Known as Petya or Petrwrap, companies across the globe are reporting that they have been struck by a major ransomware cyber-attack. British advertising agency WPP is among those to say its IT systems have been disrupted as a consequence.
Ukrainian firms, including the state power company and Kiev's main airport were among the first to report issues. The Chernobyl nuclear power plant has also had to monitor radiation levels manually after its Windows-based sensors were shut down.
Experts suggest the malware is taking advantage of the same weaknesses used by the WannaCryattack last month.
It remains unclear who is behind the attack, but Moscow-based security firm Group-IB told Reuters it appears to be a coordinated effort simultaneously targeting victims in Russia and Ukraine. The exact extent of the raid is yet to be determined, but some speculate it could be bigger than WannaCry.
It was updated earlier in 2017 by the criminals when certain aspects were defeated. The ransomware was called Petya and the updated version Petrwrap.
There are also news of an emergency landing of an airplane after the plane's computer were hit by this ransomware.
Others reporting problems include the Ukrainian central bank, the aircraft manufacturer Antonov, and two postal services. Russian oil producer Rosneft and Danish shipping company Maersk also say they face disruption, including its offices in the UK and Ireland. Spanish media reports that the offices of large multinationals such as food giant Mondelez and legal firm DLA Piper have suffered attacks. French construction materials company St Gobain has said that it had fallen victim. The attacks come two months after another global ransomware assault, known as Wannacry, which caused major problems for the UK's National Health Service.
It is actually very early to say something about the scale of the attack and the total number of people affected by it, but as time will pass, more cases will be witnessed by us.
What is Petya?
The new Petya ransomware has been built with speed in mind, as to expedite the encryption process. Traditional ransomware encrypts files one by one, whereas Petya encrypts the location containing all information about disk files, such as size, permissions, and data content, essentially preventing users from accessing all their data.
Though other ransomware or Petya ransomware both allows for the same file-restricting outcome, but it is lot faster when it comes to taking time to encrypt the data as it does not encrypt file one by one but it only encrypts the NTFS MFT (Master File Table). Due to this, approach towards making cryptography becomes very difficult, as chances of making mistakes in cryptographic functions becomes more.
It has been said that Petya ransomware is developed by the same developers who made Chimera & Rokku ransomware families as it shares some similarities with that two and it also features its own bootloader and Kernel. Petya usually arrives via email containing a Dropbox URL or an attachment, and the executable usually differs from one dropper to another. It mostly uses clean executables like, java update checker 2.8.73.2, jucheck.exe, picasa 3.9.141.259, google crash handles 1.3.29.5, SumatraPDF Installer 3.1.1, and installers in Inno Setup format - that were infected with Petya. Another interesting aspect of these executables is that the original icon get changed and replaced with a PDF or WinRaR icon.
So, how to save my computer from it?
Tip #1 : The malware requires administrator rights to the local computer. Standard users should not have this in permission. Consider restricting who has local admin rights to prevent execution of exploit code within organisations. Home users should also consider using a Standard User Account for day-to-day operations.
Tip #2 : Some Windows systems are configured to automatically reboot if it crashes. You can disable this feature in Windows. If you can prevent the MFT from being encrypted, you can still recover your data from your local disk. You can get more info about it here.
Tip #3 :Till now, the ransomware has been found to spread through e-mail attachments. Hence it is highly recommended to avoid clicking of unknown and suspicious email attachments.
WWDC is Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference where developers can attend sessions and meet with over 1,000 Apple engineers. The event includes a first-day keynote where Apple typically introduces upcoming software and occasionally new hardware. The 2017 conference was held from June 5–9 in San Jose, California.
The Event started on June 5, with the very interesting "Apocalypse"video which showed that what will happen if all the apps from your iPhone will disappear; a look into the "post-apocalyptic world". If you missed it, then you can watch the Keynote here :
Announcements:
Apple announced new updates for both its hardware and software products. From eye-catching iOS 11 to breath-taking iMac Pro, alongwith the iPads, macOSHigh Sierra, HomePod and watchOS 4.
HomePod
Apple is taking aim at Sonos and the Amazon Echo with HomePod, a new “breakthrough home speaker” that it will start selling in December in white and space gray for $349.
Small but supposedly powerful, the speaker will sense the shape of your room and customize audio for its surroundings (and can be paired with a second HomePod for greater effect).
A “Musicologist” feature will respond to “Hey, Siri,” play from your Apple Music account and answer questions about the music it’s playing. It will also handle other Siri queries, such as weather, news, messages, podcasts, stocks, controlling smart home devices via HomeKit, etc.
iOS 11
Apple has announced the new version of iOS, expected for release in September. iOS 11 comes with a raft of new features. For instance, iMessages are now stored as part of iCloud, so they sync across all your devices. All your messages are stored in the cloud, but are still end-to-end encrypted for security. There are also new changes to Apple Pay, including the addition of person-to-person payments.
It works as an in-app add-on for iMessage so you can easily send payments to friends and families. Siri has a new, more natural voice and can translate from English to Chinese, French, German, Italian, etc. The Camera app improves in iOS 11, using HIEF compression for photos. They will look as good as normal JPEGs but at half the file size. Photos also now has a range of new options.
You have the ability to edit live images across the different frames, for instance. And finally, Control Center now packs all the features on one page, with sliders for volume and brightness. Then 3D touch will access individual controls, to tweak different aspects with more depth. Apple is yet to reveal the exact release date of iOS 11, but it should appear alongside the new iPhones later this "fall".
What's new in iOS 11:
Redesigned App Drawer On Messages
Messages App Syncs Across Multiple Devices
Pay Your Friends Through Apple Pay
Siri To Offer Multiple Results And Translate Languages In Real-Time
Camera app has been updated to support high-efficiency video coding (HEVC). This means that it supports up to 2x better compression
Redesigned Control Center
Lock Screen Improvement
Maps App: Indoor Mall And Airport Maps / Lane Guidance
Do Not Disturb While Driving
Speaker Support In The Home App
AirPlay Update
And many more...
watchOS 4
Apple has revealed some of the new features coming to Apple Watch when watchOS 4 is released later this year. The company explained that there will be new watch faces, including a Siri Watch face to see relevant content, including diary notifications, and news stories. The Music app is also improved. It has been redesigned, can automatically sync music and show cover art on the screen, and more.
Apple also showed a demo of the new dock. It will show recently used apps, so you can scroll through more easily than before. New fitness features are coming too, with playlists in Music starting when a workout begins. It is thought that watchOS 4 will be released in "the fall" - so a few months away yet.
macOS High Sierra
Instead of announcing an all-new system with an all-new name, Apple announced MacOS High Sierra. It's a major update to Sierra, which Apple announced and rolled out last year. And Apple executive Craig Federighi wasted no time telling developers that High Sierra is "fully baked". The new macOS is about deep technology but also added some refinements, Federighi explained.
Safari is now the "world's fastest desktop browser" with High Sierra and is going after Chrome and its upcoming ad-blocking features. Safari now offers AutoPlay blocking and no longer has intelligence tracking prevention. But one of the biggest area of refinement in High Sierra is in Photos. There's now a persistent sidebar and a view that has all of your imports in chronological order.
Another big update announced is the new Apple File System. It's 64-bit, from top to bottom. Other new High Sierra features involve video and graphics; for instance, it now supports the H.256 standard for video. Apple also introduced Metal 2 and Metal VR. Remember, VR and AR apps need heavy GPU power, so we're not surprised to hear Apple announce is doubling down. Steam VR SDK, Unity and Unreal engines are coming to the Mac as well.
New Features:
A more modern file system, Apple File System (APFS)
High Sierra includes High Efficiency Video Encoding (HEVC, aka H.265)
macOS High Sierra introduces Metal 2, the next-generation version of Apple's Metal graphics API
Photos has a new persistent side view to make it easier to find what you're looking for
New editing tools for Curves and Selective Color
editing Live Photos
Siri has a more natural voice
iMacs with updated specifications
Apple's iMac lineup has received an almighty boost. They now have improved brightness of 500 nits and use 10-bit dithering.The processor have had a bit of a boost too. The iMacs will now be fitted with Intel's 7th-gen Kaby Lake processors. They be specced with more memory than ever before: up to 32GB on the 21.5-inch display models and up to 64GB of memory on the 27-inch models.
Apple's Fusion Drive storage system is now standard on all 27-inch iMacs and can be specced on the 21.5-inch models. The solid state storage drives (SSD) also now work up to 50-per cent faster and can be specced up to 2TB. Also, the entry-level 21.5-inch iMac now has Intel Iris Plus graphics, while the 21.5-inch iMac with 4K display uses discreet Radeon Pro 555 and 560 GPU processors.
The 27-inch iMac can now be specced up, too. You can get up to 8GB of VRAM, providing 5.5 teraflops of processing power, ideal for VR creation. Connections-wise, these iMacs will be gifted with two USB-C ports that support Thunderbolt 3. They are now available. The 21.5-inch iMac will start at $1,099, while the 21.5-inch with 4K display is $1,299, and the 27-inch with 4K display starts at $1,799.
iMac Pro - The Most Powerful iMac ever.
Apple teased a new desktop computer that's coming this December, the iMac Pro. As the name suggests, the iMac Pro is a workstation class machine that's aimed at pro users with demanding workflows.
Pricing for the iMac Pro starts at $4,999, and the premium price tag should come as no surprise -- this is the most powerful machine Apple has ever built.
It features the same design as the standard iMac, but with an all-flash architecture and a new thermal design that supports an Intel Xeon processor with up to 18 cores and a top-of-the-line Radeon Pro Vega graphics.
The 27-inch iMac Pro is equipped with a high-quality 5K display that supports 1 billion colors and it comes in a unique space gray enclosure with matching (and exclusive) space gray accessories.
iMac Pro features four Thunderbolt 3 ports powerful enough to drive multiple 5K displays at once, and it supports up to 4TB of solid state storage and 128GB of ECC RAM.
iPad Pro
At its Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 5, Apple introduced new 12.9 and 10.5-inch iPad Pro models, bringing feature parity to its pro tablet lineup for the first time. With the exception of screen size, the 10.5 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models offer the same exact features, making the size of the display the only deciding factor users need to consider when purchasing a new iPad Pro.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro's design is unchanged, but the 10.5-inch iPad Pro is a new model that replaces the previous 9.7-inch iPad Pro. The 10.5-inch iPad Pro is 20% bigger, with the larger display made possible through a small size increase and bezels that are 40% thinner. Apple says it chose the new screen size because it's perfect for a full-sized on-screen keyboard and full-sized Smart Keyboard.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro measures in at 6.9mm thick and it weighs 1.49 pounds, which is just a half-pound heavier than the 6.1mm 10.5-inch iPad Pro. Both models are available in Gold, Silver, and Space Gray, with the 10.5-inch iPad Pro also available in Rose Gold.
At a resolution of 2732 x 2048, the 12.9-inch iPad Pro's display offers 5.6 million pixels, more than any other iOS device, while the new 10.5-inch iPad features a 2224 x 1668 display. Both iPads adopt new ProMotion display technology, which features a 120Hz refresh rate for impressive improvements to motion and animations that must be experienced in person.
With the improved refresh rate, motion content on the screen is smoother, crisper, and more responsive, and the Apple Pencil is faster, with a 20ms latency that makes it feel just like writing on paper. ProMotion also dynamically adjusts refresh rate, which can save significant battery life.
The iPad Pro displays are also the brightest ever, offering 600 nits of brightness, and they include True Tone support for auto white balancing, P3 wide color gamut for more vivid, true to life colors, and ultra low reflectivity. With the display improvements, the iPad Pro can display HDR video for the first time in iOS 11.
Inside, the new iPad Pro models are equipped with hardware that puts them on par with desktop-class machines, able to run software previously limited to non-mobile devices. An A10X Fusion chip, the fastest chip Apple has created, offers 30 percent faster CPU performance and 40 percent faster GPU performance compared to the A9X in the previous-generation iPad Pro models. Both models include 4GB RAM.
Despite the new display and the much faster processor, the new 10.5 and 12.9-inch iPad Pro models continue to offer up to 10 hours of battery life, which Apple calls all-day battery.
Storage space in the iPad Pro starts at 64GB, with 256 and 512GB options also available. Pricing for the 10.5-inch iPad Pro starts at $649, while pricing for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro starts at $799. Cellular models are available for an additional $130.
