Strava has published details about secret military bases, and an Australian was the first to know – ABC News

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Danielle Cave, a senior analyst at the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, called the heatmap an “open source intelligence gold mine”. She suggested the data also raised a cyber security risk. “A hacking group, state or non-state, could very easily now target Strava knowing how valuable the data is that they are holding,” she said. “If it does turn out that people can strip out the personal details of some of these Strava users, then I think it’s getting into a very dangerous place.”

Read the full story here.

ASPI to bring out China defence & Artificial Intelligence specialist with Fulbright grant

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The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s (ASPI) International Cyber Policy Centre (ICPC) is pleased to announce it’s been awarded a 2018 Fulbright Specialist Grant. With this grant ICPC will bring out Elsa Kania, adjunct fellow in the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security.

Elsa’s expertise lies in Chinese defence innovation and emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence. Her research interests include Chinese military modernisation, information warfare and defence science and technology. Her most recent publication “Battlefield Singularity: Artificial Intelligence, military revolution and China’s future military power” was accompanied by an essay in Foreign Affairs magazine.

Elsa is also an independent analyst, consultant and co-founder of the China Cyber and Intelligence Studies Institute (CCISI). A graduate of Harvard College, her thesis focused on the evolution of the PLA’s strategic thinking on information warfare. She speaks Mandarin and in 2014-15 was a Boren Scholar in Beijing.

ICPC senior analyst Danielle Cave said: “We are delighted to host Elsa Kania and her visit couldn’t be better timed. Last year, the Chinese Government committed to expand its AI industry to USD 150 billion by 2030. And as Elsa states in her recent report, the People’s Liberation Army ‘is pursuing advances in impactful and disruptive military applications of AI’. Such investments will have profound security, political, economic and social implications for the entire Asia-Pacific region. It’s imperative Australia invests in understanding how such emerging technologies will re-shape our economy and the potential impacts on regional security. Elsa is perfectly positioned to make a valuable and timely contribution as Australia, and our wider region, seek to navigate both the opportunities and challenges presented by the proliferation of AI technologies.”

Elsa will be in Australia from mid-March to mid-April. She will participate in ASPI events, roundtables and have meetings with government, business and civil society. Watch our event page and @ASPI_ICPC for more information. For event, meeting and media enquires please contact reneejones@aspi.org.au / 0400 424 323

China hits back over criticism of its aid to Pacific islands

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China has responded angrily to Australia’s criticism of its loans and aid to Pacific island nations.

The Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, has raised concerns Chinese funds are being used to build unnecessary infrastructure and the developing nations will struggle to repay the resulting debts to China.

A Chinese Government spokesman says the Senator’s remarks are irresponsible and show little knowledge of the facts.

Fergus Hanson from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says China regards its aid program as a state secret.

Bitcoin Can’t Save World’s Autocrats From the Sanctions Squeeze

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Bloomberg’s David Tweed discusses Bitcoin with Tom Uren, visiting fellow with ICPC. 

Think about how many U.S. dollars are in circulation and how much each bitcoin would have to be worth to match that value — it would be a ludicrously big number.

Read the full story here. 

Notorious website with naked photos of Aussie schoolgirls returns months after being shut down

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Fergus Hanson of the ICPC talks with Channel 7 News.

Meltdown CPU bug

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Sky News spoke to Tom Uren about the recent revelations that the Meltdown CPU flaws are widespread and pose significant threats to virtually all computer systems worldwide if unaddressed. 

Watch the interview here. 

Report reveals growing cyber threat in Asia Pacific

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Thomas Oriti of the ABC’s The World Today speaks with lead author Tom Uren on the recently released ICPC report Cyber Maturity in the Asia-Pacific 2017.

http://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/worldtoday/report-reveals-growing-cyber-threat-in-asia-pacific/9250494

Cyber Security: Are we doing enough?

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The Australian Cyber Security Centre released their Annual Threat Report on Tuesday.

It paints a bleak picture for Australian Cyber Security in both the public and private sectors.

The Government insists this is not a serious issue but some experts argue we still have a long way to go to keep Australia safe.

In this interview, Fergus Hanson talks with Fran Kelly of ABC Radio National. 

Massive ‘Alf’ military data breach prompts demands to reveal state hackers

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Australia should “name and shame” countries behind state-sponsored hacking to build up international pressure against the practice, a cyber-security expert has said in the wake of the major breach of a defence subcontractor.

Fergus Hanson speaks to David Wroe and Michael Koziol of the Sydney Morning Herald.

Full story: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/massive-alf-military-data-breach-prompts-demands-to-reveal-state-hackers-20171012-gyzrsq

Hacked Defence contractor hadn’t changed its passwords from their default

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Fergus Hanson speaking on the ABC 7:30 report about the recent cyber incident which saw a Defence contractor hacked.

Video here: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/hacked-defence-contractor-had-changed-its/9045122