Tag: virus

WannaCry ‘hero’ pleads guilty to malware charges

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Marcus Hutchins, the security researcher who helped temporarily stop the WannaCry ransomware bug, has now pleaded guilty to federal charges of creating and distributing malware used to break into online bank accounts.

“Marcus ‘MalwareTech’ Hutchins, the British security researcher known for stopping the WannaCry ransomware outbreak, has pleaded guilty today to writing malware in the years prior to his prodigious career as a malware researcher,” the ZDNet reported late on Friday.

He pleaded guilty to entering a conspiracy to create and distribute malware, and in aiding and abetting its distribution.

“I regret these actions and accept full responsibility for my mistakes,” Hutchins wrote in a post, according to the ArsTechnica.

The researcher reportedly pleaded guilty to two counts, and the government agreed to drop the other eight. For each count, Hutchins faces up to five years in prison, up to $250,000 in fines, and up to one year of supervised release.

“He was also charged with working with a co-conspirator — identified only as ‘Vinny’, ‘VinnyK’, and ‘Aurora123’ — to advertise and sell the two malware strains online. This happened between July 2012 and September 2015, before Hutchins built a career as a talented security researcher,” the ZDNet report added.

Hutchins, who goes by the online handle MalwareTech, was arrested in August 2017 as he was due to fly back to the UK following the Def Con security conference in Las Vegas.

He was charged for his involvement with creating the Kronos banking malware, dating back to 2014. He was later freed on bail.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Karnataka drains lake after discovery of HIV-infected body

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Authorities are pumping water out of a sprawling lake in Karnataka to assuage villagers’ fears it was contaminated after the discovery of the body of a woman infected with HIV, a regional official said on Wednesday.

The virus is usually transmitted through sexual intercourse, infected blood and from an infected mother to the baby in her womb or through breastfeeding, but the villagers’ alarm at the discovery a week ago drove the demand for the lake to be drained, the official added.

“We tried our best to assure the villagers that we would get the water tested, but they did not budge and even refused to come near the lake,” said Naveen Hullur, who is in charge of the area.

The lake near the village of Morab in Karnataka, about 440 km (273 miles) from the state’s capital of Bengaluru, covers 32 acres (13 hectares).

It is a key source of drinking water for more than 1,000 people who live in the drought-affected region and earn their livelihoods by farming.

The drainage operation has run for the last four days and fresh water from a nearby canal is to be used to replenish the lake over the next four to five days, Hullur added. He did not provide additional details.

It was not immediately clear what the cost of the drainage operation is. Public health officials in the region did not immediately respond to telephone calls and email messages from Reuters to seek comment.

The HIV virus which causes AIDS is not spread in air, water or in food, or by sharing cups, bowls, cutlery, clothing, or toilet seats. It cannot survive in the body after the infected person dies.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Centre asks states to intensify vector control steps after 72 Zika cases are detected in Jaipur

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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As the number of people infected with Zika virus rose to 72 in Rajasthan, the Union Health Ministry Monday asked states to check mosquito breeding and intensify vector control strategies to contain the spread of the disease.

Sanjeeva Kumar, Additional Secretary (Health), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare held a meeting with various state representatives through video conferencing. He asked them to implement the guidelines as prescribed under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme for effective control of Zika.

“States have been asked to intensify vector control strategies which include anti-larvae activities and fogging, and also follow the guidelines as prescribed under the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme for effective control of Zika virus disease,” a health ministry official said.
States have also been asked to strengthen their surveillance systems.
Zika is caused by aedes aegypti mosquito which also transmits dengue and chikungunya and breeds in open stagnant water.

Twelve new cases of Zika virus were detected in Jaipur Monday, taking the total number of infected people to 72. “Sixty out of the total 72 patients are healthy after treatment,” a Rajasthan health department official said.
Most of the cases have been reported from Shastri Nagar area in Jaipur where fogging and other anti-larvae activities are being carried out to prevent the spread of the virus, he said.

So, far door-to-door survey of 96,000 households has been conducted in Shastri Nagar and neighbouring localities. Mosquito larvae was found in the area, the officer said.

The state health department has also issued an advisory for pregnant women staying outside the affected area to not visit Shastri Nagar.

The Zika virus causes fever, skin rashes, conjunctivitis, muscle and joint pain. It is harmful to pregnant women as it can lead to microcephaly, a condition in which a baby’s head is significantly smaller than expected.
In India, the first outbreak was reported in Ahmedabad in January 2017 and the second in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district in July that year. Both these outbreaks were successfully contained through intensive surveillance and vector management.

The disease is under surveillance of the Union Health Ministry although it is no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern under the World Health Organisation (WHO) notification since November 18, 2016.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

India on alert as zika virus hits tourism hotspot of Jaipur

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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India has sent experts to try to contain an outbreak of the zika virus in the popular tourist destination of Jaipur, capital of Rajasthan, with a close watch on pregnant women.

Twenty-two people in the city have tested positive, the health ministry said. There is no vaccine to the virus which can cause severe birth defects in unborn children.

Pregnant women in the area are being monitored by the National Health Mission, a body set up by the government to improve healthcare across the country.

“The situation continues to be monitored regularly,” the ministry said in a statement late on Monday.

The Toronto-based International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers said it was advising pregnant travellers to postpone trips to the area, part of India’s tourist “golden triangle” of Delhi, Jaipur and Agra, home to the Taj Mahal.

First discovered in 1947, the zika virus reached epidemic proportions in Brazil in 2015, when thousands of babies were born with microcephaly, a brain defect affecting speech and motor function.

It is the third such outbreak in India, with the first in Ahmedabad in January 2017 and the second in Tamil Nadu in July 2017. Both outbreaks were “successfully contained”, the government said.

The latest cases – in the middle of the country’s festival season where many Indians travel, increasing the risk of transmission – come amid a spike in other mosquito-borne diseases that kill thousands across India each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

The capital Delhi has reported a rise in cases of dengue fever, with 169 reported in the first week of October and taking the total for the year to 650, according to NDTV, citing figures from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation that tracks mosquito-borne diseases.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Probe ordered after the discovery of virus in polio vaccine

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The Health Ministry has ordered a probe after traces of polio type 2 virus were found in some batches of oral polio vaccine (OPV) manufactured by a Ghaziabad-based pharmaceutical company, even as the firm’s managing director was arrested Saturday.

Polio type 2 virus strain has been eradicated worldwide, including in India.
The managing director of Biomed Pvt Ltd., which was supplying polio vaccines for only government-run immunisation programmes, was arrested after the Central Drug Regulator filed an FIR in this case.

The Drugs Controller General of India has also asked the company to stop “manufacture, sale or distribution till further orders.”

“The company has five directors. While the managing director has been arrested, we have asked the police to trace the rest directors as they also need to be questioned,” a government official said.

According to a Health Ministry source, the contamination came to light after surveillance reports from Uttar Pradesh showed signs of the virus in stool samples of some children.

Immediately, the OPVs were sent for testing which confirmed that some of them were contaminated with type-2 virus.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Zika and its link to microcephaly

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Three years ago, Brazil experienced a major Zika outbreak that led to the revelation that the virus can cause severe birth defects in babies whose mothers were infected during pregnancy. Here’s a look at what scientists know today about Zika and its effect on developing fetuses.

The Outbreak

Zika began spreading in Brazil in April 2015 and the country saw more than 260,000 probable cases in 2016, according to the Health Ministry. Cases of microcephaly, an abnormally small head in babies, and other developmental deficits linked to Zika began surging in 2015, when more than 960 were confirmed; the next year saw more than 1,800. Almost as quickly as they spiked, cases of Zika and microcephaly plummeted.

In 2017, there were fewer than 18,000 Zika cases and fewer than 300 cases of microcephaly. So far this year, Brazil has seen about 2,200 cases of Zika and 20 cases of microcephaly and other developmental abnormalities.

What Causes Microcephaly

Many infections, like rubella and HIV, can cause microcephaly. Exposure to toxic chemicals and genetic abnormalities can also cause it. Since the 2015 outbreak, a panel of experts convened by the World Health Organization has concluded that Zika is also a cause.

But scientists have been puzzled by the fact that Zika appeared to lead to microcephaly more often in northeastern Brazil than it did in other places, and they are still not sure why, said Ganeshwaran H. Mochida, a pediatric neurologist and researcher at Boston Children’s Hospital. One hypothesis is that if a mother has already had dengue, which is related to Zika, Zika may be more likely to cause microcephaly in her baby.

Link Between Zika and Microcephaly

Scientists are not sure why a spike in microcephaly cases wasn’t reported during previous Zika outbreaks. It could be that an increase was overlooked, or the outbreaks weren’t large enough to produce a noticeable uptick in brain abnormalities.

One study has suggested that a more recent mutation to the virus may have made it more likely to lead to microcephaly. “This may not be the whole story,” said Mochida, the neurologist. “I don’t think that this explains everything.”

What Does Microcephaly Mean For Children

On the most severe end of the spectrum, children with microcephaly have significant neurological disabilities that affect vision and hearing and they may not ever walk or speak. Scientists are still studying the effects of less severe cases. Microcephaly does not necessarily reduce a person’s lifespan, but it can cause complications that do. For instance, many children have trouble swallowing, which leads them to aspirate, which can lead to pneumonia.

What Else is Unknown

Zika has also been linked to a range of other problems in babies, like seizures, restricted limb movement and poor coordination and balance. Scientists are still trying to figure out if Zika may cause problems that don’t become apparent until later in a child’s life, even when babies appear to be healthy at birth.

Vaccine For Zika

No vaccine is currently on the market, though several are being developed. The most advanced of these was developed by government scientists at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and is being tested at 16 sites in the U.S., the Caribbean and Latin America. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the institute, says approval for the vaccine could come in 18 months if scientists get data from a future outbreak. Barring an outbreak, approval could take three or more years.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow