Daily Archives: June 8, 2021

How a Fake FBI-Encrypted Device Ensnared Criminals Around the World

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The global sting operation billed as “Trojan Shield” that led to the arrests of hundreds of criminals this week began with the takedown of an encrypted device maker catering to drug traffickers around the world.  In 2018, the FBI dismantled Canada-based Phantom Secure, forcing its customers — at the time estimated at more than 10,000 — to look for other encrypted apps.   To fill the void, the FBI in late 2019 recruited a “confidential human source” to launch its own hardened encrypted device company called ANOM, putting a new, secure …

Pipeline Executive Felt Cornered by Ransomware Attack

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The top executive for the biggest fuel pipeline operator in the United States told lawmakers he felt like he had no choice but to pay off hackers after a ransomware attack shut down operations along the East Coast. Testifying Tuesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Colonial Pipeline Chief Executive Joseph Blount took responsibility for agreeing to pay the Russian-based DarkSide Network approximately $5 million to minimize potentially disastrous delays to fuel delivery. “I know how critical our pipeline is to the country, and I put the interests of …

UN: Like COVID-19, Inequalities Drive AIDS Epidemic

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The head of UNAIDS said Tuesday that inequalities are a chief driver of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, just as they are with COVID-19. “Inequalities in power, status, rights and voice are driving the HIV pandemic,” said Winnie Byanyima, executive director of UNAIDS. “Inequalities kill.” Since the first cases were reported 40 years ago, UNAIDS says 77.5 million people have been infected with HIV, and nearly 35 million have died from AIDS. Byanyima told a high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly that nations must end the inequalities that perpetuate HIV/AIDS if they want to …

Europe’s Spring Coldest Since 2013, UN Climate Agency Says

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The World Meteorological Organization, the United Nations climate agency, reported Tuesday that Europe saw its coldest March through May since 2013, with temperatures 0.45 C below the 1991-2020 average.During a briefing from the agency’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis cautioned that Europe’s cool start did not reflect any pause in the world’s climate change problems.In fact, data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service show that the global average temperature for May was 0.26 C higher than the 1991-2020 mean, according to the U.N. News website. …

Pfizer to Expand Vaccine Testing on Children Under 12

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Pfizer says it will expand testing of its COVID-19 vaccine to children younger than 12.  The drug company, along with its German partner BioNTech, will enroll 4,500 children volunteers at more than 90 places in the U.S., Finland, Poland and Spain.  The children, ages 5 to 11, will be given two doses of 10 micrograms each, which is about a third of the dose used on teens and adults. Some will receive placebo shots.  Testing on infants as young as 6 months will start within weeks. They will receive 3-microgram …

Internet Outage Hits Major Websites

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A number of major websites could not be reached early Tuesday following an outage at the cloud services company Fastly.The affected sites included news agencies CNN, the Guardian and the New York Times, streaming platform Twitch, and the U.K. government’s website.All were back online within a period of hours.Fastly said it identified an issue and that “and a fix is being implemented.”The company earlier said it was “investigating potential impact to performance with our CDN services.” …

Apple’s ‘Private Relay’ Will Not Be Available in China, Elsewhere

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Apple on Monday said a new “private relay” feature designed to obscure a user’s web browsing behavior from internet service providers and advertisers will not be available in China for regulatory reasons.The feature was one of a number of privacy protections Apple announced at its annual software developer conference Monday.It will also be unavailable in Belarus, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Uganda and the Philippines, Apple said.The “private relay” feature first sends web traffic to a server maintained by Apple, where it is stripped of its IP …

Carbon Dioxide Levels Hit 50% Higher Than Preindustrial Age

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The annual peak of global heat-trapping carbon dioxide in the air has reached another dangerous milestone: 50% higher than when the industrial age began.And the average rate of increase is faster than ever, scientists reported Monday.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the average carbon dioxide level for May was 419.13 parts per million. That’s 1.82 parts per million higher than May 2020 and 50% higher than the stable pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million, said NOAA climate scientist Pieter Tans.Carbon dioxide levels peak every May just before plant …