Month: May 2017

Public administration and companies only had some disruption due to preventive measures, but were not damaged by WannaCry.

Public administration services, as well as Portuguese companies in general, were not hit by WannaCry, the ransomware that was the center of a large-scale international cyberattack. “The situation has been quiet; there have been malfunctions in some agencies, but only as a result of action to mitigate the problems,” said Pedro Veiga, President of the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS).

The CNCS had operatives working 24 hours a day from Friday until yesterday. Cyberattacks have already affected 150 countries and 200,000 computer systems.

There are likely to be infected Portuguese computers, but at the level of large organizations there has been no major damage, rather than what happened in England, with the hospitals being hit. In Portugal, the disturbances refer to the temporary suspension of services such as e-mail in public organizations, as was the case of the units of the National Health Service. The computers were all disconnected on Sunday and when restarted they were limited use of e- Mail, in the case of those who had not yet implemented all security measures. But there was no record of any problems, according to the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, which maintain the same recommendation for access to e-mails. Also in Justice and Finance precautions have been taken but there is no record of any incident affecting the services.

“The mitigation measures were taken because there was a fear that the attacks would intensify at the beginning of the week, but it did not happen, there is calm, which does not mean that it is over,” explained Pedro Veiga, assuring that the CNCS keeps a yellow alert.

Europol warns that the attacks should not be over. It says it has reached “an unprecedented level” and will require “a complex international investigation to identify the culprits.” The task is not easy, as the director of the Unit to Combat Cybercrime of the Judiciary Police, Carlos Cabreiro, acknowledged. He added that the PJ is cooperating with the CNCS and with Europol itself to take all possible “precautions” to tackle cyberattack, whose degree of sophistication is “difficult to measure”, although it is “persistent and large “.

“We do not know the origin, it’s something we’re finding out,” he told Lusa Carlos Cabreiro, referring to the attack as a mass distribution of malware (software that infiltrates another computer unlawfully, causing damage)

The possibility of further attacks was also prompted yesterday by multinational technology services company Claranet, which advised users to upgrade systems, not open unknown attachments and turn off any equipment suspected of being infected.

The European Commission has assured that no community institution has been affected but, through its spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, stressed that “the use of cyberattacks for criminal purposes is a growing threat requiring a coordinated and comprehensive response by the EU.” Source Diario da Noticais

The expert who stopped spread of attack by activating software’s ‘kill switch’ says criminals will ‘change the code and start again’

The “accidental hero” who halted the global spread of an unprecedented ransomware attack by registering a garbled domain name hidden in the malware has warned the attack could be rebooted.

The ransomware used in Friday’s attack wreaked havoc on organisations including FedEx and Telefónica, as well as the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), where operations were cancelled, X-rays, test results and patient records became unavailable and phones did not work. As many as 70,000 NHS devices including computers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, blood storage fridges and theatre equipment could have been affected.

But the spread of the attack was brought to a sudden halt when one UK cybersecurity researcher tweeting as @malwaretechblog, with the help of Darien Huss from security firm Proofpoint, found and inadvertently activated a “kill switch” in the malicious software.

The researcher, who identified himself only as MalwareTech, is a 22-year-old from south-west England who works for Kryptos logic, an LA-based threat intelligence company.

“I was out having lunch with a friend and got back about 3pm and saw an influx of news articles about the NHS and various UK organisations being hit,” he told the Guardian. “I had a bit of a look into that and then I found a sample of the malware behind it, and saw that it was connecting out to a specific domain, which was not registered. So I picked it up not knowing what it did at the time.”

The kill switch was hardcoded into the malware in case the creator wanted to stop it spreading. This involved a very long nonsensical domain name that the malware makes a request to – just as if it was looking up any website – and if the request comes back and shows that the domain is live, the kill switch takes effect and the malware stops spreading. The domain cost $10.69 and was immediately registering thousands of connections every second.

The attack affected mainly Asia and Europe and which originated in Brazil.  Portugal Telecom, which ensured that the attack had no repercussions or impact on services, activated a security plan, asking some workers to turn off the computer. Energy company EDP has cut its network’s Internet access to prevent possible cyberattacks and has ensured that no problems were recorded. Galp also said it was monitoring and monitoring the situation and reinforced security measures.

In France, Renault stopped production at several sites to prevent the spread of the global cyber attack. Deutsche Bahn, the German National Railway was hit, the ransom demand appearing on departure and arrival boards. In Sewden the local authority in Timra said about 70 of its computers were effected. In China some universities and secondary schools were hit and in Indonesia two of its largest hospitals were attacked.

The Judiciary Police is monitoring the situation and trying to understand the scope of cyberattack. Yesterday, the G7 finance ministers, who met in Italy, focused their attention on cybersecurity.

At the border inspections, 20 arrests were made, one for fraud, 14 for possession of a prohibited weapon and one for falsification.

Operation Fatima 2017, which was conducted for Pope Francisco’s visit to Portugal, on Friday and Saturday, took place with all normalcy and tranquillity, the Government said today.

A press release from the Office of the Secretary General of the Internal Security System stated that “during the visit of His Holiness Pope Francisco to Portugal ends,” the Cabinet, “on behalf of all security forces and services involved in the Operation Fatima 2017, reiterates that everything was went fully as planned, with total normalcy and tranquillity. ”

The note adds that from 00:00 from Friday to 24:00 of the same day, in the area of ​​protection and relief, 927 pilgrims were assisted, 88 prehospital emergencies were and 18 transports transportations were undertaken to hospitals.

The statement added that in the scope of the reinstatement of the documentary control of people at the borders (land, sea and air), 66,372 people were checked, with 23 refusals for documentary reasons.

There were 62,953 inspections: 39,929 people, 23,001 vehicles, 18 boats and five trains.

The information adds that 20 arrests were made, most notably one for crime of fraud, 14 for possession of a prohibited weapon and one for falsification of a technical notation.

A total of three vehicles, 16 blank weapons, 40 rounds of ammunition and 1,650 euros were seized

Pope Francisco ended a two-day visit to Portugal on 13^th May celebrating the Centenary of the Apparitions and canonizing two of the shepherd children of Fatima.

A young Russian who persuaded children to enter the game is accused of inciting 16 teenagers to commit suicide

The 21-year-old who was accused of inciting 16 girls to commit suicide in Russia and is suspected of having created the Blue Whale game, said he was “cleaning up society.” Philipp Budeikin confessed to the crimes to the police and said that his victims were “biological garbage” and that they were “happy to die”.

The online game Blue Whale has worried authorities in several countries by the way it ends: the participant commits suicide.

Philipp Budeikin, also known as Phillipp Lis (Lis means fox, in Russian), was arrested in November in Russia. Since then, the young man has received several love letters from teenage girls who say they are in love with him, according to the Daily Mail .

By law, the Russian authorities can not prevent Phillipp from responding to the letters by contacting the teenagers.

Anton Breido of the Russian investigative committee said Phillipp Lis “knew exactly what he had to say to get the result he wanted” with the victims. “It started in 2013 and since then it has improved tactics and corrected its mistakes,” said the researcher, adding that Lis and partners lured children to social networks with videos.

“Their mission was to attract as many children as possible and then find out which would be the most susceptible to psychological manipulation,” the investigator quoted by the Daily Mail as saying .

A Chinese citizen was detained on 11th May 2017 at the Caia border in Elvas, in possession of 266,000 euros in cash, after the GNR announced the arrest of two other Chinese citizens holding 480,000 euros.

A citizen of Chinese nationality was detained by the GNR in possession of 266 thousand euros and the vehicle in which he was driving was seized during the control of the border of Caia that takes place under the “Operation White Frontier”.

The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) has sentenced to 14 years of prison for the leader of a “gang” that was dedicated to the drug trafficking in the city of Oporto.

In a note published on Thursday 11^th May , the Oporto District Attorney General’s Office states that the Constitutional Court did not grant an appeal filed by the defendant, so that the sentence imposed by the STJ is maintained.

In the first instance, the defendant had been sentenced to 10 years for an aggravated drug trafficking crime and two crimes of active corruption.

The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence for 16 years in prison and the STJ eventually fixed it at 14.

In the same case, the defendant’s son was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

The events occurred between March and November of 2012 and relate to the activity of drug trafficking in Oporto, especially in the Sé District.

A total of 43 dogs, 25 cats and a bird of the species Garrulus glandarius (common jay) were recovered from a residence in Alhos Vedros, Moita, due to lack of adequate conditions and for mistreatment. The GNR Territorial Command of Setúbal, through the Center for Environmental Protection of Montijo, rescued the 69 animals on 9^th May 2017.

A search warrant was issued, headed by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of Moita, at the residence and its annexes, which were already referenced as sites for the accumulation of companion animals which had been reported to police. Although there have been some enforcement actions in the house, the conditions of animal welfare, public health and possibly mistreatment have deteriorated in recent times, according to the GNR in a statement.

All animals underwent a veterinary examination. The 68 pets were sent to the Official Collection Center of Barreiro and Moita for reception and medical-veterinary assistance, and were kept at the center until they are sent by judicial decision, for later adoption.

The recovery of the animals resulted from a joint action between the GNR, the municipal veterinary authority of Montijo, supported by the veterinarians of Barreiro and Moita and the Association of Municipalities of Barreiro and Moita, an environmental health technician and a chamber psychologist municipal. The military of the Research Center for Environmental Crimes and Offenses of the Territorial Post of Moita and the Special Programs Section of the Montijo Territorial Detachment also contributed to the outcome of the action

The GNR seized goods valued at € 3.8 million in 2016 in the context of fraud and tax evasion, and also seized about 20,000 cars, which amounted to more than eight million euros.

At the ceremony marking the 106th anniversary of the Republican National Guard, the commander-in-chief of the GNR, Lieutenant General Manuel Couto, reported the most significant results of the corporation’s operational activity in 2016.

“In the tax and customs area, the GNR registered the seizure of merchandise with a value in the order of 3.8 million euros, plus about 20 thousand autos, amounting to more than eight million euros of fines imposed,” said the commander-in-chief highlighting the investigation of 6,415 cases with a value of more than 217 million euros.

Lieutenant-General Manuel Couto also reported that 1.4 million drivers were monitored by the GNR in 2016.

Last year, GNR detained more than 20,000 people and, in the field of nature and environmental protection, registered 2,077 crimes, seizing more than 18,000 cars and made 135 arrests.

The commander-in-chief of the GNR also paid tribute to the two soldiers of the GNR killed in service in 2016, in addition to highlighting all others who suffered injuries in the performance of the operational activity.

According to this security force, more than 1,000 crimes were committed against the GNR militias in 2016, resulting in two fatalities and 185 injuries.

More than four kilos of cocaine, concealed in children’s books destined for Portugal, were confiscated by the Federal Police at Guarulhos airport, in São Paulo, from a South African citizen who was about to embark on a flight to Lisbon.

The 24-year-old woman was approached by police in the passenger queue at the flight check-in bound for Lisbon and during the interview, the passenger raised suspicions and the agents finally searched the luggage.

Inside the suitcase were found 10 children’s books and 48 small metal tubes packed similarly to capacitors. As the book covers appeared to be very thick, one of the covers was pierced, pouring a white substance.

Federal experts conducted tests and confirmed that the substances found inside the books and inside the tubes corresponded to more than four kilos of cocaine.

A foreign citizen was arrested on Tuesday 9^th May and another was notified to leave the country due to irregular stay in Portugal in an operation by the Aliens and Borders Service.

According to the SEF, in Operation Fronteira Branca, which is part of the reinforcement of inspection activities during the visit of Pope Francisco to Portugal and which took place on the A22 in the Algarve, a warrant was also issued for the capture of a National citizen to provide Term of Identity and Residence.

In the same operation, which took place near Faro and had the collaboration of the GNR, 295 national and foreign citizens were identified.

80 vehicles were also monitored in this action, which aimed to detect, combat and prevent illegal immigration and use of fraudulent documentation.

Francisco is the fourth pope to visit Fatima on May 12 and 13 to canonize the little shepherds Francisco and Jacinta in the centenary of the “apparitions” in 1917.

The Pope has scheduled meetings with the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on arrival, and with the Prime Minister, António Costa, on the 13th.