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What is ransomware? Everything you need to know about one of the biggest menaces on the web
Updated: Everything you need to know about ransomware: how it started, why it's booming, how to protect against it, and what to do if your PC's infected.
By Danny Palmer | August 22, 2018 -- 11:33 GMT (04:33 PDT) | Topic: Enterprise Software
All you need to know about ransomware in 60 seconds Everything you need to know about ransomware: how it started, why it's booming, how to protect against it, and what to do if your PC's infected. Read our Executive's Guide to Ransomware here: http://zd.net/2mersfL
All you need to know about ransomware in 60 seconds
What is a ransomware attack?
Ransomware has grown to be one of the biggest problems on the web. It's a form of malicious software -- malware -- which encrypts documents on a PC or even across a network. Victims can often only regain access to their encrypted files and PCs by paying a ransom to the criminals behind the ransomware.
A ransomware infection often starts with someone clicking on what looks like an innocent attachment, and it can be a headache for companies of all sizes if vital files and documents (think spreadsheets and invoices) are suddenly encrypted and inaccessible. But that's not the only way to get infected.
Cybercriminals didn't used to be so obvious. If hackers infiltrated your corporate network, they would do everything possible to avoid detection. It was in their best interests not to alert a victim that they'd fallen victim to a cybercriminal.
But now, if you are attacked with file-encrypting ransomware, criminals will brazenly announce they're holding your corporate data hostage until you pay a ransom in order to get it back.
It might sound too simple, but it's working: cybercriminals pocketed over $1bn from ransomware attacks during 2016 alone and a Europol report describes it as having "eclipsed" most other global cybercriminal threats in 2017.
What is the history of ransomware?
While ransomware exploded last year, increasing by an estimated 748 percent, it's not a new phenomenon: the first instance of what we now know as ransomware appeared in 1989.
Known as AIDS or the PC Cyborg Trojan, the virus was sent to victims -- mostly in the healthcare industry -- on a floppy disc. The ransomware counted the number of times the PC was booted: once it hit 90, it encrypted the machine and the files on it and demanded the user 'renew their license' with 'PC Cyborg Corporation ' by sending $189 or $378 to a post office box in Panama.
The AIDS demand for payment -- by post.
Image: Sophos
How did ransomware evolve?
This early ransomware was a relatively simple construct, using basic cryptography which mostly just changed the names of files, making it relatively easy to overcome.
But it set off a new branch of computer crime, which slowly but surely grew in reach -- and really took off in the internet age. Before they began using advanced cryptography to target corporate networks, hackers were targeting general internet users with basic ransomware.
One of the most successful variants was 'police ransomware', which tried to extort victims by claiming to be associated with law enforcement. It locked the screen with a ransom note warning the user they'd committed illegal online activity, which could get them sent to jail.
However, if the victim paid a fine, the 'police' would let the infringement slide and restore access to the computer by handing over the decryption key. Of course, this wasn't anything to do with law enforcement -- it was criminals exploiting innocent people.
An example of 'police ransomware' threatening a UK user.
While somewhat successful, these forms of ransomware often simply overlaid their 'warning' message on the user's display -- and rebooting the machine could get rid of the problem and restore access to files which were never really encrypted.
Criminals learned from this and now the majority of ransomware schemes use advanced cryptography to truly lock down an infected PC and the files on it.
What are the main types of ransomware?
Ransomware is always evolving, with new variants continually appearing in the wild and posing new threats to businesses. However, there are certain types of ransomware which have been much more successful than others.
Perhaps the most notorious form of ransomware is Locky, which terrorised organisations across the globe throughout 2016. It infamously made headlines by infecting a Hollywood hospital. The hospital gave into the demands of cybercriminals and paid a $17,000 ransom to have its networks restored.
Locky remained successful because those behind it regularly update the code to avoid detection. They even update it with new functionality, including the ability to make ransom demands in 30 languages, so criminals can more easily target victims around the world. Locky became so successful, it rose to become most prevalent forms of malware in its own right.
While not as prolific as it once was, Locky remains one of the most dangerous forms of ransomware, regularly going quiet before reemerging with new attack techniques.
Cryptowall is another form of ransomware which has found great success for a prolonged period of time. Starting life as doppelganger of Cryptolocker, it's gone onto become one of the most successful types of ransomware.
Like Locky, Cryptowall has regularly been updated in order to ensure its continued success and even scrambles file names to make it harder for victims to know which file is which, putting additional pressure on the victim to pay.
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While some ransomware developers -- like those behind Locky or Cryptowall -- closely guard their product, keeping it solely for their own use, others happily distribute ransomware to any wannabe hacker keen to cash in on cyber-extortion -- and it's proved to be a very successful method for wide distribution.
One of the most common forms of ransomware distributed in this way is Cerber, which infected hundreds of thousands of users in just a single month. The original creators of Cerber are selling it on the Dark Web, allowing other criminals to use the code in return for 40 percent of each ransom paid.
Cerber ransomware became so successful that it surpassed Locky -- which appeared to mysteriously disappear over Christmas, although reemerged in April with new attack techniques -- to become the most dominant form of ransomware on the web, accounting for 90 percent of ransomware attacks on Windows as of mid-April 2017.
This particular family of ransomware is constantly evolving, with its developers regularly adding new features to ensure its continued success. Indeed, the cryptography behind Cerber is so advanced that there's currently no decryption tools available to help those infected by the latest versions.
But not content with just illicitly making money from ransom payments, Cerber now comes with the ability to steal to steal bitcoin wallet and password information, in addition to encrypting files.
In exchange for giving up some of the profits for using Cerber, wannabe cyber-fraudsters are provided with everything they need in order to successfully make money through the extortion of victims.
Indeed, now some criminal groups offer this type of ransomware-as-a-service scheme to potential users for no cost at the point of entry. Instead of charging a fee for the ransomware code, they want a 50 percent cut of the ransom payments.
Another successful form of ransomware is SamSam, which is notorious for charging a ransom of tens of thousands of dollars for the decryption key.
Rather than being distributed via phishing emails, the attackers seek out unsecured internet-facing systems then exploit them to help spread SamSam laterally across networks.
What is WannaCry ransomware?
In the biggest ransomware attack to date, WannaCry -- also known as WannaCrypt and Wcry -- caused chaos across the globe in an attack which started on Friday 12 May 2017.
WannaCrypt ransomware demands $300 in bitcoin for unlocking encrypted files -- a price which doubles after three days. Users are also threatened, via a ransom note on the screen, with having all their files permanently deleted if the ransom isn't paid within a week.
WannaCry ransomware infected Windows XP systems across the globe.
Image: Cisco Talos
More than 300,000 victims in over 150 countries fell victim to the ransomware over the course of one weekend, with businesses, governments, and individuals across the globe all affected.
Healthcare organisations across the UK had systems knocked offline by the ransomware attack, forcing patient appointments to be cancelled and hospitals telling people to avoid visiting Accident and Emergency departments unless it was entirely necessary.
Of all the countries affected by the attack, Russia was hit the hardest, according to security researchers, with the WannaCry malware crashing Russian banks, telephone operators, and even IT systems supporting transport infrastructure. China was also hit hard by the attack, with 29,000 organisations in total falling victim to this particularly vicious form of ransomware.
Other high-profile targets included the car manufacturer Renault which was forced to halt production lines in several locations as the ransomware played havoc with systems.
What all the targets had in common is that they were running unsupported versions of Microsoft Windows, including Windows XP, Windows 8, and Windows Server 2003.
The ransomware worm is so potent because it exploits a known software vulnerability called EternalBlue. The Windows flaw is one of many zero-days which apparently was known by the NSA -- before being leaked by the Shadow Brokers hacking collective. Microsoft released a patch for the vulnerability earlier this year -- but only for the most recent operating systems.
In response to the attack, Microsoft took the unprecedented step of issuing patches for unsupported operating systems to protect against the malware.
Security services in the US and the UK have since pointed to North Korea as being the perpetrator of the WannaCry ransomware attack, with the White House officially declaring Pyongyang as the source of the outbreak in a report published in December.
However, North Korea has labelled accusations that it was behind WannaCry as "absurd".
No matter who was ultimately behind WannaCry, if the goal of the scheme was to make large amounts of money, it failed -- only about $100,000 was paid.
It was almost three months before the WannaCry attackers finally withdrew the funds from the WannaCry bitcoin wallets -- they made off with a total of $140,000 thanks to fluctuations in the value of bitcoin.
But despite critical patches being made available to protect systems from WannaCry and other attacks exploiting the SMB vulnerability, a large number of organisations seemingly chose not to apply the updates.
It's thought that this is the reason LG suffered a WannaCry infection in August -- three month after the initial outbreak. The company has since said it has applied the relevant patches.
The public dump of the EternalBlue exploit behind WannaCry has led to various hacking groups attempting to leverage it to boost their own malware.
Researchers have even documented how a campaign targeting European hotels by APT28 -- a Russian hacking group linked with meddling in the US presidential election -- is now using the leaked NSA vulnerability.
What is Petya/NotPetya/GoldenEye?
A little a month after the WannaCry ransomware outbreak, the world was hit with another global ransomware attack.
This cyberattack first hit targets in Ukraine, including its central bank, main international airport, and even the Chernobyl nuclear facility, before quickly spreading around the globe, infecting organisations across Europe, Russia, the US, and Australia.
After some initial confusion as to what this malware was -- some said it was Petya, some said it was something else -- researchers at Bitdefender came to the conclusion suggest that the outbreak was down to a modified version of Petya ransomware, combining elements of GoldenEye -- a particularly vicious relative of Petya -- and WannaCry ransomware into extremely potent malware.
Petya ransom note
Image: Symantec
This second form of ransomware also exploits the same EternalBlue Windows exploit which provided WannaCry with the worm-like features to spread through networks (not simply through an email attachment as is often the case) and hit 300,000 computers around the world.
However, Petya/NotPetya/GoldenEye is a much more vicious attack. Not only does the attack encrypt victims' files, it also encrypts entire hard drives by overwriting the master reboot record, preventing the computer from loading the operating system or doing anything.
The attackers ask for a bitcoin ransom of $300 to be sent to a specific email address -- which has now been shut down by the email service host. However, the way this very sophisticated ransomware was apparently equipped with very basic, non-automated functions for accepting ransoms has led some to suggest money isn't the goal.
Some have even speculated that the ransomware note was just a cover for the real goal of the virus -- to cause mayhem by irrecoverably wipe data from infected machines.
Whatever the aim of the attack, it significantly impacted the finances of the organisations that became infected. UK consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser said it lost £100m in revenue as a result of falling victim to Petya.
But that's a relatively modest loss in comparison to other victims of the attack: shipping and supply vessel operator Maersk and goods delivery company FedEx have both estimated losses of $300m due to the impact of Petya.
In February 2018, the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and others officially declared that the NotPetya ransomware had been the work of the Russian military. Russian denies any involvement.
What is Bad Rabbit ransomware?
October 2017 saw the third high profile ransomware attack of the year when organisations in Russia and Ukraine fell victim to a new variant of Petya ransomware.
Dubbed Bad Rabbit, it infected at least three Russian media organisations while also infiltrating the networks of several Ukrainian organisations including the Kiev Metro and Odessa International Airport - at the time, the airport said it had fallen victim to a 'hacker attack'.
The initial attack vector used to distribute Bad Rabbit was drive-by downloads on hacked websites - some of which had been compromised since June. No exploits were used, rather visitors were told they had to install a phony Flash update, which dropped the malware.
Bad Rabbit ransom note
Image: Kaspersky Lab
Like NotPetya before it, Bad Rabbit spread through networks using a leaked NSA hacking tool - but this time it was via the EternalRomance SMB vulnerability, rather than the EternalBlue exploit.
Analysis of Bad Rabbit shared much of its code - at least 67 percent - with Peyta and researchers at Cisco Talos concluded that this, combined with how it uses SMB exploits, means there's "high confidence" in a link between the two forms of ransomware - and that they could even share the same author.
Bad Rabbit was named after the text which appeared at the top of the Tor website hosting the ransom note. Some security researchers joked it should've been named after the lines in the code referencing characters from Game of Thrones.
How has ransomware evolved in 2018?
The likes of WannaCry and NotPetya helped ransomware achieve a high level of publicity during the first half of 2017, but despite - or perhaps because of - the success of these campaigns, the number of ransomware attacks dwindled in the second half of the year.
Locky and Cerber might have essentially disappeared at the end of 2017, but ransomware distributed by spam email still remains active with GandCrab now having taken up the role of King of this form of ransomware.
GandCrab first emerged in January and is notable for being the first form of ransomware to demand payment in Dash cryptocurrency. Those behind GandCrab aren't resting on their laurels and are regularly updating it with with new features - in July GandCrab's authors altered its encryption mechanism making it harder to break and also added the ability to infect Windows XP machines.
The decline in ransomware coincided with the rise of cryptojacking - malware attacks which secretly use the processing power of infected machines to mine for cryptocurrency. Cryptojacking doesn't provide an immediate pay off like ransomware, but it's much more subtle, enabling long-term campaigns and cuts out the need for crooks to get victims to pay up.
The rise of targeted ransomware
But ransomware hasn't disappeared completely - far from it - as both existing and new forms of the file-locking malware have continued to evolve new techniques and tactics in order to stay fresh and effective.
It's SamSam which has been the most notorious form of ransomware during 2018 so far, creating major headlines when Atlanta fell victim to a major attack.
SamSam attacks are thought to begin with attackers compromising remote desktop protocols to gain access to a machine in the network before seeking out known vulnerabilities to move laterally across the network. Only when as many machines as possible have been compromised is the trigger on the encryption process pulled.
Attacks are highly targeted, with a maximum of only around a dozen a month. It's a time consuming and hands on process, but one which pays off - attackers have made over $6 million in bitcoin in attacks which can cost victims over $50,000 in ransom payments. The campaign is still ongoing.
In August, a similar campaign emerged in the form of Ryuk ransomware. This ransomware - which appears to be derived from Hermes, a ransomware family linked to North Korea - is also highly targeted, with attackers deploying network mapping, network compromise and credential stealing to install the malware.
Within two weeks of first appearing, those behind Ryuk had made over $640,000 in ransom payments - which the largest single payment amounting to $320,000.
How much will a ransomware attack cost you?
Obviously, the most immediate cost associated with becoming infected with ransomware -- if it's paid -- is the ransom demand, which can depend on the type of ransomware or the size of your organisation.
Recent research revealed that a quarter of companies which paid a ransom paid over £5,000 to retrieve their encrypted data, while a further quarter paid hackers between £3,000 and £5,000.
The most common ransom paid amongst small and medium-sized businesses was between £500 and £1500, proving that there's still easy money to be made from targeting organisations of this size.
There are also examples of high-profile targets paying five-figure fees in order to regain access to their encrypted networks and their files, especially in cases where criminals threaten to delete data if they're not paid.
Ultimately, whatever the size of the company, time is money, and the longer your network is down because of malware, the more it's going to cost your business.
Even if you regain access to your encrypted documents by paying a ransom, there will be additional costs on top of that. In order to avoid future attacks -- especially if you've been marked as an easy target -- be prepared to invest in additional cybersecurity software and to pay for additional staff training.
There's also the risk of customers losing trust in your business because of poor cybersecurity and taking their custom elsewhere.
Why should businesses worry about ransomware?
To put it simply: ransomware could ruin your business. Being locked out of your own files by malware for even just a day will impact on your revenue. But given that ransomware takes most victims offline for at least a week, or sometimes months, the losses can be significant. Systems go offline for so long not just because ransomware locks the system, but because of all the effort required to clean up and restore the networks.
And it isn't just the immediate financial hit of ransomware which will damage a business; consumers become wary of giving their data to organisations they believe to be insecure.
How does ransomware infect your PC?
It's the modern enterprise's reliance on the internet which is enabling ransomware to boom. Every day, every employee receives hundreds of emails and many roles require these employees to download and open attachments, so it's something which is often done on autopilot. Taking advantage of employees' willingness to open attachments from unknown senders is allowing cyber criminals to successfully run ransomware campaigns.
Like other forms of malware, botnets send ransomware out en masse, with millions of malicious phishing emails sent every single second. Cyber criminals use a variety of lures to encourage targets to open a ransomware email, ranging from offers of financial bonuses, fake online purchase receipts, job applications from prospective employees, and more.
A spam email claiming the target has purchased a flight - complete with fake invoice containing the ransomware.
While some messages give away clues to their malicious nature with poorly-worded messages or strange return addresses, others are specially tailored to look as convincing as possible, and appear no different from any other message the victim might be sent.
Once the malicious attachment has been opened, the user is encouraged to enable macros in order to view and edit the document. It's when this is enabled that the ransomware code hidden within the macros strikes. It can encrypt files in seconds, leaving the victim with a ransom note demanding a payment ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in order to get them back.
But it's not just email attachments you need to worry about: one recent malvertising campaign managed to infect PCs with ransomware without users even clicking on the malicious adverts. Visiting the compromised website was enough to be infected, because the hackers deploying the Astrum exploit kit to leverage an old Flash exploit, according to a security firm.
Which organisations are targets for ransomware?
Any business can find itself a victim of ransomware, but perhaps the most high-profile incident occurred when the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles became infected with Locky ransomware. The malware infection left doctors and nurses unable to access patient files for days, until the hospital opted to give into the ransom demands of hackers in order to restore services.
"The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key," Allen Stefanek, CEO of the hospital, said at the time.
Locky is one of the most successful forms of ransomware.
Image: F-Secure
Hospitals and other healthcare organisations are popular targets for ransomware attacks, because they are often willing to pay. Losing access to data is a life-or-death matter for them -- and hospitals don't want to be held responsible for letting people die due to poor cybersecurity. However, there are even cybercriminals who think attacking hospitals is too despicable an activity.
But there are plenty of other sectors criminals will happily target, including educational institutions, such as the University of Calgary, which paid a ransom of $20,000 to hackers. Any large business is at threat and there's even the prospect of ransomware infecting industrial systems. There are even suggestions that ransomware could be used as a tool for cyber-warfare.
Why are small businesses targets for ransomware?
Small and medium-sized businesses are a popular target because they tend to have poorer cybersecurity than large organisations. Despite that, many SMEs falsely believe they're too small to be targeted -- but even a 'smaller' ransom of a few hundred dollars is still highly profitable for cybercriminals.
Why is ransomware so successful?
You could say there's one key reason why ransomware has boomed: because it works. Organisations can have the best antivirus software in the world, but all it takes for ransomware to infect the network is for one user to slip up and launch a malicious email attachment and discover all their files have been encrypted.
If organisations weren't giving in to ransom demands, criminals would stop using ransomware. But businesses do need access to data in order to function so many are willing to pay a ransom and get it over and done with.
Meanwhile, for criminals it's a very easy way to make money. Why spend time and effort developing complex code or generating fake credit cards from stolen bank details if ransomware can result in instant payments of hundreds or even thousands of dollars from large swathes of infected victims at once?
What does bitcoin and other cryptocurrency have to do with the rise of ransomware?
The rise of crypocurrencies like bitcoin has made it easy for cybercriminals to secretly receive payments extorted with this type of malware, without the risk of the authorities being able to identify the perpetrators.
The secure, untraceable method of making payments -- victims are asked to make a payment to a bitcoin address -- makes it the perfect currency for criminals who want their financial activities to remain hidden.
Cybercriminal gangs are becoming more professional -- some even offer customer service and help for victims who don't know how to acquire or send bitcoin, because what's the point of making ransom demands if users don't know how to pay? Some organisations have even hoarded some of the cryptocurrency in case they get infected and their files encrypted and have to pay in bitcoin in a hurry.
Globe3 ransom demand for 3 Bitcoin - including a 'how to ' guide for those who don't know how to buy it
Image: Emsisoft Lab
How has the popularity of bitcoin impacted on ransomware?
During the second half of 2017, the value of bitcoin surged, reaching a peak of almost $20,000 for one unit of the cryptocurrency.
This created a number of problems for those dealing in ransomware. In addition to the fluctuations in the value of bitcoin meaning the price of payments changes by the day - even the hour - the interest in bitcoin drove more people to buy into it. As well as surging prices, transaction fees also increased as did delays receiving payments, creating additional difficulty when paying -- and collecting -- ransom demands.
As a result, some cybercriminals have started to look towards other means of accepting ransom payments. One additional form of cryptocurrency ransomware distributors are experimenting with is Monero.
What is Monero and how is it changing ransomware?
Launched in 2014, Monero is far less high profile than bitcoin, making it quicker and simpler TO make transactions using it. For criminals, it also comes with the added bonus that it hasprivacy and security features which stop transactions from being traced back to users.
Forms of ransomware which have already been seen using Monero as a payment method in the wild include SpriteCoin - a form of ransomware which distrubutes itself to users via a fake cryptocurrency scam.
SpriteCoin ransomware demands payment in Monero.
Image: Fortinet.
How do you prevent a ransomware attack?
With email being by far the most popular attack vector for ransomware, you should provide employees with training on how to spot an incoming malware attack. Even picking up on little indicators like poor formatting or that an email purporting to be from 'Microsoft Security' is sent from an obscure address which doesn't even contain the word Microsoft within it might save your network from infection. The same security policies that protect you from malware attacks in general will go some way towards preventing ransomware from causing chaos for your business.
There's also something to be said for enabling employees to learn from making mistakes while within a safe environment. For example, one firm has developed an interactive video experience which allows its employees to make decisions on a series of events then find out the consequences of those at the end. This enables them to learn from their mistakes, and give you some protection against ransomware, without suffering any of the actual consequences.
On a technical level, stopping employees from being able to enable macros is a big step towards ensuring that they can't unwittingly run a ransomware file. Microsoft Office 2016 -- and now Microsoft 2013 -- both carry features which allow macros to be disabled. At the very least, employers should invest in antivirus software and keep it up-to date, so that it can warn users about potentially malicious files. Backing up important files and making sure those files can't be compromised during an attack in another key.
How long does it take to recover from a ransomware attack?
Simply put, ransomware can cripple a whole organisation -- an encrypted network is more or less useless and not much can be done until systems are restored.
If your organisation is sensible and has backups in place, systems can be back online in the time it takes the network to be restored to functionality, although depending on the size of the company, that could range from a few hours to days.
However, while it's possible to regain functionality in the short term, it can be the case that organisations struggle to get all systems back up and running -- as demonstrated by the Petya attack.
A month on from the outbreak, Reckitt Benckiser confirmed that some of its operations were still being disrupted and wouldn't be fully up and running until the end of August -- two months on from the initial Petya outbreak.
FedEx said that it may not be able to recover all the systems affected by the Petya cyberattack, meaning that while the company is back up and running, some machines won't ever be able to be restored.
Outside of the immediate impact ransomware can have on a network, it can result in an ongoing financial hit. Any time offline is bad for a business as it ultimately means the organisation can't provide the service it sets out to -- and can't make money -- but the longer the system is offline, the bigger that can be.
That's if your customers want to do business with you: in some sectors, the fact you've fallen victim to a cyberattack could potentially drive customers away.
How do I remove ransomware?
The 'No More Ransom' initiative -- launched in July 2016 by Europol and the Dutch National Police in collaboration with a number of cybersecurity companies including Kaspersky Lab and McAfee -- offers free decryption tools for ransomware variants to help victims retrieve their encrypted data without succumbing to the will of cyber extortionists.
Initially launching as a portal offered portal offers decryption tools four for families of ransomware -- Shade, Rannoh, Rakhn, and CoinVault -- the scheme is regularly adding more decryption tools for even more versions of ransomware including Crypt XXX, MarsJoke, Teslacrypt, Wildfire and Nemucod.
The portal -- which also contains information and advice on avoiding falling victim to ransomware in the first place -- is updated as often as possible in an effort to ensure tools are available to fight the latest forms of ransomware.
No More Ransom has grown from offering a set of four tools to carrying 52 decryption tools covering hundreds of families of ransomware. So far, these tools have decrypted tens of thousands of devices, depriving criminals of millions in ransoms.
The platform is now available in over 29 languages with more than 100 partners across the public and private sectors supporting the scheme.
The No More Ransom portal offers free ransomware decryption tools.
Image: Europol
Individual security companies also regularly release decryption tools to counter the ongoing evolution of ransomware -- many of these will post updates about these tools on their company blogs as soon as they've cracked the code.
For example, another decryption tool was recently released which may be able to help if your PC has been hit by one of the original versions of the Petya malware -- the so-called Red Petya, Green Petya, and GoldenEye -- and may enable you to recover the lost files (although it can't help with PetrWrap or those hit by the Petya/NotPetya global attack). However, these tools don't always work so it is always wise to make additional backups.
Another way of working around a ransomware infection is to ensure your organisation regularly backs up data offline. It might take some time to transfer the backup files onto a new machine, but if a computer is infected and you have backups, it's possible just to isolate that unit then get on with your business. Just make sure that crypto-locking crooks aren't able to encrypt your back-ups too.
Should I pay a ransomware ransom?
There are those who say victims should just pay the ransom, citing it to be the quickest and easiest way to retrieve their encrypted data -- and many organisations do pay even if law enforcement agencies warn against it.
But be warned: if word gets out that your organisation is an easy target for cybercriminals because it paid a ransom, you could find yourself in the crosshairs of other cybercriminals who are looking to take advantage of your weak security. And remember that you're dealing with criminals here and their very nature means they may not keep their word: there's no guarantee you'll ever get the decryption key, even if they have it. Decryption isn't even always possible: there are stories of victims making ransom payments and still not having encrypted files unlocked.
For example a type of ransomware targeting Linux discovered earlier this year demanded a bitcoin payment but did not store encryption keys locally or through a command-and-control server, making paying the ransom futile at best.
Latest ransomware trends
Ransomware is continually evolving, with an increasing number of variants now engaging in additional activities such as stealing data or weakening infected computers in preparation for future attacks.
Researchers even warn that ransomware could soon hold whole operating systems hostage, to such an extent that the only two options available to the user would be to pay, or to lose access to the entire encrypted system.
And ransomware isn't just a problem for Windows PCs; Apple Macs are vulnerable to it too.
Can you get ransomware on your smartphone?
Absolutely. Ransomware attacks against Android devices have increased massively, as cybercriminals realise that many people aren't aware that smartphones can be attacked and the contents (often more personal than the stuff we keep on PCs) encrypted for ransom by malicious code. Various forms of Android ransomware have therefore emerged to plague mobile users.
In fact, any internet-connected device is a potential target for ransomware, which has already been seen locking smart TVs.
Researchers demonstrate ransomware in an in-car infotainment system.
Image: Intel Security
Ransomware and the Internet of Things
Internet of Things devices already have a poor reputation for security. As more and more of these make their way onto the market, they're going to provide billions of new attack vectors for cybercriminals, potentially allowing hackers to hold your connected home or connected car hostage. An encrypted file is one thing: but what about finding a ransom note displayed on your smart fridge or toaster?
There's even the potential that hackers could infect medical devices, putting lives directly at risk.
In March 2018, researchers at IOActive took this once step further by demonstrating how a commercially available robot could come under a ransomware attack. In addition to making the robot verbally demand payment in order to be returned to normal, researchers also made it issue threats and swear.
As ransomware continues to evolve, it's therefore crucial for your employees to understand the threat it poses, and for organisations to do everything possible to avoid infection, because ransomware can be crippling and decryption is not always an option.
Read more about ransomware
Surviving ransomware - without losing customers
Ransomware, DDoS now top threats as hackers look for big paydays
The horror! Mac users must beware of ransomware (like everyone else) [CNET]
Locky ransomware: How this malware menace evolved in just 12 months
I infected my Windows computer with ransomware to test RansomFree's protection [TechRepublic]
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Wikimedia Blog/Drafts/EnWP 4 Million Article Milestone
< Wikimedia Blog | Drafts
This page is currently a draft. More information pertaining to this may be available on the talk page. Translation admins: Normally, drafts should not be marked for translation.
This is now published on the WMF blog here:
http://blog.wikimedia.org/2012/07/13/english-wikipedia-crosses-4-million-article-milestone/
As you are very likely aware, English Wikipedia is, as of this writing, at 3,999,181 articles and should be reaching 4 million pretty soon. This is a massive milestone that the Wikimedia Foundation wants to be sure is celebrated in its blog, as it did the 3 millionth. Since it's an English Wikipedia specific accomplishment, they felt like it might be appropriate to bring the community in on writing up the event. Help us document this for our blog readers! This is open for editing in the usual manner of our work, but anybody with an interest in contributing who doesn't want to edit directly is also welcome to add suggestions or comments at the talk page there. By-lines, of course, for all major contributors...unless you'd rather opt out.
EnWP 4 Million articlesEdit
English Wikipedia now has 4 million articles
The 4 millionth article was Izbat Al Burj.
The person who created the article was User:Meno25.
English WP passed 1M articles (Jordanhill railway station) on March 1, 2006, 2M articles (El Hormiguero) on September 13, 2007 and 3M articles (Beate Eriksen) on August 17, 2009.
English Wikipedia is the largest Wikipedia, but several others have passed the 1M article milestone. [add dates for when they did?]
The next to pass the milestone will be [add here?]
Despite this large number, it doesn't mean there is no more work to do. The WikiProjects have rated more than 3.5M of the articles and have designated the priority areas for article improvement. Please jump in and help.
If you are interested in stats, there is a whole lot more at http://stats.wikimedia.org/ / http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/ / http://reportcard.wmflabs.org/geo en:Wikipedia:Milestones....
Other angles?
For comparison: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2009/08/17/3000000/
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Press_releases/English_Wikipedia_Publishes_Millionth_Article
Other potential points of interest: w:Wikipedia:Wikipedia's oldest articles; w:Wikipedia:Milestone articles
Per the known stats, around 100,000 are B or above, and around 225,000 C or higher, out of 3,300,000 which have an assessment.
Draft articleEdit
The article on Izbat Al Burj
Wikipedia has succeeded through the dedication of its volunteer editors, who have created over 22 million articles across 285 language Wikipedias in just eleven years. Today, the English Wikipedia, the largest of the Wikipedias, celebrated its four millionth article, a remarkable milestone.
The four millionth article was Izbat Al Burj (Arabic: عزبة البرج), a city in Damietta Governorate in Egypt, with a population of 70,000. The article was written by volunteer editor Mohammed Farag (محمد فرج), a former admin and checkuser on the Arabic Wikipedia and a former admin on English Wikipedia. Farag, whose user name on-wiki is Meno25, lives in Alexandria, Egypt.
"I am proud that I helped Wikipedia to reach 4 million articles and become the largest encyclopedia in the world," Farag wrote in an email. "With about only 20 000 good and featured articles, I believe that all of us Wikipedians should concentrate more on the quality of the encyclopedia rather on the number of its articles."
Though 4 million articles is a very large number, there is a great deal of work to be done. There are also new topics emerging each day which deserve coverage, and in a best case scenario, the great majority of Wikipedia articles could do with some improvement. Only about 20,000 articles out of these four million have been given good or featured article status, which are assessment grades given by editors based on comprehensiveness, research quality, and writing style. They are awarded to articles only after they undergo a peer review process.
English Wikipedia celebrated the one millionth article on 1 March 2006 (Jordanhill railway station), and reached the 2 million milestone on 9 September 2007 (El Hormiguero) and 3 million on 16 August 2009 (Beate Eriksen). The German Wikipedia reached one million articles on 27 December 2009, the French Wikipedia on 21 September 2010, and the Dutch Wikipedia on 17 December 2011. The Italian, Spanish and Polish Wikipedias are all near the 1 million article mark as well.
Other articles created near the four millionth include articles on highways in Idaho and Ontario, such as Idaho State Highway 48, the Siersza Power Station in Poland, Mushtum, an Uzbek humor magazine, Albert C. Baker, an early 20th-century American judge, Brazilian cruiser Rio Grande do Sul, an early 20th-century warship, and Intelsat 605, a satellite launched in 1991.
Wikipedia, and the other Wikimedia Foundation projects, aim to provide accurate and useful information to every person around the globe. This is being accomplished by the generous support of volunteers who provide their time, knowledge and expertise to the projects. While we celebrate what is certainly a major milestone, consider joining our community and helping to fill the admitted gaps in our coverage.
Retrieved from "https://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikimedia_Blog/Drafts/EnWP_4_Million_Article_Milestone&oldid=7411671"

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Little Rock, Ark. – The Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) urges Arkansans to stay home if they have a fever or other symptoms that could be flu-related.
(Little Rock, Ark.) – On November 26th, the major U.S. tobacco companies started running ads in the Little Rock Sun and nationally telling the American people some of the truths about the deadly consequences of smoking and secondhand smoke.


The 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed wrapped up on Sunday, and the show was truly unforgettable. The 25th anniversary edition of Goodwood may be the best version yet, and has certainly cemented the Festival of Speed as one of the best automotive events out there. We've compiled a list of the five best moments from this year's celebration of all things fast.
Narrowing down the most notable bits from this year's FOS is admittedly a difficult task, as so much cool stuff happened during the four days of Goodwood. Formula 1 cars, American stock cars, Formula Drift builds, and other legendary race cars all participated in the Goodwood Hillclimb together. Countless manufacturers debuted new cars at the festival, most in style. For this list, we've chosen our favorite moments, ones that defined Goodwood this year and will be remembered for festivals to come.
After setting a new overall record time at Pikes Peak last month, Romaine Dumas and the Volkswagen I.D.R hillclimb car headed to England to chase the electric car record at the Goodwood Hillclimb. Not only did the I.D R beat that record, but its 43.86-second run was the fastest during the timed shootout on Sunday, and the third fastest time ever. Strangely, the I.D. R stormed up the hill 0.81 seconds faster than that in Saturday's qualifying session. Below is the car's official lap during the timed shootout.
The Roborace Robocar, a fully-autonomous, fully-electric race car made history on Friday by being the first car to successfully make it up the complex Goodwood Hillclimb...with no driver. With an arsenal of sensors and an artificial intelligence program at its disposal, the Robocar navigated the 1.16-mile course with no hiccups and at a reasonable speed. It's lap wasn't half as fast as some of the cars that made the drive, but for now we aren't comfortable with a driverless car tackling its maiden hillclimb at full throttle.
A 2 minute, 24.5-second run doesn't seem like a fast time up the Goodwood Hillclimb, especially for something on two wheels. That is, unless stunt driver Terry Grant is involved. Driving a car nearly on its side has become a tradition at the Festival of Speed for Grant, and this year he took another record for fastest mile completed by a car on two wheels, using a Range Rover Sport SVR. Grant had crashed at the flint wall while attempting the run earlier in the day, but luckily the car wasn't even scuffed and he took the title in the video below.
Land Rover is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, and its birthday festivities include gathering 70 loyal owners and their cars for a leisurely drive up the Goodwood Hillclimb, which occurred on Thursday. The star-studded cast of 4x4s included the first ever Land Rover prototype (1947 Hue 166) and one of the last Defenders to roll off the production line. The 10-minute video below is sure to make any Land Rover enthusiast beam.
At the beginning of 2018, the second of the two original 1968 Dark Highland Green Mustangs piloted by Steve McQueen in Bullitt resurfaced, and went on display at the North American International Auto Show to celebrate the debut of the all-new Mustang Bullitt. Both cars reunited at the 2018 Festival of Speed for a run up the hill.
We've barely scratched the surface of all of the interesting cars, moments, people, and records that the 2018 Festival of Speed brought us. What was your favorite thing at Goodwood this year?


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Alnylam licenses away hot PCSK9 prospect in 'small' $205M deal
The Medicines Co. ($MDCO) has bought into one of the most exciting cardio drug targets in biotech, licensing a PCSK9 candidate from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals ($ALNY) for $25 million upfront and up to $180 million in milestones, the companies said today.
Taking out PCSK9 proteins robs the body of a key ingredient for cholesterol synthesis, reducing "bad" LDL cholesterol and lowering risk of heart disease. That is the promise that drives some of the biggest drugmakers on earth bonkers about this target.
While others such as Sanofi ($SNY) and Amgen ($AMGN) are pursuing monoclonal antibodies to inhibit PCSK9 proteins, Alnylam's ALN-PCS program is focused on injected RNA interference drugs that aim to silence a gene to shut down production of the protein at the source. And the drugs offer a way to combat high cholesterol in patients who don't respond to popular statins such as Pfizer's ($PFE) Lipitor and AstraZeneca's ($AZN) Crestor.
The Cambridge, MA-based biotech is handing over development of the program to The Medicines Co. after producing positive Phase I data for ALN-PCS02 in healthy volunteers with high cholesterol. The Medicines Co., which sells the anticlotting drug Angiomax, is expected to fund and handle future development and potential commercialization, with Alnylam eligible for double-digit royalties.
The Medicines Co. starts a ways behind Sanofi and Regeneron's ($REGN) candidate and Amgen's contender now in Phase III trials. As The New York Times' Andrew Pollack noted, this could explain the relatively "small" financials involved in the deal despite the heated interest in the target.
Yet Alnylam CEO John Maraganore, who had planned to license out the PCSK9 drug while his company focuses on its orphan disease programs, has notched another win for his strategy to advance more RNAi drugs from the company through either internal clinical development or partnerships.
The deal also brings up Maraganore's role as inventor of Angiomax during his days as a scientist at Biogen Idec ($BIIB), which licensed the drug to The Medicines Co.
- here's the release
- check out Pollack's article
J&J buys into Bristol-Myers cardiovascular disease program
The deal gives J&J a stake in the development and commercialization of anticoagulants including phase 2-ready secondary stroke candidate BMS-986177.
by Nick Paul Taylor Apr 17, 2018 8:40am
Boehringer, OSE tie up in I-O deal that could total more than $1.4B
Boehringer gained the global rights to OSE's SIRP-alpha antagonist, which is in development for solid tumors.
by Amirah Al Idrus Apr 4, 2018 3:08pm
Eli Lilly ponies up $63M for Sigilon's diabetes cell therapies
Lilly is diving into encapsulated beta cell treatments, designed to restore insulin production in patients with Type 1 diabetes.
by Amirah Al Idrus Apr 4, 2018 10:21am


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Partly cloudy this morning, then becoming cloudy during the afternoon. High 41F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..
YMCA members, Riley Gruntorad, left and Amy Adams, right, volunteering their time at Give BIG Lex.
For the good, for the better of the community: Give BIG Lexington 2019
LEXINGTON — At 9:43 a.m. the number was at $85,664 and it continued to grow.
It is one of the most unique days of the whole year in Lexington. Give BIG Lexington, held by the Lexington Community Foundation, sees an outpouring of support for community organizations, businesses and projects.
At the Dawson County Annex Building, volunteers were busy since the early morning tabulating amounts, and plugging them into the appropriate location and would be doing so until the evening.
Orthman Community YMCA branch director Riley Gruntorad was one of the volunteers.
When asked about the YMCA being a part of the Give Big event, he said, "The YMCA is a community organization, we are here to help build a better community. We are proud to be a part of this today, we want to make an impact in the community, this is an amazing day for all of us."
Seated next to the YMCA branch director was associate executive director Amy Adams.
"The (Lexington Community Foundation) gives so much, it's nice to have the opportunity to give our time back to the foundation," Adams said.
Another volunteer was seated at a table quickly handling stacks of cash from donations which had come in. Lexington Regional Health Center Director of Finance Tara Naprstek said "It is important for LRHC to give back to the community which gives so much back to us."
Naprstek has been volunteering at Give BIG Lexington for the last three years.
When asked why she volunteers she said, "I enjoy the interaction with the community members. Everyone from kids to seniors is giving a little to help us all give big."
In the morning, the causes and organizations with the highest number of donations were the Dawson County Area Hero Flight, the Orthman Community YMCA, Johnson Lake Trails and the Lexington Veterans Pavilion.
By 9:52 a.m. the number had jumped up to $91,489 and it continued to grow.
Tara Naprstek
Riley Gruntorad
Give Big Lexington
Orthman Community Ymca


Learn how the board assists and advises in reviewing applications for, suspension or revocation of, and conducting examinations and investigations concerning contractor's licenses.
View the process for which nonprofit organizations can apply for grant funding.
Discover how the board is committed to updating and accomplishing the goals of the town's Environmental Sustainability Plan.
Read how the board makes recommendations prior to the adoption of the budget and capital program for the town and renders additional recommendations or advice at the council's request.
Overview, minutes, members and more information on the parks, open space, trails, and recreation advisory board.
Information on the Town Council appointed PTRAB, its members, and their mission.
Find out how the commission advises Town Council on all matters related to growth and development of land in Snowmass Village.
Access board information, including its responsibility to provide direction for cultural arts initiatives.


Cite this page: Gupta P. Adrenocortical carcinoma - myxoid variant. PathologyOutlines.com website. http://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/adrenocorticalcarcinomamyxoid.html. Accessed April 24th, 2019.
Cytochemistry: negative or focal weak staining with PAS and mucicarmine.


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Algeria: Sonatrach to Carry Out First Offshore Drilling End 2015
Posted on : Friday, 31st October 2014
Algiers — The national hydrocarbon group SONATRACH will carry out first offshore drilling by the end of 2015, announced Wednesday its interim CEO, Said Sahnoun, at the signing ceremony of contracts of the 4th invitations to tender for hydrocarbon explorations.
SONATRACH, which stepped up its exploration operations, "intends to drill its first offshore well by the end of 2015," said Sahnoun.
The oil group will carry out its first offshore drillings in the provinces of Oran (432-km west of Algiers) and Bejaia (265-km east of Algiers), chosen as offshore exploration areas after the seismic surveys on their territorial waters, said recently executives of the group.
The first drilling will be carried out by SONATRACH alone or in partnership but the decision will be made by the Ministry of Energy.
In Algeria, the offshore areas likely to contain hydrocarbon potentials are at depths between 2,000 to 2,500 metres, according to the results of the first seismic surveys conducted on the Algerian offshore.
An offshore drilling operation costs about US$ 100 million.
Source : ALL AFRICA


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Home We digitize and automate the financial industry. Discover more
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What we do Avaloq is a leader in core banking software and digital banking, providing SaaS and BPaaS solutions for banking and digital wealth management. Discover more
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Who we are Avaloq is driving the digital transformation and automation of the financial services industry. Over 150 clients trust us with $4,000bn in assets managed with our platform. Discover more
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Our latest news to keep you updated
PRIIP service: Avaloq and cleversoft conclude software partner agreement
The software providers Avaloq and cleversoft have finalised the software partner agreement for the standard adapter that will provide the Avaloq Banking Suite with regulatory documents.
As a leading international provider of banking software and services for the financial sector, Avaloq is expanding its service offering to include the standard adapter to cleversoft, an innovative and agile service partner, with the aim of broadening the scope of its services and thus providing greater benefits for clients using the Avaloq Banking Suite. All essential regulatory documents relating to shares, bonds, funds, structured products and OTC transactions, such as foreign exchange and interest rate derivatives as OTC transactions, can be made available via the standard adapter.
cleversoft will establish a bidirectional interface with the Avaloq Banking Suite via the standard adapter. In this way, it will be possible not only to retrieve regulatory PDF documents as needed but also to exchange specific transaction data and cost details so that OTC PRIIP KIDs and MiFID II documents can be drawn up on demand.
Process optimisation for our customers
According to Torsten Lange, Executive Director of Regulatory Services at cleversoft GmbH, "With the Avaloq standard adapter, we have set an important milestone for boosting process optimisation for our customers. By providing Avaloq connectivity, our aim is to support our customers in optimising their processes specifically with a view to ensuring the smoothest possible running of retail investment advisory and also of banks' treasury departments, where currency futures and interest rate derivatives are part of the daily business. We can thus meet the growing regulatory challenges and ensure process reliability and compliance at the same time."
The Avaloq group is an internationally leading fintech company. With its core and digital banking software, the Avaloq Banking Suite, and its international network of BPO centres, Avaloq brings trustworthy and efficient banking to the world, delivered through great user experience. With its integrated BPO services, Avaloq is the only independent provider for the financial industry to both develop and operate its own software.
Avaloq's growing ecosystem comprises:
over 2,000 employees (FTEs) from 66 nationalities;
3 R&D centres in Zurich, Edinburgh and Manila, and 3 BPO centres in Lugano, Singapore and Berlin;
More than 500 third-party developers that co-innovate with Avaloq;
155 banks and wealth managers in the most important financial centres worldwide which have chosen Avaloq technology to manage client assets worth over CHF 4,000bn;
270 Raiffeisen banks in Switzerland which are served by ARIZON, a joint-venture of Raiffeisen Switzerland and Avaloq with over 300 employees.
Headquartered in Switzerland, Avaloq has branches in Berlin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Leipzig, London, Lugano, Luxembourg, Madrid, Manila, Nyon, Paris, Singapore, Sydney and Zurich.
The cleversoft group is a leading provider of software solutions and full-service offerings for the financial sector with the aim of optimising and streamlining business processes. Headquartered in Munich with offices in Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Sofia, cleversoft currently has about 70 employees. cleversoft is a long-time specialist in the preparation of documents for banks, fund providers and portfolio managers, particularly for securities consulting, and the sales and issuing process.
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Legalising prostitution will increase trafficking: Maliwal
NEW DELHI: Calling prostitution as the "worst form of slavery", Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal on Tuesday came down heavily on pro-sex work groups and said legalising sex trade would only promote trafficking.
Posted: Jul 24, 2018 08:28 PM (IST)
Swati Maliwal. ANI file
Ananya Panda
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 24
Calling prostitution as the "worst form of slavery", Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chairperson Swati Maliwal on Tuesday came down heavily on pro-sex work groups and said legalising sex trade would only promote trafficking going by the experiences of other countries where such a move has led to an "increase" in exploitation and trafficking of women and children.
The remarks assume significance coming in the backdrop of a proposed anti-human trafficking Bill, tabled last week in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, despite the opposition by a section of legal activists and sex workers who want "consenting adult sex workers to be kept outside its ambit" saying the Bill is an attempt to criminalise sex work.
Maliwal also criticised their supporters and advocacy groups rallying for legalising sex industry asking if they would allow their daughters, sisters or wives to get into the business.
"I am strongly against legalisation of prostitution… Prostitution is the worst form of slavery and it will only promote trafficking. See worldwide wherever prostitution has been legalised there has been an increase in exploitation and trafficking," the DCW chief said adding that only poor women would be pushed into it if it gets legalised.
Referring to the red light area of the national capital, Maliwal said the life on GB Road is against civilisation as women there are often subjected to unimaginable level of sexual torture and how attempts to rescue trafficked victims by the DCW and some NGOs over the last three years have been foiled due to the alleged "connivance" of the Delhi Police.
"Brothels could not thrive barely 200 metres away from the local police station without the collusion of the police," the DCW chairperson added while questioning the "inaction" by the MP concerned on the matter.
Prostitution is not limited to GB Road, she pointed out adding that the commission which is getting complaints about sex rackets operating from spa centres in the capital, is trying to work closely with the police to tighten the noose around such centres.
Maliwal also demanded a strong law against politicians and celebrities who are known for making misogynistic statements that encourages rapes and supports a culture of violence in the country.
She also backed the recent law banning surrogacy in the country.
Nirbhaya Fund remains unutilised
DCW head Swati Maliwal was critical of how the Centre has failed to disburse the Nirbhaya Fund to states meant for installing CCTV cameras in police stations and buses, providing compensation and rehabilitating rape and trafficking survivors and setting up shelter homes, among others despite her several requests to PM Narendra Modi.
DCW chief lauds successes, spells way forward
Presenting the commission's work and initiatives of the last three years, the DCW chief lauded the successes in major legislation changes, including a recent ordinance prescribing death penalty to rapists of children below 12 years and mobilising people that paved in for reduction of age of juvenile in conflict with law to 16 under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015.
Fighting prostitution, drug and liquor mafia and ensuring strict implementation of the amended criminal law awarding death penalty to rapists of children are going to be the top three focus areas, said Maliwal, during her second term as DCW chairperson starting this week.
"One major achievement of the commission is women now repose faith in DCW whose efforts have contributed to major changes in country's laws," Maliwal underlined.
When asked about the DCW's work in gender sensitisation, Maliwal said she has been in talks with the education department to ensure that gender sensitisation exercises are not limited to good or bad touch and curriculum in schools are made gender sensitive.
Going by the DCW's data, it has dealt with 52,473 complaints in the last three years under Maliwal's tenure that is an increase of over 700 per cent against work done by the commission under the previous chairperson in eight years.


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Iraqi bombings
What difference do they make?
A new pattern of violence is emerging in the run-up to next year's elections
Middle East & AfricaDec 12th 2009 edition
BAD news from Baghdad inevitably seems to follow the good. Earlier this month the mood brightened when it was announced that fewer Iraqis had been killed in violent deaths in November than in any previous month since America invaded in 2003. (The toll was a still far-from-negligible 88, but a lot less than the 3,000 a month who were dying at the height of the sectarian bloodbath three years ago.) And then, after months of wrangling, an electoral law was finally ratified on December 6th, enabling a general election to be held early next year, probably on March 7th.
But just as the prospect of normality seemed at last to beckon, Baghdad was shaken by one of the year's bloodiest bunch of bombings. On December 8th five almost simultaneous explosions killed at least 120 civilians. Among the targets was a court complex near the fortified Green Zone, where the prime minister and parliament reside. Many young lawyers queuing for job interviews to be clerks were killed outside. Dozens of cars caught fire, causing a string of secondary explosions. Four other car-bombs went off elsewhere in Baghdad, hitting an interior-ministry compound, a law academy, some buildings used by the finance ministry since its old home was bombed in August and some buildings near Baghdad's big oil refinery.
It was unclear who the culprits were, but the presumption is an Iraqi Sunni group opposed to the gradual consolidation of Shia Iraqis as the country's ruling sect, albeit that the main electoral groupings in the election run-up are trying to create broad sectarian fronts to draw more Sunnis into the new establishment. The bombers may look to al-Qaeda for help and inspiration or they may hanker after a return to the authoritarian Baathist rule entrenched by Saddam Hussein.
In any event, a new pattern of attack may be emerging. Three years ago the country's Shia Arab majority in essence won a bloody sectarian civil war against the Sunnis, with militias pitted against each other; it is unlikely that anything like that will resume. Two years ago the sting began to be drawn from the Sunni insurgency, most intense in Anbar province to the west of Baghdad, when Sunni tribal leaders, under America's aegis, turned against al-Qaeda and began to accept the Shias' new dominance on the understanding that their people would be rewarded with government jobs and a share in the new security system.
Now the diehard insurgents, knowing they cannot overthrow the new powers in the land, are showing that they can still create mayhem by attacking soft targets such as government buildings. In August, six bombs near ministries, including the finance and foreign ones, killed around 100 people and wounded more than 500. In October two car-bombs by the justice ministry and the Baghdad provincial government's main building killed more than 155. This week's bombs were similar in type and intent, though minibuses rather than lorries were used; a ban on big vehicles in the city centre is more strictly enforced.
One of the bombers' aims is to deter people from voting. They are unlikely to achieve that, though fear may stop some from going to the polls. Another is to sow discord between the Shia elite and those Sunnis they are trying, with mixed success, to draw in. Some Shias accuse Sunni politicians of secretly pandering to the insurgents, even helping them, while others blame the Shia prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, who has set much store by his claim to have made Iraq, and especially Baghdad, much safer during his term of office.
This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline "What difference do they make?"
More from Middle East & Africa
Sticky authoritarianism
Uganda's violent election has exposed divisions of age and class
Six for the strongman
Yoweri Museveni wins Uganda's flawed presidential election
No cars, no roads, no emissions
The Line in Saudi Arabia is an urbanist's dream


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These speedy creations are perfect when you need last minute gifts or need to make lot's of them. All the patterns below are perfect for charity blankets as they all work up fast and look beautiful too. My favorite would have to be the Neutral tones Afghan.
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Zeus on Amazon
Zeus of Ithome
The true story of a people's struggle to free themselves from three centuries of slavery
A finalist in the 2014 Chaucer Awards for Historical Fiction
Published by Crooked Cat, November 2013.
Scroll down for a Summary, Excerpts and Reviews
Greece, 373 BC. For three centuries, the Messenian people have been brutally subjugated by their Spartan neighbours and forced to work the land as helot slaves.
Diocles, a seventeen-year-old helot, has known no other life but servitude. After an encounter with Spartan assassins, he is forced to flee, leaving behind his family and his sweetheart, Elpis.
On Mount Ithome, the ancient sanctuary of the Messenians, he meets Aristomenes, an old rebel who still remembers the proud history of their people and clings to a prophecy that they will one day win back their freedom.
A forlorn hope, perhaps. But elsewhere in Greece, there are others too who believe it is time that the power of Sparta was broken.
The Setting: Southern and Central Greece in the third century BC. The Messenian people in the South-west of the Peloponnese peninsula were conquered by their Spartan neighbours 300 years ago and have been kept in brutal subjection as 'helot' slaves ever since, despite several revolts. Sparta currently dominates Greece, but other states resent its pre-eminence.
Diocles: A Messenian helot slave. Seventeen years old at the start of the novel, he has known no other life but slavery.
Aristomenes: An ageing Messenian rebel who lives a solitary life on Mount Ithome, the ancient sanctuary of the Messenians. He still remembers the proud history of their people and cherishes dreams of rebellion.
Elpis: Diocles' sweetheart. He hopes to secure their Spartan masters' permission for them to marry.
Epaminondas: A Theban general and politician (a historical character). He has no love for the Spartans and wants Thebes to challenge their dominance over Greece.
After an encounter with Spartan assassins, Diocles is forced to flee to Mount Ithome, leaving behind Elpis, his family and everything he knows. He falls in with Aristomenes, who is planning to travel to Delphi to seek advice from the oracle.
The pair travel north, but when Aristomenes is wounded in an encounter with some brigands, Diocles must go to Delphi alone. There he meets Epaminondas, who helps him evade capture by Spartans and invites him to Thebes to learn military and political skills. As war brews between Thebes and Sparta, he finds himself in Epaminondas' bodyguard, facing his old masters on the battlefield.
Soon the time will be right for Diocles and Aristomenes to return to Messenia and begin their revolt in earnest; and for Diocles to be reunited with Elpis, who has faced challenges of her own in his absence.
This is the very start of the book, where Aristomenes walks up Mount Ithome to commune with his god.
The old man made his way slowly up the winding path to the summit of the mountain. It was not yet dawn, and the faint glow in the eastern sky provided scant illumination to guide him. But it was enough. Though the path had been here for centuries, in recent years it had been his feet alone that had kept the grass from reclaiming it. They knew the way, even if his eyes could not see it. Gradually, the ground about him turned from black, to grey, to brown, and out of the gloom emerged his own long shadow, looming in front of him like the silhouette of some great god. The path began to level out, and soon he could see in front of him the columns of a ruined temple, pink fingers against the dark blue of the sky. He was tired from his long climb, but this sight raised his spirits, as it always did. He lived a solitary life: often months would go by between encounters with other human beings, but he did not feel alone here.
This was a poor home for a god, he observed sadly as he sat down to rest upon a cylinder of fluted marble that had once been the base of a great pillar. Like most of the others, that pillar now lay in fragments scattered around the small summit plateau. Plants grew over them, thrusting roots into many deep cracks. Nevertheless, he had no doubt that Zeus Ithomatas still lived here. Where else would Zeus of Ithome live but upon Mount Ithome itself? Certainly not in the mean, shabby little temple where he was now worshipped in the valley far below. His very name proclaimed his union with this mountain. His power was still strong here: why else would the Spartans forbid their helot slaves from visiting the ancient home of their great protector? He could feel the god's presence, particularly now, in the stillness of dawn, before even the birds had broken the silence with their song. It seemed to fill the air around him, to seep into every pit and crevice of those ancient stones. And he knew that the god was aware of his presence also. Zeus Ithomatas was listening, waiting.
Here, after encountering assassins of the Spartan 'Krypteia', Diocles is fleeing for his life
Above the olive grove, the mountain's lower slopes were scattered with trees and scrub that would afford some cover if he could get to them without being seen. He came to a dip in the ground, the valley of a small stream. Perhaps it was deep enough to conceal him? As he crossed the stream, he glanced back once more: he could not see the Spartans, so they could not see him. He made a sharp turn, following the stream uphill and out of the grove, hoping that they would continue to comb the lines of trees around the base of the mountain.
The slope was steep, and he tired rapidly. His pursuers would be fitter, stronger, faster. If they followed him up the mountain, he was as good as dead. But he could hear perplexed shouts below – for now, at least, they had lost him.
He pressed desperately on, zig-zagging to keep trees between him and the olive grove below. A few hundred yards ahead was a ruined wall of massive limestone slabs: if he could reach that without being spotted he could hide behind it and catch his breath. With the last reserve of energy remaining to him, he sprinted up the hill towards a gap in the wall. He reached it on the verge of collapse and fell into a ditch beyond.
After a few seconds Diocles stood up cautiously and looked over the wall. He could see nothing. The pale light in the sky was fading, and night would soon cloak him from the Spartan eyes entirely. But how could they not hear this pounding heart and the gasps for breath of his poor, despairing lungs? Sure enough, he caught the sound of falling rocks and shouts coming closer: they may not have seen him, but they knew that he had come up the mountain.
He turned to follow the ditch behind the wall: perhaps, once he had rounded the flank of the mountain he could double back towards the village and seek refuge in Elpis's house? But before his exhausted legs could make even one more step, suddenly a hand closed over his mouth and he felt himself falling backwards. Then there was an explosion of light, and all was still.
In this passage Diocles and Aristomenes are trying to cross the Gulf of Patras to get to the town of Naupactus.
As they approached a boatman, Aristomenes whispered: "I will try to haggle with this man. We will need our money to buy a gift for the oracle at Delphi." Then he addressed the boatman with a smile:
"Good sir, how much will you charge to ferry us across the straits to Naupactus?"
"Across the straits, two obols. It will cost you three to go all the way to Naupactus."
"Will you not take a poor old man and his grandson across for one obol?"
The boatman scrutinised Aristomenes with contempt.
"For one obol I will take you halfway across. You may swim the rest, and have a wash into the bargain. I will not charge you for that."
Diocles expected Aristomenes to explode with anger. Instead he merely replied courteously.
"I am sorry to have troubled you sir. I shall talk to some of your colleagues over there."
The boatman shrugged. "As you wish. You will get the same price from them. Even two obols a trip is barely enough to put bread on the table around here."
"You surprise me. I would have thought that with such a fine boat as this you would dine on meat more often than not."
"Meat? There are not enough travellers wishing to cross to allow us such luxuries. Once or twice a year, on feast days, if we are lucky."
"Then might you be interested in this fine fat hare?"
Aristomenes produced the hare with a flourish from his bag. The boatman squinted at it thoughtfully.
"Hare is good eating, that is for sure. But such a skinny animal will not go far between my six children. Nevertheless, as a favour, I will take you across the strait for your one obol plus the hare. It will provide me with a nice snack for tomorrow."
"I am sorry sir. I will see if some of your colleagues have smaller families who might like to dine on meat for an evening."
"Wait. I see that you have an injured leg. As a gesture of kindness, for the hare plus one obol I will take you all the way to Naupactus, to save you the trouble of the five mile walk along the coast."
Aristomenes and Diocles looked at each other.
"Shall we accept this gentleman's generosity?"
"It seems a shame that, despite his kindness, his family will not be able to eat meat tonight."
"You are right, Diocles. But wait. Two hares would surely be enough to feed the family would it not?"
At this, Diocles produced a second hare from his own bag.
"All right. You will make a pauper of me, but I will take you to Naupactus for two hares."
"And no obols," said Aristomenes pointedly.
At Delphi, Diocles enters the temple of Apollo to ask advice of the oracle
The priest led him into the main chamber of the temple itself, which was painted with scenes from the Greek myths and lit by many lamps, and thence into another small room. This was only dimly lit, and was bare apart from a painting of Apollo himself upon the facing wall. There was a grid in the floor at the far end of the room, through which a pale light shone, helping to illuminate the painting. Most striking, though was the powerful smell that pervaded the room. There were hints of smells that he knew – of laurel, and of barley – but they were mingled within an all-pervading, intoxicating aroma that was like nothing he had ever experienced before.
"What you smell is the breath of the earth itself, escaping from fissures deep in the rock, here at the very centre of the world. Those fumes help the Pythia to commune with the god and to see the future. She sits below us in the forbidden chamber, the adyton. It is time now for you to ask your question. You must speak slowly and clearly, and loudly, so that she may hear your voice through the grid."
In a trembling voice that somehow did not sound like his own, Diocles spoke the words that he had memorized:
"What must the Messenians do in order to achieve their freedom and to win back their country?"
There was a long pause, and then an eerie ululating sound, like the far-off call of some strange bird, began to emerge from the adyton below. As it became louder, it resolved itself into what seemed like words, but in no language that Diocles had ever heard. After a few seconds the word-sounds dissolved again into a tremulous wailing, which slowly faded away into silence.
Here, Diocles and Aristomenes are returning to Messenia by ship to begin their revolt in earnest, and Diocles sees his homeland again for the first time.
As morning passed into afternoon and Diocles sat eating bread and olives in the bow of the ship, they rounded a promontory, turning north at last on the final leg of their trip. On the horizon, dusted with the first snows of winter, lay the unmistakeable ridge of Taygetus, somehow seeming greater and more imposing from far away than it had ever done from an ox cart winding its way slowly up the mountain's massive flanks, bearing the harvest of Messenian fields to Sparta. He was glad to see it again, this first reminder of home, yet he was also glad that, for better or worse, he would never make that journey again.
At Aristomenes' instruction, the crew partially furled the sail, slowing their progress to a crawl, lest they arrive at their destination while it was still light. Anxious though he was about the trials and uncertainties to come, the last few hours on the ship passed interminably for Diocles, and when at last the sun passed out of sight over the hills to the west, he willed the line of shadow upwards until it swallowed the last pink-tinged morsel of Taygetus. Only then could he welcome the night that would shepherd them home.
"...Well-crafted and with an engaging narrative, Zeus of Ithome is interspersed with a detailed historical backdrop ... a well-researched novel intertwined with a heartwarming story that I would recomment to students of ancient Greece or any historical fiction reader interested in theis period." Lisa Perrat, Historical Novels Review.
"... the atmosphere of the time and the characters were convincing, the story draws you along nicely and the action is all pertinent to the plot ... I recommend it as a good read." Chris Huck, National Association of Writers Groups LINK Magazine.
"... a brilliant story waiting to be told. Combine this with Tim's writing style and you have one engrossing read. I don't often want to read books again but this one will be added to the list.
Any fan of historical fiction as a genre will love this and if like me you're interested in the history this will excite the taste buds." Dave's Book Blurg.
Sample Customer Reviews on Amazon (see book on Amazon UK for full list)
"Excellent, first class quality read. The author captures a real sense of time and place."
"This is a book with a wealth of classical history wrapped up in wonderful fiction. I really enjoyed T. E. Taylor's writing style - very engaging narrative interspersed with superbly detailed narrative backdrop. The Messenian landscape came to life, as did the other surrounding states as Diocles journeys around them. Though acknowledging it as a work of fiction, I felt I learned a lot about Ancient Greek culture and daily life, those details so well meshed within the story. There are many characters in the tale which kept me on my metaphorical toes, all well portrayed - some very likeable and some less so, making for a good balance. It's very easy to care a lot for Diocles and his mentor Aristomenes, the development of their characters so well rounded that I found Aristomenes' ageing very poignant.I read the initial taking up of arms as though looking over the shoulder of an untried Diocles: that raw youth who matures a lot in the ensuing few years. Towards the end of the story, I was still reading over Diocles' shoulder, but he was, by then, a vastly more competent and well trained soldier. The battles are well depicted, yet are not overtly bloody. There's an endearing general naivety about Diocles at the beginning which isn't really lost at the end- even though he has become such an important leader in the interim. This wasn't a book that I read quickly (and I am quite a fast reader) since I felt I'd miss too much if I didn't pay close attention.If you enjoy reading about ancient times, I really think you'll find a lot to like in Zeus of Ithome."
"I have just finished reading 'Zeus of Ithome', and I loved it. For me, both at school and University, Greek Ancient history finished with the end of the Peloponnesian War. This book has got me interested in the whole confused period of the 4th century, and particularly Thebes. I'm glad to know that Epaminondas was such a sound guy, and it's a pity there weren't a few more like him. But the most important thing for me was that it put the spotlight on the helots, slaves for centuries, but finally gaining their freedom, so that they could stop being Spartan slaves forever, and be free, to devote their time to fighting their enemies, as all free Greeks did at this time! I grew very fond of all the fictional characters, who fitted into the context so well. 'Zeus of Ithome' has that most important quality, which the best historical novels have to have: it really could have happened. The book is totally accessible to readers who have no knowledge of ancient Greek history, as it has a very helpful glossary. In fact it serves as an excellent introduction to the subject. Thanks for the pleasure this book has given me!"
"This is a terrific story, with pace, characters to care about and a wealth of fascinating information about a period in time I knew nothing about. It made me want to visit Greece and fish out maps and history books to see what happened next."
"Both highly enjoyable and educational, this historical novel provides the reader with a vividly imagined version of the rebellion by the enslaved Messenian helots against their Spartan overlords. I came to this book with no knowledge of the real events which inform the narrative; I finished it grateful for such an imaginatively engaging introduction to a stirring chapter in ancient history.The author successfully combines the gripping and moving personal story of the escaped helot Diocles with a fascinating evocation of the political and cultural world within which his young hero exists. Often humorous, humane throughout, this is a page turner with a difference."
"You might think that ancient Greece was too alien and complex a world to make a truly entertaining novel. But not to worry: Tim Taylor's lucid prose leads the reader painlessly into the midst of warring city states, slave rebellions and startlingly violent battles. It's pretty good fun, too. I finished the book entertained and, dare I say it, educated. An excellent read."
"This is an excellent story of a youth's journey to adulthood in ancient Greece. The setting is so well researched that I felt that while I was entertained by the tale I also learned about the time and place. I enjoy the added value of incidental learning from an author who I feel I can trust.The character development was skillfully handled, and I needed to know the outcome of the adventure for Diocles.The conclusion was a satisfying one, Always a bonus.Has Tim finished with Diocles? Is he going to have further giants to slay?"
"An ancient story of slavery is uncovered, and the ugly truth about the Spartan warriors is laid bare in this excellent historical novel.The true nature of the Spartans is revealed through the words of Aristomenes, who recounts the history of his people to Diocles, a Messenian slave, and they venture forth to seek guidance from the Oracle at Delphi for the liberation of their people from the Spartans.Diocles has a wooden carving of an eagle round his neck, the symbol of freedom, given by his sweetheart, Elpis. He does not fully understand the advice from the oracle at first, but makes a new friend in Epaminondas who embraces the idea of a Panhellenic League of free and independent states. But first, Thebes and the Boetian League must break the back of Sparta, aided by a revolt of the Messenian slaves.This is historical fiction at its best - explaining with lucidity the politics and military strategies in ancient Greece in a fast flowing style, which captures the simplicity of rural life in those days. And the bustle of political debate, the yells, catcalls and jostling between the factions put me in mind of parliamentary sessions nearer home...The Ancient Greeks were not ashamed to ask their gods for help before they acted. The survivors did not hesitate to show refreshing happiness and thankfulness for the lives of their comrades killed in battle defending their freedom. They thanked the gods for their sacrifices, followed by wholehearted celebrations of life, with wine and roasting meat.Thank you for this wonderful read, and I look forward to more from Tim Taylor."
"What a superb story. It's spell binding reading. Tim Taylor must have put hours and hours in researching his subject and then produced a most interesting and entertaining story. This really is the product of a fertile mind, I could not put it down."
"Tim Taylor takes a little known chapter of ancient Greek history (the revolt of the people of the Greek territory of Messenia against the Spartans in 370 BC) and weaves it into a human story in which his fictional characters interact with historical figures such as Epaminondas, Asopichus and Pelopidas. Messenia, in the south-west corner of the Peloponnese, had been under Spartan domination since 720 BC, apart from brief periods of independence following revolts in 625 BC and 464 BC. The novel opens in 373 BC, at a time when the power of Sparta is waning. Its teenaged protagonist, Diocles, has known nothing but a life of servitude. When his cousin, Leochares, is set upon on the way home from a banquet, Diocles instinctively strikes out at the assailants, killing one of them. Only then does he realise that the attackers are members of the Krypteia, a Spartan death-squad. An outlaw, he is forced to leave his home, his family and his sweetheart, taking refuge in the mountains and living on his wits, but promising to return, some day, as his people's liberator.The paucity of the historical evidence for the real historical events that lie behind the dramatic action of the book gives Taylor free rein for the exercise of his novelistic imagination. The most relevant source, on which he draws freely, is Pausanias's Description of Greece, written four centuries after the events themselves. The novel traces Diocles's journey through the Peloponnese and Boetia, to the Oracle of Delphi and on to Thebes, where he is befriended by some of the most powerful men of his day, and learns both the theory and the practice of the arts of war.Perhaps inevitably, given the age of the protagonist, the novel is as much a Bildungsroman as it is an epic tale of conflict and the struggle for freedom. Diocles learns as much about himself as he does about the harsh realities of the world around him. Perhaps the most touching dimension of this is to be found in the portrayal of his relationship with his mother, who he has always loved, but does not fully understand until his journey nears its end.There is an added poignancy, for those of us who have studied the Classical world, that comes from our knowledge of what Diocles and those closest to him, cannot know. The hard-won freedom of Messenia would last only a few decades, eclipsed not, as he might have feared, by a resurgent Sparta, but by the rise of a kingdom (Macedonia), and of a dynasty, of which he knows nothing.Zeus of Ithome is a superbly well-crafted historical novel, which shows the struggle of the individual against the tide of history but which, at the same time, through what it leaves out, reveals to us the ultimate powerlessness of the individual in a way that the ancient Greeks would well have understood. Even in the face of such powerlessness, they might have insisted, the struggles of the individual, whether the fictional Diocles or the mythical Herakles, have value in and of themselves."