INTERNATIONAL. The future for many young people across the Middle East and North Africa looks bleak. The World Bank records that 54% of the working age population in the Middle East and North Africa is unemployed with little prospect of any positive immediate change. An average of 28.7% of 15 to 24-year-olds in the Middle East and 30.6% of those in North Africa are unemployed according to […]
Bomb-blasted roads, frequent blackouts, shortages of basic equipment and an untested consumer market are hardly conditions that make for natural entrepreneurial opportunities. But three Army veterans and one civilian who all served in Afghanistan have taken on those challenges in their new venture. Their company, Rumi Spice, buys saffron from Afghan farmers and sells it to international customers. Their business is part of a small crop of […]
BAGHDAD — If there were one safe place in Iraq, it should be a hospital nursery, locked down for the night with dozens of babies nestled inside. But here, not even that is a given. When a fire started late Tuesday night in the maternity wing of one of Baghdad’s main hospitals, it quickly engulfed the babies’ room. And then, in another Iraqi tragedy in a horrifying […]
SYDNEY Australia’s first online national census was in chaos on Wednesday after the survey website crashed overnight due to a possible cyber attack, raising concerns over the country’s cyber security and criticism of its slow internet services. “It was an attack and we believe from overseas,” Australia’s chief statistician, David Kalisch told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio. Kalisch said that no data from the 2.3 million forms already […]
A security guard stands guard outside a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Paranaque city, Metro Manila, Philippines August 2, 2016. Reuters/Erik De Castro/File Photo MANILA Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) officials say they have preserved ties with major U.S. banks despite the use of one of its branches in Manila by cyber criminals to funnel $81 million stolen from the Bangladesh central bank’s account […]
Despite recently weakening consumer sales for both the iPhone and iPad, Apple devices and software have enjoyed a growing presence in business enterprises. Out of net sales of nearly $234 billion in 2015, some $25 billion came through sales to large business customers, according to Apple’s most recent annual report, released in October. While those sales were just a small fraction of the company’s overall revenues, they […]
A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the U.S. Air Force’s budding efforts to monitor the sun’s activity, a new study finds. On May 23, 1967, the Air Force prepared aircraft for war, thinking the nation’s surveillance radars in polar regions were being jammed by the Soviet […]
JERUSALEM — Israeli prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Palestinian employee of the United Nations in the Gaza Strip with providing material assistance to Hamas, the Islamist group that controls the territory, including helping to build a jetty for its military wing. The accusations against the employee, Waheed Al Bursh, came after Israel leveled charges Thursday against a Palestinian employee of World Vision in Gaza, saying he had […]
The newest smartphones in Samsung’s Galaxy line come with contactless mobile payment capability. That’s good news when it comes to convenience, but it might be bad news when it comes to security. During a presentation given recently at the Def Con security conference in Las Vegas, a computer science student demonstrated a variety of attacks against Samsung Pay, Samsung’s mobile payment service. The attacks Mendoza described were […]
A reported data breach affecting retailers using Oracle’s Micros point-of-sale systems could be linked to a Russian hacking group that stole up to $1 billion from banks in 2014. The attack on Oracle’s computer systems and Micros customer portal first came to light on July 25, according to IT security writer Brian Krebs. That’s when a Micros customer contacted the KrebsOnSecurity blog to report “a potentially large […]
A magnifying glass is held in front of a computer screen in this picture illustration taken in Berlin May 21, 2013. Reuters/Pawel Kopczynski/Illustration/File Photo SYDNEY Australia has set up a cyber-intelligence unit to identify terrorism financing, money laundering and financial fraud online, the government said on Tuesday, because of “unprecedented” threats to national security. The measure expands on a major platform of conservative Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, […]
ABU DHABI // Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, received the Yemeni prime minister Dr Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr at the Sea Palace on Monday. Sheikh Mohammed and Dr bin Daghr discussed the latest developments in Yemen in light of progress achieved by government forces on a number of fronts and political developments, especially the peace […]
Recently uncovered security flaws could mean trouble for owners of devices that run the Android operating system. Researchers at security firm Check Point recently discovered the vulnerabilities, together labeled Quadrooter, which may affect as many as 900 million Android devices. Speaking about the discoveries last week at the Def Con security conference in Las Vegas, Adam Donenfeld, Check Point’s lead mobile security researcher, revealed four new privilege […]
Software security firm Symantec has identified a group called Strider that’s aiming spying-related malware at individuals and organizations in Belgium, China, Russia and Sweden. Apparently active since at least late 2011, Strider has kept a low profile and could be a nation-state attacker, Symantec said. Strider uses “stealthy,” hard-to-detect malware called Remsec that provides backdoor access to infected computers for stealing data, logging keystrokes and other actions, […]
INTERNATIONAL. EY announces the launch of its Commercial Analytics Services Hub (EY CASH). This cloud-based analytics platform helps consumer products and retail (CPR) companies accelerate growth by predicting consumer choice to inform key decisions. EY CASH combines the professional services organization’s sector experience with the flexibility, scalability and enhanced security of the Microsoft Azure cloud and Cortana Intelligence. With 73% of CPR companies finding profitable growth far […]
LEBANON. Byblos Bank issued today, in cooperation with the Olayan School of Business at the American University of Beirut, the results of the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index for the second quarter of 2016. The results show that the Byblos Bank/AUB Consumer Confidence Index improved by 5.3% in each of April and May, while it regressed by 1% in June 2016. The Index averaged 36.1 in the […]
CAIRO — More than three months of peace talks to end the war in Yemen came to a halt Saturday, leaving in doubt the future of a shaky cease-fire and threatening to deepen what has a become one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. The United Nations’ special envoy on Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, announced the suspension on Saturday in Kuwait, where the talks were being […]
A security guard stands guard outside a branch of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) in Paranaque city, Metro Manila, Philippines August 2, 2016. Reuters/Erik De Castro MANILA A Bangladesh central bank team visiting Manila to recover $81 million stolen from its account in New York said it was close to getting back $15 million of the loot frozen by the Philippines, but first has to prove ownership […]
A security guard stands beside a logo of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Central Bank of the Philippines) posted at the main gate in Manila, Philippines April 28, 2016. Reuters/Romeo Ranoco/File Photo MANILA The Philippine central bank said on Friday it would fine Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCB.PS) (RCBC) a record 1 billion pesos ($21 million), after the bank was used by cyber criminals to channel $81 […]
LAS VEGAS Apple Inc (AAPL.O) said it plans to offer rewards of up to $200,000 (£152,433) to researchers who find critical security bugs in its products, joining dozens of firms that already offer payments for help uncovering flaws in their products. The maker of iPhones and iPads provided Reuters with details of the plan, which includes some of the biggest bounties offered to date, ahead of unveiling […]
Nobody likes managing passwords — remembering, maintaining and regularly changing them is a chore that most computer users avoid. Now, Canadian software developer AgileBits is aiming to make that chore easier — or at least cheaper. AgileBits’ 1Password password manager now has a new subscription plan for individuals. AgileBits’ family and team password management platforms have been successful, so now it has introduced a service that’s aimed […]
BREMEN, Germany — Believing he was answering a holy call, Harry Sarfo left his home in the working-class city of Bremen last year and drove for four straight days to reach the territory controlled by the Islamic State in Syria. He barely had time to settle in before members of the Islamic State’s secret service, wearing masks over their faces, came to inform him and his German […]
INTERNATIONAL. New research from Long Finance, sponsored by PwC and conducted by Z/Yen, shows the wholesale insurance* market is enthusiastic about implementing blockchain solutions**. The report is based on interviews with brokers, insurers, reinsurers, regulators and trade bodies from across the global wholesale insurance market. As well as cost reduction and improved efficiency, blockchain could be a transformative technology changing the way the industry operates, enabling revenue […]
A general view shows the headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB) (L) in central Moscow, Russia, November 10, 2015. Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin MOSCOW Russia’s intelligence service said on Saturday that the computer networks of 20 organizations, including state agencies and defense companies, have been infected with spyware in what it described as a targeted and coordinated attack. The Federal Security Service, the FSB, said the malware and […]
