IS CYBERSECURITY THE NEXT COLD WAR?

         From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

        DAY  USA  WORLD   Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9    1093     4732         1185       246       82

July    22     1205     7128         1293      1120     572

Aug    12     1504     6556        1242        835     130

Sept     9     1208      6222       1136       1168       82

Oct     21     1225      6849         571        703       85

Nov    25      2304    12025        620        518      118

Dec    30      3880    14748       1224       299      465

Jan     14       4142    15512         1151        189       712              

Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398

          25       2414    10578        1582        119      144

Mar     2        1989      9490       1726       110      194

          31       1115      12301        3950       458       58

April   6         906     11787         4211        631       37

May    4         853     13667         3025     3786      59 

         26         607     12348         2399     3842     101

June    1         287     10637        2346      3205      95

          30        249      8505        2127        991      383

July     7          251      8440         1595        817      411

          13          307      8117         1613        623      633

          14          374       8721        1574        580      453

         20          256      8283        1425       489      596         

Summary:  Not as bad as feared.  Let's see what it looks like tomorrow.

To start, a few news items of the day:

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  While the FDA process for approving drugs is usually long, tedious and expensive, more and more are wondering why these COVID-19 vaccines have not yet been formally approved.  This decision could well be the difference maker in getting the USA into the realm of herd immunity.  How Aduhelm, that Alzheimer's drug, got approved is a mystery, considering that the trials were dubious, and there is evidence that it might not work.
• 
  Conservative Republicans are the least likely to get vaccinated.  Read a just released Atlantic article that explains why, and how, all of a sudden, some of them are now speaking out FOR GETTING SHOT.

• 
  India has around 400,000 reported deaths from COVID-19.  The actual number should be more than 3 million, if not 4 million, or perhaps closer to 5 million.  The official World death count today stands at a bit over 4 million.

• 
  The heavily favored U.S. women's soccer team was embarrassed 0-3 by #5-ranked Sweden at the Tokyo Summer Olympics.  The American team was on a 44-match unbeaten streak.  Japan was tied by Canada, 1-1.  The latest rankings now show that Sweden and the Netherlands will meet for the championship.  But there is a long way to go, and the USA could yet come back.
• 
  Tom Brady on a visit to the White House with his Tampa Bay team made fun of his golf buddy, Donald Trump.  The story is that a long time ago Donald wanted Ivanka to marry Tom to form a power dynasty.

Both Russia and China seem to be encouraging hackers to hijack the free world using ransomware.  Very little doubt that they're in close link with these organizations.

Well, if this is the inconvenience for Humanity, a heck of a lot better than a nuclear winter.  Yet, more and more governments and companies these days are being harassed with no real solution, so it is an irritant of note.

All this is not new.  There was the WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017 when a cryptoworm targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operation system, where contents were locked, and ransom payment demanded by Bitcoin cryptocurrency.  300,000 computers across 150 countries were effected, damage was said to be in the billions of dollars.

Ironically, the entrance portal was EternalBlue, developed by the U.S. National Security Agency.  Shadow Brokers stole and leaked this info in 2016, leading to WannaCry.  While Microsoft released patches, those organizations who did not comply got socked.

These virtual crimes are difficult to pinpoint, but North Korea was named by the Trump Administration, and more specifically the North Korean Lazarus hacking group.  Interestingly enough, while some were beginning to also blame the Russians, that country also got badly bruised by WannaCry.  Even previously NK was perturbed about The Interview, a film featuring the fictional killing of leader Kim Jong-un, so they cyber-attacked Sony, the producer.

Here is a list of ransomware attacks just in March of this year.  Some of the biggest ones include Colonial Pipeline, Brenntag, Acer, KBS Foods, Quanta, the NBA, AXA (hey, I get paid by them for an investment), CNA and KIA Motors.

The major culprits came from Russia.  Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin, but nothing much happened, for REvil soon after the meeting demanded $70 million to unlock corporate data in the U.S.

Then this week Chinese hackers working for their intelligence agency used ransomware to extort U.S. businesses.  This has been occurring for a very long time, but the blatancy this time ticked up not only the USA, but also the European Union, NATO, Australia and Japan.

While no lives are lost in this Cyber-Cold War, it is aggravating and expensive, with no peace treaty discussions currently occurring.

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Hurricane Felicia strengthened to a Category 4, but has weakened, and at this time, is projected to pass well south of the Hawaiian Islands.  Maybe I seem to be the only person worried about a sudden northward turn, but the waters south of Hawaii appear not to be warm enough to significantly strengthen an ocean storm.

In the Western Pacific, Typhoon In-fa (or Fabian) has formed, and will probably ease between Taiwan and Okinawa for eventual landfall over China:

The good news for this region is that no typhoon seems primed to head for Japan during the Tokyo Summer Olympics.

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