Cyber Brief: U.S. Warns Allies of Huawei Threat

FEATURED STORY

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2018

U.S. WARNS ALLIES OF HUAWEI THREAT

The U.S. government is reportedly attempting to persuade telecom providers in foreign countries to steer clear of equipment from Huawei Technologies, citing cybersecurity risks. U.S. authorities are warning foreign officials and executives that the Chinese government could compel firms like Huawei to facilitate espionage and other malign activities. Huawei products are already prevalent in some major U.S. allies, including Germany, Italy, and Japan. For its part, Huawei denies that it’s beholden to Beijing, and says it has never used its equipment to spy on or sabotage other countries.

The U.S. lobbying campaign comes as wireless and internet providers around the world prepare to buy hardware for 5G, the next generation of mobile technology, which promises superfast connections. (WSJ)

HACKERS

Russian Groups: Cybersecurity researchers say that Kremlin-linked hacking groups Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear are developing sophisticated new phishing tools. Both groups participated in the hacking of Democratic National Committee systems ahead of the 2016 U.S. presidential election. (Wired)

Venmo: The Paypal-owned digital money-transfer service says that fraudulent transactions are on the rise, which have pushed up operating losses at the company. Some executives reportedly feared the spike in fraud would push PayPal to miss first-quarter earnings estimates. (WSJ)

VPNs: A new study by an independent researcher, which is raising cybersecurity concerns, found that more than half of the world’s top 30 smartphone apps that allow private internet browsing using “virtual private networks” are owned by Chinese companies or companies with links to China. VPNs are often used by businesses, journalists, dissidents, and others who want to keep their internet connections safe and private. (FT)

COURTS

Facebook: A Russian company accused by federal prosecutors of meddling in the 2016 U.S. election is suing Facebook in California federal court claiming that it’s a legitimate news outlet and requesting that its Facebook account be restored. (Reuters)

ON THE HILL

IP Theft: A detailed report by the U.S. Trade Representative alleges that China is continuing a state-backed campaign of intellectual property and technology theft. The report was released just days ahead of an expected meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Buenos Aires. Separately, the WTO launched an independent investigation into the U.S. allegations and whether China’s policies violated WTO terms. (Bloomberg)

Export Controls: The Trump administration has put forth for public comment a list of AI-related technologies, including image-recognition software, quantum computers, and advanced computer chips, that could be subject to new export restrictions. The proposal is seen as another potential front in the growing trade war with China and an effort by the U.S. to ensure emerging technologies don’t fall into the hands of countries that may pose a national security threat. (WaPo)

PRIVATE SECTOR

Definers: Started by longtime Republican operative Tim Miller last year, the public relations and opposition research firm was quick to secure business from Silicon Valley startups like Lyft, Lime, and Juul as well as established giants like Facebook and Qualcomm. Facebook fired the company earlier this month following a New York Times report on its controversial work. (NYT)

Microsoft: The company announced that users can now sign into their accounts on its Edge browser without a password, either by using Windows Hello--a biometrics-based authentication platform, or an authentication device. (VB)

THE WORLD

Russia: The government is reportedly considering imposing stiffer fines on technology firms--up to 1 percent of their revenue in Russia--for failing to comply with Russian laws, like those requiring search engines to delete some results or requiring messaging services to share encryption keys. Regulators have repeatedly accused Facebook and Google of failing to adhere to Russian law. (Reuters)

China: Low-wage laborers in smaller, cheaper Chinese cities may be helping China forge ahead in the AI race with the United States, labeling China’s huge trove of images and surveillance data. Analysts say China’s ability to use cheap labor to tag its mountain of data may be a significant advantage over the U.S. (NYT)

MUST READS

Everyone Wants to ‘Influence’ You: “The internet now means influence can come from anyone, anywhere; it can be visible or invisible, paid for by any power, approaching you any of myriad ways. Influence used to be understood as a top-down phenomenon, with governments, advertisers, donors or other powerful figures holding sway over the masses. These days we understand that the most powerful influences aren’t the distant ones but the most immediate and social — so the powerful tend to exert their influence by pretending to be ordinary people,” writes Annalisa Quinn in the New York Times Magazine.

The Chinese Chipmaker Caught in a U.S. Assault: “The case illustrates the ease with which Washington can derail China’s efforts. That may strengthen the mainland’s resolve to build its own chip capabilities so it can -- once and for all -- shake off a reliance on $200 billion of annual imports,” write Bloomberg authors.

How Israel’s Secret Soldiers Drive Its Tech Success: “Computer vision has become the connecting thread between some of Israel’s most valuable and promising tech companies. And unlike Israel’s traditional strengths— cyber security and mapping — computer vision slides into a broad range of different civilian industries, spawning companies in agriculture, medicine, sports, self-driving cars, the diamond industry and even shopping. In Israel, this lucrative field has benefited from a large pool of engineers and entrepreneurs trained for that very task in an elite, little-known group in the military — Unit 9900,” writes Mehul Srivastava in the Financial Times.

unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences