Thursday 21 July 2016

Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - July 21, 2016


Policy 
their legislation today could be yours tomorrow

Kenyan flag and map 
The 90% of East African adults who utilize M-Pesa, Kenya’s mobile money transaction platform, have cause for concern: the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) wants access to all private transaction records without a court order. KRA hopes doing so will enable it to identify individuals committing tax fraud and is willing to risk sharing personal financial information with any and all tax officials in the process.


American flag and map

In the United States, a court appeal has granted Microsoft permission to not share email data stored on Irish servers with US authorities. It remains to be seen to what extent the decision will influence future policy, but Microsoft's Brad Smith believes, "Fundamentally what it means is that people can have confidence that when they store information in the cloud, their privacy rights can be governed by their own laws and interpreted by their own governments."



Privacy, Surveillance and Censorship
government isn't always on your side

Brazilian flag and map 

WhatsApp was blocked yet again in Brazil, continuing an ongoing battle between a government that wants information that doesn't exist and a company committed to protecting its users' privacy. Use of the messaging app was reinstated within hours by a Supreme Court order that is already thought to perhaps discourage future blocks.

Turkish flag and map


Once again, distress in Turkey--this time, an attempted military coup--has led to a lack of social media access. At least for some, access to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter was limited because of restricted bandwidth, an approach that demonstrates Turkey's turn to more sophisticated censorship tactics.




Research and Initiatives 
making your world a more cybersecure place 

Indian flag and map 
 In India, this year’s Ground Zero Summit focused on ‘Securing Digital India’ and provided an opportunity for Asia’s cybersecurity experts and researchers to discuss challenges and explore new technologies. The event encouraged relationship-building between cybersecurity professionals and those engaged in the corporate, government and defense spheres.  

Mongolian flag and map

The Ulaanbaatar Declaration, named for the Mongolian capital in which it was signed, made clear the intentions of the 11th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit: “ASEM will focus on areas of common interest, such as, countering terrorism and violent extremism, maritime safety and security, fighting piracy and armed robbery at sea, as well as human and drug trafficking, cyber security and cyber-crime, security of and in the use of information and communication technologies, and upholding the purpose and principles of the UN Charter.” 

Chinese flag and map 
China has responded to an increase in smart cars with a much-needed automotive cybersecurity committee: “The committee has been established as a platform to pool resources, carry out research and work out standards, policies, laws and regulations to defend cyber security in automobiles,” said Zhang Jinhua of the China Society of Automotive Engineers.





Cyberattacks
the threats we all face 

Taiwanese map 


More than $2.5 million USD was stolen via malware from the ATMs of Taiwan’s First Bank, the country’s first attack of its kind from international actors. To date, 3 of 16 suspects have been arrested.





All images credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.
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