Cellebrite exports to Hong Kong challenged in an Israeli court. Thailand enforcing blocks against sites deemed to hold illegal content.

Summary

By the CyberWire staff

At a glance.

Rights advocates seek to stop Cellebrite exports to Hong Kong.
Facebook complies with, but will challenge, Thailand's order to restrict access to an anti-royalist group.

Cellebrite exports to Hong Kong challenged in court.

MIT Technology Review reports that human rights advocates have petitioned Israel's Ministry of Defense in court to step in and block export of Cellebrite phone hacking tools to the formerly semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong, now being reabsorbed into China's larger and notoriously repressive legal and security system. Cellebrite, whose tools have been used to unlock suspects' phones in legitimate police investigations in other parts of the world, are now, the petitioners fear, being turned against Hong Kong democracy advocates and other dissenters who've fallen afoul of Beijing.

Facebook struggles with content moderation in Thailand.

The Washington Post reports that Thailand is cracking down on social media critical of the country’s monarchy. The Minister of Digital Economy and Society said that when it deemed a web address to contain illegal material, it would obtain a court order to block access in Thailand to that address. Enforcement would then fall on the platform that carries the illegal material. They’d have fifteen days to comply with the court order “or face legal action.”

Reuters reported on Monday that Thai authorities had directed Facebook to restrict access to the Royalist Marketplace, a group critical of Thailand's monarchy. Facebook complied, and the message “Access to this group has been restricted within Thailand pursuant to a legal request from the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society.” But CNN reports that the social network is preparing a legal challenge to the ban. "Requests like this are severe, contravene international human rights law, and have a chilling effect on people's ability to express themselves," Facebook told CNN Business. "We work to protect and defend the rights of all internet users and are preparing to legally challenge this request." The Royalist Marketplace has or had approximately one million members.

Selected Reading

Thailand vows to step up action vs ‘illegal’ online sites (Washington Post) A top official in Thailand said Wednesday that his country will step up action against online content that breaks its laws, two days after forcing Facebook to block a group that was posting material critical of the monarchy.

Canada has effectively moved to block China's Huawei from 5G, but can't say so (Reuters) Canada is the only member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network that has not formally blocked Huawei from 5G networks, but it has effectively done just that, delaying a decision long enough to force telecom companies to exclude the Chinese gear maker.

Banning Huawei won’t be a viable choice for India despite national security interests (Quartz India) India's telecom sector is heavily dependent on both Huawei and ZTE mainly because they are more economical compared to other options.

Taiwan and US join forces on 5G security in move to exclude China (Nikkei Asian Review) Joint declaration bolsters 'Clean Network' initiative as Huawei fights for future

US-China ties | The tap on Huawei has been turned off. What next? (Moneycontrol) Whatever the fates will yield in November, it is clear that US-China relations are not going to get back to what they were before 2018

As TikTok and Huawei Restrictions Mount, Americans See China as Top Threat to Silicon Valley’s Tech Dominance (Morning Consult) With the backdrop of the Trump administration’s continued restrictions and threats against China-based Huawei Technologies Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd.’s TikTok, a new survey indicates that Americans see China as the top threat to Silicon Valley’s dominance in the global tech industry.

Doha, like Abu Dhabi, also hooked on Israeli technology (Intelligence Online) While the United Arab Emirates has recently officialised its love-in with Tel Aviv, Qatar is just as keen to avail itself of Israeli private security and intelligence know-how.

US Cyber Forces Go Hunting for Election Trouble (Voice of America) U.S. forces are taking an aggressive approach in cyberspace ahead of November’s presidential election, aiming to wipe out threats from foreign countries and other actors before they have a chance to disrupt voting or other critical, election-related systems. “Cyber Command needs to do more than prepare for a crisis in the future; it must compete with adversaries today,” Gen. Paul Nakasone, head of U.S. Central Command, and senior adviser Michael Sulmeyer said in a piece published Tuesday in Foreign Affairs magazine. The strategy, described by top officials at U.S.

Cyber Command takes the fight abroad (FCW) The head of U.S. Cyber Command defends 'persistent engagement' strategy with adversaries, explaining that proactive cyber operations won't lead the U.S. into an 'all out war.'

Military’s top cyber official defends more aggressive stance (Military Times) The military’s cyber fighters have moved away from a “reactive, defensive posture” and are increasingly engaging in combat with foreign adversaries online, says the USCYBERCOM leader in a commentary published Tuesday.

The Cybersecurity 202: NSA and Cyber Command chief pledges muscular defense of November election (Washington Post) The country's lead military and intelligence cybersecurity agencies are preparing for a full-scale battle to protect the November election from Russia and other adversaries.

US Cyber Command’s top general makes case for partnering with tech firms (C4ISRNET) Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of the NSA and Cyber Command, says there's a need for the government and the private tech sector to join forces against burgeoning cyberthreats.

Ex-Intel Chief: 'I Wish We Had Taken More Action' Against Russian Meddling (90.1 FM WABE) Former NSA chief Mike Rogers says the intelligence community knew Russia was taking unprecedented steps during the 2016 election, but only later did it fully grasp the extent of that effort.

Algorithmic Warfare: Army Consolidating Cyber Operations Forces (National Defense) After years of planning, the Army has consolidated its various cyber elements and coalesced them at Fort Gordon, Georgia. The move is creating synergies as the nation faces increased competition in the digital realm, officials said.

NSW pledges AU$60m to create cyber 'army' (ZDNet) As part of the New South Wales government's AU$240 million commitment to all things cyber.

Israeli phone hacking company faces court fight over sales to Hong Kong (MIT Technology Review) Human rights advocates filed a new court petition against the Israeli phone hacking company Cellebrite, urging Israel’s ministry of defense to halt the firm’s exports to Hong Kong, where security forces have been using the technology in crackdowns against dissidents as China takes greater control. In July, police court filings revealed that Cellebrite’s phone hacking…

Facebook shares data on Myanmar with United Nations investigators (Reuters) Facebook says it has shared data with United Nations investigators probing international crimes in Myanmar, after the lead investigator said the company was withholding evidence.

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