Taipei, Taiwan (CNN Business) As China steps up military pressure on Taiwan, the self-governing island is preparing for the next big frontier of warfare: crippling cyberattacks. Taiwan's head of cybersecurity told CNN Business this month that it is using dramatic measures to guard against technological vulnerabilities — including employing roughly two dozen computer experts to deliberately attack the government's systems and help it defend against what Taiwanese authorities estimate are some 20 million to 40 million cyberattacks every month. Taiwan says it has been able to defend against the overwhelming majority of attacks. Successful breaches number in the hundreds, while only a handful are what the government classifies as "serious." But the enormous number — and where Taiwan thinks they're coming from — has compelled the government to take the issue seriously, according to Chien Hung-wei, head of Taiwan's Department of Cyber Security. "Based … [Read more...]

The text messages to the Chinese activist streamed in from ordinary Wuhan residents, making the same extraordinary request: Help me sue the Chinese government. One said his mother had died from the coronavirus after being turned away from multiple hospitals. Another said her father-in-law had died in quarantine. But after weeks of back-and-forth planning, the seven residents who had reached out to Yang Zhanqing, the activist, suddenly changed their minds in late April, or stopped responding. At least two of them had been threatened by the police, Mr. Yang said. The Chinese authorities are clamping down as grieving relatives, along with activists, press the ruling Communist Party for an accounting of what went wrong in Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus killed thousands before spreading to the rest of China and the world. Lawyers have been warned not to file suit against the government. The police have interrogated bereaved family members who connected with others … [Read more...]

15 HANOI, Vietnam — Vietnam has announced a 15-day lockdown in the capital Hanoi as a coronavirus surge spread from the southern Mekong Delta region. The lockdown order, issued late Friday night, bans the gathering of more than two people in public. Only government offices, hospitals and essential businesses can stay open. Earlier in the week, the city had suspended all outdoor activities and ordered non-essential businesses to close following an increase in cases. On Friday, Hanoi reported 70 confirmed infections, the city’s highest, part of a record 7,295 cases in the country. Nearly 5,000 are from Vietnam’s largest metropolis, southern Ho Chi Minh City, which has extended its lockdown until Aug. 1. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: — Vietnam locks down capital Hanoi for 15 days as cases rise — Thousands protest lockdown in Sydney, several arrested — AP poll: Most … [Read more...]

5 WASHINGTON - The rapid increase in coronavirus infections driven by the delta variant over the past month is turning the country's attention back to the pandemic and threatening to subsume President Joe Biden's agenda - just as the White House and its allies hoped to move on from the virus and focus on promoting the administration's other accomplishments. Inside the White House, top officials are growing increasingly anxious about the state of the pandemic and are gravely concerned about the situation spiraling out of control in some areas of the country with low vaccination rates, according to two people who work in the administration and two others in close touch with the White House. Biden's team had always expected to see additional coronavirus outbreaks, but the White House assumed the increases in infections would be "mounds" and not "peaks," according to one top administration official, who like others spoke on the condition of … [Read more...]

New York (CNN Business) Major meat producer JBS USA suffered a cyberattack on Sunday. The attack affected servers supporting its IT systems in North America and Australia, the company said in a news release . "The company is not aware of any evidence at this time that any customer, supplier or employee data has been compromised or misused as a result of the situation," JBS said. "Resolution of the incident will take time, which may delay certain transactions with customers and suppliers." Defense Secretary says US has 'offensive options' to respond to cyberattacks JBS USA is part of JBS Foods , which it says is one of the world's largest food companies. It has operations in 15 countries and has customers in about 100 countries, according to its website . Its brands include Pilgrim's, Great Southern and Aberdeen Black. JBS said it is working with an incident response firm to restore its systems as soon as possible. The … [Read more...]

Story and photographs by Kara Fox , CNN Updated 1357 GMT (2157 HKT) July 11, 2021 Belfast, Northern Ireland (CNN) Niamh Burns is organizing a special 20-year reunion for her schoolmates this year. But while the accomplishments of the "Courageous Classes of 2001" are worth celebrating, the date they are commemorating is not. Over the course of 12 weeks in 2001, Burns and the other pupils at north Belfast's Holy Cross Girls' primary were subjected to a barrage of abuse from a group of loyalist Protestants blocking their path to the school gate. The unrest, reported on globally at the time, began during the last week of the summer term, before violence exploded on the children's return to school in the fall. An angry mob threw urine-filled balloons and, eventually, a pipe bomb as children -- some as young as five -- ran the gauntlet each day to get to class. It had been three years since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the landmark peace accord also called the … [Read more...]