IndigiCyber and STEM pathways launch with Indigenous IT businesses and Defence

To coincide with cyber security and Indigenous business month, ASPI launched its IndigiCyber and STEM Pathways project with an event that brought Indigenous IT businesses together with the Department of Defence, the National Indigenous Australians Agency and the Digital Transformation Agency. The key messages of the day were that senior leadership and a long-term vision in the APS and Government can help build Indigenous business (IB) sector so they move up the value chain. However, there is a need to encourage feedback mechanisms between IBs and departments so that (1) IBs are continuously upskilled and (2) IBs are involved in the design of solutions that attempt to overcome siloed departmental and jurisdictional arrangements.

The event kicked off with a welcome-to-country by local Ngunnawal woman Selina Walker, followed by a video message from Adam Goodes in his capacity as CEO of the Indigenous Defence & Infrastructure Consortium. The connection between STEM and Indigenous businesses for Adam was clear:  “Indigenous businesses are a major employer of Indigenous Australians […] our cultural knowledge and practices have been practised for thousands of years, and the incorporation of this knowledge and culture into areas of STEM is long overdue and really add value to this important area”

In recognition of the important role that the Department of Defence is playing in contracting with the Indigenous business sector through the Indigenous Procurement Program (IPP), we welcomed representatives from Defence IPP as well as featured a keynote address from the Defence Indigenous Champion and Deputy Secretary Estate and Infrastructure Mr Stephen Grzeskowiak (Steve G.).

Steve spoke of his personal experience participating in the Jawun executive immersion in an Indigenous community in Northern Queensland about 6 years ago. The cut through moment was the realisation that some Indigenous communities are living in developing world conditions in one of the world’s most developed countries. More can be done by Defence and other government agencies to integrate Indigenous companies into supply chains. Defence exceeds its IPP targets by approximately 300% but now sees its role as moving Indigenous businesses higher up the value chain. What partly inspired this long-term vision was a conversation with Adam Goodes, who said that we need to set ambitious objectives so that in 40 years’ time Indigenous businesses are leaders in delivering the most complex technical and infrastructure needs to Defence such as the provision of a fleet of frigates.

Jennifer Jardine provided a systematic overview of the IPP from the perspective of the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), saying that government departments need to think of Indigenous businesses first. Julian Buckmaster and Peter Rymasz (Digital Transformation Agency (DTA)) highlighted the upcoming Digital Sourcing Network event and how they are planning on targeting Indigenous businesses. Siobhan Reid, from Defence, acknowledged that it is sometimes hard for IBs to know who to connect with because Defence is large and diverse. Part of their IPP team’s role is to ensure that IBs are connected with the right people, and to create an inclusive culture where Indigenous procurement goals are included in branch business plans, and that IBs are resourced with advice to address criteria, provided debriefs and feedback to continuously build the capacity of IBs in their purview.

A few strong themes emerged over the course of the afternoon:

Government

  1. Forthright executive leadership
  2. Principle of Indigenous business first
  3. Move IBs up value chain
  4. Build relationships through business forums and trade shows
  5. Information on digital connections/marketplace 
  6. Encourage learning from IBs
  7. Culture of upskilling IBs through debriefing and feedback and encouraging IBs to share ideas with departments.

Indigenous Businesses

  1. IPP representatives are key to connecting with the right person (but often won’t make procurement decisions)
  2. Share ideas and business plans with IPP representatives
  3. Partnerships with larger providers to help move up value chain
  4. Get advice on addressing criteria, ask for debrief and feedback
  5. Update statement on Supply Nation
  6. For start-ups with no previous government contracts, demonstrate expertise by drawing attention to team talent and capabilities.

Covid-19 Disinformation & Social Media Manipulation

Arange of actors are manipulating the information environment to exploit the COVID-19 crisis for strategic gain. ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre is tracking many of these state and non-state actors online, and will occasionally publish investigative, data-driven reporting that will focus on the use of disinformation, propaganda, extremist narratives and conspiracy theories by these actors.

The bulk of ASPI’s data analysis uses our in-house Influence Tracker tool – a machine learning and data analytics capability that draws out insights from multi-language social media datasets. This new tool can ingest data in multiple languages and auto-translate, producing insights on topics, sentiment, shared content, influential accounts, metrics of impact and posting patterns.

The reports are listed in chronological order:

#10: Attempted influence in disguise

This report builds from a Twitter network take-down announced on 8 October 2020 and attributed by Twitter as an Iranian state-linked information operation. Just over 100 accounts were suspended for violations of Twitter’s platform manipulation policies. This case study provides an overview of how to extrapolate from Twitter’s take-down dataset to identify persistent accounts on the periphery of the network. It provides observations on the operating mechanisms and impact of the cluster of accounts, characterising their traits as activist, media and hobbyist personas. The purpose of the case study is to provide a guide on how to use transparency datasets as a means of identifying ongoing inauthentic activity.

#9: Covid-19 and the reach of pro-Kremlin messaging

This research investigation examines Russia’s efforts to manipulate the information environment during the coronavirus crisis. It leverages data from the European External Action Service’s East StratCom Task Force, which, through its EUvsDisinfo project, tracks pro-Kremlin messages spreading in the EU and Eastern Partnership countries. Using this open-source repository of pro-Kremlin disinformation, in combination with OSINT investigative techniques that track links between online entities, we analyse the narratives being seeded about COVID-19 and map the social media accounts spreading those messages.

We found that the key subjects of the Kremlin’s messaging focused on the EU, NATO, Bill Gates, George Soros, the World Health Organization (WHO), the US and Ukraine. Narratives included well-trodden conspiracies about the source of the coronavirus, the development and testing of a potential vaccine, the impact on the EU’s institutions, the EU’s slow response to the virus and Ukraine’s new president. We also found that Facebook groups were a powerful hub for the spread of some of those messages.

27 Oct 2020

#8: Viral videos: Covid-19, China and inauthentic influence on Facebook

For the latest report in our series on Covid-19 disinformation, we’ve investigated ongoing inauthentic activity on Facebook and YouTube. This activity uses both English and Chinese language content to present narratives that support the political objectives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These narratives span a range of topics, including assertions of corruption and incompetence in the Trump administration, the US Government’s decision to ban TikTok, the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter protests, and the ongoing tensions in the US–China relationship. A major theme, and the focus of this report, is criticism of how the US broadly, and the Trump administration in particular, are handling the Covid-19 crisis on both the domestic and the global levels.

29 Sept 2020

#7: Possible inauthentic activity promoting the Epoch Times and Truth Media targets Australians on Facebook

This ASPI ICPC report investigates a Facebook page which appears to be using coordinated, inauthentic tactics to target Australian users with content linked to The Epoch Times and other media groups. This includes running paid advertisements, as well as systematically seeding content into Australian Facebook groups for minority communities, hobbyists and conspiracy theories. Inauthentic and covert efforts to shape political opinions have no place in an open democratic society.

This report has been edited to delete references to a Facebook page entitled ‘May the Truth Be With You’. ASPI advises that, to the best of the Institute’s knowledge, the Facebook page has no connection with the other entities mentioned in this edited report.

Revised: 10 Dec 2021

#6: Pro-Russian vaccine politics drives new disinformation narratives

This latest report in our series on COVID-19 disinformation and social media manipulation investigates vaccine disinformation emerging – the day after Russia announced plans to mass-produce its own vaccine – from Eastern Ukraine’s pro-Russian media ecosystem.

We identify how a false narrative about a vaccination trial that never happened was seeded into the information environment by a pro-Russian militia media outlet, laundered through pro-Russian English language alternative news websites, and permeated anti-vaccination social media groups in multiple languages, ultimately completely decontextualised from its origins.

The report provides a case study of how these narratives ripple across international social media networks, including into a prominent Australian anti-vaccination Facebook group.

The successful transfer of this completely fictional narrative reflects a broader shift across the disinformation space. As international focus moves from the initial response to the pandemic towards the race for a vaccine, with all of the complex geopolitical interests that entails, political disinformation is moving on from the origins of the virus to vaccine politics.

24 Aug 2020

#5 Automating influence operations on Covid-19: Chinese speaking actors targeting US audiences

Automating influence on Covid-19 looks at how Chinese-speaking actors are attempting to target US-based audiences on Facebook and Twitter across key narratives including amplifying criticisms of the US’s handling of Covid-19, emphasising racial divisions, and political and personal scandals linked to President Donald Trump.

This new report investigates a campaign of cross-platform inauthentic activity that relies on a high-degree of automation and is broadly in alignment with the political goal of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to denigrate the standing of the US. The campaign appears to be targeted primarily at Western and US-based audiences by artificially boosting legitimate media and social media content in order to amplify divisive or negative narratives about the US.

04 Aug 2020

#4 ID2020, Bill Gates and the Mark of the Beast: how Covid-19 catalyses existing online conspiracy movements

Against the backdrop of the global Covid-19 pandemic, billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has become the subject of a diverse and rapidly expanding universe of conspiracy theories. This report takes a close look at a particular variant of the Gates conspiracy theories, which is referred to here as the ID2020 conspiracy (named after the non-profit ID2020 Alliance, which the conspiracy theorists claim has a role in the narrative), as a case study for examining the dynamics of online conspiracy theories on Covid-19. Like many conspiracy theories, that narrative builds on legitimate concerns, in this case about privacy and surveillance in the context of digital identity systems, and distorts them in extreme and unfounded ways. Among the many conspiracy theories now surrounding Gates, this one is particularly worthy of attention because it highlights the way emergent events catalyse existing online conspiracy substrates. In times of crisis, these digital structures—the online communities, the content, the shaping of recommendation algorithms—serve to channel anxious, uncertain individuals towards conspiratorial beliefs. This report focuses primarily on the role and use of those digital structures in proliferating the ID2020 conspiracy.

25 June 2020

#3 Retweeting through the Great Firewall: A persistent and undeterred threat actor

This report analyses a persistent, large-scale influence campaign linked to Chinese state actors on Twitter and Facebook.

This activity largely targeted Chinese-speaking audiences outside of the Chinese mainland (where Twitter is blocked) with the intention of influencing perceptions on key issues, including the Hong Kong protests, exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui and, to a lesser extent Covid-19 and Taiwan. Extrapolating from the takedown dataset, to which we had advanced access, given to us by Twitter, we have identified that this operation continues and has pivoted to try to weaponise the US Government’s response to current domestic protests and create the perception of a moral equivalence with the suppression of protests in Hong Kong.

11 June 2020

#2. Covid-19 attracts patriotic troll campaigns in support of China’s geopolitical interests

This new research highlights the growing significance and impact of Chinese non-state actors on western social media platforms. Across March and April 2020, this loosely coordinated pro-China trolling campaign on Twitter has:

  • Harassed and mimicked western media outlets
  • Impersonated Taiwanese users in an effort to undermine Taiwan’s position with the World Health Organisation (WHO
  • Spread false information about the Covid-19 outbreak
  • Joined in pre-existing inauthentic social media campaigns

23 April 2020

#1. Covid-19 disinformation and social media manipulation trends

Includes case studies on:

  • Chinese state-sponsored messaging on Twitter
  • Coordinated anti-Taiwan trolling: WHO & #saysrytoTedros
  • Russian Covid-19 disinformation in Africa

8-15 April 2020

US-China tension can give way to India-Australia partnerships on critical technology – opinion piece

Read an opinion piece written by ASPI’s Danielle Cave, Jocelinn Kang and Aakriti Bachhawat and co-authored with colleagues from India’s Observer Research Foundation Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan and Trisha Ray in Indian newspaper ThePrint. This article is based on the ASPI-ORF report: Critical technologies and the Indo-Pacific: A new India-Australia partnership:

“While the Covid-19 pandemic has damaged economies and profoundly affected people’s health and wellbeing, it has also highlighted our dependence on technology and the extent to which we’ll rely on the next wave of technologies to drive future prosperity.

Covid-19 has also accelerated strategic competition between nations, particularly the US and China. Much of that competition centres on technology and data: Who owns and controls it? How is it being used? What rules, norms and standards are different countries abiding by?

This competition is quickly spilling over into international forums, including standards-setting bodies, and it’s throwing up new challenges to global technology companies. It’s also leading to new partnerships and presenting opportunities to deepen existing partnerships, as countries find more commonalities in the multitude of technological challenges they face. More opportunities are arising—and arising quickly—for practical cooperation to help deal with these challenges.

One such opportunity—and partnership—is the India–Australia relationship, which is rapidly becoming one of the most important pillars of the Indo-Pacific.”

Read the article here.

Indo-Pacific cooperation on critical technologies – launch of ASPI-ORF report

On 15 October 2020 India’s Observer Research Foundation (ORF) hosted the launch of the ASPI-ORF report: Critical technologies and the Indo-Pacific: A new India-Australia partnership as a part of its CyFy2020 conference.

The report argues that as the India-Australia bilateral relationship continues to grow and evolve, both governments should invest in the construction of a new India–Australia partnership on technology. The foundation for such a partnership already exists, and further investment areas of complementary interests could stimulate regional momentum in a range of key critical and emerging technology areas including in 5G, Artificial Intelligence, quantum technologies, space technologies and in critical minerals. The report contains 14 policy recommendations that will help build this new technology partnership.

Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Barry O’Farrell, joined a number of the report co-authors including Aakriti Bachhawat, Danielle Cave, Dr Rajeswari Pilla Rajagopalan and Trisha Ray to discuss the current India-Australia relationship, how it continues to evolve and expand and how the two countries can better leverage their competitive advantages in the technology sector.

Watch the launch event here.

Critical technologies and the Indo-Pacific: A new India-Australia partnership

This report by ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre and India’s Observer Research Foundation argues that as the India-Australia bilateral relationship continues to grow and evolve, both governments should invest in the construction of a new India–Australia partnership on technology.

The foundation for such a partnership already exists, and further investment areas of complementary interests could stimulate regional momentum in a range of key critical and emerging technology areas including in 5G, Artificial Intelligence, quantum technologies, space technologies and in critical minerals. The report contains 14 policy recommendations that will help build this new technology partnership.

This new report outlines what this new India-Australia technology partnership could look like. It examines the current state of the India–Australia relationship; provides an overview of current technology cooperation and where challenges and roadblocks lie; analyses each state’s competitive and complementary advantages in selected technology areas and highlights opportunities for further collaboration across the areas of 5G, Artificial Intelligence, Quantum technologies, Space technologies and in critical minerals.

Snapshot of a shadow war

The rapid escalation in the long-running conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia which took place in late September 2020 has been shadowed by a battle across social media for control of the international narrative about the conflict. On Twitter, large numbers of accounts supporting both sides have been wading in on politicised hashtags linked to the conflict. Our findings indicate large-scale coordinated activity. While much of this behaviour is likely to be authentic, our analysis has also found a significant amount of suspicious and potentially inauthentic behaviour.

The goal of this research piece is to observe and document some of the early dynamics of the information battle playing out in parallel to the conflict on the ground and create a basis for further, more comprehensive research. This report is in no way intended to undermine the legitimacy of authentic social media conversations and debate taking place on all sides of the conflict.

STEM career pathways for the Indigenous Australian community

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has been awarded a competitive grant from the Department of Defence to support a project which will look at strategies to provide more STEM career pathways to the Indigenous Australian community in Northern Australia.

This project will build on previous work ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre has done in 2019-20 including the Indigi-Cyber Camps for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids and ongoing research work.

This new multi-year project – which focuses on information and communications technology and cyber-security – will establish a best practice reference model comprising a framework and strategy for creating and sustaining workforce pathways for Indigenous Australians.

Across the country there is an increasingly vibrant Indigenous innovation sector and initiatives that walk hand-in-hand with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge keepers and communities.  Indigenous people across Australia need to be resourced and supported to learn from each other, share knowledge and build sustainable activities and enterprises.

Up-skilling this community will boost the economy of northern Australia, service the shortage of STEM experts, strengthen the national security ecosystem of Australia’s north, and sponsor a more inclusive and diverse community culture.

Project co-lead Dion Devow from ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre said “Our ambition is to look 30 years ahead and consider the paths forward for Indigenous Australians into IT and cyber.  We want to learn from the examples of Indigenous excellence in this area and expand education and employment opportunities. We are driven by the importance of forming shared values with communities, collaborating, celebrating and incorporating Indigenous Australian peoples and culture into IT and understanding the way this intersects with tech innovation.” 

Please contact Dr. Huon Curtis if you would like to find out more about this new project huoncurtis@aspi.org.au.

Xinjiang Data Project website launch

ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre has launched the Xinjiang Data Project, along with two new major pieces of research, on Xinijang’s detention system, and on the destruction of mosques and significant Uyghur cultural sites in the region. One of the most effective research methods in both of these projects was the collection and analysis of satellite imagery, including the examination of night-time satellite imagery from Xinjiang.

Since 2017, a government crackdown in the far-western region of China known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has seen over a million Uyghurs and other Turkic and Muslim minorities extrajudicially detained in a vast network of purpose-built detention facilities. There have also been media reports about incidents of mosques demolished or repurposed, along with other Uyghur cultural sites. 

Credible data on the extent of Xinjiang’s post-2017 detention system is scarce. But researchers at ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre have now located, mapped and analysed 380 suspected detention facilities in Xinjiang, making it the most comprehensive data on Xinjiang’s detention system in the world. This new database highlights ‘re-education’ camps, detention centres, and prisons which have been newly built or expanded since 2017, and we believe it covers most such detention facilities. 

The findings of this research contradicts Chinese officials’ claims that all “re-education camp” detainees had ‘graduated’ in December 2019. It presents satellite imagery evidence that shows newly constructed detention facilities, along with growth in several existing facilities, that has occurred across 2019 and 2020. 

The second key piece of research on our new website is a project investigating the rate of cultural destruction in Xinjiang. This research estimates 35% of mosques have been demolished; and a further 30% have been damaged in some way, usually by the removal of Islamic or Arabic architectural features such as domes, minarets or gatehouses. We estimate approximately 16,000 mosques have been damaged or totally destroyed throughout Xinjiang (65% of the total). The majority of demolished sites remain as empty lots. 

Further, 30% of important Islamic cultural sites (sacred shrines, cemeteries and pilgrimage routes) across southern Xinjiang have been demolished since 2017, with an additional 28% damaged or altered in some way. This includes the complete demolition of the ancient pilgrimage town of Ordam Mazar. 

This new research and associated maps and satellite imagery, can be viewed at the Xinjiang Data Project website. 

Biodata and biotechnology: Opportunity and challenges for Australia

This new ASPI report canvasses the extraordinary recent developments in genome sequencing and genetic engineering, which will transform all biological enterprises, including healthcare, among the most important parts of the global economy. It argues that there is a once-in- generation opportunity for Australia to play a leading role in a major economic and revolution with digital deliverables, capitalising on our high quality biomedical science, agricultural R&D and healthcare systems

The report identifies a number of elements for Australia to realize this opportunity. First and foremost, a national strategic and action plan is required for the collection and integration of genomic, clinical and smart sensor data for healthcare, and the development of advanced analytical software and point-of-care reporting systems, which can be exported to the world. This plan needs to be resourced by the Australian government, as a major public good infrastructure project. 

Such information will be part of the very fabric of healthcare and drug development in the future. More broadly, genomic information will be used in infection tracing, customs, quarantine, protection of commercial rights, quality control, provenance, security and policing, among others. It will accelerate the identification of valuable traits in animals, plants and microorganisms. Genetic engineering can now be done with speed, sophistication and precision that were unimaginable just a few years ago, and will enhance the efficiency, quality and range of biological production.

There are resourcing, privacy, vulnerabilities, sensitivities and national security issues to consider, protections to be put in place, and social licenses to be obtained.  Big-data analysis skills need be taught in science and engineering, and built into research institutions as well as health, agricultural and environmental management enterprises and agencies.

How to stay cyber-secure when working from home during Covid-19.

As Australian organisations plan to slowly return to the office in the coming weeks and months, cyber security, and cyber safety, becomes even more important.

ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre asked experts for some tips on how to stay secure and safe when working from home, and as we transition back to the office, full-time or part-time.

They discuss the importance of patching your device & updating your firmware; two-factor authentication; being wary of suspicious emails, links and attachments; e-safety when at home with your kids; and treating cyber security at home just as you would in the office.

Hear from:

  • Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts
  • Tim Watts MP, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security
  • Sean Duca, Palo Alto
  • Christian Frain, Splunk
  • Matt Carling, Cisco
  • Julie Inman-Grant, Australia’s e-Safety Commissioner
  • Vicky Xu, ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre
  • Glenn Maiden, Fortinet
  • Damien Manuel and Megan Spielvogel, AISA
  • Mark Anderson, Microsoft
  • Michelle Bedson, Jacobs
  • Rachael Falk, Cyber Security CRC

Video edited by Henry Stentiford