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This Emergency Directive called on all federal civilian agencies to review their networks for indicators of compromise and disconnect or power down SolarWinds Orion products immediately.

So guess who uses SolarWinds?

Dominion Voting Systems uses SolarWinds products. It's right there on their website.

Dominion is still not powered down.

Ron at CodeMonkeyZ

Hackers targeted the US Treasury and the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration - and there was concern among US intelligence agencies that the same perpetrators might have gained access to other government agencies' internal communications, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing sources "familiar with the investigation."

The intruders apparently gained access to internal emails through Microsoft's Office 365 cloud-based service, with anonymous sources calling the attack "highly sophisticated" and thus definitely perpetrated by a "nation state." As many as three of those sources said Russia is "currently believed" to be behind the attack. To dispel any doubts, Reuters recalled a recent embarrassing hack of a preeminent US cybersecurity firm, FireEye, which was also blamed on Moscow simply because that would be "consistent" with what anonymous officials and mainstream media report about Russia.

The breach was discovered just recently and allegedly led to a high-profile National Security Council meeting at the White House this weekend, but there was indication that some of the communications had been accessed illicitly as early as this summer.

While neither Microsoft nor the Treasury Department have issued comments yet, the Commerce Department confirmed a breach at one of its agencies, but offered no details.

We have asked the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the FBI to investigate, and we cannot comment further at this time

© Market Beat

London to move into highest tier of Covid restrictions, health secretary tells MPs

Speaking on a call with MPs, Matt Hancock said that, in consultation with health experts and officials, due to the rapid increase in daily Covid-19 infections, the government is moving London to the highest level of coronavirus restrictions. A number of other covid-impacted areas will also be placed under additional restrictions.

Ealing Central and Acton MP Rupa Huq tweeted about the health secretary's revelation, calling it the "worst kept secret ever confirmed" and warning her constituents that London, Essex, Watford, Hertsmere and Broxbourne will all face the stricter measures.

© REUTERS / John Sibley
FILE PHOTO: A bus drives past a sign displaying the measures imposed by the government against the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on the first day of a newly imposed lockdown, in London, Britain, November 5, 2020.

While not required by Tier 3 measures, schools in London are also being closed, with children asked to participate online for the remainder of the term. However, this was expected regardless of the government's decision, given that the mayor of London earlier urged all secondary schools and colleges to shut after data showed significant outbreaks among 10 to 19 year old's.

It is not currently clear how the London Tier 3 move will impact the government's plans to relax coronavirus restrictions over the Christmas period, due from December 23 to 27, which would allow three households to form a so-called bubble, mix indoors and stay overnight.

However, NHS providers have urged people to think "really carefully" about travelling home for Christmas and increasing their social contacts.

South Korea closes schools in capital region, prepares to raise social distancing curbs to highest level

Schools will have to move classes online in Seoul and outlying areas until the end of December. "The government will not hesitate to make the decision to upgrade to Phase 3 if it is considered necessary as it takes into account the opinions of related ministries, local governments, and experts," PM Chung Sye-kyun said.

On Monday the country registered 718 new coronavirus cases, and 682 cases were locally transmitted. Total infections now stand at 43,484, with 587 deaths, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Most of the new cases were reported in the capital, the neighboring port city of Incheon, and Gyeonggi Province, home to over 25 million people.

Most of the 'new cases' occurred where most of the testing happened. Because this is a virus that's harmless for the vast majority, so harmless that you have to be tested to know you have it.

© Reuters / Heo Ran
An ultra-cold storage facility at the Korea Superfreeze company prepares to store Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, December 10, 2020.

South Korea is fighting a third wave of virus outbreaks nationwide, and the government is considering toughening social distancing restrictions to the highest level.

Authorities have already introduced a five-tier social distancing scheme, and the greater Seoul area is currently at 2.5, the second-highest level. The rest of the country is currently at level 2.

The highest level may be implemented when locally transmitted cases surge to between 800 to 1,000 cases or the tally doubles from the previous day. On Monday, after fewer tests, daily new coronavirus cases fell to 718. While the largest number of new cases - 1,030 - was reported on Sunday.

President Moon Jae-in said on Monday that the government will work to support owners of small businesses and self-employed people hit by the coronavirus crisis. He confirmed a plan is in the works to create more than 1 million public-sector jobs.

Poland's health minister suggests extending restrictions, warns of 'third wave'

Poland may face a third wave of Covid-19 between January and February, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski has warned, saying it would be "much worse" than the previous ones as he called for a lockdown extension.

"In order to avoid a third wave I will recommend that the restrictions remain at the current level... I will recommend that they are extended until at least Jan 17," Niedzielski told reporters after a meeting with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and President Andrzej Duda.

The health minister warned that Poland faces a "real risk" of a third wave, which he predicted would hit the nation hard.

"The third wave starting at the level of about 10,000 [daily] cases would be much worse than the second one, which started at the level of about 1,000 cases [a day] and had its peak at around 28,000 [cases]," he wrote in a Twitter post, adding that "the decline in the daily cases number is slowing down."

Poland previously shut down schools, restaurants and sports centers amid record rising infection numbers in November. The final decision on the extension of restrictions would be taken by the Government Crisis Management Team headed by the prime minister.

The nation also plans to launch its vaccination programme early next year and has already purchased over 60 million jabs, according to PM Morawiecki. The plan is to vaccinate the entire adult population of around 30 million people and authorities want to set up some 8,000 vaccination points across the country.

Poland was only mildly affected by the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020, but saw the infection cases skyrocketing in October. The peak was reached in the second half of November and the number of new cases has been gradually falling since.

The latest government data shows 4,896 new cases over the last 24 hours. The nation reported a total of 1,140,572 coronavirus cases and 22,960 deaths as of Monday.

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