Policy
Ethiopia has a new cybercrime law. The government maintains that the “Computer Crime Proclamation” will prevent and control potential cybercriminals; others argue that its criminalization of otherwise legitimate speech such as defamation and spam will only enhance the government’s ability to silence dissent. If you're scared, we are too: 'inciting fear' is one of the law's many reasons for imprisonment.
Privacy
Iran’s 20 million Telegram messaging app users are at “severe risk” of finding their data compromised, reports the Committee to Protect Journalists. Without end-to-end encryption or the Signal encryption protocol, users of Telegram have little reason to trust their communications are safe in this heavily censored and monitored country.
Research and Initiatives
Korea University’s Center for Information Security Technologies (CIST) has launched the Center for Cybersecurity Policy, which aims to establish itself as a premier cybersecurity policy think tank, akin to the United States’ Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The South Korean Center’s six offices include the cybersecurity research office, the personal information protection research office and the cyber peace and human rights research office.
During a talk titled “Securitisation of Digital India,” Gulshan Rai, India’s National Cyber Security Coordinator, recognized a need for change both within and beyond India’s borders. Rai called for an increased emphasis on internal skill and capacity building in addition to developing more Indian-made software and hardware, but also acknowledged the importance of creating an international legal framework to protect the multitude of data that is no longer contained by national boundaries.
Israel hosts its 6th annual International Cybersecurity Conference this week, providing an opportunity for corporations, policy makers, researchers and startups to confront cybersecurity threats and discuss solutions. The conference, also known as Cyber Week 2016, is organized by the Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center of Tel Aviv University, the Israeli National Cyber Bureau and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Cyberattacks
South Africa has experienced its share of Anonymous Africa this week: the websites of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and Ajay, Atul and Rajesh Gupta’s Oakbay Investments all experienced temporarily debilitating distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks within a span of days. According to the hacktivist group, “We target corrupt and/or racist individuals, corporations and parties.”
Since 2014, Cyber Caliphate has carried out cyberattacks worldwide, purportedly on behalf of the Islamic State. Recent investigations, however, have led Western actors—including the United States, which engaged in cyberwarfare against ISIS in response—to conclude that Cyber Caliphate is in fact a Russian operation, capitalizing on and hiding behind the name of ISIS to carry out its own initiatives.
Bank Indonesia’s website recently suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. Although no money was lost, the Indonesian central bank responded by preventing 149 regions, including several African nations, from accessing its website in the future.
All images credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.
Want more emerging economy cyber alerts? Read on!- The Week in Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts ~ June 15, 2016
- The Week in Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts ~ June 9, 2016
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