Five Eyes authorities issue warning against Russia-backed cyberattacks on critical infrastructure

We’ve reported before that US authorities have been warning against imminent cyberattacks from Russia. This time, it’s the cybersecurity authorities from the Five Eyes – Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK, plus the USA – who are warning of the risk that cyberattacks are being planned against critical infrastructures in Ukraine and beyond.

The warning comes in a joint cybersecurity advisory, which refers to US intelligence that the Russian government may be exploring options for potential cyberattacks.

The advisory also notes that cybercrime groups that have recently publicly pledged support for the Russian government ‘have threatened to conduct cyber operations in retaliation for perceived cyber offensives against the Russian government or the Russian people.’ The same threat exists for countries and organisations helping Ukraine.

DDoS attack takes Israeli government websites down

Several government websites in Israel – including the websites of the ministries of interior, defence, and justice – were unavailable for over an hour on 14 March. The incident was caused by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against a communications provider, according to the country’s National Cyber Directorate. Access to the affected websites was restored later in the day.

No statements were made regarding attribution of the attack, although some media sources pointed to a possible Iranian involvement.

Digital Security Lab launching

Reporters Without Borders (RWB) is an international non-profit public interest organization in France which has defended the promotion of freedom of information since 1985.

On 18 July, RWB will present its newly founded Digital Security Lab: a digital forensic laboratory that will help combat the threats of online surveillance. Based in Berlin, the Digital Security Lab is designed to analyze the devices of journalists who suspect they are under any digital surveillance. Journalists are a target of many threats that can affect their devices or personal social accounts for malicious reasons. This requires a rigorous and united response, and that is why any journalist will be able to contact the Digital Security Lab if they suspect they are the target of digital espionage because of their work.

Journalists often receive sophisticated phishing messages, and Digital Security Lab experts will search for clues with the analysis of suspicious messages to find out if they are for sent spying purposes. The team will also examine installed programmes and will check for other data traces that might offer traces about previous activities and spying technologies.

Turkish court jails 16 Kurdish journalists over alleged terrorist links

A Turkish court has jailed 16 Kurdish journalists for "belonging to a terrorist organisation" and their close cooperation with the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Diyarbarkir. They were also accused of spreading terrorist propaganda and since 2016 several hundred HDP members have already been detained. Nazim Bilgin, the president of the Journalists' Association of Turkey warns that: "We are living in the darkest days of our country as far as press freedom is concerned." It is also alarming that Turkey has jailed more reporters than most other countries in the previous decade, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

Relatives of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh accused the U.S. of trying to erase Israel’s responsibility for her death

Relatives of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed while covering an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank in May, showed their deep disappointment in President Joe Biden in a letter released over his administration’s response to her death.

They accused the U.S. of trying to deny Israel’s responsibility for her death, saying in an official statement that Israeli fire most likely killed her but that the May 11 shooting in the West Bank was an accident. The family sent a request to Biden for meeting with them when he visits the region, which The White House declined to comment on, alongside with the matters of the letter.

Palestinian eyewitnesses who claimed they saw she was shot by Israeli forces gained support from a reconstruction made by The Associated Press, investigations by CNN, New York Times, and The Washington Post as well as monitoring by the U.N. human rights office.

Ukraine state agency publishes cyberattacks statistics

The State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) of Ukraine published statistics about the number, targets, and type of cyberattacks since the beginning of the Russian invasion.

The government and local authorities, defence, finance, commercial organisations, and the energy sector, in that order, were the main targets of the 796 recorded cyberattacks. Information gathering, malicious code, infiltration attempts, and availability were important cyberattack strategies.

Ukraine warns of massive cyberattack targeting telecommunications operators

The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) has warned about widespread cyberattacks targeting telecommunications providers. The CERT-UA claims it had learned about the mass distribution of emails with the subject 'LIST of links to interactive maps' among Ukrainian media entities. The emails contain malicious attachments and may begin downloading CrescentImp malware if opened

European mayors fooled into calls with fake Kyiv mayor

The mayors of several European cities held meetings via video link with a person they thought was the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, only to find out they were deceived by a deepfake of Klitschko.

The office of Berlin Mayor Franziska Giffey tweeted Friday night that his conversation with the alleged mayor of Kyiv was ended after his comments raised suspicion.

A screenshot of the tweet by the office of Berlin Mayor. Source: PNP.de Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, the mayor of Madrid, likewise cancelled a video call when he suspected he was not speaking with his Kyiv colleague. Meanwhile, Budapest mayor Gergely Karácsony said in a Facebook post that he had also recently been targeted and had ended the call following 'several strange, suspiciously provocative questions’. Meanwhile, Michael Ludwig, the mayor of Vienna, was convinced he had talked with Klitschko and even tweeted that they had a video chat. The tweet was deleted after the official account of the Austrian capital published a statement that Ludwig appeared to be the victim of a ‘serious case of cybercrime’.

Questions arose whether the fake Klitschko was a deepfake. German investigative journalist Daniel Laufer found an earlier interview with Klitschko on YouTube that served as the digital source material for the scam. Had a deepfake been used, Laufer argues, the video frames would have been altered in ways that no longer matched the YouTube recording. Apparently this might have been an edited version, not a more-sophisticated deepfake.

Russian hackers accused of launching attacks against targets in Lithuania and Norway

Several public and private sector websites in Lithuania were temporarily down on Monday following a cyberattack reportedly carried out by a Russian-backed hacking group. The Lithuania National Cyber Security Centre (NKSC) warned of an 'intense ongoing' Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack against the Secure National Data Transfer Network, as well as governmental institutions and private companies. Killnet, a pro-Russian group, claimed responsibility for at least some of the attacks, claiming it was in reprisal for Lithuania blocking the delivery of certain products to the Russian outpost of Kaliningrad.

Meanwhile, in Norway, a DDOS attack targeted a secure national data network, affecting several private and public institutions. According to Norwegian officials, Russian hackers were likely behind the cyberattack, although there was minimal damage, with 'no sensitive information taken’.

This analysis does not follow logically with many non-sequiturs. It is difficult to understand the main arguments, including the following points:

First, the most confusing argument was the one that the EU should not "subscribe to the Internet its values", even if these values are democratic and progressive. What should the EU do then?

Since time immemorial, the core values of countries (and other social organisations) have been applied via regulations. For example, the societal value of protecting human lives is applied by regulation against killing human beings. The article does not mention the US-led Declaration on the Future of the Internet which calls for digital governance and regulation inspired by values.

Second, the article promotes 'the Internet’s own values' to be the opposite of EU's. How different are these values from the core EU’s values of openness, inclusion, etc. ?

Third, the author also opposes the EU's request to use technology to filter out online child sexual exploitation. Why not? It is actually happening by tech platforms already. What's wrong with the EU codifying legally this practice of tech companies.

Fourth, the article complains that EU's processes are not inclusive and driven by business interests. Yes, tech companies and other business actors lobby heavily in Brussels as they do in other regulatory capitals. They are just one of the actors, which cannot capture regulation. The EU is often criticised for slowness and inefficiency caused exactly by inclusive processes involving member states, parliaments and other actors. Even at a basic level of logic, this argument doesn't follow. Why would the EU adopt regulations that could hurt big tech interests (data/AI, competition policy, etc.) if the big tech was able to capture EU's regulations?

Fifth, China appears in this title with very little substantiation on the "China trap" in the text. It is not clear how, for example, GDPR can bring EU into 'China trap'. The Internet is regulated in many countries, including the USA. There are many EU's concerns in digital geopolitics with China, but it is not the EU's regulation.

Title: How to link digitalisation and UN Security Council?

Excerpt: US ambassador identifies 3 areas of digitalisation of UN Security Council: getting more data and information; apps for humanitarian aid; helping peacekeeping missions

Cybersecurity is often in news. But, there are many more impacts of digitalisation on security of modern society from food and climate, to supply chains and peacekeeping.

This holistic impact of digitalisation on modern society is behind the US push for higher relevance of digitalisation on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

In the Economist article, the US ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield identifies three steps for strenghtening links between digitalisation and security at the UN UN Security Council:

Firstly, DATA gathered form satelites to smart tractors can help more informed and proactive actions ahead of climate, food and political crisis.

Secondly, DIGITAL TOOLS can help in hnadling crisis from distribution of humanitarian assistance to helping those in the need of assistance.

Thirdly, DIGITAL PEACE can be strenghtend via use of social media, GPS monitoring and other tools in the UN peacekeeping missions.

As cross cutting activities, the article calls for wider access to the Internet, digital literacy and development of new apps and tools for crisis management and humanitarian assistance.

US Cyber Command chief confirms USA conducted offensive cyber operations in support of Ukraine

Commander of the US Cyber Command General Paul Nakasone confirmed that the USA conducted offensive cyber operations in support of Ukraine. ‘We’ve conducted a series of operations across the full spectrum: offensive, defensive, [and] information operations,’ the general stated, but did not elaborate further.

Will the EU ban providing cloud services to Russia?

The EU is considering a ban on providing cloud computing services to Russia as part of a new round of sanctions, an EU official told Reuters.

Although the EU announced in a public press release that the sixth sanctions package would include a restriction on the provision of cloud services, cloud technologies were not included in the final decision. As later explained by the press officer for the EU Council, the reference to the ban on cloud services in the first statement was 'a fabric error'.

The cloud service restriction was not recommended by the European Commission, according to an EU official familiar with sanctions decisions. Nonetheless, such a prospect was not ruled out.

Russia unveils internet traffic backup plan

Russia is prepared to face eventual internet disconnection by Europe, stated Maksut Shadayev, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media. The plan is for Russian internet providers to redirect traffic through international exchange points in Asia, and Rostelecom has the necessary capabilities, Shadayev explained. Traffic exchange points in Europe are still open for Russian internet providers.

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs: West risks 'direct military clash' over cyberattacks

Russia warned that the West's cyberattacks against Russian infrastructure could lead to direct military confrontation.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that 'The militarization of the information space by the West, and attempts to turn it into an arena of interstate confrontation, have greatly increased the threat of a direct military clash with unpredictable consequences.'

The statement added that Washington was ‘deliberately lowering the threshold for the combat use’ of cyberweapons.

The statement also attributes cyberattacks on Russian infrastructure and governmental institutions to the USA and Ukraine and warns: ‘Rest assured, Russia will not leave aggressive actions unanswered.’

The warning came after Russia’s housing ministry website was hacked over the weekend and its traffic redirected to a ‘Glory to Ukraine’ sign.

Wikipedia appeals Russian order to remove Ukraine war information

Wikipedia’s owner, the Wikimedia Foundation, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision which demanded that Wikipedia remove content related to the Ukraine war. Previously, Wikimedia was fined 5 million rubles (US$88,000) in a court decision for failing to remove the content in question. Wikimedia argues that people have a right to know the facts of the war and that removing information is a violation of human rights to knowledge access and free expression.

Wikimedia stated that, while its website is accessible within Russia, the country has no authority over Wikipedia, which it describes as a global resource available in 300 languages. The Moscow court argued that the disinformation posted on Wikipedia represented a threat to Russian public order and that the foundation in fact operates in Russia.

So far, the foundation has refused to comply with Russia's demands to delete the articles in question.

USA, UK, EU dismantle Russian hacking botnet

A joint law enforcement operation involving the USA, the EU countries, and the UK has dismantled the infrastructure of a Russia-linked botnet known as RSOCKS stated the US Department of Justice (DoJ).

The RSOCKS botnet has compromised millions of computers and devices worldwide, including IoT equipment like routers and smart garage openers.

According to the DoJ, RSOCKS customers paid between US$30 and US$200 per day to channel malicious internet activity through hacked computers to mask or hide the source of the traffic.

Two African leaders warn about the future of multilateralism. They think that it is not fair that Africa pays for the geopolitical games of big powers.

They argue that UN has to be reformed in order to protect small and developing countries from power games.

Concretely speaking, they propose the reform of the UN Security Council.

Excerpt/twitter: African leaders call for renewed UN to protect small and developin gcountries from geopolitical power games.

Title: How to protect Africa from geopolitical power games

Title: Amr, UK microchips design company, becomes a key actor in digital geopolitics.

Arm, UK\s microchips design factory, symbolises a shift in the semiconductor industry. Arm focuses on design chips which are becoming increasingly complicated. Amr's design is trend into chips by manufacturers worldwide, ending in mobile phones, drons and other devices. For example, Amr's design is behind 99% of smartphone chips.

ARM tries to keep its unique position by remaining neutral actor in semi-conductor industry. By refusing recent buy-out offer by Nvida, Amr keeps its neutral positioin by remaining, asA Amr's boss Simon Segars put it 'Switzerland of the tech industry'.

Another challenge for Amr will be risc-v chip architecture that lacks royalities and licence fees, the core of companies business model.

Amr''s role wll play an important role in emerging geopolitics of microchps. Companies importance is so high that some UK politicans propsoed government to take controlling 'goden share' of Amr.

Source: The Economist

Twitter: AMR, a UK high-tech company is a key player in chips geopolitics. It focuses on the design and maintains its neutrality among large semiconductor manufacturers.

Ukrainians targeted with Cobalt Strike, CredoMap malware,

‘The APT28’ (aka Fancy Bear) hacking group supported by Russia is believed to be responsible for a recent spike in phishing campaigns that are spread by email, warns The Ukrainian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA Team)

CERT-UA Team explained that emails warning of 'unpaid taxes' or 'nuclear terrorism' are intended to lure victims into opening the file contained in the email. They cautioned that opening the files might cause users to download the malicious software Cobalt Strike or CredoMap.

Meta loses appeal in Russian court over 'extremist activity' label

Meta Platforms, Inc. lost an appeal in a Moscow court after being found guilty of 'extremist activity' in Russia in March.

According to a Kommersant reporter in the courtroom, Meta's lawyer argued that refusing to block access to content and labelling state-controlled media were not activities that meet the definition of extremism.

The court decision requires that whenever organisations or people publicly mention Meta, they need to disclose that Meta's operations are illegal in Russia.

Russian e-commerce firm Ozon starts selling goods via parallel imports mechanism

The Russian-based e-commerce firm Ozon has started selling goods through a parallel imports mechanism on its platform, the company confirmed to Reuters.

Ozon claims to offer a range of items to Russian customers, including smartphones and their components. It also aims to prevent the appearance of counterfeit products on its platform by requesting suppliers confirm the products' originality.

Microsoft: Russian state-backed hackers targeted Ukrainian allies

Since the start of the Ukraine war, Russian state-backed hackers have engaged in network infiltration and espionage operations against 128 businesses in 42 countries that are allied with Ukraine, Microsoft claimed in a new report.

While Russian hackers prioritised NATO governments, they have also launched attacks against think tanks, humanitarian organisations, IT companies, and critical infrastructure. Microsoft estimates that 29% of identified attacks were successful, with a quarter of those leading to data theft. Microsoft also asserts that Russia is conducting an information war to influence public opinion in favour of the conflict domestically and overseas.

Meta intensifies communication on the advantages of Metaverse by three video examples:

• university lecture
• virtual surgery
• historical lesson

Later this year, Meta will introduce its Cambria headset as the key tool for joining metaverse.

You can learn more here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/gadgets-news/facebook-owner-meta-shows-future-applications-of-metaverse/articleshow/92280553.cms

Title: Metavere is coming with virtual celebrities in China

Virtual celebrities are becoming popular in China instead of real-life ones. Virtual celebrities are avatars generated by computers and operated by anonymous humans.

They sing, dance, and talk like real-life celebrities. Some of them like Carol from ByteDance have millions of followers.

Companies are happy to use virtual celebrities as they cost much less than real ones and they can be controlled easily.

The estimated value of the virtual-celebrity market in China is $16bn in 2021.

But new problems emerge. According to the Economist coverage, the real person behind Carol's avatar complained about being 'bullied, overworked and underpaid' by ByteDance.

Is this a glimpse of an emerging metaverse economy with more centralised control and fewer rights for human beings?

As billions are invested into metaverse economy worldwide, companies, countries, and citizens should start discussing impact of metaverse on society from human well being to labour rights.

Statistical analysis of the Ukraine war: potentials and pitfalls

Two Spanish scientists question the thesis of "two Ukraine": pro-West or pro-Russian. Their analysis is based upon a set of data on violent events in Ukraine since January 2021.

Their analysis shows that conflicts can arise from many factors beyond simple East-West binary optics. Accordingly, the solution is not to split Ukraine in two.

According to the authors, data lack is the greatest problem in this scientific method.As opposed to other fields, like engineering, obtaining reliable and high-quality data about social and political events is a major challenge.

The greatest challenge to using statistical models and scientific methods in diplomacy will be finding timely, reliable and usable data.

Source: Phys.Org

Undersea cables carry Internet traffic across continents. They are part of the critical information infrastructure of the modern world.

Scientists started using these cables as a global network of sensors that monitor seismic and other changes at the seabed previously beyond the reach of the scientific community.

As Wired indicated in the recent coverage Where there's cable, there's potential data.

Geoscientist Philippe Jousset said 'You can interrogate any fibre under the sea, covering all of the Earth'.

Undersea cables could be also used as early-earning tools for tsunami as they can detect any tectonic shifts on the seabed.

Source: Undersea Cables are carrying scientific secrets.

Tech giants begin to support data sovereignty, and data localisation. Google has opened cloud servers in Spain for data localisation. This service will be offered in collaboration with Telefonica, the Spanish telecom giant.

A new 'data sovereignty' business model was highlighted in Google's announcement: “Accelerating digital transformation also requires cloud services that meet regulatory compliance and digital governance requirements. In particular, highly regulated sectors like government, healthcare and financial services need additional controls to store data and run workloads locally.”

You can find more information here.

Scientific sanctions on Russia may affect significantly research on climate change.

As it is analysed by the Economist, the main setback on climate research will be on Artic and Siberia's permafrost:

Permafrost research, crucial for understanding where climate projections will end up, is likely to suffer in particular. Two-thirds of Russia is covered by permafrost, and this frozen ground locks up huge amounts of organic material. As it melts and that organic material decays, greenhouse gases in the form of methane and carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere. Without good data on these emissions, understanding about their contribution to climate change will decline.

So far, as the Ukraine war escalates, there are no moves towards re-establishing scientifc cooperation between Russia and the West. The continuation of this situation will significantly affect Artic and climate science in both parts of the world.

More information is available here: https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/russian-and-western-scientists-no-longer-collaborate-in-the-arctic/21809236

Titlte: Need for more innovation in South African diplomacy

South African diplomacy need to be more innovative in order to adjust to the post-pademic era. It was the underlying message of President Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa during the Annual conference of heads of missions of the Department of International Relations and Cooperations.

As a practical step towards more innovative diplomacy, President Ramaphosa said 'We need to adapt to digital diplomacy and host targeted seminars to sell South Africa.'.

The Annual Conference of South African diplomacy stressed three priority areas for innovation in diplomacy:

1. to attract tourism, trade, and investment by using innovative tools and approaches.

2. to strengthen people-to-people relations towards cultivating tolerance, and cultural understanding. The main focus should be on youth development programmes.

3. to strengthen public diplomacy via the use of social media and other advanced tools and approaches.

Source: City Press

Elon Mask owned 19-years-old devleoper Jack Sweeney 5.000 USD to stop tracking Mask's private flighs Sweeney asked for new Tesla car. Elon has not replied so far. Instead, according to some jokes on Twitter, he bought the platform for 44 billion USD.

Sweeney's Twitter app smartly combines flight data from various sources to identify itinerey of flights of celebrities, including Elon Trump.

For more info, you can visit https://www.protocol.com/elon-musk-flight-tracker

TITLE: How can we reduce the amount of debris and clashes that occur in outer space?

Kamala Harris, US vice-president, announced a unilateral ban of anti-satellite weapons in California on 18 April.

America, along with India, China, and Russia, has successfully 'killed' satellites. One satellite can be destroyed, causing 100.000 pieces of debris to fall on other satellites.

It's becoming a serious problem, as outer space becomes increasingly crowded with private and military satellites orbiting the earth. SpaceX has been granted permission to launch over 12.000 satellites in the next years.

With more and larger satellites and debris, it's becoming more likely, according to Kesseler syndrome that more debris will trigger more satellite collisions and, in turn, create more debris.

The US government is moving to develop 'norms and responsible behaviour' in outer space that will be gradually adopted worldwide.

||Jovan||||nikolabATdiplomacy.edu||||sorina||

In the Lovy Insittute's article on changes of Australian diplomacy reform of internal 'cable system' is higlighted in as priority. This old technology cannot serve new digital era with fast access to timely information.

Other proposals for the reform of Australian diplomacy include:

• making Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) a central agency to coordinate national security strategy.
• commitment for more flexible staffing in the fight for talents.

See: Time to think bog on the future of Australian diplomacy

The European Space Agency (ESA) cancels cooperation with Russia, including three planned moon missions and ExoMars. ESA's decision is the implementation of the sanctions against Russia.

The ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher stressed that ' this new geopolitical context can help 'to create a more resilient and robust space infrastructure for Europe.'

You can consult ESA's decisions here.

The Nimble initiative won IEEE Future Networks challnges for network solution for local communities.

The founding director of the Nimble solution as 'quickly build a low-cost, low-power, and yet still portable network that meets their own connectivity and education needs.'

It is open source system which does not depend on the Internet. It can operate off-the-Internet by connecting people in local community. The key is to support of development and content in local languages.

Nible can address challenge of logistics and supply chanins which takes up to 80% of humanitarian funding.

Nible is scalable. It can cover a village, a city, or entire region.

It is energy efficient system supporting thousands of users with less than 100 watts of power.

The first deployement of Nimble are made in South Africa and Canada.

For more information visit Spectum by IEEE

Digitalisation brings benefits and problems. With new connections and possibilities come new risks and dangerous. It is happening in Kenya as country advances in digitalisation. Online sport betting is taking off fast. Some are becoming reach while many others are going banckrupt with amilies disintegrateing and even some people commting suicide.

According to the US research firm GeoPoll survey 84% of Kenya yout tried sport betteing. One third bet on daily basis. Kenyans sepnd $1.3 billion a year on bttering which is equal the budget of the country's Ministry of Health. 7 out of 10 youth have 'gambling disorder'.

How to address this problem? There are wide range of ideas floating around from banning online betting to new tighter legislaiton. Banning is not feasable as online betting is becoming highly integrated into local economy. Governmetns collect a lot of taxes. Online gaming industry is one of important source of employement as well. A few realistic actions includ stopping advertising online betting on radio and TV, introducing apps that can 'reduce temptations', banning access to online betting sites via university networks which are used by many youth,

There are a lot of studies on positive social and economic impact of Mpesa. Now, it is time also to address negative impact of mobile money such as sport betting.

Sport betting is not entirely new. Digitalisation and mobile money amplified spread of it.

The infrastructure for online betteing was set by fast connection via new undersea cables, influex of cheep Cinese-branded smartphones and MPesa mobile money system.

As one young Kenyan indicated in this study: 'Nowdays in Kenya, we term betting as a job. Peple believe that when you do genuine bets, when you take time to do good analyzation, you can win'.

Kenyans were spending $1.3 billion a year to place bets on the platform—more than the annual budget of the country’s Ministry of Health.

Sport betting is becoming continental phenomenon. In addition to 3/4 Kenyans there are more than half of youth from Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa involved in online betting.

Source: https://via.diplomacy.edu/https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/04/14/1049239/kenya-sports-betting-mobile-money/

Title: Exodus of Russian Tech workers

It is estimated that 70.000 Russian tech workers fled Russia after the Ukraine conflict. Another 70.000-100.000 workers will likely leave Russia over the next few months.

Sanctions against Russia have affected software outsourcing to Russian programmers. Many of them reacted quickly by moving to other countries, including Turkey, Armenia, and other places that do not require visas.

The Russian economy could be adversely affected by this exodus. Tech is an important area for diversifying Russia's energy-dominated economy.

Topic: labour, future of work

Iran calls for more 'sand diplomacy'

Iran calls for more diplomacy and international cooperation in dealing with sand and dust storms.

Iran is particularly exposed to sand and dust from Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan in the northeast; Iraq, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan in the south, southwest, and west.

Sand and dust storms create major economic and environmental damage.

The cross-border nature of this phenomenon requires international cooperation as it was proposed in the article pubished by Teheran Times.

"Destination Earth", a European Union initiative, aims to create a virtual model of Earth to be used in simulating climates and weather phenomena.

For example, "Destination Earth" should simulate the extremes of climate and server storms.

This initiative is being led by a consortium of EU-related organisation, including the European Space Agency, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites.

It is likely that in 10 years' time, a virtual Earth will be possible.

It is not known if or how 'Destination Earth' will mimic economic, social and political dynamics that directly affect natural phenomena.

Here you can find more information on 'Destination Earth' initiative.

Title: Is the IPCC a scientific or diplomatic exercise?

The IPCC is often seen as the scientific voice in global climate change negotiations. It is also viewed as a matter of scientific facts.

The reality is however, quite the opposite. Diplomats negotiate the "Summary for Policymakers" section of the IPCC report. Guardian noted that they completely omitted any mention of the fossil fuel sector as a major contributor to climate change in the last report. This was apparently because countries like Saudi Arabia or the lobby of the oil industry managed to get rid of this reference.

Accordingly, IPCC reports don't have the same scientific quality as we think.

Another problem is that the social sciences are often ignored in climate change research. They only receive 1% of the funding. However, the most important factors that influence negotiations and actions in climate change are the political and socio-economic aspects.

Title: Battle for cybersecurity narrative

CONTENT: China started issuing detailed reports on cyber attacks from the USA in attempt to change predominant cybersecurity narratives in global media. Accoridng to these narratives, China is one of main hubs of cyberattacks.

Recently, China published three reports documenting cyber attacks originating in the United States: Report by Qihoo 360, treport from the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team (CNCERT), and the report from Qi An Pangu Lab.

The Diplomat considers it as 'Beijing's new strategy for responding to Washington'. It is aimed not only towards US but also global audience. Reports document that other countries, including US allies, are victims of these attacks.

As geopolitics shifts into tesne phase, we can expect more battles for cybersecurity and digital diplomacy narratives. frame current cybersecurity narratives.

Source: The Diplomat

1 April China accused of hacking Ukraine days before Russian invasion According to intelligence memos obtained by the British daily newspaper The Times, Chinese hackers reportedly carried out cyberattacks on Ukrainian institutions and nuclear facilities in the run-up to Russia's invasion. Thousands of hacking attempts were made against more than 600 Ukrainian Ministry of Defence and other agencies' websites.

According to a source from Ukraine's security service (SBU), cyberattacks began before the Winter Olympics ended and peaked on February 23, the day before the Russian invasion, with the Chinese government coordinating the attacks.

The SBU, on the other hand, denied providing the Times with any information about the alleged attacks. 'The SBU has nothing to do with the Times' findings. The Ukrainian Security Service does not currently have such information, and no investigation is underway,' according to the Guardian. Trend: Ukraine Tag: Ukraine Topic: Cyberwarfare

Silicon Valley in search for replacement of smartphone era

As the smartphone era is fading, Silicon Valley searchers for new winning technology.

Currently, the most likely candidate to replace smartphones is virtual reality (VR) or Metavers as it is frequently described. Pandemic lockdowns further pushed an idea for virtual reality as our lives moved to Zoom and online platforms. From Zoom, next step is Metavrse.

The key hardware for Metaverse era will be virtual reality headsets. Most major companies are devleoping VR headset and glasses. The Economist describes this shift from smartphone to virtual reality in the following way:

.... as computing shifts away from the pocket and towards wrists and ears, a growing share of consumers’ attention and spending is seeping away from the phone, too. As VR and AR glasses become lighter and cheaper, they could form the most powerful part of the wearable cluster.

Body language and gestures are deeply embedded in us acquired from our birth. They also reflect our identity, including culture, sex, and age.

How will body language be transferred to virtual reality and the Metaverse? Will we develop new types of gestures? Some traditional habits by not using hands too much to support your verbal arguments may be changed as CNET article argues:

... my hands stayed too still. Moving my hands more, and animating, made my avatar more expressive. I had to learn to perform, in a sense, to better express myself as a human.

So far, in Metaverse frantic coverage, there is very little on the impact on human communication, including changes in body language. It is not surprising. As CNET argued

The most difficult things to do, programmatically, are the things that make us most human.

It remains to be seen if existing body language will adjust to Metaverse, or we will have an entirely new way of non-verbal communication that will emerge for virtual reality.

6 April USA disrupts Russia-backed Cyclops Blink botnet The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced that it had taken down Cyclops Blink, a botnet controlled by a threat actor known as Sandworm (APT28), which has been linked to Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU.

‘Thanks to our close work with international partners, we were able to detect the infection of thousands of network hardware devices. We were then able to disable the GRU's control over those devices before the botnet could be weaponized.’ the announcement stated.

In a press conference, US Attorney General Merrick Garland has accused Russia of using similar infrastructure to conduct cyberattacks on Ukraine. However, he noted that 'fortunately, we could disrupt this botnet before it could be used'. Trend: Cyber detente, Ukraine Tag: Ukraine Topic: Cyberwarfare

Epic and Lego: protecting children in Metaverse

Epic Games (operated by Fortnite) and Lego started partnership to create a virtual space aimed at kids. Two companies will combine their respective expertise in online gaming.

A new element is that at the outset of their partnership, they set three policy and governance principles for virtual space for children:

• protect children’s right to play by making safety and well-being a priority;
• safeguard children’s privacy by putting their best interests first;
• empower children and adults with tools that give them control over their digital experience.

Safety and rights of children are likely to be the first area where governance and policy rules for Metaverse will be developed.

||StephanieBP||

Architecture and diplomacy have had a long historical interplay, from design of negotiating spaces to the architecture of embassies. Embassies are often the first visual image that locals get about foreign countries.

Expo is another example of architectural diplomacy when countries try to convey an engaging and impactful message to foreigners.

Expo 2020 is finishing this month after many delays caused by the pandemic crisis.

Countries pavillions in Dubai are very diverse, but most have an important tech feature. Mina Chow provides a survey of diplomacy and architecture at Expo 2020 in Dubai.

https://via.diplomacy.edu/https://www.archpaper.com/2022/04/suspended-in-a-spectacle-public-diplomacy-at-expo-2020-dubai/

AI projects are hitting the limits of available data. Thus, there is a push for synthetic data.

Synthetic data are generated by machines. They are cheaper and less prone to legal requirements including privacy protection.

But synthetic data open a new set of issues: how to ensure that they relate to 'normality'; how to avoid biases that synthetic like real data generates.

Source: Spectrum https://via.diplomacy.edu/https://spectrum.ieee.org/synthetic-data-computer-vision

Title: Elon Masks joins Twitter: the new battle for free speech

Mask's appointment to the Board of Twitter, as the biggest shareholder, is a more content policy than business news.

Musk has been a staunch supporter of free speech. He said 'Given that Twitter serves as the de facto public town square, failing to adhere to free speech principles fundamentally undermines democracy.' He also opposed cancelling of president Trump's Twitter account.

Musk's arrival to Twitter already triggered pushback from Twitter staff who is more interested in 'protecting people from hate speech and trolls' than 'freedom of expression'.

Given Twitter influence, this battle between two camps - content control vs freedom of expression - will have major impact on the future of the Internet.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/04/05/elon-musk-twitter-board/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=wp_business-technology

German authorities seized servers of Hydra, one of the biggest cybercrime forums. Hydra was parked of DarkNet operated by ToR software.

One of the strengths of Hydra was the Bitcoin Bank Mixer, a service to prevent access by law-enforcement agencies.

Hydra was used for transferring funds from the Colonial Pipeline ransomware.

The end of the Hydra platform will in particular affect the Russian cybercrime community.

LINK: https://via.diplomacy.edu/https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/04/hydra-the-worlds-biggest-cybercrime-forum-shut-down-in-police-sting/?comments=1

TITLE: ECASH - solution for cash and anonymity in the digital era

CONTENT: Many governments are experimenting with digital currency issued by the central monetary authority. Digital currency won't have anonymity one of the important aspects of traditional cash.

The lack of anonymity of emerging digital currency is problem that inspired US Congress Representative Stephen Lynch to propose the establishment of ECASH (Electronic Currency and Secure Hardware).

ECASH will be based on the peace of hardware or card issued by the U.S. Treasury that could be used strictly peer to peer, like cash. Funds could also be uploaded onto phones or other hardware. It does not require the internet and it does not use blockchain.

TOPIC: crtypto currency URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/opinion/digital-money-privacy.html

this text presents argument that DMA can reduce security level by interrupting crypto-protected communication.

Link https://via.diplomacy.edu/https://curator.diplomacy.edu/ailink/17404/

Apple and Meta exposed client information to hackers disguised as law enforcement agencies. All of these incidents occurred in response to emergency requests, which can be used to circumvent conventional procedure with a court order.

Requests were often sent from law enforcement agencies' hacked e-mail accounts.

These data breaches point to severe flaws in the system's handling of data requests. The situation is becoming more serious as the number of requests increases. From January to June 2021, Meta received 21.700 data requests from law enforcement agencies worldwide.

Typically, these demands are delivered via email. This improvised approach introduces several dangers of misunderstanding, inaccuracy, and intentional hacking.

As a solution, a "single point of contact" is required where all law enforcement agencies can issue demands and businesses can collect them. With adequate safeguards, such a collaboration platform might be an effective solution to preventing hacking, data breaches, and the growing cyber vulnerabilities around the world.

The thinking space for current developments is shaped by political ideals and philosophy. We cannot understand our period or work on prospective answers for crises, such as the war in Ukraine, unless we comprehend deeper thought origins of our era. This text discusses the Ukraine war by revisiting ideas that influenced Putin and the Russian elite.

On the operational front, some analysts, such as John Mearsheimer, have cautioned that NATO's expansion into Russia's borders could provoke confrontation.

However, beyond the tactical, there are ideas and concepts that have shaped Putin and the Russian elite's thinking.

Several intellectuals, including

Vladislav Surkov is a Kremlin-connected adviser. He proposed the ideology of Russian "sovereign democracy," which is the authoritarian style of mild liberalism that Russia has been practicing since 2006.

IIvan Ilyn is Russian philosopher who died in exile in Switzerland in 1954. As a vehement opponent of the Bolsheviks, he advocated not only against Communism, but also against Western liberalism. In his view that classic autocracy is the right approach for Russia, he echoed Dostoevsky's thinking. Ilyin argued in his main work, 'Our Side,' that Russia had a duty to preserve its traditional autocracy and reject Western liberalism.

The Russian political elite began to be inspired also by 'the Justification of the Good' (Vladimir Solovyov) and 'Philosophy of Inequality' (Vladimir Solovyov) (Nicholas Berdyaev). These three authors, Ilyn, Solovyov, and Berdyaev, are sometimes cited as the fathers of the "Russian idea," which is based on the historical uniqueness, distinctive vocation, and worldwide purpose of the Russian people and, by extension, the Russian state.

Most of these ideas were brought closer to our time by Alexander Dugin, who developed 'Fourth Political Theory' as a synthesis of Neo-paganism, Slavic Nativism, and Eastern Orthodox traditions.

In his book 'Foundations of Geopolitics,' Dugin describes liberal postmodernity as humanity's fundamental threat, based on these three pillars of "Atlanticism": liberalism, free markets, and democracy. As counter-forces, he recommends hierarchy, tradition, and a strict legal structure.

As a practical response to 'atlanticism,' Dugin recommended destabilizing three actions: destabilising internal political processes in the United States, Britain's withdrawal from the European Union, and Russia's annexation.

All of these books are essential background reading for understanding Putin's and Russia's elite's thinking as they shift from Western modernity to Russian social conservatism. Russian history has happened in this swinging between modernity and conservativism. It remains to be seen how this transformation will unfold with huge impact not only

TITLE: Will Chinese companies fill the gap at Russian tech market?

CONTENT: After the introduction of sanctions and the withdrawal of Western tech operators, Chinese companies filled the gap. 

For example, Huawei's phone sales in Russia trippled in the first two weeks of March. After the withdrawal of Nokia and Ericsson, Huawei and ZET will increase their share of the market for wireless network equipment. Currently, the Russian market is divided almost half-and-half between these two Chinese and American companies.

However, business with Russia exposes Chinese companies to the risk of US sanctions, especially on the sales of equipment containing semi-conductors produced in the United States.

Chinese tech giants will have to walk a fine line between capturing the huge Russian tech market while avoiding harsh sanctions from the United States.

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