Tag Archive for: vice

Luukas Ilves, Gulsanna Mamediieva, and David Eaves, with Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov

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David: Ukraine offers a window into a collective future about how we might face the coming crises. Ukraine happens to be facing an existential crisis created by an illegal war committed by its neighbor, but all countries are facing climate change crises, financial crises, and possible future pandemics. So, a country’s responsive capacity – Sana talked about her government’s resilience – to those things is going to be core to determining trust in government. If we want democracies to survive, they have to perform well. We need digital-era governments to respond to 21st-century problems. That means having the flexibility and the capacity to be able to do that. That’s what the Estonians have and it’s what the Ukrainians are showing us: how digital fits into that capacity building. For me, a big takeaway from the convening was how much climate change is going to drive this need. If there are going to be 10 million internationally displaced people in 50 countries around the world over the next 20 years, we’re going to need some capacity to serve those people when they lose their houses and are roaming around your country. The only way a country is going to be able to do that is if it has a digital solution.

Luukas: We hope these stories are inspiring for people interested in digital public infrastructures. Many countries in the world tend to be very pessimistic about the public sector’s capacity to do these things. That becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The most important thing is, whatever your position, be demanding of your government. Because there’s no inherent law that says the government has to be bad at technology. The more positive pressure there is from the people to do better, the greater the country’s chances of success.

Sana: I’d encourage people to find energy and inspiration in democracy. Citizens should have higher expectations from the government for the services that they receive. Especially in terms of convenience and user experience. But for those people who work specifically in this sphere, it requires a lot of energy, persistence, and flexibility to overcome obstacles. What I took from the convening was that everyone, on every level, has to…

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FACT SHEET: Vice President Harris Launches New Initiatives to Strengthen U.S.-Philippines Alliance

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The United States and the Philippines enjoy an alliance and partnership based on deep historical, economic, and cultural ties, and our shared democratic values.  The United States and the Philippines stand together as friends, partners, and allies.  Now and always, the U.S. commitment to the defense of the Philippines is ironclad, and we are committed to strengthening our economic and investment relationship.
 
The Vice President’s travel to the Philippines reaffirms the bilateral alliance and will spur cooperation on a range of issues, including:  advancing clean energy, addressing the climate crisis, promoting inclusive growth and innovation, increasing access to quality education and health resources, combating trafficking in persons, facing common security challenges, supporting freedom of the seas, and deepening people-to-people ties.
 
The Vice President is launching the following initiatives.
 
CLIMATE ACTION, ENERGY SECURITY, AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE

  • Energy Policy Dialogue: The U.S Department of Energy, U.S. Department of State, and Philippine Department of Energy will establish an Energy Policy Dialogue, a high-level platform for the two nations to develop new forms of energy cooperation, including on short and long-term energy planning, offshore wind development, and grid stability and power transmission.
  • Launching 123 Agreement Negotiations for Civil Nuclear Energy Cooperation: The Vice President announced that the United States and the Philippines are initiating negotiations on a civil nuclear cooperation agreement (“123 agreement”) to support expanded cooperation on zero-emission energy and nonproliferation priorities.  Once in force, this agreement will provide the legal basis for U.S. exports of nuclear equipment and material to the Philippines. The United States is committed to working with the Philippines to increase energy security and deploying advanced nuclear reactor technology as quickly as safety and security conditions permit to meet the Philippines’ dire baseload power needs.  Such a deployment would support both energy security and climate goals, as well as support workers and businesses in both countries.
  • Critical Mineral…

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The Vice Society Ransomware Gang Thrives in a Crucial Blind Spot

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Throughout 2021, Vice Society’s health care targets included Barlow Respiratory Hospital in California, Eskenazi Health in Indiana, Centre Hospitalier D’Arles in France, United Health Centers in California, and a dental company in Brazil. The group also attacked New Zealand’s Waikato District Health Board that summer, which, among other impacts, resulted in the cancellation of two Air New Zealand flights; the airline couldn’t obtain proof of negative Covid-19 tests for crew members because the health department’s digital systems were down.

Vice Society also targeted schools and universities in 2021 and seems to have favored this sector more and more as the United States and other countries devote more resources to ransomware enforcement and hone mitigation techniques. In the wake of high-profile 2021 attacks, like the Colonial Pipeline ransomware incident, prominent Russian-speaking actors faced infrastructure takedowns, indictments, and even rare Russian arrests for their brazen crimes. 

Vice Society may view education as a quieter and less well funded category where it can fly under the radar. For example, the group hit the Austrian Medical University of Innsbruck in June and Linn-Mar Community School District in Iowa at the beginning of August—neither of which many people would flag as major, obvious targets. The Bluets maternity hospital in Paris accused the group last week of a ransomware attack on its systems. Vice Society has not taken credit so far for the hack.

“They’re a perfect example of the success of mediocrity in the ransomware ecosystem,” says Claire Tills, a researcher for the security firm Tenable who has studied Vice Society’s tactics and organization. “You have the top-tier groups developing their own zero days and acting all polished and professional. But meanwhile, Vice Society is just chugging along, not really innovating, stealing tools from other folks, but they have just enough stability to launch attacks, get paid, keep moving.”

Researchers view the group’s attack on the Los Angeles Unified School District as significant because LAUSD is a major target, and it made more of a splash than most of Vice Society’s other hacks. Tills notes that the…

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Vice Society raises ransomware pressure on Los Angeles school district

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Vice Society on Friday listed the Los Angeles Unified School District on its ransomware leak site, four weeks after the country’s second-largest school system was hit by a major ransomware attack.

The group threatened to publish data it claims to have stolen during the attack on Oct. 3 at 4 p.m. PST. Ransomware groups typically list their victims on leak sites to increase pressure and set deadlines for victims to meet their ransom demand before stolen data is published.

The threat, which was discovered and published on Twitter by Brett Callow, threat analyst at Emsisoft, effectively gives the Los Angeles school district less than four days to respond. Vice Society did not include any details about the data it plans to publish.

“The only thing we now know is the date and time that they’ll release whatever data they supposedly have,” Callow said via email. 

Vice Society has hit at least eight other U.S. school districts, colleges or universities this year, he said.

Alberto Carvalho, superintendent at LAUSD, previously confirmed a ransom demand was made by the group that breached the district’s systems. But, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Carvalho declined to state the amount demanded or what information the threat actor claims to have stolen. 

The district has been following ransomware guidance from multiple federal agencies that are assisting with the investigation and recovery. Carvalho last week said the district had not responded to the ransom demand.

Vice Society was singled out in a joint Cybersecurity Advisory from federal authorities the same day LAUSD went public with the attack. The district and federal authorities have not publicly acknowledged the group is behind the attack, but the connection remains implied.

A spokesperson for LAUSD said the district is investigating the latest development, but did not have further information to share.

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