Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Assume that North Korea is behind this one too.  Have we now reached the point where we must do something about it? 
Maersk Halts Operations at Port of Los Angeles After Cyberattack
Shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk shut down its operations at the Port of Los Angeles’ largest terminal Tuesday morning after a cyberattack hobbled its computer systems worldwide.
The closure happened around 6 a.m. at APM Terminals at Pier 400, where Maersk’s operations in Southern California are based, said port spokesman Phillip Sanfield.  Maersk is the primary shipper at the terminal and is the port’s largest shipping company by cargo volume, he said.
   the terminal appeared to be mostly unstaffed Tuesday, and Maersk probably had to halt dockside work such as reorganizing empty cargo containers, he said.
   Maersk reportedly ceased operations at the ports of New York, New Jersey, and Rotterdam, Netherlands, as well.

(Related).
New Cyberattack Goes Global, Hits WPP, Rosneft, Maersk
A new cyberattack similar to WannaCry is spreading from Europe to the U.S. and South America, hitting port operators in New York, Rotterdam and Argentina, disrupting government systems in Kiev, and disabling operations at companies including Rosneft PJSC, advertiser WPP Plc. and the Chernobyl nuclear facility.
More than 80 companies in Russia and Ukraine were initially affected by the Petya virus that disabled computers Tuesday and told users to pay $300 in cryptocurrency to unlock them, Moscow-based cybersecurity company Group-IB said.
   The attack has hit Ukraine particularly hard. The intrusion is “the biggest in Ukraine’s history,” Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the Interior Ministry, wrote on Facebook.  The goal was “the destabilization of the economic situation and in the civic consciousness of Ukraine,” though it was “disguised as an extortion attempt,” he said.

(Related).  Probably not the result they were hoping for, but does it make them vulnerable to lawsuit from the victims?  Is there a cyber-Good Samaritan law? 
Hacker Behind Massive Ransomware Outbreak Can't Get Emails from Victims Who Paid
On Tuesday, a new, worldwide ransomware outbreak took off, infecting targets in Ukraine, France, Spain, and elsewhere.  The hackers hit everything from international law firms to media companies.  The ransom note demands victims send bitcoin to a predefined address and contact the hacker via email to allegedly have their files decrypted.
But the email company the hacker happened to use, Posteo, says it has decided to block the attacker's account, leaving victims with no obvious way to unlock their files.
   to determine who exactly has paid, the hacker also instructs people to email their bitcoin wallet ID, and their "personal installation key."  [This corrects a problem with the WannaCry ransomware.  Bob] 


Keeping up.
Paper – AI and the Law: Setting the Stage
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jun 27, 2017
Urs Glasser – Medium – “While there is reasonable hope that superhuman killer robots won’t catch us anytime soon, narrower types of AI-based technologies have started changing our daily lives: AI applications are rolled out at an accelerated pace in schools, homes, and hospitals, with digital leaders such as high tech, telecom, and financial services among the early adopters.  AI promises enormous benefits for the social good and can improve human well-being, safety, and productivity, as anecdotal evidence suggests.  But it also poses significant risks for workers, developers, firms, and governments alike, and we as a society are only beginning to understand the ethical, legal, and regulatory challenges associated with AI, as well as develop appropriate governance models and responses…”


Perspective.  “A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon we’re talking about real money!”  With apologies to Everett Dirksen.
App economy to grow to $6.3 trillion in 2021, user base to nearly double to 6.3 billion
The global app economy will be worth $6.3 trillion by 2021, up from $1.3 trillion last year, according to a new report this morning from app analytics firm App Annie.  During that same time frame, the user base will almost double from 3.4 billion people using apps to 6.3 billion, while the time spent in apps will grow to 3.5 trillion hours in 2021, up from 1.6 trillion in 2016.


Have I mentioned recently that I like lists?
MIT Technology Review – 50 Smartest Companies 2017
by Sabrina I. Pacifici on Jun 27, 2017
Our editors pick the 50 companies that best combine innovative technology with an effective business model.  Each year we identify 50 companies creating new opportunities by combining important technologies and business savvy.  Some are large companies that seem to be growing ever larger, like Amazon and Apple.  Others, like IBM, or General Electric are old-guard giants betting on technology renewal.  And the list is full of ambitious startups like SpaceX, which is changing the economics of space travel with reusable rockets; Face ++, a pioneer in face recognition technology; and additive-manufacturing firms Carbon and Desktop Metal.  For additional perspective on the list, which starts here, please see our essay, “It Pays to Be Smart.”


Creating a toolbox for your toolkits.

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