYMI: Members of China’s People’s Liberation Army charged over hacking campaign to steal sensitive personal information of near 150M Americans
- The Cyber Statecraft Initiative – 5 questions answered by 5 experts on the evolution of the internet and geopolitics
- ICYMI: US Marshals to auction approximately 4040 bitcoin, worth $37.7M, seized from criminal activity, ‘cleaned’ and now re-entering the crypto marketplace
- Wells Fargo invests $5M in UK’s Elliptic in move towards blocking crypto-related activities around money laundering, terror fundraising, fraud and financial crimes
- Tech giants including Google, Facebook seek alternatives to Hong Kong as global data hub due to security concerns around China partner firm
- According to 2018 Internet Development Statistics, China’s cybercrime underground was worth more than $15BN, nearly twice the size of its information security industry
- Japan to expand support for domestic drone industry to alleviate security concerns posed by Chinese-made devices
- Malaysia: Cyber Security Awareness Master Plan in development by gov’t to coordinate implementation of cyber-security awareness programs nationwide
- Download: Tracking Operation Wocao, one of China’s state-run hacking groups tasked with obtaining information for espionage purposes
- Malaysia warns its officials of Chinese state-backed hacking campaign targeting government projects
- In the WSJ: “We have evidence that Huawei has the capability secretly to access sensitive and personal information in systems it maintains and sells around the world”
- So, what exactly is the difference between Cyber Security and Information Security?
- ICYMI: Clearview AI, firm recently headlined over high-level privacy concerns, has had its entire client list stolen in data breach
- ICYMI: Mastercard to open Cyber Resilience Centre in Europe, aiming to foster cybersecurity collaboration between public and private sectors
- Australia: Victoria gov’t is uploading driver license data to federal gov’t National Driver Licence Facial Recognition Solution; license-holders cannot opt out
- Meet Cybil, portal where the international cyber capacity-building community can find and share information to support program and project design and delivery
- Singapore: CYFIRMA cybersecurity firm raises Series A funding with cyber threat analytics looking at both dark and surface web spaces
- India: Lawsuit launched by company to shut down access to US cybersecurity journalism website – after site helps them identify and fix data security issue
- An overview of the emerging cyber-warfare threats to Pakistan
- Another layer to ransomware attacks – a doxxing extortion method, stealing files and using the threat of public posting of confidential information as extra leverage
- As the North Korean regime finds ways to bring in cryptocurrency, it also needs ways to cash out…it relies on regional cryptocurrency exchanges that operate below the radar
- Australian Red Cross faces new bushfire-related challenge – hundreds of bot-generated submissions for bushfire relief grants
- In their rush to automate cities, planners also need to ensure that they build in cybersecurity to protect from a variety of online threats
- ICYMI: “Allegations that the [Philippines] National Grid can easily be controlled by foreign entities are being taken seriously by the government”
- The future of 5G may be bright, but is it secure?’
- Download: How North Korea Revolutionized the Internet as a Tool for Rogue Regimes (pdf)
- US considering changing regulations to allow blocking of chip shipments to Huawei from companies including Taiwan’s TSMC, world’s largest contract chipmaker
- ICYMI: Google and Mozilla announce plans to encrypt users’ browsing data when they visit websites with Chrome or Firefox with addition of DNS over https system
- Tech giants including Google, Facebook seek alternatives to Hong Kong as global data hub due to security concerns around China partner firm
- Japan to expand support for domestic drone industry to alleviate security concerns posed by Chinese-made devices
- Malaysia: Cyber Security Awareness Master Plan in development by gov’t to coordinate implementation of cyber-security awareness programs nationwide
- Download: Tracking Operation Wocao, one of China’s state-run hacking groups tasked with obtaining information for espionage purposes
- ICYMI: Clearview AI, firm recently headlined over high-level privacy concerns, has had its entire client list stolen in data breach
- Singapore: 2020 Budget will see Singapore spend $719M over 3 years on improving government cyber- and data-security systems
- German news report alleges gov’t has ‘smoking gun’ evidence that Huawei cooperated with China’s state intelligence, proving the firm an unsafe 5G partner
- Download: The Case for Electronic Cash – Why Private Peer-to-Peer Payments are Essential to an Open Society (pdf)
- China: “…creating an elaborate, digital system of governance since Xi Jinping came to power. This year, the social credit system is set to cover all corners of China.”
- California’s Naval Air Warfare Center research group invests near $10M in Simba Chain blockchain software startup focusing on secure messaging platform
- India: Hyderabad’s JNTU engineering university to introduce mandatory cyber-security class as part of studies, regardless of stream or course
- Huawei…is not a normal business that has broken the law; it’s an organized criminal enterprise. They’re right, and unprecedented misbehavior calls for an unprecedented response
- Download: How North Korea Revolutionized the Internet as a Tool for Rogue Regimes (pdf)
- Malaysia warns its officials of Chinese state-backed hacking campaign targeting government projects
- According to 2018 Internet Development Statistics, China’s cybercrime underground was worth more than $15BN, nearly twice the size of its information security industry
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