Cybersecurity – Page 7 – Cyber Law Watch

Encryption bill to give unprecedented power

Dec 04 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Wendy Mansell

The Coalition government is attempting to pass large-scale decryption reforms which will give sweeping powers to law enforcement agencies for overt and covert computer access.

The reforms have caused significant controversy as they may force tech companies and communications providers to modify their services, creating “systemic weaknesses” for intelligence agencies to exploit. However many point out these same vulnerabilities may be utilised by criminals.

Further the potential repercussions of these reforms may undermine consumers’ privacy, safety and trust through unprecedented access to private communications. This could have anti-competitive effects, as the reputations of Australian software developers and hardware manufacturers will suffer within international markets.

At the same time, the harsh reality that terrorists and organised crime increasingly utilise these technologies to evade surveillance highlights a very clear problem for law enforcement authorities.

We won’t seek to suggest where the balance between these interests should lie, but the debate rages on. Stay tuned.

China in breach of cyber-security pact

Nov 23 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Wendy Mansell

It has been a fairly turbulent week in the cyber-espionage space following accusations that China’s Ministry of Security Services is behind the surge of intellectual property theft from Australian companies.

The news that the persistent attacks on Australian IP are perhaps a State sponsored campaign by the Chinese government is concerning as it suggests that China are in breach of several international and bilateral agreements.

In 2015, an agreement was made between Chinese President Xi Jinping and former President Obama, that the U.S and China would not steal intellectual property from one another for commercial gain. This was furthered at the November 2015, G20 Summit, where the cyber-theft of IP was accepted as the norm.

Following on from this in September 2017, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Chinese Premier Li Kequiang promised that neither country would engage in cyber-theft of intellectual property and commercial secrets.

Reports of cyber-theft declined immediately after these agreements, however in recent months they have ramped up again.

A U.S Trade Representative report released this week confirms that despite any international agreements, China has continued engaging in cyber-espionage and the theft of intellectual property. Further the report states that not only is China likely to be in breach of these agreements, but the attacks have “increased in frequency and sophistication”.

Notably in July of this year, China was linked to the cyber-breach of Australian National University. This attack was particularly disturbing given that ANU is a leading university involved in key areas of Australian technological, scientific, defence and commercial research. It is fascinating that cyber attacks and theft are a “norm” that is accepted within our overall international relationships. Physical acts of a similar nature would not be so easily accepted.

US, Russia and China don’t pledge to fight cybercrime

Nov 13 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Wendy Mansell

Fifty countries including Japan, Canada and many EU nations have come together with over 150 tech companies, pledging to fight against cybercrime. United State’s tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Microsoft have also joined the party.

The United States, Russia and China however have decided not to sign on. Each has no doubt very different reasons for this – the disappointment is mostly directed to the US. However it is a shame that Russia and China did not also feel the weight of the international community pressure to accept these principles.

The effort to combat cybercrime is being led by France, with French President Emmanuel Macron claiming that it is urgent that the internet is better regulated.

The countries and companies involved are fighting against illegal online activity like censorship, cyber interference in elections, hate speech and trade secrets theft.

The pledge has been made in a document titled the “Paris call for trust and security in cyberspace”.

2018 Trends in Cyber-crimes so far…

Sep 23 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

The first half of 2018 has been busy for cyber-criminals and cyber-security alike. According to Trend Micro, cryptocurrency mining detections have jumped 96% in this six month period compared to the total number detected in 2017.

In that same time, over 20 billion threats were blocked by Trend Micro’s Infrastructure, a few billion threats less than in the first half of 2017. Of these threats, less were “spray and pay” ransomware attacks and breaches, as cyber-criminals are flying under the radar with crypto-jacking, along with fileless, macro and small file malware techniques.

Cyber-criminals outspend organisations more than 10 times in bid to find cybersecurity weaknesses – who says cyber-crime doesn’t pay?

Sep 17 2018

By Cameron Abbott, Rob Pulham and Colette Légeret

Cyber attackers are able to search for that one weak link in corporations defences whereas corporates have to create a completely strong chain of defence against every possible scenario. This asymmetrical fight would you think mean organisations would have to outspend attackers by many multiples.

However, according to software company, Carbon Black, the situation is worse than that because it appears that cyber criminals are outspending corporation! Cyber-crime is big business, and as such, cyber-criminals are spending an estimated $1 trillion each year on finding weaknesses in the cyber defences of organisations and developing new ways of attacking them, in comparison to the $96 billion spent by organisations in an attempt to secure themselves from these cyber-attacks.

I Spy With My Little Phone – New Laws giving access to your phone data

Aug 15 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Colette Légeret

Yesterday, the Australian Government unveiled the draft Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment (Assistance and Access) Bill 2018 which aims to compel telecommunication and multi-national tech companies (Providers) to give law enforcement and security agencies (Agencies) access to personal encrypted data of suspected criminals, including terrorists, child sex offenders and criminal organisations.

My Health Records – To opt-in, or to opt-out? That is the question

Jul 27 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Keely O’Dowd

This year all Australians will have a My Health Record created. A My Health Record will operate as a digital medical file that allows healthcare providers to upload health information about a patient. This information may include prescriptions, medical conditions and test results. A patient’s digital medical file will be stored in a national electronic database operated by Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA).

Facebook fined £500,000 over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Jul 13 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Sarah Goegan

The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued a notice of intent to levy a £500,000 fine against Facebook for breaches of the UK’s Data Protection Act 1998. The ICO found that Facebook failed to protect its users’ data and be transparent about how that data was being harvested. This failure, ICO said, did not enable users to understand how and why they may be targeted by a political party or campaign.

The fine comes as part of a larger investigation by ICO into misuse of data in political campaigns, and responds to the highly publicised allegations that Cambridge Analytica used data obtained from Facebook to target voters in the 2016 US presidential election.

Former MasterChef contestant falls victim to online fraud attack

Jun 25 2018

By Cameron Abbott and Keely O’Dowd

Last week, reports in the media revealed former MasterChef contestant, Dani Venn was the unfortunate victim of a conveyancing hacker attack.

Research reports say risks to smartphone security aren’t phoney

Jun 19 2018

By Rob Pulham, Warwick Andersen and Sarah Goegan

Beware! Your favourite apps may be putting your phone and data at risk. Reports from Allot and BitSight have examined rising threats to the security of our mobile devices.

Tag:Cybersecurity