Tag Archive for: Opens

Window opens for new internet security section

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Sun Dong
Sun Dong

Stacy Shi

A new department may be created under the Digital Policy Office to oversee internet security and manage major digital projects, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry Sun Dong told the Legislative Council yesterday.

Sun was replying to lawmaker Yung Hoi-yan’s concerns over system failures in recent months, including the suspension of voting for last year’s district council election at polling stations.

”To support the important mission of building a digital government in the future, the government is formulating new policies, with a view to strengthening the future Digital Policy Office, at different work junctures such as project initiation, tendering, formulation of technical options, system development, testing and risk assessment,” Sun said.

The policies are aimed at providing greater support to bureaus and departments and enhancing the stability and security of government e-services, he added.

On the electronic poll register system failure in December, Sun said the Registration and Electoral Office conducted three levels of monitoring and testing for the system and the Electoral Affairs Commission is investigating the causes to ensure it will not recur.

”The findings will be reported in detail in the report to be submitted to [Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu] within three months after the election as required by law.”

Election Committee sector lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun said she was upset to see some voters being unable to cast their ballot, asking whether there will be backup plans or mainland experts imported to avoid similar incidents in the future.

”We have immediately switched to printed copies of the voter register to issue ballot papers, which was among our backup plans,” Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai said. “We will further enhance the training of our colleagues in this respect, and arrange for relevant rehearsals.”

In addition, Sun said the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer has already rolled out an enforcement guideline on supervising contractors in a bid to solve recent mishaps in the government’s IT system.

He said…

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OnePlus Open’s latest update lets you set a specific exposure value in Photo mode

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The OnePlus Open is receiving a new software update. It doesn’t upgrade the foldable from Android 13 to Android 14 but brings some system and communications improvements. More importantly, it now lets users set a specific exposure value for the camera, but only in the Photo mode.

The update also bumps up the Android security patch level on the OnePlus Open to November 2023. It has firmware CPH2551_13.2.0.201(EX01) and requires a download of about 510MB. You can check the screenshots below for the update’s changelog.



OnePlus Open OxygenOS 13.2.0.201 update’s changelog

It’s worth mentioning that this update is currently only seeding in India, but the rollout should expand to other regions soon.

Via

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IAEA Training Centre for Nuclear Security Opens Doors to Build Expertise in Countering Nuclear Terrorism

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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) opened today a unique nuclear security training centre, the first international facility of its type, to support the growing efforts to tackle global nuclear terrorism.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi officially opened the IAEA Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Centre during a ceremony at the Agency’s Seibersdorf laboratories in Austria, attended by representatives from 45 countries and territories.

The centre will provide more than 2000 square meters of specialized technical infrastructure and equipment for course participants to learn about the physical protection of nuclear and other radioactive material, as well as detection and response to criminal acts involving nuclear material and facilities.

“Nuclear security is one of the most important areas of our work to make sure that nuclear material never falls into the wrong hands,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. “The international nuclear security centre of excellence – opened today – is where experts on nuclear security and the physical protection of nuclear material from all over the world will be trained to hone their skills.”

Requests to the Agency for training in nuclear security have increased in recent years as more countries embark on nuclear power programmes and after the 2016 entry into force of the Amendment of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) – the only legally binding international instrument in the area of physical protection of nuclear material.

Over two floors, the new centre contains simulated environments, virtual reality tools and advanced software. It will provide hands on practice on nuclear security systems for the physical protection of nuclear facilities, information and computer security, nuclear forensics, major public events and other nuclear security areas of work.

“We are giving countries the tools to do nuclear better, safer and in a secure way”, added Director General Grossi.

The centre will welcome the first trainees next week for a course on security management of radioactive material, one of the 23 training courses and workshops to be offered.

“By…

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FBI’s Qakbot operation opens door for more botnet takedowns

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The FBI’s recent takedown of the QakBot botnet sent shockwaves throughout the cybersecurity community when it was first announced last week. QakBot had become the malware of choice for dozens of hacking groups and ransomware outfits that used it to set the table for devastating attacks.

Since emerging in 2007 as a tool used to attack banks, the malware evolved into one of the most commonly-seen strains in the world, luring an ever-increasing number of machines into its powerful web of compromised devices. Justice Department officials said their access to the botnet’s control panel revealed it was harnessing the power of more than 700,000 machines, including over 200,000 in the U.S. alone.

But almost as interesting as the takedown was the way law enforcement agencies pulled off the disruption.

Senior FBI and Justice Department officials — who called it “the most significant technological and financial operation ever led by the Department of Justice against a botnet” — explained in a briefing that they managed to infiltrate the botnet’s infrastructure and take a range of actions to shut it down.

Using a court order, the law enforcement agencies deployed the botnet’s auto-updating feature against itself to send out a custom application that uninstalled QakBot and disabled the feature on devices in the U.S.

“It’s as if the boss gave the order, ‘leave this workplace and don’t come back,’” said John Hammond, principal security researcher at the cybersecurity intelligence firm Huntress.

Chester Wisniewski, field CTO of applied research at Sophos, said the tactic reminded him of NotPetya, where a software downloader feature was abused by Russian hackers to download malware instead of updates.

“Almost all modern botnets have auto update functionality and if you can gain control of the communications channels you can essentially make them self-destruct,” Wisniewski said. “If we start having success with that though, criminals could start using digital signatures to make this more difficult.”

Other botnets

The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have conducted similar operations in the past to take down botnet networks.

The FBI’s targeting of the…

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