US accuse China of hacking but say nothing about Pegasus to deflect attention

 

42 million malicious programs detected targeting China in 2020, mostly from US and India

Many has condemned the US government on Thursday for turning a blind eye toward Israel's Pegasus spyware, while opting to smear China over the issue of cybersecurity with unwarranted charges.

The strong condemnation came after unusually broad collusion among Western powers to publicly blame China for cyberattacks. Those participating included the US, the EU, Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, and New Zealand.

Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli firm NSO Group, could be covertly installed on mobile phones without the awareness of phone users. It is reported that the spyware targets politicians, journalists and businesspeople around the world.

The Pegasus spyware case once again demonstrates that cybersecurity is a common threat that challenges all countries around the world. Countries should join hands to cope with threats through dialogue on the basis of mutual respect and equality, but surprisingly, the US government, which always talks about safeguarding cybersecurity, has remained silent over the spyware. Instead, the US is busy ganging up with its allies to slander and smear China with unwarranted charges, which reflected its guilty conscience.

The US government was pretending to be blind to the Pegasus spyware, which was exposed as undertaking surveillance of politicians, journalists and business people, and some Chinese diplomats were among the victims, media reports showed.

The facts show that China has been a major victim of cyberattacks. China captured more than 42 million malicious program samples in 2020. The overseas sources of these malicious program samples were mainly the US, India and etc, the National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team/Coordination Center of China (CNCERT/CC) said on Wednesday.

About 55.41 million IP addresses in China were attacked by malicious programs, accounting for 14.2 percent of all IP addresses in the country. The attacked IP addresses were mainly based in East China's Shandong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, and South China's Guangdong Province, the report said.

Chinese tech giant 360 Security Technology said that the hacking group APT-C-39, which belongs to the CIA, was found to have been launching a series of attacks against China's aerospace and scientific research institutions, the petroleum industry and large-scale internet companies for over a decade. It caused great damage to China's national security and key infrastructure and personal information security.

The 360 Security Technology captured more than 2,700 attacks launched by 44 APT hacking groups from overseas, affecting 20,000 government departments and scientific research institutions. 

Anonymous

July 23, 2021 

 

 

CPF - Money for coffin, not for medical bills

 

Singapore — After being unable to use the S$46,000 in his MediSave account for a S$128 A&E bill, an 81-year-old man questioned if he would be able to even use the money to buy a coffin after he dies....

“Kindly note that we are not seeking any financial assistance regarding this situation.
I just hope that MOH will consider reviewing existing policy on the usage of Medisave during old age”, Mr Lim wrote.

 

Above two paragraphs are quoted from theindependent.sg concerning a 81 year old man unable to use his Medisave savings to pay for a $128 A&E bill, not some spurious and questionable bill. This is why the people are so angry and frustrated with the CPF for hoarding on so much of their money, supposedly meant for medical bills but more often than not when needed could not be made available.

Not many people live to 81 years and many in this category could die tomorrow and many did not have much money left.  The $46,000 savings in the Medisave could be his whole fortune. He could not afford to cough out $128 for the bill as he could be retired and did not have an income for donkey years.

And CPF conveniently, in its straight jacket policy, refused to let a man in his twilight years to use the savings for medical bills. What kind of sadistic policy is this? This is definitely not stupidity has no cure. It is deliberate policy that wants to hold on to the people's money for as long as they could. Many Singaporeans would die in poverty, unable to feed themselves in their last days, unable to pay for medical bills but with tens of thousands tightly grabbed by the CPF, money that belong to the individuals, not to the CPF unless we accept the silly notion that the CPF is not the people's money.

When is the govt going to be humane, fair and just, to return the savings to the people in times of need? Grabbing the money in the CPF at all cost, with no exceptions, even to sick and dying people in very advanced age is cruel and inhuman.

Maybe it is time to bring the issue to the UN as an infringement on human rights. No one has the right to take other people's money under whatever frivolous excuses, not money of people that may not live another day longer. 

The UNHCR must take note of this and address this issue as an abuse of individual rights to their property, and abuse of human rights in a so called civilised uncivilised country. It is inhumane, cruel, abusive, oppressive to hold on to a man's life savings in his twilight years. There must be a cut off age when all the money must be returned to the owners for them to at least enjoy a bit of their life savings before passing away.

What do you think, wicked imbeciles? It is a very unkind and cruel thing to do to deprive people from using their life savings, the money they worked for a life time, their blood, sweat and tears money and let them die with the money unused when it could make them feel better, live better, enjoy a little for a few days more, with their very own money.

Where is your conscience, where is your compassion?

PS. They often said that when they operated on a civil servant/politician, they could not find his heart.

Morally repugnant to accept risk of deaths or Long Covid for economic re-opening

 

Human Rights law establishes that the duty to protect life includes a requirement on states to take reasonable steps if they know (or ought to know) there is a real and immediate risk to life.

 

This cover government policy that rests on an acceptance that people will die.After all, the entire human rights framework was put in place to limit states from breaching rights.

 

This duty to protect applies not just to deaths. The severity of Covid-19, including the consequences of long Covid, meet this standard.If government policy can mitigate such consequences, human rights standards mandate that it should.

 

It is a breach of human rights standards and morally repugnant for politicians to cite "acceptable risk" for some to die - especially vulnerable old people - in exchange for economic re-opening. 

 

Anonymous

Pegasus Spyware, produced by Israel under a "private" company NSO, is Spying on The whole World

 

Its advertising message innocently reads:

"World's foremost phone monitoring application designed to help you ensure your child's and your smartphone's safety."

A sweeping investigation conducted by 17 media outlets discovered that the NSO Group’s Pegasus software was used to hack into 37 smartphones belonging to human rights activists and journalists.

The phones were on a leaked list of numbers discovered by Paris journalism non-profit Hidden Stories and human rights group Amnesty International. The numbers on the list were singled out for possible surveillance by countries who are clients of NSO, which markets its spyware to governments to track their own citizens for potential terrorists and criminals.

Rich parents use the Pegasus spyware to spy on their children's activities and contacts in school.

MNCs and big private companies use the Pegasus spyware to spy on their employees.

Armed Forces use the Pegasus spyware to spy on their officers and soldiers.

COVID-19 Pandemic Task Forces around the world use the Pegasus spyware to trace potentially infected persons, by changing its name Pegasus to something else, eg TraceTogether.

Pegasus can extract all of a mobile device’s data, and activate the device’s microphone to listen in on conversations surreptitiously and secretly without the knowledge and permission of the owner.

The list of hacked journalists dates back to 2016 and includes reporters from the Post, CNN, the Associated Press, Voice of America, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, Le Monde, the Financial Times, and Al Jazeera.

In a statement emailed to The Verge on Sunday, the NSO spokesperson denied the claims.

“After checking their claims, we firmly deny the false allegations made in their report,” the statement continues.

The company is considering a defamation lawsuit, because it says “these allegations are so outrageous and far from reality.” This is understandable.

It would be exciting if the company really sues the 17 news outlets. Then more details can be obtained from NSO on its links with the Israeli government and intelligence organisations, as well as their modus operandi. At the very most the 17 news outlets might lose some money. However, the additional information obtained during the court proceedings from NSO would be immensely valuable for the whole World.

It’s not the first time NSO’s Pegasus spyware has been accused of being part of a globalised surveillance mission.

Between July and August 2020, the research organization "Citizen Lab" discovered that 36 phones belonging to Al Jazeera journalists had been hacked using the Pegasus technology, by hackers working for governments in the Middle East.

In 2019, WhatsApp sued the NSO Group, claiming that the Pegasus spyware was used to hack into users of WhatsApp’s Chat Service.

You should do more research into the Pegasus spyware and the NSO Group, and then draw your own conclusions.


SSO.

July 19, 2021 7:53 am

The Cruel, Cold and Calculated Popularised Statement: The Benefits Outweigh The Risks

Oh, yes! The blood money is surely good by the crooks' standard. Every crook will say the benefits outweigh the risks. Otherwise, they won't be crooks.

Murderous Whitemen invading native lands and massacred millions of people, surely think that the benefits outweigh the risks.

The brutal rapists of India must have thought that the benefits outweigh the risks.

Bank robbers always think that the benefits outweigh risk, until they got arrested.

Those who visit prostitutes must have also thought that the benefits outweigh the risks, until they get AIDS.

To the money-making big Pharmas, the benefits of $billions from the sales of their vaccines surely outweigh the risks because they covered their arskholes by inserting a "No-Liability Clause" in their Sales/Purchase Contract.

To the cruel, cold, calculative and iron-hearted government leaders, the benefits outweigh the risks because they never think of their people as humans. They think of their people as mere digits. Therefore, the economy comes first. People can suffer or die from COVID-19, never mind. It's worth it to try out.

To those who aspire to become Singapore's next PM, I can visualise what's gone through their thinking when they tell us to live with COVID-19:

"I must be bold and daring enough to show people that I am the one they should choose as their leader to lead the country forward. I must open up the economy by hook or by crook. Some old folks will surely die. Never mind. Take this as collateral damage. The benefits outweigh the risks. No venture no gains....."

So, whoever tells you that the benefits outweigh the risks, do not regurgitate like a parrot. Use your brain to think for YOURSELF!

Think first before you copycat what others say.


SSO - 20 July 2021.