Scientists Rely on Tech to Fight Locust Infestation, Bug in Digital Certificates Make Sites Unsafe, and India to Airlift Tech Supplies from China

Africa

Supercomputers to help fight locust in East Africa

Scientists are relying on supercomputers to track the movement of locusts in a bid to avoid a second wave of attack, it has been reported in the Guardian. Swarms of locusts have ravaged farms in Kenya and parts of East Africa, threatening food supply in the Horn of Africa. The UN has warned that a new wave of attack could affect the lives of 25 million people. To help curb the situation, scientists at the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Climate Prediction and Applications Centre in Nairobi are using a supercomputer model to predict breeding areas. This would make it possible to spray the infected areas before the insects hatch to cause havoc. “The focus will be on stopping hoppers becoming adults, as that leads to another cycle of infestation. We want to avoid that. We want to advise governments early, before an upsurge happens,” satellite information scientist, Kenneth Mwangi, told reporters.

NAPAfrica IXP exceeds 1 Tbps traffic

South Africa’s Internet Exchange Point, NAPAfrica, has exceeded the 1 Tbps threshold across its nodes in Durban, Johannesburg, and Cape Town for the first time, it has reported. The Internet Exchange Point currently has more than 400 unique networks from Africa and beyond. The exchange point achieved its first gigabyte per second milestone between 2012 and 2013, and in January 2019 surpassed 500 Gbps. “The NAPAfrica members, including global content and cloud providers, over 250 telecommunication providers, managed service providers and a growing enterprise base, are the driving force behind achieving this momentous goal,” Andrew Owens, Manager of Interconnection & Peering at Teraco, said of the milestone. NAPAfrica is among the top 10 IXPs in the world.

Europe

Cathay Pacific fined over data breaches

Cathay Pacific Airways has been fined by the Information Commissioner’s Office, ICO, over data breaches, a BBC report has confirmed. The watchdog found the airline guilty of not doing enough to protect the data of millions of its customers. The ICO said while the airline reported a 2018 brute-force password-guessing attack, further investigations showed a number of errors that should have been corrected. Some of the errors included back-up files that were not password-protected, inadequate anti-virus protection, and internet-facing servers without the right patches. According to the report, the breach led to details of more than 100,000 UK customers being exposed. The details included names, email addresses, passport details, travel details, and addresses. Meanwhile, up to 9.4 million customers worldwide were exposed in the process.

UK’s NCSC issues warning over baby monitors

The National Cyber Security Centre of the UK has cautioned users over smart cameras and baby monitors, saying they could be easily hacked by criminals. The report said all users need to tweak and change the default passwords since they were too easy to guess. In addition, the NCSC encouraged families to keep software updated and also switch off feature that allows you to check camera remotely. Children’s toys have been hacked by criminals in the past and in Leeds, a couple had been watched more than a thousand times by a third party without their knowledge. “More detailed legislation will be needed to enforce best practices by brands, from the components in the devices to the security of data centres,” Blake Kozak of Omdia said regarding the security credentials of smart devices.

The Americas

Bug in digital certificates makes websites ‘insecure’

There are reports that millions of websites could stop working properly after a bug was found in the digital certificates used to secure them, it has been reported. As a result of the bug, visitors to those websites will be greeted by an alert warning them the site was insecure, leading to a loss of trust. The Internet Security Research Group, the organisation behind the certificates has issued out notifications advising clients to revoke those digital certificates. “We recently discovered a bug in the Let’s Encrypt certificate authority code. Unfortunately, this means we need to revoke the certificates that were affected by this bug, which includes one or more of your certificates,” the group warned. Digital certificates are pieces of code that encrypt communication between devices and websites.

Chinese charged with laundering $100m cryptocurrency for North Korea

Two Chinese nationals have been charged with laundering $100 million in stolen cryptocurrency, it has been reported. The two nationals, Tian Yinyin and Li Jiadong, are believed to have acted as money mules for a hacker group, Lazarus Group, which is working for the North Korean government. The Lazarus Group is believed to be behind the WannaCry attack in 2017 and a 2018 attack on an unnamed crypto exchange. The co-conspirators are said to be involved in a 2018 $250 million crypto theft that was laundered through automated cryptocurrency transactions to hide from law enforcement. Part of the money was used to fund North Korean hacking infrastructure targeted at the financial industry. They also laundered $100 million in 2019 by hacking into crypto exchanges. “The hacking of virtual currency exchanges and related money laundering for the benefit of North Korean actors poses a grave threat to the security and integrity of the global financial system,” US Attorney Timothy Shea of the District of Columbia said.

Asia

China’s WeChat app censored content about coronavirus since Jan 1

China’s popular messenger app, WeChat, has been censoring content about the coronavirus since January 1^st, a report has said. Citizen Lab, a Toronto-based research group made the discovery, adding that the censorship extended to any criticism of President Xi Jinping. As the outbreak grew, the Chinese app blocked more combinations of words related to the virus. While Chinese officials alerted WHO officials of the outbreak on December 31^st, it continued to under-report the situation to the general population. In addition to WeChat, website YY was also found to have added words related to the virus to its blacklist.

India to airlift components from China

India will start airlifting critical electronics components from China as it works to find a way around the spread of the coronavirus, it has been reported. The outbreak has affected the supply chain of many products, forcing many manufacturers to look elsewhere as workers stay away from crowded workplaces to keep safe. India’s smartphone and electronics industry relies heavily on parts from China. As a result, the technology ministry has asked tech lobby groups to come up with a list of supplies from China that could be airlifted in order to keep the local industry working. Without these parts, many plants in India would have to cut down working shifts and send people home. The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India is also drawing up similar plans for its manufacturers.