cyberBRICS News
Portuguese version available here.
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Cybersecurity Policymaking in the BRICS Countries: From Addressing National Priorities to Seeking International Cooperation
In the concluding statement of the 2021 BRICS Summit, the bloc’s five members—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—pledged to pursue enhanced cooperation on cybersecurity issues, including by “establishing legal frameworks of cooperation among BRICS” and a BRICS intergovernmental agreement on cybersecurity. This piece, written by Luca Belli (CyberBRICS Director), briefly outlines the mounting relevance of cybersecurity for the BRICS countries, recent national policymaking in this area in the bloc, and the dynamics at play as the BRICS countries seek to further intensify and structure their cooperation on cybersecurity matters.
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Brazil Joins The Convention On Cybercrime: How Will It Impact Other BRICS Countries?
Largely unnoticed by the public, a major event took place in the past week. The Federal Senate of Brazil approved the draft legislative decree triggering Brazil’s adhesion to the Convention on Cybercrime, signed in Budapest, Hungary, in 2001, and usually referred to as the “Budapest Convention”.
To discover which will be the consequences of this evolution, both nationally and internationally for Brazil, read the full article written by CyberBRICS Coordinator Luca Belli.
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Updated: Data protection in BRICS countries
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Cybersecurity and Brazil's International Cooperation Webinar
Safe digital inclusion is a great challenge for all countries, especially in the post-covid 19 recovery. Brazil has been acting in several international forums that aim at cooperation and sharing of national regulations and practices. The event intends to bring together experts and government authorities to discuss some of the aspects especially related to cybersecurity and Brazil's international cooperation, especially in multilateral groups and institutions, such as the United Nations and BRICS. Among the challenges to be faced in international cooperation, we can highlight responsible behavior in the cyberspace environment and safe digital inclusion.
This debate was realized in Portuguese.
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Why is Brazil the top LatAm destination for data centers?
Brazil has the main data center market in Latin America, driving more than 40% of the total investment in the region. According to a report released by ReportLinker, in 2021, there were about 17 third-party providers operating in more than 44 facilities in the country, in addition to the market having generated more than US$ 680 million in 2020 alone. The acceleration of digital transformation, projected by the covid-19 pandemic, heated up the sector and there was an increase in the development of hyperscale data centers, colocation and investment by cloud providers.
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New map shows internet quality in Brazil
Brazilians now have a map that shows the quality of broadband internet. The project takes into account the speed tests collected anonymously. Thanks to the tool, Internet users and researchers will be able to have a better understanding about network conditions and policymakers will be able to take better informed decisions. The map displays connection speed information in Megabits per second.
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Brazil is the 6th country with the most number of cyberattacks; Fraud attempts reached 1 million
On February 8th, the International Safer Internet Day was celebrated, but Brazil is far from having anything to celebrate. Despite having had a 31% drop in the number of data breaches between 2019 and 2020, the country still ranked 6th among the 20 regions in the world most affected by the problem last year. The data is from a survey carried out by Surfshark, a VPN services provider based in the Netherlands.
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Russia Proposes Ban on Use and Mining of Cryptocurrencies
Russia's central bank proposed banning the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, citing threats to financial stability, citizens' wellbeing and its monetary policy sovereignty. The move is the latest in a global cryptocurrency crackdown as governments worry that privately operated and highly volatile digital currencies could undermine their control of financial and monetary systems.
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Russia to Require Netflix to Stream State Television Broadcasts
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s state communications, information technology and mass media authority, will require Netflix to offer state television channels to its Russian customers after it added the U.S.-based streaming service to its “audio-visual services”.
Roskomnadzor's regulation, which was established in late 2020, applies to online streaming services with over 100,000 daily users and requires them to comply with Russian law and register a Russian company. Registered services are also required to provide streams of 20 major Russian federal television channels.
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Indian Government Braces For A Nationwide Rollout Of Its Health Digitisation Project
India announced plans to launch a digital currency by next year and tax cryptocurrencies and NFTs as the country moves closer to recognizing cryptocurrencies as legal tender in the world’s second largest internet market.
Income from the transfer of any virtual assets will be taxed at 30%, the nation’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Tuesday. To facilitate data collection regarding all crypto transactions, she also proposed a 1% tax deduction at source on payments made related to purchase of virtual assets.
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Data Protection Bill: Restrictions On Cross-Border Data Transfer Will Hurt Indian Start-Ups That Depend On Global Tool
“There is certainly a lot of awareness lacking especially among small companies and young companies on how the Data Protection Bill is going to impact them. Most of the popular discourse has been around the rights part of the issue. There needs to be a much stronger conversation around how it is going to impact businesses. There is every reason for us to be anxious as businesses” said Sijo Kuruvilla George, Executive Director at Alliance of Digital India Foundation, in a panel discussion on cross-border data transfers at the MediaNama event on Decoding India’s Data Protection Bill. Check the full Medianama article on this topic.
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China internet regulator releases draft amendments to mobile app regulations
The Cybersecurity Administration of China (CAC) published a draft of amendments to the Administrative Regulations on the Management of Mobile Internet Application Information Services issued in 2016. The draft contains 27 articles and places emphasis on data security, user privacy, and national security.
The rules govern app providers and distribution platforms, requiring them to abide by China’s Constitution, laws, and administrative regulations. These entities must now protect “public order”, enrich the spiritual and cultural life of their users, promote socialist core values, and adhere to the “correct political direction”. Apps cannot be used to engage in illegal activities, including anything that is deemed as “endangering national security, disrupting social order, or infringing on the legitimate rights and interests of others.”
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China to boost satellite services, space technology application
China will continue to boost IT services with satellites and promote the application and transfer of space technology in the next five years, according to a white paper on the country's space program. The white paper, titled "China's Space Program: A 2021 Perspective", was issued Friday by the State Council Information Office.
China will intensify the integration of satellite application with the development of industries and regions, and space information with new-generation information technology such as big data and Internet of Things, the document said.
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ICASA reveals spectrum auction participants
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has said it has registered six participants for its spectrum auction. Cell C, Liquid Telecoms and Rain Networks join Telkom Vodacom and MTN as the participants for the auction, having submitted their applications by January 31.
The auction stage is set for March 8 and the main online auction will occur on March 10.
The operators had applied for the auction before December 10 and ICASA chairperson, Keabetswe Modimoeng, said the approval of all six "illustrates the robustness of our telecommunications sector" in the country.
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Cyber-risks a major concern for South Africa
Cyber-risks are the biggest concern for companies globally, in South Africa, Africa, the Middle East and Nigeria in 2022, and the threat of ransomware attacks, data breaches or major information technology outages are of greater concern to companies than business and supply chain disruption, natural disasters or the Covid-19 pandemic, all of which have heavily affected firms in the past year, says corporate insurance multinational Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty (AGCS) in its 'Allianz Risk Barometer 2022' report.
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Google details investment plans for South Africa
Google has unpacked its plans to invest in South Africa, including assisting startups, SMMEs and nonprofits to support the country’s economic recovery process.
This ltest announcement follows previous one made in October 2021 by Google and Alphabet chief executive officer Sundar Pichai, who presented a plan to invest $1 billion over five years to support Africa’s digital transformation.
According to the Google executive, the focus of these investments is to enable fast, affordable internet access for more Africans, build new products, and support entrepreneurship and small business.
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