Tag Archive for: promises

Chile’s new constitution reflects current ethos; here’s what it promises

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The proposed constitution centres around social rights for marginalised groups, women, the indigenous and the disabled; it also guarantees rights around free speech, abortion, environment, health, water and housing

Chile President
Chilean President Gabriel Boric holding the final draft of the country’s new constitution. Pic: Twitter

On the 4th of July, as the US was having its Independence Day celebrations, a South American democracy witnessed a landmark moment. Chile prepared the grounds for a brand new constitution that would, if and when it comes into force, truly represent the times we live in.

Chile’s assembly handed a completed constitutional draft to President Gabriel Boric, before making it available to the public. The citizens will now review the document over two months before deciding its fate in an obligatory referendum on September 4.

The making of the document

In May 2021, Chilean voters elected dozens of delegates to redraft their constitution. The set constitutional convention was split equally between men and women. Seventeen seats were reserved for the nation’s indigenous populations. This came after the 2019 spring protests, when citizens took to streets demanding social reform. 

Elisa Loncón, Mapuche linguist and indigenous rights activist, was elected president of the constitutional assembly, the body charged with writing the new constitution. The constitutional assembly took the assistance of the UN Human Rights Regional Office for South America project, Chile. 

“Never before have the indigenous communities of Chile been invited to help draft a new constitution,” remarked Loncón.

World’s longest constitution

The proposed constitution is the world’s longest, with 388 articles. It centres around social rights for marginalised groups, women, the indigenous and the disabled. It also guarantees rights around free speech, abortion, environment, health, water, housing, and publicly-funded national health service. The rights already present in the current constitution have been amplified in the new one.

The biggest difference from the existing constitution is that it will give official recognition to the indigenous peoples living in the country,…

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Ransomware Gang Offers Bug Bounty, Promises Payouts Up to $1 Million

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In what might be a first, a ransomware gang has launched a bug bounty program designed to reward anyone who submits details on previously unknown website vulnerabilities to the group.  

The program comes from the LockBit, one of the most prolific ransomware gangs on the scene today. On Sunday, malware-repository site VX-Underground noticed(Opens in a new window) the LockBit gang had launched the bug bounty program at a dark web address. 

“We invite all security researchers, ethical and unethical hackers on the planet to participate in our bug bounty program,” the hacking group wrote. “The amount of remuneration varies from $1000 to $1 million.”

Bug Bounty Lockbit site

Specifically, LockBit is looking for website vulnerabilities it can manipulate and use to steal data. The group is also interested in learning about bugs in its own ransomware encryption programs and in the Tox messenger and Tor network. 

However, the biggest payout has nothing to do with uncovering software flaws. LockBit is offering $1 million to anyone—including FBI agents—who can “dox” or uncover personal details about the gang’s leader. 

Bug Bounty Lockbit info

The bug bounty program suggests LockBit is rich enough to buy zero-day exploits, or attacks capable of leveraging unknown software flaws to hack a computer system. Zero-day exploits can be particularly devastating because there’s no software patch a user can install to thwart the attack. In addition, LockBit is promising payouts that can rival the rewards from legitimate bug bounty programs.

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LockBit’s program is certainly a worrying sign. Its own ransomware site claims the gang has hacked dozens of companies and organizations across the globe. Victims who refuse to pay the ransom have had their internal files leaked on LockBit’s website. 

According(Opens in a new window) to Trend Micro, the gang also previously recruited company insiders to help them hack a target’s network. “LockBit has been detected all over the globe, with the US seeing most of the attack attempts from June 2021 to January 20, 2022, followed by India and Brazil,” the security firm wrote in a February report. “We saw the most LockBit-related detections in the healthcare industry…

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Putin promises to bolster Russia’s IT security

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President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the number of cyber attacks on Russia by foreign “state structures” had increased several times over and that Russia must bolster its cyber defences by reducing the use of foreign software and hardware.

The websites of many state-owned companies and news websites have suffered sporadic hacking attempts since Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb. 24, often to show information that is at odds with Moscow’s official line on the conflict.

“Targeted attempts are being made to disable the internet resources of Russia’s critical information infrastructure,” Putin said, adding that media and financial institutions had been targeted.

“Serious attacks have been launched against the official sites of government agencies. Attempts to illegally penetrate the corporate networks of leading Russian companies are much more frequent as well,” he said.

Read more: Putin says sanctions hurting West more than Russia

In a meeting with the Security Council, Putin said that Russia would need to improve information security in key sectors and switch to using domestic technology and equipment.

“Restrictions on foreign IT, software and products have become one of the tools of sanctions pressure on Russia,” Putin said. “A number of Western suppliers have unilaterally stopped technical support of their equipment in Russia.”

He said cases of programmes getting blocked after being updated were becoming more frequent.

Data leaks

State communications regulator Roskomnadzor on Wednesday said it had blocked a website that was hosting the personal data of a number of companies’ clients. It did not name the companies.

Russia’s second-biggest bank VTB (VTBR.MM) was quoted by media as saying some customers’ phone numbers had been leaked but there was no risk to their funds.

E-commerce player Wildberries and online marketplace Avito denied reports in Russian media that their data had been leaked.

A data leak in early March exposed the personal details of more than 58,000 people on tech giant Yandex’s (YNDX.O) food delivery app, Yandex.Eda. read more

Yandex.Eda competitor Delivery Club on Friday apologised to users after it suffered a data leak on orders placed…

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Putin promises to bolster Russia’s IT security in face of cyber attacks

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Vladimir Putin at the Collective Security Treaty Organisation summit at the Kremlin in Moscow

Vladimir Putin promises to bolster Russia’sIT security with increased number of cyber attacks.
Source: The Business Standard

On Friday, May 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that the number of cyber attacks by foreign ‘state structures’ on Russia had gone up several times over. Hence, it is essential that Russia bolsters up its cyber defences by lessening the use of foreign software and hardware. Various state owned companies’ websites, along with news websites have experienced periodic hacking attempts. This was since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, often to showcase information that is at odds with official line on the conflict of Moscow.

Putin stated these targeted attempts are to try and disable the ‘internet resources of Russia’s critical information infrastructure.’ He said this mentioning that even media and financial institution were a target. Putin pointed out how the official government agencies also witnessed ‘serious attacks’ launching against them.

“Attempts to illegally penetrate the corporate networks of leading Russian companies are much more frequent as well,”

In a meet with the Security Council, the Russian President stated that it is necessary for Russia to improve information security in essential sectors. Along with it, it is essential for them to switch to the use of domestic equipment and technology. He added that restrictions on overseas products, software and IT have emerged as one of the ‘tools of sanctions pressure’ on the country. Additionally, he said that a number of ‘Western suppliers have unilaterally’ halted technical support of their equipment in the country. Moreover, he pointed out the increased frequency of the blockage of cases of programmes following updates.

Data Leaks:

On Wednesday, May 18, Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, revealed its blockage of a website that was hosting personal data of the clients of some companies. The regulator did not specify the names of these companies. Media quoted VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank stating that phone numbers of some of the customers had been leaked, though there was no risk to their funds.

Additionally, others such as online…

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