Tag Archive for: ‘planned

A sneak preview of the first ever international Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Centre (NSTDC) and the training activities planned to start in October 2023 was given today during a side event held at the margins of the 67th IAEA General Conference

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A sneak preview of the first ever international Nuclear Security Training and Demonstration Centre (NSTDC) and the training activities planned to start in October 2023 was given today during a side event held at the margins of the 67th IAEA General Conference.  

Lydie Evrard, IAEA Deputy Director General and Head of the Department of Nuclear Safety and Security, highlighted the unique nature of the new IAEA facility, noting that “the NSTDC is built to respond to growing requests by countries for capacity building in the field of nuclear security that could not be met elsewhere.”  

“The IAEA has developed a training programme that will complement the existing national and international mechanisms of nuclear security capacity building,” said in her remarks.  

The NSTDC is housed in a new multipurpose building (MPB) located at the IAEA’s laboratories in Seibersdorf, 30 km south of Vienna, Austria. The MPB construction work started in July 2021, after the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Mariano Grossi, broke ground for the new facility. 

Under the NSTDC training programme, there are currently 23 training courses and workshops. All of them address training needs in the area of physical protection of nuclear and other radioactive material and associated facilities; and in the area of detection and response to criminal or intentional unauthorized acts involving or directed at nuclear or other radioactive material, associated facilities or associated activities.  

Considering the IAEA work for cancer care, the NSTDC training programme includes a course for countries anticipating in or planning to join the Rays of Hope titled “Introduction to life cycle security of radioactive material and associated facilities in cancer care”. The course aims to familiarize participants with key considerations towards ensuring life cycle security and sustainability of radioactive material and associated facilities used for cancer care, including information and computer security aspects of nuclear security. 

“The NSTDC is a modern, specialized training facility, supported by state-of-the-art technical infrastructure,” said Marina Labyntseva, Head of the Education and…

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Ransomware attack on AIIMS a conspiracy, planned by forces that are significant: MoS IT Chandrasekhar

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The ransomware attack on the servers of AIIMS Delhi is a conspiracy and planned by forces that are significant, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Friday.

The servers of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, have been out of order for the 10th consecutive day due to the ransomware attack.

”It is clearly a conspiracy and it has been planned by forces that are pretty significant. It is a sophisticated ransomware attack. We will wait for the outcome of CERTin and NIA (National Investigation Agency) before we come to conclusion on who is behind the ransomware attack,” Chandrasekhar said.

In a ransomware attack, cybercriminals lock access to data or a device and promise to unlock it after they are paid the desired ransom.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team within the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Delhi cybercrime special cell, Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre, Intelligence Bureau, Central Bureau of Investigation, National Forensic Sciences University, National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre, and National Investigation Agency, etc. are investigating the cyber attack.

”This will not be the first ransomware attempt. It will not be the last. It is for these entities like they say in the context of terrorism, you have to be right all the time and they can be successful only one time, so we have to be on guard. We have to make sure that our systems and processes are safe and secure. Especially in the era of intensifying digitisation of our economy and of our businesses and activities,” Chandrasekhar said.

Meanwhile, internet services at the AIIMS continued to be blocked as per the recommendations of the investigating agencies.

Patient care services including outpatient, laboratory, inpatient and emergency, etc. are operating in manual mode.

On Tuesday, AIIMS authorities informed that the eHospital data has been restored on the servers. They said that the network is being sanitised before the services can be restored.

The process is taking some time due to the volume of data and a large number of servers/computers for the hospital services. Measures are being taken for…

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EXCLUSIVE Chinese province targets journalists, foreign students with planned new surveillance system

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BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Security officials in one of China’s largest provinces have commissioned a surveillance system they say they want to use to track journalists and international students among other “suspicious people”, documents reviewed by Reuters showed.

A July 29 tender document published on the Henan provincial government’s procurement website – reported in the media for the first time – details plans for a system that can compile individual files on such persons of interest coming to Henan using 3,000 facial recognition cameras that connect to various national and regional databases.

A 5 million yuan ($782,000) contract was awarded on Sept. 17 to Chinese tech company Neusoft (600718.SS), which was required to finish building the system within two months of signing the contract, separate documents published on the Henan government procurement website showed. Reuters was unable to establish if the system is currently operating.

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Shenyang-based Neusoft did not respond to requests for comment.

China is trying to build what some security experts describe as one of the world’s most sophisticated surveillance technology networks, with millions of cameras in public places and increasing use of techniques such as smartphone monitoring and facial recognition.

U.S.-based surveillance research firm IPVM, which has closely tracked the network’s expansion and first identified the Henan document, said the tender was unique in specifying journalists as surveillance targets and providing a blueprint for public security authorities to quickly locate them and obstruct their work.

“While the PRC has a documented history of detaining and punishing journalists for doing their jobs, this document illustrates the first known instance of the PRC building custom security technology to streamline state suppression of journalists,” said IPVM’S Head of Operations Donald Maye, using the initials of the People’s Republic of China.

Reuters was unable to find any documents identifying journalists or foreigners as specific targets of surveillance systems in other parts of China.

The Henan provincial government and police did not respond to…

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N.L. cyberattack update planned, experts question scarce information provided so far

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Security experts say it’s strange for the Newfoundland and Labrador government to have released little information about a cybersecurity attack that has crippled its health-care system more than a week after the trouble was detected.

Premier Andrew Furey is scheduled to provide an update on the situation Tuesday afternoon, but government officials have so far refused to say what kind of an attack the province is facing and whether the hackers involved have asked for money. Outside experts say it has all the signs of a ransomware attack, in which hackers infiltrate an information technology network and demand payment in return for restoring access.

Brian Honan, the head of Ireland’s Computer Security Incident Response Team, said government representatives in that country were on national radio the morning after a similar attack was discovered last May, “telling people what happened, how it happened, what the impact would be.”

“They came up very early and said they would not be negotiating with criminals, they would not be paying the ransom demand and they will be looking to restore systems as quickly as possible,” Honan said in a recent interview.

People were worried about their private information being published by the hackers, and the government’s transparency helped them understand what to expect, he said.

The attack in Newfoundland and Labrador was first discovered Oct. 30, affecting what Health Minister John Haggie described as the “two brains” behind the provincial health network’s data centre. Without access to such things as basic email, diagnostic images and lab results, the eastern health authority — which includes several major hospitals in St. John’s — was left operating largely with pen and paper and running only emergency services.

Thousands of medical appointments have been cancelled, though the health authority has been able to resume some cancer care, such as chemotherapy and radiation.

Brett Callow, a threat analyst for Emsisoft, an international cybersecurity firm based in British Columbia, said there could be “very good reason” for the Newfoundland and Labrador to keep quiet, even 11 days after the attack was first…

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