Daily Archives: July 3, 2021


Major Swedish Supermarket Chain Hit by Cyberattack

One of Sweden’s biggest supermarket chains said Saturday it had to temporarily close around 800 stores nationwide after a cyberattack blocked access to its checkouts.”One of our subcontractors was hit by a digital attack, and that’s why our checkouts aren’t working any more,” Coop Sweden, which accounts for around 20 percent of the sector, said in a statement.”We regret the situation and will do all we can to reopen swiftly,” the cooperative added.Ransomware Hits Hundreds of US Companies, Security Firm Says The REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears …


North Korea Shows No Vaccine Urgency, Despite New Virus Woes

North Korea this week reported a mysterious “grave incident” that suggested a major lapse related to its coronavirus response.Its leader, Kim Jong Un, recently acknowledged food shortages, comparing the situation to a devastating 1990s famine.The North now acknowledges on a regular basis that it faces a worsening pandemic-related crisis, even as it continues to claim it is free of COVID-19.Just how severe a crisis is unknown because North Korea has shut itself off from the outside world in an all-encompassing 17-month coronavirus lockdown.What is increasingly clear, though, is that North …


Germany Recommends Mixed Vaccine Inoculations

The German Standing Committee on Vaccination recommended this week that people who received the AstraZeneca vaccine as their first COVID shot should be inoculated with either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccine for their second shot in the battle against the delta variant of the coronavirus.The panel said the immune response to the mixed dose protocol is “clearly superior” to a double dose of the AstraZeneca shots. Medical experts began looking at the mixed-dose approach after young women reported side effects with the AstraZeneca shots.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has received …


Indonesian Police Block Streets on First Day of Tougher COVID-19 Curbs

Indonesian police threw up roadblocks and more than 400 checkpoints on the islands of Java and Bali to ensure hundreds of millions of people stayed home on Saturday, the first day of stricter curbs on movement to limit the spread of COVID-19.As it battles one of Asia’s worst coronavirus outbreaks, the world’s fourth-most-populous nation has seen record new infections on eight of the past 12 days, with Friday bringing 25,830 cases and a high of 539 deaths.”We are setting up (patrols) in 21 locations where typically there are crowds,” Istiono, …


NYC Comes Back to Life 15 Months After Pandemic Began

Life in New York City is slowly returning to normal after the coronavirus pandemic hit the city hard more than 15 months ago. But certain changes caused by the pandemic are here to stay — at least for a while. Nina Vishneva has the story, which is narrated by Anna Rice. Camera: Alexander Barash     Producer: Barry Unger …


‘Hams’ Head Outdoors for Remote Communication

Amateur or “ham” radio operators sometimes take their two-way radios to remote locations and talk to people around the world using battery power and portable antennas.  As Mike O’Sullivan reports, they are making friends and preparing for emergencies. Camera: Mike O’Sullivan …


Ransomware Hits Hundreds of US Companies, Security Firm Says

A ransomware attack paralyzed the networks of at least 200 U.S. companies on Friday, according to a cybersecurity researcher whose company was responding to the incident. The REvil gang, a major Russian-speaking ransomware syndicate, appears to be behind the attack, said John Hammond of the security firm Huntress Labs. He said the criminals targeted a software supplier called Kaseya, using its network management package as a conduit to spread the ransomware through cloud service providers. Other researchers agreed with Hammond’s assessment. “Kaseya handles large enterprise all the way to small businesses globally, …