The citizens of Sweden are perhaps closer to completely giving up a component of their individual sovereignty than any other country on earth. In a world where government’s abuse of power and intrusion into the personal lives of its blissfully ignorant enablers grows more disturbing by the day, at least for now, cash offers the one opportunity to transact in a truly anonymous way. That said, Swedes […]
ISTANBUL President Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President Donald Trump during his visit to Washington this week that Turkey would act “without asking anyone” if it faced any sort of attack from the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish media reported on Thursday. Trump’s approval, before the visit, of plans to arm the YPG as it advances towards Islamic State’s Raqqa stronghold had overshadowed talks between the NATO allies, […]
Australian enterprise software provider TechnologyOne has announced its enterprise software-as-a-service (SaaS) solution has been certified to the highest standard by the federal government. According to TechnologyOne, it is the first and only company in the country to receive the certification from the government’s Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP), an initiative from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) aimed at providing high-quality IT services to government in support […]
By Mark Hosenball and Lawrence Hurley | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Former FBI director and prosecutor Robert Mueller, known for his independence in high profile government investigations, is taking on a new challenge in the midst of a crisis that threatens the presidency of the United States. Mueller, 72, was named on Wednesday by the Justice Department to probe alleged Russian efforts to sway November’s presidential election in favor […]
Mirai DNS Water Torture attack payload, with target domain names redacted Mirai DNS Water Torture distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks dominated the first quarter of 2017, a report from Akamai has found. According to Akamai’s State of the Internet/security Q1 2017 report, Water Torture attacks using this DNS query vector were first observed on January 11, 2017, targeting several of the company’s customers in the financial […]
By Joel Schectman | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON A bill proposed in Congress on Wednesday would require the U.S. National Security Agency to inform representatives of other government agencies about security holes it finds in software like the one that allowed last week’s “ransomware” attacks. Under former President Barack Obama, the government created a similar inter-agency review, but it was not required by law and was administered by the […]
We all know — or, well, we should all know — how to block malware attacks. You don’t install unknown applications. You don’t open dodgy email attachments. And you don’t download files from strange websites. But then, there’s WannaCrypt, aka WannaCry. It starts by infecting you the old-fashioned way, but once it makes it on your network, it uses an out-of-date version of Windows’ Server Message Block […]
The problem affects the latest Chrome running on the latest version of Windows 10. Image: Microsoft Attackers can use Google’s Chrome browser to install and automatically run a malicious file on a Windows PC to steal passwords. DefenseCode security researcher Bosko Stankovic has detailed a credential theft attack on Windows that works by tricking a Chrome user into downloading a Windows Explorer Shell Command File or SCF […]
An Islamic Shariah court in Indonesia’s conservative Aceh province has sentenced two gay men to public caning for the first time, further undermining the country’s moderate image after a top Christian politician was imprisoned for blasphemy. The court, whose sentencing Wednesday coincided with International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia, said the men, aged 20 and 23, would each be subjected to 85 lashes for having sexual relations. […]
Ransomware is all over the news. Experts estimate the recent WannaCry attack affected as many as 300,000 devices globally. If you’re worried about falling victim to ransomware, there are a few things to consider. How would you react if someone stole your home computer? What if your hard drive failed and wiped out all your programs and data? If you’re prepared with a full, offsite backup, encrypting […]
By Yara Bayoumy and Katie Paul | WASHINGTON/RIYADH WASHINGTON/RIYADH When U.S. President Donald Trump meets Saudi princes in Riyadh on Saturday, he can expect a warmer welcome than the one given a year ago to his predecessor Barack Obama, who Riyadh considered soft on arch foe Iran and cool toward a bilateral relationship that is a mainstay of the Middle East’s security balance. Beneath the pomp, Riyadh will be looking for assurances […]
The Internet Society has been closely monitoring the ransomware cyber-attacks that have been occurring over the last couple of days. The malware, which has gone by multiple names, including WannaCry, WannaDecryptor, and WannaCrypt, exploits a flaw in Microsoft Windows that was first reportedly discovered by the National Security Agency (NSA). A group of hackers leaked the code for exploiting this vulnerability earlier this year, and a fix […]
President Donald Trump‘s controversial travel ban has reached the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, with a three-judge panel discussing its constitutionality on Monday, May 15. Trump first issued a travel ban preventing people from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. Affected countries included Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen and Somalia. The ban stirred great controversy and opposition, and a U.S. judge granted emergency stay. Faced with […]
Yahoo Inc said on Tuesday it would buy back $3 billion of its common shares, ahead of the company’s pending deal with Verizon Communications Inc. Shares in Yahoo, which has a 15 percent stake in Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, were up 0.6 percent at $50.15 in premarket trading. Yahoo said it would pay between $50.79 and $44.74 per share based on its calculations, Alibaba’s […]
British IT expert Marcus Hutchins who has been branded a hero for slowing down the WannaCry global cyber attack, during an interview in Ilfracombe, England, Monday, May 15, 2017. Hutchins thwarted the virus that took computer files hostage around the world, including the British National Health computer network, telling The Associated Press he doesn’t consider himself a hero but fights malware because “it’s the right thing to […]
By Dustin Volz and Jim Finkle | WASHINGTON/TORONTO WASHINGTON/TORONTO Cyber security researchers have found technical evidence they said could link North Korea with the global WannaCry “ransomware” cyber attack that has infected more than 300,000 computers in 150 countries since Friday. Symantec (SYMC.O) and Kaspersky Lab said on Monday that some code in an earlier version of the WannaCry software had also appeared in programs used by […]
Rolls-Royce lagged behind a London market rally on Monday that lifted the FTSE 100 to a fresh record high. Rolls was under pressure after Investec questioned whether management can hit a target of delivering more than £1bn in free cash flow by 2020. The cost of developing a new engine for Boeing could be “a material headwind” to that goal, the broker warned. Boeing is reportedly finalising […]
By Guy Faulconbridge and Dustin Volz | LONDON/WASHINGTON LONDON/WASHINGTON The global WannaCry “ransomware” cyber attack spread more slowly on Monday with no major infections reported, as attention shifted to investment and government policy implications of lax cyber security. There were 213,000 infected machines in 112 countries as of 1000 GMT on Monday, according to Czech security firm Avast, making it one of the largest coordinated attacks to […]
Criminal hacking groups have repurposed a second classified cyber weapon stolen from US spies and have made it available on the so-called dark web after the success of the WannaCry attack that swept across the globe on Friday. The hacking tool, developed by the US National Security Agency and codenamed EsteemAudit, has been adapted and is now available for criminal use, according to security analysts. As with […]
DAKAR Armed groups have agreed to allow for the evacuation of some civilians from a mosque in Central African Republic’s southeastern town of Bangassou after two days of fighting, a senior U.N. official said on Monday. Around 1000 people in the town had sought refuge from attacks inside and then found themselves trapped there by the militias, said U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in Central African Republic Najat Rochdi. […]
A committee of the Philippine parliament on Monday found an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte was “insufficient in substance,” rejecting it and effectively putting an end to the case. The complaint, filed in March, alleged that Duterte had adopted a state policy of extrajudicial killings during his war on drugs, leading to the death of more than 8,000 people in the first eight months of his […]
BEIJING Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that intelligence services should beware of creating software that can later be used for malicious means – a reference to global ‘ransomware’ attacks that researchers say exploited a hacking tool built by the U.S. National Security Agency. Speaking to reporters in Beijing, where he is taking part in a conference, Putin said that there was no significant damage to […]
The cyberattack crippled IT systems and forced doctors and nurses to work with pen and paper notes. Image: iStock NHS hospitals are still struggling in the fight against a global ransomware attack, with computer systems in several hospitals locked three days after the initial outbreak and previously unaffected hospitals revealed to have fallen to WannaCrypt ransomware. During the weekend more than 200,000 victims in over 150 countries […]
Authored by Federico Pieraccini via The Strategic Culture Foundation, With Moon Jae-In’s victory in South Korea, the period of tension on the Korean Peninsula is likely to end. With the rise to power of the new president, South Korea can expect a sharp decline in hostilities with North Korea as well as a resumption of dialogue with China. An expected and highly anticipated victory was confirmed in South Korea on […]
