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BEIJING/LONDON – The WannaCry “ransomware” cyber attack hobbled Chinese traffic police and schools on Monday as it rolled into Asia for the new work week, while authorities in Europe said they were trying to prevent hackers from spreading new versions of the virus.
In Britain, where the virus first raised global alarm when it caused hospitals to divert ambulances on Friday, it gained traction as a political issue just weeks before a general election. The opposition Labour Party accused the Conservative government of leaving the National Health Service vulnerable.
Shares in firms that provide cyber security services rose with the prospect that companies and governments would have to spend more money on defenses.
Some victims were ignoring official advice and paying the $300 ransom demanded by the cyber criminals to unlock their computers, which was due to double to $600 on Monday for computers hit by Friday’s first wave.
Brian Lord, managing director of cyber and technology at cyber security firm PGI, said victims had told him “the customer service provided by the criminals is second to none”, with helpful advice on how to pay: “One customer said they actually forgot they were being robbed.”
Although the virus’s spread was curbed over the weekend in most of the world, France, where carmaker Renault was among the world’s highest profile victims, said more attacks were likely.
“We should expect similar attacks regularly in the coming days and weeks,” said Giullaume Poupard, head of French government cyber security agency ANSSI. “Attackers update their software … other attackers will learn from the method and will carry out attacks.”
Companies and governments spent the weekend upgrading software to limit the spread of the virus. Monday was the first big test for Asia, where offices had already mostly been closed for the weekend before the attack first arrived.
British media were hailing as a hero a 22-year-old computer security whiz who appeared to have helped stop the attack from spreading by discovering a “kill switch” – an internet address which halted the virus when activated.
China appeared over the weekend to have been particularly vulnerable, raising worries about how well the world’s second largest economy would cope when it opened for business on Monday. However, officials and security firms said the spread was starting to slow.
“The growth rate of infected institutions on Monday has slowed significantly compared to the previous two days,” said Chinese Internet security company Qihoo 360. “Previous concerns of a wide-scale infection of domestic institutions did not eventuate.”
Qihoo had previously said the attack had infected close to 30,000 organizations by Saturday evening, more than 4,000 of which were educational institutions.
The virus hit computers running older versions of Microsoft software that had not been recently updated. Microsoft released patches last month and on Friday to fix a vulnerability that allowed the worm to spread across networks.
In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft (MSFT.O) President Brad Smith appeared to tacitly acknowledge what researchers had already widely concluded: the attack made use of a hacking tool built by the U.S. National Security Agency that had leaked online in April.
Infected computers appear to largely be out-of-date devices that organizations deemed not worth the price of upgrading. Some have also been machines involved in manufacturing or hospital functions, difficult to patch without disrupting operations.
“The government’s response has been chaotic, to be frank,” the British Labour Party’s health spokesman Jon Ashworth said. “They’ve complacently dismissed warnings which experts, we now understand, have made in recent weeks.”
“The truth is, if you’re going to cut infrastructure budgets and if you’re not going to allow the NHS to invest in upgrading its IT, then you are going to leave hospitals wide open to this sort of attack.”
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) is the world’s fifth largest employer after the U.S. and Chinese militaries, Walmart and McDonald’s. The government says that under a previous Labour administration the trusts that run local hospitals were given responsibility to manage their own computer systems.
Asked if the government had ignored warnings over the NHS being at risk from cyber attack, Prime Minister Theresa May told Sky News: “No. It was clear [that] warnings were given to hospital trusts.”
An official from Cybersecurity Administration China (CAC) told local media on Monday that while the ransomware was still spreading and had affected industry and government computer systems, the spread was slowing.
Chinese government bodies from transport, social security, industry watchdogs and immigration said they had suspended services ranging from processing applications to traffic crime enforcement.
It was not immediately clear whether those services were suspended due to attacks, or for emergency patching to prevent infection.
“If a system supports some kind of critical processes those systems typically are very hard to patch … We don’t have a precedent for something of this scale (in China),” said Marin Ivezic, a cybersecurity expert at PwC in Hong Kong.
Energy giant PetroChina (601857.SS) said payment systems at some of its petrol stations were hit, although it had been able to restore most of the systems.
Elsewhere in Asia, the impact seems to have been more limited. Japan’s National Police Agency reported two breaches of computers in the country on Sunday – one at a hospital and the other case involving a private person – but no loss of funds.
Industrial conglomerate Hitachi Ltd. (6501.T) said the attack had affected its systems at some point over the weekend, leaving them unable to receive and send e-mails or open attachments in some cases.
In India, the government said it had only received a few reports of attacks on systems and urged those hit not to pay attackers any ransom. No major Indian corporations reported disruptions to operations.
At Indonesia’s biggest cancer hospital, Dharmais Hospital in Jakarta, around 100-200 people packed waiting rooms after the institution was hit by cyber attacks affecting scores of computers. By late morning, some people were still filling out forms manually, but the hospital said 70 percent of systems were back online.
South Korea’s presidential Blue House office said nine cases of ransomware were found in the country, but did not provide details on where the cyber attacks were discovered. A coal port in New Zealand shut temporarily to upgrade its systems. –Reuters
LOS ANGELES – Veteran rock band AC/DC has been forced to reschedule 10 dates on the US leg of its “Rock or Bust” world tour because lead singer Brian Johnson could lose his hearing if he takes the stage, the band’s publicist said on Monday.
The band known for its blazing guitars and full-throated vocals on songs like “Back in Black” and “Highway to Hell” will reschedule dates starting with a Tuesday show in Atlanta through an April 4 date in New York.
“Brian Johnson, has been advised by doctors to stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss,” the band’s publicist said.
Johnson, 68, joined AC/DC in 1980, taking over lead vocals just after former frontman Bon Scott died. The band, formed in the early 1970s, and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. -Reuters
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Indians love street foods, which frequently consists of small plates of savory snacks called chaat. The greatest Delhi StreetFood is without a doubt observed in Old Delhi about Chandni Chowk. It’s really well worth trying some just to taste the different flavors and spices of India. If you’re unfamiliar with the location, it’s really a fantastic idea to choose a guided walking tour as it’s really crowded and you also could easily come to feel frustrated. This hot Old Delhi food items Tour is one option. Additionally, Have a Look at Delhi Foods Walks.
Historic Paranthe Wali Gali turned into a very famous tourist location as a result of its parantha outlets opened up there in the 1870s. A Couple of them still exist, including Pandit Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan (1872), Pandit Kanhaiya Lal & Durga Prasad’s Parantha Shop (1875), and Pandit Babu Ram Devi Dayal’s(1886).
If the sign of the superior spot to consume is its popularity with all the natives, then this store needs to become one among the greatest places for chaat in Old Delhi. Its decor is ordinary but it serves up an incredible variety of delicious snacks. Adventurous eaters must-try it.
What Is Great: The papri chaat (crispy fried dough wafers, served with boiled potatoes, boiled chick peas, chilies, yogurt and tamarind chutney).
Amid the sights and sounds of Chandni Chowk, this place is renowned for its refreshing fruit chaat. Your family that runs it has been in the business for four generations. While you’re there stop for a classic cup of chai at Satguru’s Tea Stall near-by.
Bishan Swaroop can be challenging to find but is definitely well worth your time and time and effort. It’s hidden away in one of Chandni Chowk’s unruly side roads, which makes it retain the old-world experience (it was in business since 1923, after all). However, what this place makes, it gets very well. If you love potatos, do not miss it!
What is Good: The aloo kulla (boiled potato that is certainly breathed out and filled with chickpeas and garnished with spices and lemon).
This up market location is ideal for people who wish to sample Delhi’s delicious street food however aren’t enthusiastic about venturing into the depths of Chandni Chowk. It’s received a huge following of ex pats owing to its posh residential and shopping location, and strict hygiene specifications.
What is Good: The gol gappas (fried crispy shells filled with a watery mixture of potato, chilli, also tamarind), also referred elsewhere India because pani puri.
If it arrives to kulfi (ice cream), a number of those very best has ever been built by the Kuremal family in Old Delhi since the early 1900s. There are significantly more than fifty eclectic flavors to pick from, including cherry, pomegranate, paan,and tamarind.
What is Great: The orange and mango stuffed kulfi. The inside of the fruit is partially eliminated and filled with kulfi. Yum!
Reuters reports (via Techmeme) that Apple has persuaded a Japanese court that Samsung did indeed infringe its patent of the rubber-banding or bounce-back user-interface feature.
Apple claimed that Samsung had copied the “bounce-back”, in which icons on its smartphones and tablets quiver back when users scroll to the end of an electronic document. Samsung has already changed its interface on recent models to show a blue line at the end of documents …
The ruling, due to be announced in detail later today, means that Samsung may have to withdraw from sale in Japan some of its early models that incorporate the feature.
The same claim had earlier been rejected in the U.S. back in April by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, allowing Samsung’s older handsets to remain on sale within the country, before the decision was reversed earlier this month.
Smartphones are pretty expensive, but they’re also fragile. A simple drop can sometimes result in a shattered, unusable phone. Motorola has pushed forward in fixing this problem fir consumers by introducing a technology it calls ShatterShield on phones like the Moto Z2 Force, but it seems like that isn’t the only idea the company has had to fix this problem…
A recently-surfaced patent from Motorola (via The Verge) reveals that the company is working, to some extent, on a new type of display which can actually heal itself. A cracked display would require nothing more than a bit of heat to repair the damage.
According to the patent, the phone would be able to detect damage to the display and use a special material called a “shape memory polymer” to repair it. That polymer would apparently be able to be deformed and then repaired through heat, including the phone’s own heat or the user’s body heat. What’s described actually sounds a lot like what LG tried on the G Flex series, which had a self-healing back which could remove scratches with heat.
As cool as this sounds, it’s probably going to be quite some time before we see any version of this hit the market. For one thing, this polymer would likely feel more like plastic than glass. The current ShatterShield tech already feels much less premium compared to a glass display (and scratches far easier), so unless Motorola is working miracles, this probably wouldn’t be any better. Further, the patent says that this process can only partially repair the damage.
We’ve been testing out a new iPhone and iPod touch application called Car Facts. The application is a comprehensive way to manage several pieces of data and information during the life span of your ownership of a car.
The application allows you to input every time you refuel your car with gas, conduct a repair, and you can view all of these car facts on nicely rendered graphs within the application on your iPhone or iPod touch.
The application allows you to input information such as different car readings like the odometer for future reference.
The car repair management feature will also send you reminders for when recommended car part replacements or checks should be conducted. The user interface and options are very comprehensive for inputted repairs. Again, you can input how much these repairs costed in order to create graphs of how much money you spent on your car.
You can even store photos of your receipts for repairs within the application. This feature is handy if you ever need definitive proof that your car was serviced. Information such as where you had your car repaired can also be stored.
If you have multiple devices, you can sync all of the information you have inputted into Car Facts over Apple’s iCloud sync service. Since Car Facts stores a lot of important information about your car, the iCloud sync also makes things easier if you replace or purchase a new iOS device.
The free version of the application allows you to store up to one vehicle. However, there is a $3.99 in-app-purchase Car Facts upgrade available. This update allows you to store an unlimited amount of vehicles within the application.
The settings portion of the application allows you to choose from several global currencies, fuel units, distance units, and default fuel octane levels.
The application works well in our tests, and we are impressed by how comprehensive the options are for inputting milage, various pieces of data for your car, and repair information.