Back to the future for Maersk in the wake of Petya attack
Arguably one of the most sophisticated, IT savvy shipping
companies in the world has had to work as if it had gone back in time to the
mid-1990s for the past 48 hours.
In the two days since the Maersk Group was hit by the
Petya ransomware attack, operations at many of its sites across the globe have
returned to manual.
… Reports are
emerging too of how operations at Maersk offices around the world have been
pared right back in the wake of the crippling attack.
Maersk Australia and New Zealand managing director Gerard
Morrison said today that his unit’s phone and
email systems had been deliberately shut down by the company to stop
the spreading of the malware virus.
Morrison said Maersk’s New Zealand staff had been keeping
operations going manually, using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and hand written information
to tell Port of Auckland and Port of Tauranga what to do with the cargo that
needed to be unloaded off its ships.
The Port of Auckland revealed that it was receiving
information about the imported cargo from Maersk manually through a Gmail account.
In India, meanwhile, Visakha Container Terminal has
started handling Maersk Line vessels manually in the wake of the Petya attack.
… In the US, the
supply chain fallout from the attack, dubbed by one maritime tech expert as “shipping’s Y2K moment”, has been
significant. APM Terminals’ facilty in
Mobile, Alabama for instance, has been loading and unloading containers in
manual mode, without the normal computerised coordination.
This is not amusing.
Trump’s Election Integrity Commission seeks personal info on
all US voters back to 2006
by Sabrina
I. Pacifici on Jun 29, 2017
Washington Post – “The chair of President Trump’s Election Integrity Commission has
penned a letter to all 50 states requesting their full voter-role data, including
the name, address, date of birth, party affiliation, last four Social Security
number digits and voting history back to 2006 of potentially every voter in the
state. In the letter, a copy of which was made public by the Connecticut
secretary of state, the commission head Kris Kobach said that “any documents that are submitted to the full
Commission will also be made available to the public.” On Wednesday, the office of Vice President Pence released a
statement saying “a letter will be sent today to the 50 states and District
of Columbia on behalf of the Commission requesting publicly available data from
state voter rolls and feedback on how to improve election integrity.” States began reacting to the letter on
Thursday afternoon. “I have no intention
of honoring this request,” said Governor Terry McAuliffe of Virginia in
a statement. “Virginia conducts
fair, honest, and democratic elections, and there is no evidence of significant
voter fraud in Virginia.” Connecticut’s
Secretary of State, Denise Merrill, said she would “share publicly-available
information with the Kobach Commission while ensuring that the privacy of
voters is honored by withholding protected data.” She added, however, that Kobach “has a
lengthy record of illegally disenfranchising eligible voters in Kansas” and
that “given Secretary Kobach’s history we find it very difficult to have
confidence in the work of this Commission.” Under federal law, each state must
maintain a central file of registered voters. States collect different amounts of
information on voters. While the
files are technically public records, states usually charge fees to individuals
or entities who want to access them. Political
campaigns and parties typically use these files to compile their massive voter
lists…”
Even our toys are watching us!
Dubai Police to deploy robotic patrols
Dubai: Months after Dubai unveiled the first flying taxis
in the world, Dubai Police on Tuesday unveiled another believed world’s first —
autonomous, self-driving miniature police cars that are expected to hit the
streets by year-end.
The robotic vehicles will be equipped with biometric
software to scan for wanted criminals and undesirables who are suspected or are
breaking laws, police said.
Indeed, what could possibly go wrong?
Facebook gives moderators "full access" to user
accounts suspected of terror links
Facebook has a fleet of low-paid contractors who are tasked with
investigating possible connections with terrorism on it site.
The key takeaway: Moderators are granted "full
access" to any account once it's been flagged by the social network's
algorithms, which are looking for details or connections that might suggest a
terror link. Moderators can track track
a person's location and read their private messages.
The news comes from The Guardian
… The move appears
to go far above and beyond the company's recently outlined efforts to use its
artificial intelligence and human resources to counter terrorism on the
platform. It's in response to growing pressure from several countries to act and to
battle terrorism on their platforms, in the wake of several terror attacks in
the UK and Europe.
… Among the chief
problems with this largely secret internal surveillance is that Facebook
doesn't define "terrorism" or "terrorist content." There is no one single definition, or
hard-and-fast rule to follow, making the process of removing content arbitrary.
Facebook only says that each company
facing this kind of challenge "will continue to apply its own policies and
definitions of terrorist content when deciding whether to remove content."
The only thing that is known about the rules that govern
what content Facebook allows on its site is that it's a secret.
… Facebook is now
employing a largely secret group of unaccountable staff working against a set
of arbitrary and unknown rules against two billion people. What could possibly go wrong?
Without any shred of transparency, there's no telling who
is or isn't under the watchful eye of Facebook's own internal surveillance.
A tool for Network Security?
JASK emerges from stealth with $12 million and an automated
threat detection service
JASK is
emerging from stealth today with $12 million in the bank and a machine learning
technology that automates network monitoring and management for overtaxed
security teams.
The thesis behind JASK’s service is the somewhat
depressing (and frightening) thought that these days there aren’t enough
security experts to meet the demands of running a modern business. Simply put, people can’t respond to every
breach that a company faces, because there aren’t enough professionals trained
in cybersecurity.
This VA software was ignored in the rush for states
(including Colorado) to develop their own versions of health management systems
when Obama care was announced. It’s
still viable. Perhaps the VA should have
just outsourced its management?
VA Gives Thumbs Up to Commercial IT Software
A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs decision to pursue a
new direction in processing health records has created a highly visible
endorsement of the use of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) information
technology by federal agencies. President
Trump cited the VA's action as an example of the administration's commitment to
vastly improve federal IT management.
The VA earlier this month awarded a contract to Cerner to develop an
electronic health record (EHR) system for the department. The Cerner program will replace the existing
VA patient data system, known as "VistA," which was developed
in-house and has been in use for at least 30 years.
… The VistA
system, which VA personnel designed in their off hours decades ago, has been
heralded as a pioneering effort in EHR management. The program became a template for both
government and private healthcare providers.
However, VA Secretary David Shulkin recently decided that
it would be more appropriate for the agency to concentrate on healthcare and
leave data processing to commercial specialists.
Play-time for geeks!
… Microsoft
provides Windows XP Mode, a full version of XP that runs from within Windows 7. Now, most people
have also long since moved on from Windows 7, too. Making this compatibility
mode fix, well, a little unhelpful.
Before we begin, you’re going to need to download and
install the latest version of Oracle VirtualBox, available here.
Proof enough that Marketing is a very strange science.
50 Free Marketing Tools Any Small Business Can Use
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