Thanks for bringing over muhnotablefrom the bunker.
https://www.theautomaticearth.com/2021/03/fear-is-the-new-smart/
Chinese Hackers 'Likely To Have Netted High-Value Espionage Targets' Using Microsoft Outlook Exploit
by Tyler Durden - Saturday, Mar 06, 2021 - 13:20
Chinese hackers using an exploit in Microsoft's Outlook email software likely netted "high-value espionage targets," according to the Wall Street Journal, citing 'people briefed on the matter.'
The victims - which range from as few as 'tens of thousands' to 'higher than 250,000' Outlook users - appear to primarily be small businesses and state and local governments. One security firm, Mandiant, said in a blog post this week that Exchange Server abuse dates back to January, and that victims also included at least one university and an engineering firm.
The hackers ''have been exploiting a series of four flaws in Microsoft’s Exchange software to break into email accounts and read messages without authorization, and to install unauthorized software, the company said. ''Those flaws are known as zero days among cybersecurity professionals because they relied on previously undisclosed software bugs, suggesting a high degree of sophistication by the hackers. -WSJ
"It was being used in a really stealthy manner to not raise any alarm bells," said cybersecurity expert, Steven Adair, whose firm Volexity Inc. was one of the first to flag Microsoft about the issue.
On Tuesday, Microsoft went public with the attack and identified the culprits as a Chinese cyperespionage group called Hafnium. Once caught, a software patch was issued - however before that happened, the hackers switched tactics and began using automated software to identify vulnerable servers on the internet and target them, said Adair.
"The attackers cranked up a huge notch over this past weekend," he said, adding "They’re just hitting every Exchange server they can find on the internet."
Despite the likely 'high-value espionage targets,' the Journal says the hackers were unlikely to have much in the way of intelligence due to the nature of the victims. ''That said,'' several government officials have gone on record to warn about its potential severity - while the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency "Issued a rare emergency directive this past week requiring federal government agencies to immediately patch or disconnect products running Microsoft Exchange on-premises products." CISA also issued a Thursday update to its alert warning that the Chinese hackers were using automated tools to crawl the internet for vulnerable Exchange servers.
CISA held a call Friday with more than ''4,000 critical infrastructure partners in the private sector and state and local governments encouraging them to patch their systems.''
Also on Friday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a press briefing that the ''Microsoft vulnerabilities were of significant concern and “could have far-reaching impacts” and result in a "large number of victims.” -WSJ''
On Friday, a Microsoft spokesman said they're working with security companies and government agencies to contain the incident, however they would not disclose the estimated scope of the attack.
This latest hack comes three months after a suspected Russian hack after US networking-software provider SolarWinds was infiltrated, resulting in a breach of nine government agencies and around 100 companies. The difference, according to the Journal, is that this Chinese hack was "more of a shotgun blast, infecting tens of thousands of victims or more."
While Microsoft has said the two attacks aren't related, security experts cited by the Journal have suggested that incident-response teams have their hands so full with fallout from the SolarWinds hack that they are "already pushed to their limits."
According to Symantec security researcher Vikram Thakur, a "handful" of hacking groups, "all linked to China," are behind the attacks, while the victims "have tended to be small and medium-size organizations because many larger ones either don't run some of the Exchange components that include these flaws or limit access to Exchange by using security tools such as virtual private networks," according to Thakur.
Those using Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 products are unaffected by the hack.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/chinese-hackers-likely-have-netted-high-value-espionage-targets-using-microsoft
Newsom COVID 'Equity' Plan: Vaccinate 2 Million Latinos Or California Won't Reopen
0Authored by Victoria Taft - Saturday, Mar 06, 2021 - 14:35
California Governor Gavin Newsom has completely changed his response to COVID - again - this time leveraging opening the state for all Californians on the backs of low-income Latinos living in the areas with the highest rates of the illness.
In the name of ''“equity,”'' Newsom announced Thursday that 40% of all the state’s available vaccines will go to Latino communities in the Central Valley and in pockets of LA because Latinos have suffered the most death and illness from COVID.
And there’s a catch: Until the Latinos in these areas take the vaccine in higher numbers, California will stay locked down.
State Health and Human Services Director Dr. Mark Ghaly said once the shots are in the arms, the state can reopen.
“As we achieve higher levels of vaccine in the hardest hit communities, we feel more confident that more and more activities across the state can occur,” he said in a briefing Thursday.
Once 2 million vaccine doses are given out in those neighborhoods, the state will make it easier for counties to move through reopening tiers that dictate business and school reopenings. With 1.6 million shots administered, he said he expects to hit that target in the next week or two.
Once the state gives out 4 million doses in those neighborhoods, state officials will revise the metrics for reopening sooner.
The new plan swaps out the current color-based tier plan with a person-of-color-based plan.
The Associated Press reported that the governor said getting the vaccines into the arms of Latinos is a “race against exhaustion,” whatever that means.
“It is a race against the variants. It’s a race against exhaustion. It’s a race to safely, thoughtfully open our economy, mindful that it has to be an economy that doesn’t leave people behind, that is truly inclusive,” Newsom, a Democrat, said at a news conference. He also encouraged people to wear two masks.
State lawmaker Lorena Gonzalez, the woman who’s responsible for AB 5, which largely killed the freelance worker economy in California on behalf of her union pals, wondered how the change in the plan would affect the governor’s previously announced plan to get teachers in the classroom.
The changes announced Wednesday are “kind of not fair” to those who negotiated the deal, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez said.
“If we are going to change the tiers and suddenly everyone is in red tier, that changes the classes that have to be open, the number of classes and the testing cadences,” the San Diego Democrat said Thursday just before the Legislature voted on the bill.
“So, if you get calls from your teachers union a little upset, they have the right to be upset. You don’t negotiate a deal and change the parameters of that deal on the day we are voting on it.”
https://pjmedia.com/uncategorized/victoria-taft/2021/03/05/newsom-covid-equity-plan-vaccinate-2-million-latinos-or-california-wont-reopen-this-should-work-out-well-n1430322
–continued
The Sacramento Bee reports that the executive director of the California Teachers Association, Joe Boyd, is a bit whipsawed at how confusing Newsom’s COVID response has been.
He said the governor’s change to the definition of the red tier makes things more complicated.
“We’ve changed the meaning of what it means to be in a tier now three times,” he said Thursday, speaking on a panel with the Public Policy Institute of California. “At some point, we have to have some consistency of what to expect.”
The governor also announced that he was advising people to wear double masks.
This is after Newsom criticized Texas Governor Gregg Abbott for halting his mask mandate, making it voluntary. He called Abbott reckless.
Of course, Newsom has broken his own coronavirus rules very publicly at least twice, at one point putting a Fresno Mexican restaurant in danger of being closed down because Newsom visited inside, against county COVID rules. The other example was Newsom’s double-standard dinner at the French Laundry with people from all different families, nearly all of whom were lobbyists.
👀👀 pic.twitter.com/C3dEkYfvA2
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) March 2, 2021
ABC News 7 reported that Newsom was going all-in with giving out vaccines based on equity, which is to say, “color.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom has called equity the state’s “North Star.” Yet community health clinics focused on serving low-income and vulnerable Californians say they haven’t been getting enough doses. Ghaly said Thursday that Newsom’s administration will work with communities to make sure the vaccine actually ends up in the arms of those patients, not to day-trippers from wealthier ZIP codes who have the time and tech savvy to schedule appointments online.
The Sacramento Bee reported that “tying reopening to vaccination equity metrics was cheered by representatives of the legislative Black and Latino caucuses, as well as social justice and equity groups. Latinos make up roughly half of cases and deaths in California even though they are 39% of the population. […] Data show that of shots given, only about 17% were administered in vulnerable communities that have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.”
Holding the rest of the state hostage to the vaccination rate of Latinos in certain zip codes seems an odd way of approaching the issue. The governor is apparently hoping that others will pressure Latino citizens to take a vaccine they may or may not want. If you like mask-shamers, just wait until vaccine-shaming becomes a cottage industry in the Golden State.
This plan may meet Newsom’s definition of ''“equity,”'' but certainly won’t enhance comity between Californians.
https://pjmedia.com/uncategorized/victoria-taft/2021/03/05/newsom-covid-equity-plan-vaccinate-2-million-latinos-or-california-wont-reopen-this-should-work-out-well-n1430322
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