Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - September 15, 2016

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Privacy, Surveillance and Censorship 

government isn't always on your side

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In case the blockage of several apps including WhatsApp, Skype, Google Play and FaceTime wasn't bad enough, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has now decided to prohibit access to The Huffington Post as well. Although the government has not offered a specific reason for the ban, it is assumed that a recent opinion piece titled, "Last Tango in Riyadh," may have contributed to the decision.

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Research and Initiatives 

making your world a more cybersecure place

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United States-based Google Chrome will soon begin marking HTTP sites that ask for passwords or credit card information as “not secure;” the search engine ultimately plans to mark all insecure HTTP pages with a red triangle warning. 

 


INTERPOL, in collaboration with the Royal Bahamas Police Force, the Dominican Republic National Police and the Colombian National Police, recently hosted cybercrime training sessions throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. Participants hailed from 29 countries and territories and deepened their understanding of mobile forensics, online investigations and cyber incident first-responses. 

Now that the Brazil Olympics have concluded, Israeli cybersecurity companies have turned their attention to the 2020 Games in Tokyo. Israeli company KELA was responsible for monitoring and prohibiting cyberattacks during the Rio de Janeiro games; this September, companies such as KELA will meet with Japanese government and executives in preparation for the next summer Olympics. 

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Cyberattacks 

the threats we all face

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A 2012 data breach of Rambler, “Russia’s Yahoo,” was just discovered. More than 98 million usernames, email addresses and passwords from Rambler’s unencrypted database were compromised in the attack. 

A recent Cyber Security Summit in Makati City provided an opportunity for Microsoft Asia’s Keshav Dhakad to comment on the state of affairs in the Philippines: “The situation is very alarming, Malware infection is rising and we at Microsoft are seeing all kinds of threats whether they be worms, Trojans, exploits, viruses, or injectors. These are high-level threats. They can steal your files, drop a ransomware, or steal your password. They can self-replicate or open backdoors which can lead to invasion of your privacy.” The Philippines’ 40% malware encounter rate is one of the highest in the world.

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All images credit of BOLDG/Shutterstock.com.

Want more emerging economy cyber alerts? Read on!

• Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - September 9, 2016
• Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - August 31, 2016
• Digital Divide: Emerging Economy Cyber Alerts - August 24, 2016

 

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