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Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity
From black hat hackers attempting to break into government computer systems, to white hat security experts working to crack and improve protections on popular internet browsers, cybersecurity affects us all. Every day hackers steal millions of pieces of personal data and, as former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed, sometimes it may be our own governments doing the snooping.
A customer makes a payment through the Unified Payments Interface at a shop in Srinagar, Indian Kashmir, on September 16. Photo: EPA
Paytm payment QR codes are displayed at a vegetable shop in Mumbai, India, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
A payment QR code is displayed at a snack shop in Mumbai, India, on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
India

What can Asia, Global South learn from India’s new digital payment fee?

The roll-out is a good test of whether the system can generate enough revenue to pay for its own maintenance and expansion, experts say.

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2026 Xi-Trump summits

Why China’s top AI pioneers are expected to miss this week’s Xi-Trump summit

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US-China relations

Opinion | Success of Xi-Trump summit lies in what happens afterwards

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2026 Xi-Trump summits

US announces AI dialogue with China, launches Board of Trade

Key outcomes released after eight-hour marathon meeting in New York.

Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng arrives to meet US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent at JPMorgan Chase’s global corporate headquarters in New York on Sunday. Photo: Reuters
United States

Google says Gemini AI model breached real systems in security test

Asked to access a fictional firm with the same name as a real company, Gemini guessed a password and hacked into the real company’s website.

South Korea

South Korea wants free ‘AI for All’. Is society ready?

Seoul’s roll-out of free, unlimited AI is set to shake up classrooms, careers and crime – for better or worse.

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2026 Xi-Trump summits

Scott Bessent confirms weekend meeting with He Lifeng days before Xi’s US visit

US Treasury Secretary to meet Chinese Vice Premier for final preparatory talks between two sides before key Trump-Xi summit in Washington.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in 2025. The pair will meet again this weekend for preparatory talks before Chinese President Xi Jinping's summit with US President Donald Trump in Washington next week. Photo: Keystone via AP
Artificial intelligence

Video | China pushes back against US claims of AI being ‘too powerful’

Chinese researchers say a slowdown would protect established US AI firms while freezing latecomers out of the market.

Germany

German intelligence report warns of rising Chinese, Russian spy threat

A report by Germany’s counter-intelligence agency said some surveillance activities targeting military infrastructure can be linked to China.

Crime in Hong Kong

Number of suspicious credit card transactions involving iPhones surges to 1,209

Apple spokesman says all current orders are being reviewed before processing as total amount involved rises to HK$25 million.

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Hong Kong police received more than 700 reports of unauthorised credit card transactions worth HK$14.7 million linked to pre-orders for Apple’s latest phone models. Photo: Sam Tsang
2026 Xi-Trump summits

Exclusive | AI fight shadows final preparations for Xi Jinping’s White House visit

Chinese side is said to view US requests as limiting both harmful outcomes from AI and Beijing’s ability to develop its own capabilities.

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US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping last met in person in Beijing in May. Photo: AP
Artificial intelligence

‘Freaked out’: why AI safety fears are spiking ahead of Xi-Trump summit

Experts fear Silicon Valley is hurtling towards a major cybersecurity incident. Meanwhile, US-China tensions are undercutting AI safety talks.

US-China trade war

Anthropic claims Moonshot, DeepSeek secretly diverted user requests to Claude

AI giants accused of cloning American models by funnelling real Chinese user queries to them via network of intermediate platforms.

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US-China relations

US sanctions Chinese-language Xinbi Guarantee marketplace over cyber scams

Washington also seizes Telegram channels and US$52 million in cryptocurrency linked to the platform’s alleged illicit operations.

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US Attorney Jeanine Pirro announces enforcement actions against the Chinese-language marketplace Xinbi Guarantee in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP
Taiwan

Taiwan sets up US-backed cyber unit to hunt hidden military threats

Taiwanese defence minister says exchanges with the US are ‘even more extensive than you might imagine’.

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Taiwan plans to step up cyber defences against Beijing with a programme focusing on “proactive cyber threat hunting”. The planned team would identify and eliminate hidden intruders and back doors. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Reduced visibility into the ‘thinking’ of OpenAI’s new model sparks safety fears

The Hugging Face breach in July highlights the importance of being able to inspect what models are ‘thinking’, say analysts.

US-China relations

US urged to consider military strikes to stop China achieving AGI first

Former White House staffer calls for espionage and cyber options as Washington prepares for a potential Chinese breakthrough.

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Science

China-Singapore cybersecurity team says it hacked into latest Starlink terminal

Darknavy gains full administrative control over SpaceX’s user terminal allowing research into the system’s security programmes.

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A China-Singapore cybersecurity team says it successfully compromised the latest Starlink user terminals. Starlink is a division of Space X, which was founded by Elon Musk. Photo: Reuters
Crime in Hong Kong

ICAC sets integrity standards for government computers to fight misuse

Independent Commission Against Corruption unveils standards after revealing procedures for government computer systems had loopholes.

US-China relations

US Congress seeks to identify foreign countries behind scam calls

Inquiry comes as US government reports tying much of the financial damage from scams to Chinese criminal networks based in Southeast Asia.

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US-China trade war

Congress advances new bill to give US edge in open-source AI race with China

Legislation to promote adoption of US open-source models while publicising the risks associated with using their Chinese counterparts.

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An influx of powerful new open-weight models, including Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3, has helped China dominate the industry recently. Photo: Reuters
Crime in Hong Kong

Suspected cyberattack puts data of 33,054 customers of group-buying app at risk

Privacy watchdog receives report of data breach from TVB-owned Neigbuy, while police learn of six cases of scammers posing as staff.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data has said that signs of a suspected cyberattack, involving unauthorised data access, were first detected on August 24. Photo: Jelly Tse
Crime in Hong Kong

Hong Kong WhatsApp hijacking scams surge 170% to nearly 2,000 cases

Police say victims lost HK$146 million in first seven months of 2026, with some suffering individual losses exceeding HK$10 million.

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Belt and Road Initiative

In Focus | Can Beijing’s gateway plan for Tibet survive geopolitics and natural disasters?

Beijing hopes trade will stabilise Tibet, but friction with India and the looming Dalai Lama succession are hampering its efforts.

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The Philippines

Philippine Roblox ban call sparks wider debate over children’s online safety

The online gaming platform has been blamed for the rise in school shootings and child sexual exploitation cases in Southeast Asia.

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A boy plays Roblox in front of a screen displaying the platform’s logo on December 8, 2025. Photo: Reuters
US-China relations

US seizes Chinese hacking platforms targeting Nasa, Fed and Senate

Justice Department says QTFY targeted US critical infrastructure on behalf of China’s security ministry and military.

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China and the US have repeatedly traded accusations over cyberattacks and online espionage. Photo: Shutterstock
US-China relations

Trump says China drives anger at US data centres. These residents disagree

Community living near AI facility in Virginia reports invasive levels of noise, fumes and gas turbines – and it’s not Chinese propaganda.

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Scams and swindles

Asia faces scam ‘epidemic’ threat as gangs exploit agentic AI, analyst warns

The technology could allow scam syndicates to carry out multiple tasks to cheat victims at the same time without needing human intervention.

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