A draft of the "National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018" - which approves the budget and policies for US defensive projects - outlines a ban on the usage of Kaspersky Lab software products at DOD facilities under the explanation that the Russian antivirus vendor "might be vulnerable to Russian government influence."

The Internet Anti Virus and Security system which is now being used as "a reference" every time one read news about hacking, infections, etc. is Kaspersky (1) which is the creation of a Russian cyber specialist - with its Global Headquarters in Moscow.

This product is being used more and more worldwide. They have many conveniences - even keeping all your passwords under "lock and key" so that no hacker can break into your "cookie jar". The problem is that Kaspersky owns the lock and has a copy of the key of your "cookie jar".

Translating: As they gain exposure worldwide, more and more computers have their "security" system installed thus, more and more computers are technically at the beck and call of orders from the Russian Federation. Who is to say that right now, every computer that uses Kaspersky (ours included!) is not a Zombie Computer that could be activated from Moscow to do whatever they wish at the click of a mouse?

It is now that I see why God insisted that I view the movie The Net back in 1995 (at a time when I was no longer viewing any kind of movies outside of faith related ones). When I say "insisted" I mean it - I just could not get away from avoiding the "hints".

You may want to review the plot now. (2)

In the meantime we are going to change our Internet "Security" System.

               

(1) Kaspersky @ USA

(2) The Net

               

A fourth ransomware campaign focused on Ukraine has surfaced today [June 29, 2017], following some of the patterns seen in past ransomware campaigns that have been aimed at the country, such as XData, PScrypt, and the infamous NotPetya.

..... In the past month and a half, Ukraine has been bombarded with ransomware campaigns. The first was XData (mid-May), the second was PSCrypt (last week), and then NotPetya (started on Tuesday).

               

In a major shake up of the Vatican's administration on Saturday, Pope Francis replaced Catholicism's top theologian, a conservative German cardinal who has been at odds with the pontiff's vision of a more inclusive Church.

A brief Vatican statement said Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller's five-year mandate as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a key department charged with defending Catholic doctrine, would not be renewed.

Mueller, 69, who was appointed by former Pope Benedict in 2012, will be succeeded by the department's number two, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer.

Ladaria, a 73-year-old Spaniard who, like the Argentine pope is a member of the Jesuit order, is said by those who know him to be a soft-spoken person who shuns the limelight. Mueller, by contrast, often appears in the media.

               

Australian police charged a top adviser to Pope Francis with multiple historical sex crimes on Thursday, in a case that poses a dilemma for a pontiff who has vowed zero tolerance for such offences.

Cardinal George Pell is the Vatican's de facto treasury minister and is the highest-ranking Vatican official to be charged with sexual abuse.

He faces "multiple charges in respect of historic sexual offences" from multiple complainants, said police in the Australian state of Victoria, where Pell was a country priest in the 1970s.