Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska (Forbes estimates his fortune at $5.1 billion since 2018 Deripaska has been under US sanctions) criticized the Central Bank for allegedly “infantilely closing his eyes to the growing cryptocurrency market.” As an argument, the billionaire cited the actions of the US Treasury, which, according to him, invests in the crypto industry.
“The United States has long understood that uncontrolled digital payments can not only negate the effectiveness of the entire mechanism of economic sanctions but also bring down the dollar,” Deripaska said.
The billionaire referred to the sanctions review issued by the US Treasury. In the document, the regulator claims that the growing possibilities of financial technologies, including those based on cryptocurrency and alternative payment systems, pose a serious threat to the dollar.
According to Deripaska, this means that the development of the cryptocurrency market, uncontrolled by the state, can put the US Treasury in front of the prospect of default on a debt of $30 trillion, which will require $700 billion to service.
“I wonder if anyone has read this document at the Bank of Russia? Or do they work on the principle of “what we don't see doesn't exist?” he says ironically.
Earlier, Deripaska repeatedly criticized the Bank of Russia's policy on digital assets. For example, the billionaire claimed that the regulator should have issued a digital ruble two years ago because it is “more important than Gagarin's flight into space in 61st.”
It is worth noting that the value of bitcoin has updated the historical maximum, reaching $67 thousand. Experts expect cryptocurrency growth to continue.
Russian oil companies have offered to use Russian equipment at their fields for mining cryptocurrencies. They proposed using associated petroleum gas (APG) for these purposes, with the help of which electricity will be generated to supply data centers needed for mining. The project has been sent for consideration to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
It is reported that one of the major Russian oil companies would like to scale its cryptocurrency mining project, but this segment is in a legally gray zone, and the company is afraid of a negative reaction from the Central Bank, so it turned to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which can discuss the risks with the regulator.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade reported that the project is being discussed with regulators. In accordance with the law “On Digital Financial Assets”, the procedure for the circulation of digital currency should be regulated by separate laws. According to the Central Bank, approaches to regulation are currently being discussed.
Experts consider the proposal controversial. On the one hand, there is the gas that is unprofitable for transportation, from which electricity can be obtained. On the other hand, this business is non-core and costly for oil companies, since they will have to pay for the maintenance of data centers.
Although there is no legal ban on mining in Russia, cryptocurrency cannot be exchanged or used as a means of payment. Therefore, according to experts, it is possible that oil companies will provide excess capacity for investors from China, where mining is prohibited.
It is worth noting that officially only Gazprom Neft has a mining project: in 2020, the company launched it at its field in Khanty-Mansiysk JSC. For a month, the company's partners managed to get 1.8 BTC. Gazprom Neft declined to comment.
Russian banks are going to introduce customer identification by the pattern of veins on their hands. It is assumed that this method of authentication will help to prevent unauthorized access to the savings of citizens. Meanwhile, experts were skeptical about the initiative. In their opinion, the system has significant disadvantages which can be used by criminals.
It is worth noting that Russian banks already have biometrics that allow them to identify customers by voice and face. "The palm vein pattern will remove barriers to biometric identification for people with hearing and speech problems due to various reasons," the Central Bank explained.
Nikita Durov, Technical director of Check Point Software Technologies in Russia and the CIS, said that with the introduction of the new identification system there are new risks of data substitution by intruders.
"Recently, we have witnessed how attackers used neural networks to replace people's faces in photos and videos. The same thing can happen with the substitution of the vein pattern," added he.
According to Durov, banks should be prepared for potential attacks.
"Scans should be done with the latest modern scanners to avoid mistakes and distortions," Durov added. He stressed that sometimes companies save money and buy cheaper storage and data protection systems that are not able to provide the necessary level of security.
Martin Hron, a leading cyber threat researcher at Avast, said that hackers always try to be one step ahead and look for ways to bypass even the strongest security systems, including biometrics.
The expert clarified that the creation of a fictitious pattern of veins is a matter of time.
Alexey Kuzmin, an expert of the Jet Infosystems company, agreed with the opinion that it is possible to deceive the identification system by scanning blood vessels, but it is much more difficult than systems with voice, face or finger detection.
Researchers from Samara State University have developed a technology to assess the psychological qualities of a job seeker using a virtual reality helmet. Such an idea will help employers assess the personality of the person when recruiting staff.
It is noted that the tested person gets into a specially created virtual environment, which he perceives as real. At this time, the computer evaluates his physical and emotional state without human assistance.
The cost of such a system, which includes a computer and a VR helmet, will be about 120 thousand rubles ($1,600). The program "Psychodiagnostics in VR" and joysticks that read the micro-movements of fingers are also included. The level of anxiety, the reaction to stress, emotional excitability, as well as the cognitive activity of a person are assessed.
Experts reacted to the initiative ambiguously. Sports psychologist Olga Tiunova noted that for many years there have been attempts to create a psychological portrait of an ideal champion, but so far they have not been crowned with success. Special forces instructor Alexander Lastovina added that "Psychodiagnostics in VR" can be used to test soldiers, but the technology should be verified for effectiveness.
Also, specialists noted that a person is something more than a set of psychological characteristics.
It is interesting to note that earlier Irish scientists recognized that computer games are useful in the fight against a number of mental illnesses: they have a beneficial effect on people with anxiety disorders and depression and may even be more useful than traditional methods of treatment. The researchers concluded that games can be used as an alternative to medical care.
The work in Russia of the payment system Samsung Pay, which has a market share of 17%, may be banned because of the patent dispute. The court supported the claims of the copyright holder of a patent for an electronic payment system, who accuses the Korean concern of illegal use of technology. The court decided that Samsung Pay really uses the Squin SA technology.
Thus, the court in fact prohibited the use of the service in Russia. In addition, the importation of devices that support Samsung Pay falls under the ban.
"While the patent is valid, Apple Pay and Google Pay services are also under threat of being banned in the event of a legal dispute," adds Alexandra Kurdyumova, senior partner at law firm Versus.legal.
The South Korean company and its representative office in Russia may appeal the court's decision within a month. Maxim Labzin, senior partner of the law firm Intellect, noted that the company has three ways out of this situation: to challenge the court's verdict in a higher instance, to prove that the patent was not new, and to negotiate with the plaintiff.
If they fail to appeal, the company itself will have to block its payment system on the territory of Russia. Or Roskomnadzor will do it.
Sergey Vakulin, a hacker and expert on information and computer security, noted that if Roskomnadzor starts blocking, then all Samsung resources will be banned because the blocking is carried out by DPI and IP addresses blocking.
Experts are sure that contactless payments are popular among Russians, so the restriction is unlikely to be long-term. Most likely, a compromise will be found, in which Samsung users will be able to use contactless payment with a smartphone.
In June—July, regular exercises on the stability of the Runet were held. This time the possibility of working in conditions of physical disconnection of the Russian internet from the global network was tested
Seven main operators of Russia took part in the exercises. The purpose of the exercises was to determine the possibility of the Runet working in the event of external distortions, blockages and other threats. According to preliminary data, the exercises were a success.
Roskomnadzor noted that in accordance with the legislation, such exercises, which are aimed at improving the integrity, stability and security of the Russian Internet infrastructure, are held annually.
In February, the head of the information and analytical agency TelecomDaily, Denis Kuskov, suggested that if Russia is disconnected from the global network, it will be possible to use Runet and domestic resources. At the same time, in the context of sanctions pressure on Russia, disconnection from the global network can be perceived as additional restrictions.
In turn, the deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that disconnecting Russia from the global network is possible, but the authorities have a plan of action for this case. He added that everything is ready for the autonomous operation of the Runet both technologically and at the legislative level.
Recall, on May 1, 2019, Putin signed a law on the isolation of the Runet. The new law determines that Roskomnadzor assumes all the authority for managing networks in case of threats to the Russian Internet. In addition, Roskomnadzor has the right to directly block websites with prohibited information.
The Runet isolation will affect all Russian business, but only Telecom operators must install special equipment to monitor cyber threats at the state’s expense. The State financed about 30 billion rubles ($ 460 000 000) for its execution.
Moreover, representatives of big business warned that banning modern website encryption protocols in Russia is tantamount to disconnecting the country from the global Internet. The adoption of the bill in the proposed form, in their opinion, will formally make it illegal to use smartphones and computers and will entail "catastrophic consequences".
Industrial switches that were given by the vendors have been affected by a same vulnerability, the reason being they all have the same firmware from Korenix Technology, an industrial networking solutions provider based in Taiwan. SEC Consult, an Austrian-based cyber security company revealed the vulnerability. The company (which is owned by Atos) was trying to get the security holes patched since last year, but it took more than an year for Korenix to release security fixes.
Security Week reports "Properl+Fuchs did release some patches and workarounds last year after being notified about the vulnerabilities, but the company’s response was limited due to the fact that the flaws existed in the Korenix firmware. SEC Consult’s initial attempts to get Korenix to patch the vulnerabilities failed, until late November 2020, when the company had been preparing to make its findings public." Westermo for PMI-110-F2G and Pepperl+Fuchs for Comtrol RocketLinx industrial switches also use the same firmware made for Jetnet Industrial switches by Korenix. Beijer Electronics Group owns both Westermo and Pepperl+Fuchs.
As per SEC consult, the companies which made these devices have the same firmware base, hence, a single vulnerability affects all of them. SEC Consult found 5 kinds of vulnerabilities, assigned high severity, and critical ratings. It includes unauthorised device administration, cross-site request forgery, authentication command injection, TFTP file/read/write issues, and backdoor accounts. If a hacker has network access, he can attack a device and make unauthorised changes in configuration, steal sensitive data, or make it enter into a DoS state. The affected devices are used in automation, transportation, heavy industry, surveillance, power and energy, and other sectors.
These switches, according to experts, hold a crucial position in a network and attacker can exploit these vulnerabilities and disruption the connection to the attached network systems. Apart from releasing firmware updates for the security fixes, Korenix has also suggested some measures to prevent from potential threats. "This vulnerability can also be exploited via Cross-Site Request Forgery attacks as there is no protection for that kind of attack. The NMS (Network Management System) of Korenix, also known as JetView or Korenix NMS, communicates via UDP and triggered all actions without prior authentication," reports Security Week.
The scientific and industrial company "High Technologies and Strategic Systems" (HT and SS SIJSC) will develop a computer program for the Ministry of Internal Affairs that recognizes face substitution in videos, the so-called deepfake videos.
It is not the first time that the company has worked with Russian law enforcement agencies. According to the company's website, their specialists participated in the development of products for the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
The amount that the company will receive is set at 3 million 550 thousand rubles ($48,000). The deadline for the completion of research work is scheduled for November 30, 2022. The program for recognizing deepfakes was named "Mirror".
The Ministry of Internal Affairs explained that with the help of deepfakes, scammers can easily substitute any person by inserting his image on a video in which an immoral act or crime is committed. In addition, experts believe that this technology can be very easily used by phone scammers, so it is important to learn how to quickly and effectively detect such fakes as soon as possible.
According to Yuri Zhdanov, Lieutenant General of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, this technology poses a huge threat, and it is extremely difficult to fight it. It is becoming more and more difficult to figure out where the truth is and where the fake is, so powerful systems for protecting a person from deepfakes should come to help here.
Moreover, the technology is widely used to create realistic pornographic videos featuring celebrities in which they have never been filmed, or fake speeches of major political figures.
One of the most popular deepfakes on the Internet was a video with the founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk, in which he allegedly sings the song "Grass at Home", which is actually performed by the group “Zemlyane” ("Earthlings").
By the way, the use of DeepFake technology is now prohibited by the largest sites, including Reddit and Twitter.
According to cybersecurity experts, the fall in the cryptocurrency exchange rates may cause another increase in DDoS attacks. The fact is that the same tools are used for conducting attacks as for mining. It becomes more profitable for the owners of the tool to conduct DDoS attacks.
Cybersecurity experts said that the fall of bitcoin from the April historical high of $64.9 thousand to $31.4 thousand, which occurred recently, along with the collapse of other cryptocurrencies, can cause an increase in DDoS attacks.
The fact is that botnets, which are also used for mining cryptocurrency, are used to carry out DDoS attacks, explains Alexander Gutnikov, an analyst at Kaspersky DDoS Prevention. "Attackers usually redirect power to mining when cryptocurrency prices are high, as it is more profitable to use bot farms for this than for DDoS attacks," he said.
Accordingly, the power is reoriented to custom attacks when cryptocurrency prices are low.
According to the report of Kaspersky Lab on attacks for the first quarter of 2021, the exchange rate of cryptocurrencies, in particular bitcoin, declined, for example, in January, and at the same time, there was a surge in DDoS activity. In early March, there was another peak of DDoS attacks, before which there was again a decline in the bitcoin exchange rate.
"DDoS attacks are always activated, when the cryptocurrency exchange rate changes", confirms Alexander Lyamin, CEO of Qrator Labs. According to him, the reason is also that attackers can earn money on the difference in exchange rates, for example, to slow down operations by staging an attack. "Although payments for DDoS attacks are often made in cryptocurrency, their cost is usually set in dollars", says Ramil Khantimirov, CEO and co-founder of StormWall.
"DDoS attacks can be carried out on a specific blockchain to create problems in it and lower the value of coins", adds the technical director of the cryptocurrency exchange CEX.IO Dmitry Volkov. He said that in theory unscrupulous competitors can do this, but in practice such attacks are rare.
Scientists from St. Petersburg Polytechnic University have developed a methodology for assessing cyber risks in smart city systems. The developed methodology has been tested on the "smart intersection" test bed (a component of smart transport system of smart city).
It should be reminded that St.Petersburg participates in the formation of Smart City program, which will provide new services for the residents of megacities, increasing the safety of citizens. Digital services are an integral part of such system.
Experts explained that cybercriminals have new goals: to disrupt the functioning of large enterprises and urban infrastructure, as well as to intercept control over them. Attackers using wireless channels can remotely penetrate a target subnet or device, intercept traffic, launch DoS attacks and take control of IoT devices to create botnets.
"At present, traditional cyber risk analysis strategies cannot be directly applied to the construction and assessment of smart city digital infrastructures, as the new network infrastructure is heterogeneous and dynamic," said Vasily Krundyshev, a researcher at the Institute of Cybersecurity and Information Protection.
At the same time, he stressed that the purpose of this project is to provide the level of protection of information assets of the smart city taking into account specific features of modern cyber threats.
The methodology of cybersecurity risk analysis of the smart city includes the stages of assets type identification, threat identification, risk calculation and analysis of obtained values. The proposed methodology is based on a quantitative approach. At the same time, according to scientists, it is easily and quickly calculable, which is especially important in conditions of modern dynamic infrastructures.
Experimental studies using a set of developed simulation models of typical digital infrastructures of a smart city (Internet of Things, smart building, smart intersection) have demonstrated superiority over existing Russian and foreign counterparts.
It is interesting to note that earlier St. Petersburg scientists created an innovative installation for cleaning water reservoirs.
Smartphones of the company Samsung are frequently exploding. There are also known cases when Apple products exploded in the hands of users
The leading analyst of Mobile Research Group Eldar Murtazin warned about the lethal danger that can occur when buying non-original chargers and other accessories for smartphones.
According to him, non-original chargers can ignite during use. So, a charger bought from an unfamiliar seller could turn out to be fake, which could lead not just to battery failure and wear, but also to the device igniting and breaking down.
"These are not empty words, it happens every year, and in Russia, several people die from it every year," warned the specialist.
In addition, the use of a smartphone in a bath, when it is on recharge, poses a danger, the analyst emphasized.
Also, the danger can threaten if the user decides to disassemble his smartphone.
"If you do disassemble the device, never touch the battery, because if you break its shell, it can ignite," said Murtazin.
Cheap smartphone accessories, such as headphones or cases, can also be dangerous to health, as they can cause allergic reactions or skin burns.
At the same time, Mark Sherman, managing partner of the B&C Agency communications agency, stressed that the smartphone itself can not be dangerous, but if it happens, it may be the fault of the user.
"If the smartphone breaks, you need to take it to specialists, rather than trying to fix the device yourself", added Mr. Sherman.
Earlier, Pavel Myasoedov, partner and director of Intellectual Reserve, said that contact with water, a blow or prolonged charging can lead to an explosion. According to him, most often explode smartphones of Samsung, which even had to recall all phones Galaxy Note 7 from sale on a wave of panic. There are also known cases when Apple products exploded in the hands of users.
Microsoft released the BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) in Windows XP to coordinate and ease uploading and downloading files with large size. Systems and applications component, specifically update in Windows, use this BITS feature to provide application updates and OS so that they can work in minimal user disruption. BITS interact with applications to make jobs with one or more application to download or upload. The BITS feature operates in service and it can make transfers happen at any time. A local database stores file, state and job info.