Security News
Russia and China have each warned the United States that the offensive cyber-ops it ran to support Ukraine were acts of aggression that invite reprisal. The US has acknowledged it assisted Ukraine to shore up its cyber defences, conducted information operations, and took offensive actions during Russia's illegal invasion.
China has begun talking to ten nations in the South Pacific with an offer to help them improve their network infrastructure, cyber security, digital forensics and other capabilities - all with the help of Chinese tech vendors. That's a nod to accusations that China practices what's been labelled "Debt trap diplomacy" whereby development assistance comes with repayment plans small nations may not be able to afford.
Chinese cyberspies targeted two Russian defense institutes and possibly another research facility in Belarus, according to Check Point Research. Check Point Research also noted that around the same time that they observed the Twisted Panda attacks, another Chinese advanced persistent threat group Mustang Panda was observed exploiting the invasion of Ukraine to target Russian organizations.
Pro-Beijing and Iran miscreants are using the war in Ukraine to spread disinformation that supports these countries' political interests - namely, advancing anti-Western narratives - according to threat-intel experts at Mandiant. It also attributes these campaigns to actors that the threat researchers say are operating in support of nation-states including Russia, Belarus, China and Iran.
China's Ministry of Public Security has revealed the five most prevalent types of fraud perpetrated online or by phone. The e-commerce scam known as "Brushing" topped the list and accounted for around a third of all internet fraud activity in China.
The time has come to remove Chinese voices from global social media, according to Samir Saran, president of Delhi-based think tank Observer Research Foundation, a commissioner of The Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, and a member of Microsoft's Digital Peace Now Initiative. Speaking at the Black Hat Asia conference, Saran said China's Communist Party sees tech as a means of exerting control and uses social media to deliberately interfere in the affairs of other nations.
China's internet regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, has published guidelines that aim to stop minors from giving tips or other forms of payment to livestreamers, watching after 10pm, or livestreaming themselves. "Website platforms must not develop functional applications that attract minors to tip or induce minors to give 'gifts.' If it is found that the website platform violates the aforementioned requirements, measures such as suspending the tipping function and shutting down the live broadcast business will be implemented," said the recently published Opinions on Regulating Online Live Rewards and Strengthening the Protection of Minors.
The researchers attributed the campaign, with "Moderate-to-high confidence," to the Winnti group. Winnti is "An exceptionally capable adversary" that is "Believed to be operating on behalf of Chinese state interests and specializes in cyberespionage and intellectual property theft."
To the surprise of many users, China's largest Twitter-esque microblogging website, Sina Weibo, announced on Thursday that it will publish users' IP addresses and location data in an effort to keep their content honest and nice. "Conventional thinking is that IP addresses may be considered personal data because they could reveal exact locations," he told The Register by email.
China appears to be entering a raging cyber-espionage battle that's grown in line with Russia's unprovoked attack on Ukraine, deploying advanced malware on the computer systems of Russian officials. China has tried to play a neutral role since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, with government officials saying they want to see a peaceful resolution.