Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts

Policy

their legislation today could be yours tomorrow

Zimbabwe is in the process of drafting a Computer Crime and Cyber Crime Bill aimed at limiting unwanted social media use: “According to the draft, any person staying either in Zimbabwe or overseas can be found [guilty] of intentionally generating, possessing and distributing an electronic communication with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, threaten, bully or cause emotional distress to another person.” The legislation would threaten jail sentences of up to five years.

Pakistan’s National Assembly has approved the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Bill 2015, which the government sees as much-needed protection from terrorist threats, but others view as a threat to freedom of speech itself: “The overly broad language used in the bill ensures that innocent and ignorant Pakistani citizens, unaware of the ramifications of what the bill entails, can be ensnared and find themselves subject to very harsh penalties,” said Nighat Daad, founder of Digital Rights Foundation.

Privacy, Surveillance and Censorship

government isn't always on your side

Nigerian blogger Abubakar Sidiq Usman was recently arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for “offenses bordering on cyber-stalking”. Others view the act—the third such arrest since Nigeria’s Cyber Crime Act came into being in 2015—as a clear abuse of power.

Research and Initiatives

making your world a more cybersecure place

CyberSecurity Malaysia hosted a 10-day cybersecurity training for participants from Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Laos, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan and the Philippines. The training aimed to reinforce the Malaysian government’s efforts to promote technical cooperation and support self-reliance among developing countries and strengthen regional and sub-regional cooperation.

United States-based Netflix has transitioned from only using HTTPS encryption to protect user information to using HTTPS to also protect video streams. The online movie and TV show streaming service has more than 83 million users, representing all countries worldwide except China, North Korea, Syria and the territory of Crimea.

Nigeria has taken a new approach to cybercrime by setting up cybersecurity emergency response teams and a Cybercrime Advisory Council. Said Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu, “In view of the critical nature of the economy and government activities, it is obvious that protection from different types of cyber and terrorist attacks is required. Our cyberspace is being exploited to aid radicalism and violent extremism and government have realised that those tasked with the responsibility to protect our cyberspace can no longer function within a framework of the past.”

46 business groups from Asia, Australia, Europe, Mexico and the United States have asked Chinese Premier Li Keqiang to revise drafted cyber rules that would allow for invasive government security reviews and would implement burdensome data residency requirements. “The current drafts, if implemented, would weaken security and separate China from the global digital economy,” read the groups’ letter.

Cyberattacks

the threats we all face

A Filipino bank was fined $21 million USD for its involvement in cybercriminal activity that took $81 million USD from Bangladesh’s central US Federal Reserve bank account and redirected it into Filipino casinos. The incident raises concern about both banking loopholes in the Philippines and a rise in bank cyberattacks in Bangladesh.

Looking Back

a new glimpse at old alerts

The Brazil Olympics were predicted to be a hotbed of cybercrime activity, which is already becoming a reality. August 5th's opening ceremonies coincided with distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks from hacktivists Anonymous Brasil that took down 5 websites, including www.brasil2016.gov.br and www.rio2016.com. All eyes should be on Rio de Janeiro as these Games continue.

All images credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.

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Tuesday 16 August 2016

Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - August 16, 2016

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