Tag Archive for: rail

Egypt gets $440m World Bank loan to support rail network

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DUBAI: Ekar, the Middle East’s first and largest car-sharing platform, is planning to more than double its workforce in Saudi Arabia this year as it sees demand for its services in the Kingdom continue to grow.

Founded in 2016 by Venezuelan entrepreneur Vilhelm Hedberg, Ekar started as a 15-vehicle pilot program for Etihad Airways and has now grown to around 2,000 cars across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with plans to increase its fleet to 10,000 by the end of this year.

Customers can scan to find the nearest car to their location and, once they book the vehicle, the app opens the door and the key to the engine is located inside. The cars can be rented per minute or on a subscription basis.

“Ekar has a strong regional presence with offices in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Riyadh and a staff of 104, with 32 based in Riyadh,” Hedberg told Arab News.

“As the company looks to continue growing and expanding over the next few years, the expectation is to have a staff count of over 200 by December 2021, with over 70 of them expected to be based in Saudi Arabia.”

As a private company Ekar does not reveal its financial details, but it said despite travel restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic, its business grew by 16.3 percent year-on-year in 2020.

In November last year, the company launched Ekar Fleet, which allows car rental companies to upload their spare fleet of cars to the app.

Hedberg said initial results have been positive for the fleet service and, as a result, he is forecasting a surge in business.

“Ekar is at an inflection point, and is expected to grow its revenue by 400 times in 2021 in comparison to the previous year (2020), with the main focus being on reaching profitability by year-end 2022,” he added.

“We’re looking to further expand, not just regionally, but internationally across Asia, Turkey and Egypt in 2021.”

He said Saudi Arabia will remain a key market and he sees “tremendous potential,” with the company’s subscription model set to be launched in Riyadh in April.

“We also plan to expand our services across Saudi Arabia during 2021, with each new city we launch enjoying both car-share and subscription services,” he added.

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Cyber Security and IoT in Transportation

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Rail and Ransomware | IL7 Security

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It’s Been Going on Quite a While

Though it may seem like merely a decade-old idea, the notion of ransomware has been around for quite some time. In 1989, Dr Joseph Popp distributed a Trojan called PC Cyborg in which malware hid all folders and encrypt files on an infected PC’s C: drive. A script then delivered a ransom message demanding that 189 USD be directed to the PC Cyborg Corporation. The afflicted PC wouldn’t function until the ransom was paid and the malware’s actions were reversed. Since then, numerous enhancements to this type of scheme have been made, especially in the area of stronger file encryption. Now it’s virtually impossible for victims to decrypt their own files. Another type of ransomware scheme, dubbed ‘scareware’, displayed a warning on a user’s computer that the device was infected with malware that could be removed immediately by purchasing what turned out to be fake antivirus software. The scareware message appeared repeatedly, prompting many victims to purchase the ‘antivirus software’ just to get rid of the warning message.

The Attackers Include Boss and SpiderBoss – International Criminals

Today, the term ‘ransomware’ broadly describes a wide range of e-crime, malicious software programs, including DoppelMayer, REvil, Ethria, Netwalker and Maze. Each differs slightly in its tactics. For example, Maze not only encrypts the data on infected machines, but also siphons off copies of the originals, giving hackers extra leverage: failure to pay the ransom could result in confidential corporate data being leaked or sold online. Historically, the vast majority of attacks were against Windows-based systems. This is largely due to a numbers game; there are more Windows-based computers than any other type of OS. Yet now, Android and Mac ransomware attacks are on the rise, too and are only expected to grow.

In the early days of ransomware, attacks were largely opportunistic, affecting individual users’ or small businesses’ computers. Today, criminals are setting their sights on larger organisations with the resources to pay bigger ransom demands. These will include rail manufacturers, ROSCOs and train operating…

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Trade war: will US espionage fears scupper Chinese rail group? – Financial Times

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Trade war: will US espionage fears scupper Chinese rail group?  Financial Times

In its 19th century heyday, the city of Springfield in Massachusetts produced the first industrial assembly line, the first gasoline-powered automobile and the first …

“china espionage” – read more