Tag Archive for: Government’s

Is government’s anti-disinformation unit protecting or persecuting citizens? – PublicTechnology

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Government claims the Counter Disinformation Unit – accused of effectively spying on its own citizens – has played a key role in tackling Kremlin narratives, and will be important in election preparations

“The CDU uses publicly available data, including material shared on social media platforms, to develop an understanding of disinformation narratives and trends. It does not, and has never, monitored individuals and all data is anonymised wherever possible.”

This is how the government summarises the work and methods of its Counter Disinformation Unit (CDU). The unit is based in the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and, in its current form, was “stood up” in the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in spring 2020, with a remit to tackle false information about the pandemic circulating online.

Others have a different, and darker take on how the CDU goes about its business. Some of the fiercest recent criticism of the unit has come from close to the heart of government itself.

“To the best of our knowledge, the CDU undertakes its work in the absence of effective transparency, oversight, accountability mechanisms or due process,” said a letter sent last month to DSIT secretary Michelle Donelan by David Davis – the MP who formerly served as Brexit secretary and Conservative party chair.

As reported by the Telegraph, the missive, co-signed by Labour MP Bell-Ribeiro Addy and the Green party’s Caroline Lucas, added: “We call on you to suspend the CDU immediately and commission an independent review of its work, in order to ensure that the rights to freedom of expression and privacy are sufficiently protected.”

According to a report published earlier this year by the Daily Mail and campaign group Big Brother Watch, the MPs are just three among many citizens whose online posts have been flagged by government and military disinformation units – despite the posts, in some cases, containing no factual inaccuracies, but merely being critical of government policy.

The MPs’ concerns about the CDU’s lack of transparency, at least, seem difficult to refute. Government has repeatedly failed to provide basic operational…

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Cyberattacks on local governments are on the rise, highlighting a need for enhanced security

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Dom DiFurio, provided by

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Local Governments Become Unwitting Malware Vectors

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The bigger the government is, the bigger the target they are for cyberattacks, but at the same time, the bigger their budget for cyber security.

At the lower end of the scale in Australia are 537 local government authorities, which maintain some of the nation’s most critical infrastructure assets and are also at the most risk of cyberattack.

Increasingly, these local government authorities are monitoring their assets with remote sensors and moving into the world of IoT, but at the same time, they have very little in the way of a cybersecurity posture.

These organizations maintain roads, bridges, water services, and waste collection, which are used every day by a population of more than 20 million Australians.

Disrupting these services would play havoc with the economy’s smooth functioning and present as an easy target for increasingly sophisticated “bad actors”.

Call for help

In recognition of this, Linda Scott, the Australian Local Government Association president, has called for more cybersecurity support for the sector after a series of recent attacks.

The ALGA has asked for AUD10 million in funding to assess “local government’s preparedness to deal with cyber-attacks and data breaches.”

The organization is also seeking the appointment of a dedicated chief information security officer to tighten procedures across the sector.

“Local councils are being targeted by ransomware and other phishing cyber threats with the intention of service disruption and stealing valuable information for monetary gain”

The call came after Isaac regional council, which covers an area north of Rockhampton and south of Mackay in Queensland, confirmed it had experienced a security breach in early April.

Isaac chief executive Jeff Stewart-Harris said the council’s IT systems had been shut down to protect against data theft in the wake of the malicious attack, which was identified as ransomware.

“At this stage, we do not have any evidence of large data uploads out of our system; however, this is still being fully investigated, so it can’t be guaranteed,” Stewart-Harris said.

Isaac Council is working with Dell Incident Response and Recovery Services and the Australian CyberSecurity Centre to…

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UK’s offensive hacking force plans to scale operations to meet government’s demands

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The UK’s National Cyber Force (NCF) has revealed plans to scale operations amid rising demands from the government to ramp up offensive hacking capabilities.

In a report offering a unique insight into the NCF’s ongoing expansion, the offensive cyber force said it needs to “scale up to meet the requirements government has of it” and is rapidly expanding personnel and capabilities to meet current demand. 

The NCF is currently in the process of establishing a new permanent base of operations as Samlesbury in Lancashire, which it said will enable the force to “increase operational output”. 

Samlesbury, a 45-minute drive from GCHQ operations in Manchester, was selected as the site for the NCF headquarters in 2021.

As part of this expansion and recruitment drive, the NCF revealed that it plans to further invest in offensive hacking capabilities to contend with escalating global threats. 

The report said that “significant capability investment” will be required to “keep pace with the changing nature of technology” and mitigate increasingly sophisticated cyber threats currently faced by the UK. 

The NCF specifically highlighted rapid technological developments as a key operational challenge, noting that “fundamental changes to the future shape of the internet and globalisation of technology could raise significant complications”. 

“Our adversaries are global and use a wide array of cyber and digital technologies,” the report said. “We need to have the technical ability and readiness to reach these adversaries wherever they are and irrespective of how they are using cyber technology.”

Closer integration with defence partners, including GCHQ, the Ministry of Defence (MOD), and the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) will also be a key objective for the NCF moving forward.

The NCF noted that it must “integrate effectively with other parts of government and with a wider range of partners and allies”. 

This includes law enforcement, government policy departments, the private sector, and a “growing number of international allies”. 

“More broadly, we are working with the private sector, academia, think tanks, and wider civil society to harness the best…

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