Category Archives: Encryption
Maastricht University gets almost all of its Windows systems encrypted by ransomware – 2-spyware.com
Netherlands Maastricht University becomes a victim of ransomware just before Christmas
On December 24, Maastricht University, also dubbed as UM, released an official report about a ransomware attack that managed to encrypt almost all of its Windows systems. The attack against the University was performed on December 23 and complicated the use of email-related services:[1]
Maastricht University (UM) has been hit by a serious cyber attack. Almost all Windows systems have been affected and it is particularly difficult to use e-mail services.
There are no particular details on what type of ransomware virus attacked the institution and also no data whether the criminals managed to steal any private data before locking it with the encryption key or not. However, UM is trying to find out if there was any information accessed.
Maastricht University is a successful educational institution located in the Netherlands, having 18,000 students, even a greater number of alumni 70,000 and 4,400 employees. Additionally, during the past two years, this institution has also been included in the top 500 universities.[2]
Sadly, when everybody was celebrating Christmas Eve, Maastricht University had to deal with a ransom attack. The authorities have explained that they worked on the attack by putting all the systems down as a protective measure. It might take some time until they will be put up again. However, even it is still unknown when the systems will be available again due to the ongoing investigation process,[3] the doors of the UM buildings will be open from January 2 to all students again.
University's staff has also been working with law enforcement agencies while trying to investigate this attempt deeper. The institution is expecting to find out methods that would allow it to avoid similar attacks in the upcoming future and identify the current damage.[4]
The attack targeting Maastricht University is not the only one that has been reported during these days. The United States Coast Guard operation was also taken down due to a ransomware attack. This time, the malware that was spread via phishing email messages and included a malicious hyperlink that was the hidden ransomware payload was Ryuk ransomware.[5]
Ransomware viruses are one of the most dangerous threats that are lurking out in the cybersphere. Malicious actors manage to deliver these viruses through infected emails and attachments or hyperlinks, cracked software, malvertising, and other deceptive strategies. Afterward, the ransomware launches its encryption module and locks all data that is placed on the infected computer.
Then, this dangerous threat demands a particular ransom price via a ransom note. Even though the money amount for regular users can be only $50 or $200 in Bitcoin, the cybercriminals are very likely to demand a big sum from worldwide organizations, companies, and institutions that can come up to $1 million in BTC or another type of cryptocurrency.
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Maastricht University gets almost all of its Windows systems encrypted by ransomware - 2-spyware.com
Homomorphic Encryption Market Analysis, Industry Size, Application Analysis, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies And Forecasts (2020 2027) -…
Latest released research study on Homomorphic Encryption Market delivers volume and values at regional and company levels. From a global perspective, the report analyzes historical data and future prospects to represent the total Global Homomorphic Encryption Market Size, Share broken down by various segments (Type and Application) and by highest potential and emerging countries.
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The Week in Ransomware – January 3rd 2020 – Busy Holiday Season – BleepingComputer
Normally ransomware activity slows down over the December break, but this year was an exception with a quite a few interesting, and sad, stories such as FBI alerts being issued, companies being shut down, and organizations being encrypted by a variety of ransomware, and stolen data being released.
Maze continues their attack on victim's who have not paid by publishing stolen data, which led to them being sued by one of their victims, Southwire, who was able to get the Maze news site shutdown in Ireland.
In addition we saw attacks on a university in the Netherlands by Clop and a disclosure by the U.S. Coast Guard that Ryuk took down a maritime facility.
Sadly, ransomware also caused a company to temporarily shut down right before Christmas because they could not afford to keep running after a ransomware attack.
On the bizarre side, we also had ransomware attackers offering discounts and season's greetings for the holidays.
Finally, like any other week, we continue to see new variants of existing ransomware being released with new extensions and improvements to their malware executables and infection procedures.
Contributors and those who provided new ransomware information and stories this week include: @struppigel, @BleepinComputer, @PolarToffee, @malwrhunterteam, @Seifreed, @malwareforme, @FourOctets, @demonslay335, @DanielGallagher, @jorntvdw, @fwosar, @LawrenceAbrams, @serghei, @Ionut_Ilascu, @VK_Intel, @coveware. @M_Shahpasandi. @thyrex2002, @Tesorion_NL, @malwareforme, @Amigo_A_, and @siri_urz.
Michael Gillespiefound new variants of the Stop Djvu Ransomwarethat append the .piny or .redlextensions to encrypted files.
The FBI has issued a warning to private industry recipients to provide information and guidance on the LockerGoga and MegaCortex Ransomware.
Wary of alarming investors, companies victimized by ransomware attacks often tell the SEC that malware or a security incident disrupted their operations.
A Sherwood telemarketing agency has unexpectedly closed its doors, leaving over 300 employees without jobs a few days before Christmas.
Michael Gillespie found a new variant of the Matrix Ransomware that appends the.BDDYand drops a ransom note named #BDDY_README#.rtf.
The actors behind the Maze Ransomware have released 2GB of files that were allegedly stolen from the City of Pensacola during their ransomware attack.
A new version of the Ryuk Ransomware was released that will purposely avoidencrypting folders commonly seen in *NIX operating systems.
Alex Sviridfound a new variant of the WannaCash ransomware that appends the ".happy new year" extension to encrypted file names.
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) published a marine safety alert to inform of a Ryuk Ransomware attack that took down the entire corporate IT network of a Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA) regulated facility.
Maastricht University (UM) announced that almost all of its Windows systems have been encrypted by ransomware following a cyber-attackthat took place on Monday, December 23.
M. Shahpasandifound a new Phobos Ransomware variant that appends the .Dever extension to encrypted files.
Jackfound a new ransomware called c0hen Locker that appends the.c0hen extension to encrypted files. The unlock key is12309482354ab2308597u235fnq30045f.
The anonymous operators behind the Maze Ransomwareare being sued by a victim for illegally accessing their network, stealing data, encrypting computers, and publishing the stolen data after a ransom was not paid.
To celebrate the holidays, ransomware operators are providing discounts or season'sgreetings to entice victims into paying a ransom demand.
The breadth and magnitude of ransomware attacks occurring today suggest that the cyber extortion industry has evolved exponentially over the past 12 months. It is as difficult to keep up with the headlines as the security advice that follows. In the face of this media firehose, it is important to step back and understand how we got to the state. We feel there are three primary elements that have lead to the current state of cyber extortion, and ransomware in particular.
Tesorion has previously releaseddecryptorsfor the Nemty ransomware up to version 1.6. Recently, new versions of Nemty have appeared in the wild. In this blog post we describe how a weird variant of AES-128 counter mode (CTR) encryption is used in Nemty 2.2 and 2.3 for its file encryption. We also announce the availability of afree decryptorfor common office documents encrypted by Nemty 2.2 and 2.3.
Michael Gillespie found a new Dharma Ransomware variant that appends the.RIDIKextension to encrypted files.
Michael Gillespie found a new WannCryFake variant called AWT Ransomware that appends the .AWT extension to encrypted files and drops a ransom note named ReadMe.txt.
S!Rifound a new ransomware called Zeoticus that appends the .zeoticus extension to encrypted files.
Organizations in the private sector received an alert from the F.B.I. about operators of the Maze ransomware focusing on companies in the U.S. to encrypt information on their systems after stealing it first.
The Clop Ransomware continues to evolve with a new and integrated process killer that targets some interesting processes belonging to Windows 10 apps, text editors, programming IDEs and languages, and office applications.
MalwareHunterTeamfound a new in-development ransomware called "SlankCryptor Profit Only" that appends.slank extension to encrypted files.
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The Week in Ransomware - January 3rd 2020 - Busy Holiday Season - BleepingComputer
Keep Your Business Secure From Online Threats – BBN Times
Every business faces a threat from malicious software and cybercriminals. Although you can use the internet to scale the operations of your business, it also poses security threats and scams to your organisation. When your company gets attacked, you risk losing vital data. Besides, your reputation can get significantly affected.
Your business is not immune to cyber-attacks. In order to secure it from online threats, practice the following tips:
Ensure that all the vital data on your website and the business is backed up. Doing so will help you retrieve all the information when your data gets breached. The backing up of the critical business data should get carried out regularly. Furthermore, the cost of backing up data is not expensive.
When backing up, use multiple backup devices to help keep the critical files safe. Similarly, when picking on a good backup system, ensure that it either has a yearly, quarterly, end-of-the-week, or daily incremental server backups. After backing up, test to ascertain whether you can restore the backed up data.
Furthermore, back up your data to a portable device or the cloud. Ensure that you store the devices separately and away from the site. Doing so will safeguard them from getting infected by any malware sent by cybercriminals. You can later use the devices to restore all the data when you lose all your data from a data breach.
Make sure that all your running software is set to automatic updates to keep them regularly updated.The regular updatesmight have vital security upgrades for the recent attacks and viruses. Furthermore, schedule these updates to occur after regular business hours or any other time that you deem convenient. Updating your software will help you fix all the dangerous security flaws and zero day in your software. Therefore, avoid ignoring update prompts from the installed device software.
Ensure that all your business computers and devices getinstalled with security software. Doing so will safeguard them from possible infections while using the internet. When installing security software, cross-check to see if it has an anti-spam filter, anti-spyware, and anti-virus.
Viruses or malware can infect your mobile device, laptops, and computers and steal your data. With this, you risk losing all your vital data to the hands of unwarranted individuals.
A firewall is a hardware or software which sits between the internet and your computer. Additionally, it acts asa gatekeeper for the outgoing and incoming traffic. When you set up a firewall, you will protect the internal networks of your business. However, the firewall should also get patched regularly to perform optimally. Ensure that all the electronic devices in the industry have an installation of a firewall.
Ensure that the spam filters are turned on. The spam filters will help you reduce the number of phishing emails and spam that you receive. The spam emails are the emails received from a company or a person that you do not know. From the filter, you can customize the responses or the action to be taken when you receive the spam. Doing so will minimize the chances of your employees opening a dishonest or a spam mail accidentally.
Make sure that the network encryption is on while using your devices on the internet. Similarly, when you store or send your data online, encrypt it. Through encryption, you can convert your data to a secret character or code before it gets sent over the internet. Additionally, encryption will help you reduce tampering, destruction, or theft of your data by unwarranted personnel.
With authentication, you will employ two distinct factors of user verification. They include a code and a password that will get sent to your mobile device. Similarly, you may be required to use a combination of a password and a fingerprint. When you employ this security feature, it will be harder for the attackers to have access to your business data.
Carry out the above tips, and you will protect your business from the online data threats.
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Keep Your Business Secure From Online Threats - BBN Times
State Department Adds ITAR Definitions in Interim Final Rule for Activities that Are Not Exports, Reexports, Retransfers or Temporary Imports -…
On December 30, 2019, the U.S. Department of States Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) issued an interim final rule seeking to amend the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) with definitions more clearly explaining activities that are not considered to be exports, reexports, retransfers or temporary imports of secured and unclassified technical data. This interim final rule is part of DDTCs ongoing effort to update the ITAR and will become effective on March 25, 2020. Before that date, DDTC is accepting public comments on the rule until January 27, 2020.
While the interim final rule addresses a number of definitions, a new definition has been proposed under a new section of the ITAR, 22 C.F.R. 120.54, covering activities that are not exports and thus not controlled and subject to the ITAR, including:
The proposal regarding the sending, storing or taking of unclassified technical data is intended to help address questions and concerns as to email transmissions as well as cloud computing and storage. DDTC makes clear that electronic transmissions and storage of secured unclassified technical data is not an export as long as the technical data is encrypted prior to leaving the senders facilities and remains encrypted until decrypted by the intended authorized recipient or retrieved by the sender, as in the case of remote storage. This provision contains important requirements that must be met in order to remain compliant with U.S. export control laws and to prevent an unauthorized or inadvertent export violation.
The transmission must employ end-to-end encryption, which is defined as: (i) the provision of cryptographic protection of data, such that the data is not in an unencrypted form, between an originator (or the originators in-country security boundary) and an intended recipient (or the recipients in-country security boundary); and (ii) the means of decryption are not provided to any third party. Further, the transmission and/or storage must be secured using cryptographic modules (hardware or software) compliant with the Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 140-2 (FIPS 140-2) or its successors, supplemented by software implementation, cryptographic key management, and other procedures and controls that are in accordance with guidance provided in current U.S. National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) publications, or by other cryptographic means that provide security strength that is at least comparable to the minimum 128 bits of security strength achieved by the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-128). Also, the sending, storing or taking of secured unclassified technical data may not involve, be stored in or be sent from the Russian Federation or a DDTC-restricted country, including Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Cyprus, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Haiti, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Zimbabwe.
Those interested in addressing the interim final rule before the January 27, 2020 deadline may submit comments by (i) email to DDTCPublicComments@state.gov with the subject line, Revisions to Definitions; Data Transmission and Storage or (ii) using the federal rulemaking portal at http://www.regulations.gov and filing comments under Docket DOS20190040.
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State Department Adds ITAR Definitions in Interim Final Rule for Activities that Are Not Exports, Reexports, Retransfers or Temporary Imports -...
Global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Market Executive Summary and Analysis by Top Players 2020-2027: Seagate Technology PLC, Western…
The report gives the detailed overview of Global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Market 2020 and predicts future market trends throughout 2027. It focuses deeply on satisfactory solutions to user in terms of value and volume forecast 2020-2027. Also the report executes the great study of Price and Gross Margin, Capacity, Production, Revenue, current geographical zones, technology, demand-supply, Consumption, Import, Export, Market Drivers and Opportunities around the world. In this Professional report, we have investigated the principals, players in the market, product type, and market end-client applications. This report comprises of primary and secondary data research which is analyzed in the form of pie outlines, Professional tables, analytical figures, and reference diagrams. The dominant firms are Seagate Technology PLC, Western Digital Corp, Samsung Electronics, Toshiba, Kingston, Micron Technology Inc, Intel mentioned within the report.
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Global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Market Growth Factors:-
The scope of the report covers detailed information regarding the major factors influencing the growth of the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) market such as drivers, restraints, challenges, and opportunities. A detailed analysis of the key industry players has been done to provide insights into their business overview, products and services, key strategies such as new product launches, mergers & acquisitions, partnerships, agreements, joint ventures, and recent developments associated with the Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) market.
The Global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Market is poised to grow strongly throughout the forecast period 2020- 2027. Some of the distinguished trends that the market is witnessing include regulatory restrictions, the growing usage of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) in several end user segments, recent technological developments of the industry and growth investment opportunities.
By Region:-
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There are 15 Chapters to display the Global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) market
Chapter 1: Definition, Specifications and Classification, Applications of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE), Market Segment by Regions;
Chapter 2: Manufacturing Cost Structure, Raw Material and Suppliers, Manufacturing Process, Industry Chain Structure;
Chapter 3: Technical Data and Manufacturing Plants Analysis of Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE), Capacity and Commercial Production Date, Manufacturing Plants Distribution, R&D Status and Technology Source, Raw Materials Sources Analysis;
Chapter 4: Overall Market Analysis, Capacity Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Analysis (Company Segment), Sales Price Analysis (Company Segment);
Chapter 5 and 6: Regional Market Analysis that includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa, Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Segment Market Analysis (by Type);
Chapter 7 and 8: The Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Segment Market Analysis (by Application) Major Manufacturers Analysis;
Chapter 9: Market Trend Analysis, Regional Market Trend, Market Trend by Product Type- Hard Disk Drive (HDD) FDE, Solid State Drives (SSD) FDE, Market Trend by Application- IT & Telecom, BFSI, Government & Public Utilities, Manufacturing Enterprise, Others
Chapter 10: Regional Marketing Type Analysis, International Trade Type Analysis, Supply Chain Analysis;
Chapter 11: The Consumers Analysis;
Chapter 12: Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) Research Findings SWOT anlysis, Conclusion, Appendix, methodology and data source;
Chapter 13, 14 and 15:Market sales channel, distributors, traders, dealers, Research Findings and Conclusion, appendix and data source.
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Research Objective:
Our panel of industry contributors as well as industry analysts across the value chain have taken immense efforts in doing this brainstorming and heavy-lifting work in order to provide the key players with beneficial primary & secondary information regarding the global Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) market. In addition, the report also contains inputs from our industry experts that can help the key players in saving their time from the internal research part. Companies who buy and use this report will be thoroughly profited with the inferences delivered in it. Apart from this, the report also provides in-depth analysis on Hardware-based Full Disk Encryption (FDE) sale as well as the factors that influence the customers as well as enterprises towards this technique.
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Clop Ransomware Now Kills Windows 10 Apps and 3rd Party Tools – BleepingComputer
The Clop Ransomware continues to evolve with a new and integrated process killer that targets some interesting processes belonging to Windows 10 apps, text editors, programming IDEs and languages, and office applications.
When the Clop Ransomwarestarted circulating in February 2019, it was just your normal garden variety CryptoMix ransomware variant with the same features we have been seeing in this family since 2017.
In March 2019, though, the Clop Ransomwaresuddenly changed and began disablingservices for Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SQL Server, MySQL, BackupExec, and other enterprise software. The ransom note had also changed to indicate that the attackers were targeting an entire network rather than individual PCs.
It was determined at that time, that a threat actor group known asTA505 had adopted the Clop Ransomware as their final payload of choice after compromising a network, similar to how Ryuk, BitPaymer, and DoppelPaymer were being used.
This adoption by the threat actors has most likely fueled the ransomware's developmentas the actors change it to fit their needs when performing network-wide encryption.
Development continued in November 2019, when a new variant was released that attempted to disable Windows Defender running on local computers so that it would not be detected by future signature updates.
These changes also coincided with the threat actors continued targeting of companies in theNetherlands and France.
Just last month, Maastricht University (UM) in the Netherlands was infected by the Clop Ransomware.
In late December 2019a new Clop variant was discovered by MalwareHunterTeam and reverse engineered by Vitali Kremez that add improves their process termination feature; Clop now terminates 663 Windows processes before encrypting files.
It is not uncommon for ransomware to terminate processes before encrypting files as the attackers want to disable security software and do not want any files to be open as it could prevent them from being encrypted.
This new variant takes it a step further by terminating a total of 663 processes, which include new Windows 10 apps, popular text editors, debuggers, programming languages, terminal programs, and programming IDE software.
Some of the more interesting processes that are terminated include the Android Debug Bridge, Notepad++, Everything, Tomcat, SnagIt, Bash, Visual Studio, Microsoft Office applications, programming languages such as Python and Ruby, the SecureCRT terminal application, the Windows calculator, and even the new Windows 10 Your Phone app.
It is not known why some of these processes are terminated, especially ones like Calculator,Snagit, and SecureCRT, but its possible they want to encrypt configuration files used by some of these tools.
A full list of the terminated processes can be found in Kremez'sGitHub repository.
In the past,the process termination functionality was performed by a Windows batch file. By embedding this functionality into the main executable, it further signifies active development by the group.
"This change signifies that the ransomware group decided to include the "process killer" in the main bot making it a more universal Swiss-army approach rather thanrelying on theirexternal libraries like "av_block" for this purpose," Kremez told BleepingComputer in a conversation.
In addition to the new and large list of targeted processes, this Clop Ransomwarevariantalso utilizes a new .Cl0pextension, rather than the .CIop or .Clop extensionsused in previous versions.
As Clop continues to infect organizations, and reap large ransoms for doing so, we can expect to see its development to continue as the actors evolve their tactics.
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Clop Ransomware Now Kills Windows 10 Apps and 3rd Party Tools - BleepingComputer
Scientists in Scotland help develop worlds first encryption system that is unbreakable by hackers – The Independent
The worlds first uncrackable security system has been developed by researchers in Scotland, it has been claimed.
Computer scientists have long feared the arrival of quantum computing would allow encrypted data to be easily decoded by hackers.
But a global team,including scientists from the University of St Andrews, say they have achieved perfect secrecy by creating a chip which effectively generates a one-time-only key every time data is sent through it.
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
Its the equivalent of standing talking to someone using two paper-cups attached by string, said Professor Andrea Di Falco of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the university. If you scrunched up the cups when speaking it would mask the sound, but each time it would be scrunched differently so it could never be hacked.
This new technique is absolutely unbreakable.
Southampton's Jack Stephens scores their second goal against Aston Villa
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The coffin arrives for the funeral of London Bridge terror attack victim Jack Merritt at Great St Mary's Church in Cambridge
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Queen Elizabeth II and her son Prince Charles walk behind the Imperial State Crown as they proccess through the Royal Gallery, before the Queen's Speech, during the State Opening of Parliament
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Luke Jerram's art installation 'Gaia', a replica of planet earth created using detailed Nasa imagery of the Earth's surface, hangs on display at the Eden Project in St Austell, Cornwall
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Snowy conditions near Deepdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park as snow hits parts of the UK
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First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, takes a selfie as she joins the SNPs newly elected MPs for a group photo outside the V&A Museum in Dundee, Scotland
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds arrive back at Downing Street after the results for the general election were announced. The Conservative Party won with an overall majority
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Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson stands between a Stop Brexit sign as she attends a general election campaign event at Esher Rugby Club, south west London. Britain will go to the polls tomorrow to vote
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Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn poses for selfies with supporters at a general election rally in Colwyn Bay, north Wales
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SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon with the SNP campaign bus in front of the Queensferry Crossing, while on the General Election campaign trail in Scotland
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School children and students take part in the Youth Strike for Climate in London as part of the Fridays for Future Global Climate Strike
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Cyclists make their way up a tree lined hill near to Moor Crichel in Dorset. November's dismal weather will finally change, with drier and colder conditions coming for the start of December, forecasters have said
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The moment a swan flew over a flock of 60,000 starlings as dusk fell on Whixall Moss Nature Reserve in Shropshire
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After Mauricio Pochettino's sacking the eveninfg before newly appointed Tottenham head coach, Jose Mourinho, takes his first training session in charge
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Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a visit to Jimmy Egan's Boxing Academy at Wythenshawe, while on the campaign trail ahead of the General Election
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Mist over Buttermere lake in the Lake District
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Stefanos Tsitsipas lifts the winners trophy after beating Dominic Thiem at the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London
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Duke of York, speaking for the first time about his links to Jeffrey Epstein in an interview with BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis
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Brazilian indigenous leader, Kreta Kaingang from the Kaingang People, holds a petition letter with over 200,000 signatures asking the UK government to suspend trade talks with Brazil until the Amazon and its people are protected, as he poses outside 10 Downing Street
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Spanning all four spaces and the corridor of the White Cube Bermondsey gallery Anselm Kiefer's new exhibition encompasses large-scale painting and installation
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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn wears a pair of mittens that say 'Pick Pam', referring to Labour MP Pam Duncan-Glancy (not pictured) as he visits the Heart of Scotstoun Community Centre in Glasgow
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Head glass conservator Sam Kelly inspects the Angeli Laudantes and Angeli Ministrantes stained glass windows at Salisbury Cathedral as restoration work to clean, conserve and restore the windows, installed in 1879, gets underway
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Flooding in the village of Fishlake near Doncaster after a month's worth of rain fell in 24 hours
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Scottish National Party candidates, including SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford (centre left) and Nicola Sturgeon (centre), with a Brexit message at the party's General Election campaign launch in Edinburgh
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Delivery lorry stuck in flood water at Coston Ford, Leicestershire after heavy rainfall in the area
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British Prime Minister Boris Johnson makes a statement to announce the general election at Downing Street in London, Britain
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Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson speaking at the launch of their general election campaign at the Institute of Civil Engineers in London
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Scientists in Scotland help develop worlds first encryption system that is unbreakable by hackers - The Independent
Apple Bows Down To Google As 2019 Most Trustworthy Recognition – International Business Times
KEY POINTS
Apple is one of the tech juggernauts aggressively campaigning for users privacy and security; it is even the Cupertino companys slogan these days. However, it appears that some people find Google as the more trustworthy tech company overApple. New research reveals that despite multiple reports of Android vulnerabilities than there are iOS security issues, people trust Google more than Apple.
A recent survey commissioned by nCipher, a cryptographic solutions vendor, reveals 89 percent of respondents believe that encryption is more important. Based on the results, in terms of data encryption, Apple is not as trusted as Google as far as those in theUS are concerned. The survey, however, is not about trust in the broader security sense and more narrowly focused on encrypting data, says Forbes Davey Winder.
From a global perspective, the survey reveals that the search engine giant Google was regarded by 48.6 percent of the respondents to use encryption to protectdata. Only 46.8 percent of the respondents believe that Apple does. It is interesting to see though how close in terms of percentage points these two tech giants are in the eyes of respondents.
Google parent Alphabet's new CEO Sundar Pichai is in for a big pay raise Photo: AFP / Josh Edelson
However, when these respondents were asked which company they trust the most in encrypting their personal data, the gap grew substantially. Google got 37.2 percent of the respondents votes, while Apple only got 31.7 percent in terms of data encryption trust on a global scale. For American respondents, Google is still ahead of Apple, with 42.6 percent American respondents voting for the search engine giant and 36.7 percent voting for the Cupertino-based tech juggernaut in terms of data encryption trust.
Despite high consensus on the importance of encryption, less than half of the respondents do not trust institutions like the government or big companies like Apple orGoogle to protect their personal data with encryption, nCipher Security Vice-president of Sales Peter Carlisle said. With that said, data privacy must be given priority everywhere. Companies, especially big ones, need to be better at getting their message about user privacy and security message across, says Forbes.
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Apple Bows Down To Google As 2019 Most Trustworthy Recognition - International Business Times
Facebook , Apple being threatened by US senators over data encryption – Gizmo Posts 24
According to a recent study, US senators threatened the most renowned companies such as facebook and apple. A meeting was held on the 10th of December. The main vision behind the meeting is to get rid of the obstacles they have been facing in finding abusers.
Why are they being threatened?
The senator says that data encryption is coming in the way of finding evidence. Also, the senator does not want to provide a safer place for the child abusers over this reason of not being able to catch the abusers. Both the technology representatives marked their presence in the meeting.
It seems like a serious issue prevailing in the country. Also, Facebook is facing many governments recently. Can you guess the reason why? The reason behind this is extending end to end encryption of WhatsApp messages.
Companies trying to save themselves
Facebook also tried explaining to the senator that it did not develop any particular operating system or a device. It says that it is open for any scanning of illegal copies. Similarly, the head of privacy issues in Apple says that there are no particular forums through which strangers can connect to each other.The user profile is not base on the materials of the user, says Apple
The track record of Apple and facebook are tremendous across the world. Taking their innovation over time and protection of data against third parties, it is very difficult for the companies to give up on data encryption.
A drawback for these major companies:
Amidst all these circumstances, the tech giant Cupertino has allowed law enforcement to access a locked phone to find a suspect of a mass shooting. This has put additional pressure on the heads of these renowned companies from the senator. The regulations that will be imposed on both of these companies are still ambiguous.
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Facebook , Apple being threatened by US senators over data encryption - Gizmo Posts 24