Thursday, December 15, 2022

BRITISH WORKERS STRIKE!

 




freethoughtblogs.com

Strikes in the UK

2 - 3 minutes

The UK is about to experience a wave of strikes, starting with the nurses unions.

Tens of thousands of nurses across the United Kingdom are set to walk off the job Thursday in what’s been described as the largest-ever strike by National Health Service workers, who said they were forced to act after the government refused to negotiate over pay amid painfully high inflation.

The walkout represents NHS nurses’ first national strike, and it comes as U.K. rail and postal workers are also taking major labor actions in response to falling real pay, meager benefits, and worsening conditions.
…

The RCN [Royal College of Nursing] said a strike became inevitable after U.K. ministers declined every offer to start formal pay negotiations. Earlier this week, [Pat] Cullen [general secretary and chief executive of the RCN] met with Tory Health Secretary Steve Barclay in a last-ditch effort to discuss pay before launching the national strike, but he refused to budge.

“I asked several times to discuss pay and each time we returned to the same thing—that there was no extra money on the table, and that they would not be discussing pay with me,” Cullen said. “I needed to come out of this meeting with something serious to show nursing staff why they should not strike this week. Regrettably, they’re not getting an extra penny.”


✓  Jonathan Pie says that all those striking deserve the increases in wages and benefits and job security they are asking for.





 

VIDEO

UK Nurses Kick Off Largest-Ever Strike by NHS Workers After Negotiations Fail - Truthout

truthout.org › News
6 hours ago · Tens of thousands of nurses across the United Kingdom are set to walk off the job Thursday in what's been described as the largest-ever strike by National ...

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www.cityam.com

Rishi Sunak warns his cabinet about 'challenging' winter of UK strikes 



By: Stefan Boscia
3 minutes

Rishi Sunak has warned his cabinet that winter will be “challenging” as widespread industrial action ramps up and as the economic downturn deepens.


The Prime Minister’s official spokesman today said the “government will do all we can to minimise disruption”, while calling for union bosses to get back to the negotiating table.

Today marks the first day of widespread rail strikes this month, with services set to be severely disrupted throughout much of the Christmas period.

Nurses, airport workers, posties and assorted civil servants will also walk off the job this month as workers fight for pay increases close to the UK’s near 11 per cent inflation rate.

It comes as the UK is expected to fall into an official recession in early 2023, which could last for two years.

“The Prime Minister opened cabinet by saying the country is facing significant industrial action across a range of sectors this winter and that this will be a challenging period to get through,” Sunak’s spokesman said.


“He added that the government had been fair and reasonable in its approach to agreeing the independent pay review bodies’ recommendations for public sector pay rises and in facilitating further discussions with unions and employers.

“He said while the government will do all we can to minimise disruption, the only way we can stop it completely is by unions going back round the table and calling off these strikes.”

Over 400,000 working days were lost to strikes in October, the highest since November 2011, official figures from the Office for National Statistics out today revealed.

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) chief Mick Lynch today accused Number 10 of “deliberately obstructing” a resolution with rail workers.

RMT members have been offered a pay rise of about 9 per cent over two years, however they are calling for a larger increase and guarantees around job security.

“We’ve seen it with the nurses, we’ve seen it with the paramedics,” he said.

“They are obstructing these deals because they want to keep wages lowered and they want to strip out the terms and conditions for many people”.


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Today's Article: Ukrainian govt networks breached via trojanized Windows 10 installers

 First this

  • Facebook
    Security

    Phishing attack uses Facebook posts to evade email security

    A new phishing campaign uses Facebook posts as part of its attack chain to trick users into giving away their account credentials and personally identifiable information (PII).

  • Hacker smiley
    Security 
    While the malicious Windows 10 installers were not specifically targeting the Ukrainian government, the threat actors analyzed infected devices and performed further, more focused, attacks on those determined to belong to government entities.
    ✓  The ISO was configured to disable the typical security telemetry a Windows computer would send to Microsoft and block automatic updates and license verification," said cybersecurity firm Mandiant which discovered the attacks on Thursday.

    "There was no indication of a financial motivation for the intrusions, either through the theft of monetizable information or the deployment of ransomware or cryptominers."

    While analyzing several infected devices on Ukrainian Government networks, Mandiant also spotted scheduled tasks set up in mid-July 2022 and designed to receive commands that would get executed via PowerShell.

    Ukrainian govt networks breached via trojanized Windows 10 installers

    Ukrainian government entities were hacked in targeted attacks after their networks were first compromised via trojanized ISO files posing as legitimate Windows 10 installers. 

    www.bleepingcomputer.com

    Ukrainian govt networks breached via trojanized Windows 10 installers

    Sergiu Gatlan
    8 - 10 minutes

    Smiley

    Ukrainian government entities were hacked in targeted attacks after their networks were first compromised via trojanized ISO files posing as legitimate Windows 10 installers.

    These malicious installers delivered malware capable of collecting data from compromised computers, deploying additional malicious tools, and exfiltrating stolen data to attacker-controlled servers.

    One of the ISOs pushed in this campaign was hosted on the toloka[.]to Ukrainian torrent tracker by a user created in May 2022.

     

    The ISO was configured to disable the typical security telemetry a Windows computer would send to Microsoft and block automatic updates and license verification," said cybersecurity firm Mandiant which discovered the attacks on Thursday.


     

    "There was no indication of a financial motivation for the intrusions, either through the theft of monetizable information or the deployment of ransomware or cryptominers."

    While analyzing several infected devices on Ukrainian Government networks, Mandiant also spotted scheduled tasks set up in mid-July 2022 and designed to receive commands that would get executed via PowerShell.

    After the initial reconnaissance, the threat actors also deployed Stowaway, Beacon, and Sparepart backdoors that allowed them to maintain access to the compromised computers, execute commands, transfer files, and steal information, including credentials and keystrokes.

    The trojanized Windows 10 ISOs were distributed via Ukrainian and Russian language torrent file-sharing platforms, unlike similar attacks where cyber-espionage groups host payloads on their infrastructure.

    While this supply chain attack has hit the Ukrainian government, the malicious Windows ISO files made available through torrents

    "We assess that the threat actor distributed these installers publicly, and then used an embedded schedule task to determine whether the victim should have further payloads deployed," Mandiant added.

    While the malicious Windows 10 installers were not specifically targeting the Ukrainian government, the threat actors analyzed infected devices and performed further, more focused, attacks on those determined to belong to government entities.

    "Targets of interest in UA government were then handpicked. Those targets overlap with GRU interests," tweeted Mandiant Threat Intelligence VP John Hultquist.

    We're not there on attribution here. That's fine. We're talking about spies here (probably) and we won't always have the goods. That doesn't mean we can't take the lesson. Supply chain incidents are serious and still a top concern for this conflict. (3/x)

    — John Hultquist (@JohnHultquist) December 15, 2022

    Targets previously attacked by Russian military hackers

    The threat group behind this supply chain attack is being tracked as UNC4166, and its likely goal is to collect and steal sensitive information from Ukrainian government networks.

    While there is no clear attribution at the time, Mandiant's security researchers have found that the organizations attacked in this campaign were previously on the target list of APT28 state hackers with links to Russian military intelligence.

    "UNC4166's targets overlap with organizations targeted by GRU related clusters with wipers at the outset of the war." Mandiant said.

    "The organizations where UNC4166 conducted follow on interactions included organizations that were historically victims of disruptive wiper attacks that we associate with APT28 since the outbreak of the invasion."

    APT28 has been operating since at least 2004 on behalf of Russia's General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and has been linked to campaigns targeting governments worldwide, including a 2015 hack of the German federal parliament and attacks against the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in 2016.

    Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started, multiple phishing campaigns targeting the Ukrainian government and military organizations have been tagged as APT28 operations by Google, Microsoft, and Ukraine's CERT.

    "The use of trojanized ISOs is novel in espionage operations and included anti-detection capabilities indicates that the actors behind this activity are security conscious and patient, as the operation would have required a significant time and resources to develop and wait for the ISO to be installed on a network of interest," Mandiant added." READ MORE 

    Related Articles:

    Massive DDoS attack takes Russia’s second-largest bank VTB offline

    Microsoft warns of Russian cyberattacks throughout the winter

    New ransomware attacks in Ukraine linked to Russian Sandworm hackers

    Ukraine says Russian hacktivists use new Somnia ransomware

    Russian military hackers linked to ransomware attacks in Ukraine

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    Bleeping Computer Daily Deal

     

    www.bleepingcomputer.com

    Get an extra 20% off in this refurbished Microsoft Surface 3 tablet deal

    Lawrence Abrams
    6 - 8 minutes

    Surface tablets

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    slate.com I Think I Found Kyrsten Sinema’s Side Hustle. It’s Perfect. Christina Cauterucci 16 - 20 minutes Politics Last week, she ditched the Democrats. Perhaps this is her real passion? A photo of a woman smiling, with text messages superimposed on her face. The texts say "They're beautiful shoes. Enjoy them!" Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images. It is 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, and I am exchanging Facebook messages with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema about a lightly used pair of Badgley Mischka heels. At least, I think it’s Kyrsten Sinema. It’s her name on the Facebook Marketplace listing, and it’s her in the profile photo, grinning at the finish line of a running race. The seller bio says she lives in Phoenix, and our one mutual Facebook friend is a former Democratic National Committee staffer. The shoes—4.5-inch stilettos adorned with rhinestone-studded flower appliqués—look as if they would fit pretty well in Sinema’s wardrobe. But would a sitting senator respond within seconds on a weekday morning to a message about her used heels? Would it be worth her time to photograph a pair of old shoes, write a sales listing, field inquiries from potential buyers, and arrange pickup logistics—all for just $65? “They’re beautiful shoes,” the user DMs me as I Venmo the money. “Enjoy them!” This is far from the only listing of secondhand clothes this user, “Kyrsten Sinema,” has posted. The user is currently hawking—among other things—a $215 cycling ensemble, a $25 trucker hat, and a $150 stainless steel watch with a silicone strap. Within the past six weeks, she has offloaded a $150 fitness tracker ring, an $80 cycling jersey, and a $500 bicycle travel case. Over the past two years, and across at least five Facebook groups for athletes, she has listed several dozen personal items, including a $100 pair of sunglasses (“Just too big for my tiny head!!”), two $50 puffer jackets, three $75 pairs of high-heeled boots, a $75 cycling bib, a $60 Lululemon raincoat, several mesh tanks at $55 a pop ($20 off the current retail price), and multiple bikinis, priced between $60 and $70, that ranged from “never worn” to “in great condition.” For the uninitiated: Facebook Marketplace is a virtual yard sale, like Craigslist or the classifieds. Along with other digital clothing reseller platforms like Depop and Poshmark, the platform has made it easy to sell one’s stuff online, allowing a growing number of Americans (including one Arizona senator, perhaps) to earn decent money while freeing up closet space. But while Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has alienated the vast majority of Arizona Democrats and was polling underwater this fall with quite literally every demographic group in the state, Facebook Sinema remains, on Facebook Marketplace, a “highly rated” seller, with strong customer ratings related to Pricing, Punctuality, and Communication. A pair of boots, laid across a shoe box, with listing details next to them. Facebook Marketplace In the political realm, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is an enigma, often infuriatingly so. To advocates and colleagues, her decisions and loyalties can seem random. She came up in Arizona politics as a member of the Green Party and as an antiwar activist, only to become one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress and a proponent of ballooning defense budgets. Since she rarely speaks to the press or even the members of her own Senate caucus, we know precious little about what makes her tick. Even before last week, when she announced that she would be leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent, she never attended Democratic Caucus meetings, unlike the other two independents who usually vote with the Democrats. Her bizarre fashion sense, which has gotten more outlandish and less coherent over time—candy-colored wigs, a ring that says “Fuck Off”—has further convoluted her public image. What narrative does she want voters to glean from her political and personal lives? What, if anything, does she value? Why did she do that random winery internship two summers ago? Is there an ideology driving her politics? Does anyone know? Does Sinema? Just about everyone in U.S. politics has tried and failed to decode her. Could Facebook Marketplace be one key? At the very least, it provides a wealth of new information about how Sinema—or someone using her name and photo, who shares her exact athletic interests and taste in clothes—spends her time.


    slate.com

    I Think I Found Kyrsten Sinema’s Side Hustle. It’s Perfect.

    Christina Cauterucci
    16 - 20 minutes
    Politics

    Last week, she ditched the Democrats. Perhaps this is her real passion?

    A photo of a woman smiling, with text messages superimposed on her face. The texts say "They're beautiful shoes. Enjoy them!"

    Photo illustration by Slate. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images.

    It is 11 a.m. on a Tuesday, and I am exchanging Facebook messages with Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema about a lightly used pair of Badgley Mischka heels.

    At least, I think it’s Kyrsten Sinema. It’s her name on the Facebook Marketplace listing, and it’s her in the profile photo, grinning at the finish line of a running race. The seller bio says she lives in Phoenix, and our one mutual Facebook friend is a former Democratic National Committee staffer. The shoes—4.5-inch stilettos adorned with rhinestone-studded flower appliqués—look as if they would fit pretty well in Sinema’s wardrobe.

    But would a sitting senator respond within seconds on a weekday morning to a message about her used heels? Would it be worth her time to photograph a pair of old shoes, write a sales listing, field inquiries from potential buyers, and arrange pickup logistics—all for just $65?

    “They’re beautiful shoes,” the user DMs me as I Venmo the money. “Enjoy them!”

    This is far from the only listing of secondhand clothes this user, “Kyrsten Sinema,” has posted.

    The user is currently hawking—among other things—a $215 cycling ensemble, a $25 trucker hat, and a $150 stainless steel watch with a silicone strap. Within the past six weeks, she has offloaded a $150 fitness tracker ring, an $80 cycling jersey, and a $500 bicycle travel case. Over the past two years, and across at least five Facebook groups for athletes, she has listed several dozen personal items, including a $100 pair of sunglasses (“Just too big for my tiny head!!”), two $50 puffer jackets, three $75 pairs of high-heeled boots, a $75 cycling bib, a $60 Lululemon raincoat, several mesh tanks at $55 a pop ($20 off the current retail price), and multiple bikinis, priced between $60 and $70, that ranged from “never worn” to “in great condition.”

    For the uninitiated: Facebook Marketplace is a virtual yard sale, like Craigslist or the classifieds. Along with other digital clothing reseller platforms like Depop and Poshmark, the platform has made it easy to sell one’s stuff online, allowing a growing number of Americans (including one Arizona senator, perhaps) to earn decent money while freeing up closet space.

    But while Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has alienated the vast majority of Arizona Democrats and was polling underwater this fall with quite literally every demographic group in the state, Facebook Sinema remains, on Facebook Marketplace, a “highly rated” seller, with strong customer ratings related to Pricing, Punctuality, and Communication.

    A pair of boots, laid across a shoe box, with listing details next to them.

    Facebook Marketplace

    In the political realm, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is an enigma, often infuriatingly so. To advocates and colleagues, her decisions and loyalties can seem random. She came up in Arizona politics as a member of the Green Party and as an antiwar activist, only to become one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress and a proponent of ballooning defense budgets. Since she rarely speaks to the press or even the members of her own Senate caucus, we know precious little about what makes her tick. Even before last week, when she announced that she would be leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent, she never attended Democratic Caucus meetings, unlike the other two independents who usually vote with the Democrats. Her bizarre fashion sense, which has gotten more outlandish and less coherent over time—candy-colored wigs, a ring that says “Fuck Off”—has further convoluted her public image.

    What narrative does she want voters to glean from her political and personal lives? What, if anything, does she value? Why did she do that random winery internship two summers ago? Is there an ideology driving her politics? Does anyone know? Does Sinema?

    Just about everyone in U.S. politics has tried and failed to decode her. Could Facebook Marketplace be one key?

    At the very least, it provides a wealth of new information about how Sinema—or someone using her name and photo, who shares her exact athletic interests and taste in clothes—spends her time. . ." READ MORE

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