Firms help stop hacking, exposes ‘dark web’

A LOCAL information technology company has helped in stopping the hacking and illegal trafficking of private information belonging to people working to stop the spread of Covid-19.
Astrolab PNG managing director John Young said the firm with its Australian partner Internet 2.0 deployed its cyber security intelligence capabilities to expose dark web marketplace traffic.
“A group of criminals had stolen private information from more than 7,000 World Health Organisation (WHO) online accounts and were attempting to sell data online,” he said.
WHO had noted a dramatic increase in the number of cyber-attacks directed at its staff and email scams targeting the public since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic,
It said around 450 active WHO email addresses and passwords were leaked online along with thousands belonging to others working on the novel coronavirus response.
Bernardo Mariano of WHO said: “Ensuring the security of health information for member states and the privacy of users interacting with us a priority for WHO at all times, but also particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We are grateful for the alerts we receive from member states and the private sector. We are all in this fight together.”
Young said: “We detected the criminal activity, analysed what they were doing, and established the evidence that Internet 2.0 then passed over to the WHO and relevant international agencies for appropriate action.
“As part of our investigation we also found that the attack was also targeting the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”