Category:

Technology

No ransomware silver bullet, crooks out of reach

Stricken in the United States alone last year were more than 100 federal, state and municipal agencies, upwards of 500 health care centers, 1,680 educational institutions and untold thousands of businesses, according to the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft. Dollar losses are in the tens of billions. Accurate numbers are elusive. Many victims shun reporting, fearing the reputational blight.

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UN offered its integrated supply chain to help India fight Covid: Spokesman

Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the UN chief said 11 help desks and on-site counselling activities on COVID-19 prevention and business continuity were set up by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and these have benefitted over 140,000 employees.

UNIDO also developed an online platform to help companies bounce back from the crisis, tailored to smaller businesses, while ILO helped over 100,000 self-employed workers to access social security measures and training on safety and health.

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Russia fines Apple $12 mln for alleged app market abuse

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Tuesday that U.S. tech giant Apple’s distribution of apps through its iOS operating system gave its own products a competitive advantage.Facebook, TikTok and Alphabet’s Google have also come under fire. The FAS said in a statement it had imposed a turnover fine on Apple of 906.3 million roubles ($12.1 million) for the alleged violation of Russian anti-monopoly legislation.

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Targeted ransomware attacks grow 767%, India among top targets

“We’ll most likely see fewer and fewer widespread campaigns targeting everyday users. Of course, that’s not to say users aren’t still vulnerable,” said Fedor Sinitsyn, security expert at Kaspersky.

“However, the primary focus will likely continue to be on companies and large organisations, and that means ransomware attacks will continue to become more sophisticated and more destructive,” he added.

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India to be top spender on security solutions in APAC in 2021: IDC

“In Asia/Pacific, investments on security-related products and solutions (endpoint security, VPN, and firewalls) will experience double-digit growth in 2021 due to the increased spending by both governments and enterprises (particularly in the banking, telecom, and professional services industry),” explained Sharad Kotagi, Associate Market Analyst at IDC IT Spending Guides, Customer Insights and Analysis.

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Europe embraces digital health pass,to face security, fraud, political challenges

The EU Commission plans to award a contract this month for a central system for verifying the digital passes, which will use QR codes that can be scanned into a smartphone app. It will also provide a template to help member countries develop their own apps – though some have already readied their own versions.

There is still no consensus on whether antibody tests provide sufficient proof that a person who has recovered from COVID-19 is immune, sources involved in the efforts say.
Member states also worry about the security of personal information, though the Commission has promised the online certificates will contain minimal data: name, date of birth, the specific health information, its date of issue and a unique identifier code.

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How the EU’s digital health pass scheme would work

The pass, issued by a doctor or health centre, would feature a QR code containing pre-authenticated information that a traveller has been vaccinated against COVID-19 or has received a negative PCR test result.

The QR code, printed out on a piece of paper, would serve as proof of immunity. It would also be possible to scan the code into a smartphone app.

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