There’s No Margin for Error in Port Cyber Security By Joel Snape 03-09-2021 03:08:16 With the global shipping industry already under pressure, Joel Snape, Security Researcher at Nettitude, explains why addressing the risk to port infrastructure from cyber-attack has never been more critical. In early November 2020, the 20,400 TEU Ever Grade was forced to skip its scheduled call at the UK’s Felixstowe port, instead heading straight to Rotterdam and unloading UK-bound containers there for onward transport via London Thamesport. Similarly, the first call of CMA CGM’s new ultra-large container vessel to Southampton was cut short with around a thousand containers staying aboard until a later visit. The UK’s port infrastructure has never before been under such strain – the double challenges of COVID-19 and Brexit mean that freight volumes are at an all-time high. This has caused significant backlog with importers struggling to obtain their goods and factories pausing manufacturing lines due to a shortage of component parts. Although this is not the result of any kind of malicious activity, it has sharply highlighted the significant impact that port disruptions can have on the wider economy. With the global shipping industry already under pressure, and the UK facing new challenges in 2021 as the Brexit transition period has ended, addressing the risk to port infrastructure from cyber-attack has never been more critical. The risk is not just academic – 2020 has seen the IMO, MSC and CMA CGM both attacked, and port infrastructure in the USA targeted by ransomware. In Iran a cyber-attack on the Shahi Rajaee port, allegedly carried out by Israel, cased significant disruption to both...
The number of cyber security attacks being reported in New Zealand is on the rise, with nearly $17 million lost over the past year as a result. In total, $16.9 million was lost to attackers in 2020 – the most in a single year since CERT was launched. Photo: 123RF The data comes from CERT NZ’s annual summary for 2020, which has been released today. It showed the agency received nearly 8000 reports of cyber security incidents last year, a 65 percent increase on the year before. “We’re developing a much richer understanding of the types of threats and issues that are affecting New Zealanders, and New Zealand businesses,” said CERT NZ director Rob Pope. Phishing and credential harvesting (where an attacker collects personal data) were the most reported form of attacks, and were up 76 percent on 2019. Behind those were scams and fraud reports, up 11 percent, and malware reports, up 2008 percent. In total, $16.9m was lost to attackers – the most in a single year since CERT was launched. Pope said he was not surprised more attacks, and more financial loss was being reported. “New Zealand’s an exceptionally attractive country, with a very trusting set of communities. “We are quite exposed to the very opportunistic and sophisticated approaches and campaigns these cyber criminals are applying.” The increases are not necessarily down to more attacks happening, however, but probably down to more people recognising CERT and reporting a crime if and when it happens. The agency is now in its fourth year, but Pope said he still did not think they had ascertained the true scale...
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Mathematicians have used machine learning to develop a new model for measuring poverty in different countries that junks old notions of a fixed ‘poverty line’. The study by academics at Aston University, published in the journal Nature Communications, suggests mainstream thinking around poverty is outdated because it places too much emphasis on subjective notions of basic needs and fails to capture the full complexity of how people use their incomes. They say their new model—which uses computer algorithms to synthesize vast amounts of spending and economic data—could help policymakers worldwide predict future poverty levels and plan interventions to alleviate the problem. “No-one has ever used machine learning to decode multidimensional poverty before,” said lead researcher Dr. Amit Chattopadhyay of Aston University’s College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. “This completely changes the way people should look at poverty.” Established measures of poverty attempt to identify a threshold monetary level below which a person or household is defined as ‘poor’. These definitions trace their origins back to methods developed in the 19th and early 20th century by reformers such as Ernst Engel and Seebohm Rowntree. Currently, the World Bank sets the International Poverty Line at US$1.90 per day, with around 10% of the world’s population—about 700m people—living on less than this. This is based on a subjective assessment of income needed to cover basic needs in the poorest countries, adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP). In the new study, the researchers analyzed 30 years’ worth of data from India, dividing expenditure into three broad categories of ‘basic food’ such as cereals, ‘other food’ including meat and ‘non-food’...
The leaders of the Church Mother bodies namely the Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ), and the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) have called on President Edgar Lungu not to sign the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Bill of 2021 into law. In a statement released to the media addressing a number of issues patterning to the coming general elections, the church mother bodies said that although the overall objectives of the bill are noble, they are are concerned that this being an election year, when the atmosphere is politically charged, a number of stakeholders will be suspicious of the intentions of government and the possible abuse of the rights for those who already feel oppressed. The statement further said that the Church mother body is equally aware that many Zambians and organisations, such as the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ), political parties, and a number of CSOs have raised oncerns about this bill and demanded that it be withdrawn for further consultations. The statement further added that the Parliamentary Committee that considered the bill also recommended its withdrawal and ss such, people are asking as to why the House moved on without taking into account the concerns of all key stakeholders. “Therefore, we appeal to the conscience of the President not to sign the bill into law,” the statement read. Below is the full statement STATEMENT BY THE THREE CHURCH MOTHER BODIES ON THE ELECTORAL PROCESS IN ZAMBIA “A call for free, fair, credible and peaceful elections” “Let your hearts be broken, not your garments torn, turn to Yahweh your God...
by Michael Cheary Looking for a new skill? Cyber security could be for you… With businesses increasingly concerned about the safety and security of their information, demand for people working in the industry is on the rise. In fact, cyber security jobs advertised on reed.co.uk are up 99% year-on-year – meaning there’s never been a better time get started. We spoke to the experts at e-Careers, one of the UK’s biggest providers of cyber security qualifications, to find out more about the current skills shortage – and how you can help fill it. What is cyber security? Cyber security is the name given to the technologies and processes set out to protect online data – primarily from attacks and unauthorised access. It’s a billion pound industry, and one that continues to grow as threats from the likes of malware, ransomware, phishing, DDoS attacks and hacking steadily increase. Why is cyber security important? With almost all of our personal data now stored online, cyber security attacks have the potential to completely ruin businesses – not to mention people’s lives – in the process. And with a number of recent high-profile attacks, such as those on the NHS, Yahoo and LinkedIn, companies are becoming increasingly concerned with any potential leaks that could occur. This means companies large and small are turning to cyber security professionals to help them keep their sites and their customers’ details safe. Why is there a cyber security skills gap? Because of how fast the numbers of cyber security opportunities out there are rising, the UK workforce is struggling to meet demand. According to a 2020...
Credit: CC0 Public Domain A huge volume of digital data has been harvested, stored and shared in the last few years from sources such as social media, geolocation systems and aerial images from drones and satellites, giving researchers many new ways to study information and decrypt our world. In Switzerland, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has taken an interest in the big data revolution and the possibilities it offers to generate predictive statistics for the benefit of society. Conventional methods such as censuses and surveys remain the benchmark for generating socio-economic indicators at the municipal, cantonal and national levels. But these methods can now be supplemented with secondary, mostly pre-existing data, from sources such as cell-phone subscriptions and credit cards. According to the FSO’s 2017 Data Innovation Strategy, “The goal of data innovation is to enhance the quality, scope and cost-efficiency of statistical products and to reduce the response burden on households and businesses.” Anonymized data Against this backdrop, a team of scientists at EPFL’s Laboratory on Human-Environment Relations in Urban Systems (HERUS) conducted a ground-breaking study on novel uses for the data held by insurance companies. The lab’s leading partner company, La Mobilière, provided anonymized data from hundreds of thousands of policyholders. These data included factors such as age, residential postal code, car- and homeownership, and employment status. “We wanted to see if we could use these data to predict specific socio-economic indicators—ones that could give us a better picture of the quality of Switzerland’s urban areas. One big advantage of the data held by insurers—provided they’re willing to share it—is that they are cheap to use, since...
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