DOE Rolls Out Hybrid "Energy Efficient "Cars

Wazzup Pilipinas!

The days of fuel-guzzling government agency vehicles are numbered.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is introducing the replacement of service vehicles of the national government offices with hybrid cars as part of its campaign to promote energy efficiency and clean air across the country.

At 10:00 a.m. on Friday, May 19 at the DOE Sunken Garden, the DOE will donate 24 Japan-made Toyota Prius (2017 model) to the Office of the President, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Finance, Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Budget and Management, Department of Transportation (DOTr), Department of Tourism, Department of Trade and Industries (DTI), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), National Economic Development Authority, Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and the Philippine National Police.

Eight (8) hybrid cars will also be given to government offices in Region 8 including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Science and Technology, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine Information Agency, Department of Transportation-Land Transportation Office, and the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council in support to the economic and social recovery of communities devastated by Super Typhoon Yolanda

“This Japan government-aided grant will jumpstart our drive towards our call to action to our fellow public servants to increase their use or patronize energy efficient technologies, including their official vehicles. We have to be the role model in this cause, so our people can look up to us and follow our lead,” said DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi.

Officials of the DOE's Energy Utilization Management Bureau and Japan’s Ambassador to the Philippines, Kazuhide Ishikawa, will turn over the hybrid Toyotas to the said beneficiaries.

Japan's Non-Project Grant Aid (NPGA) funded the acquisition of the Toyota Prius, which emits lower carbon emission. The hybrid car has an optimized fuel engine and electric motor to attain highest energy efficiency.

Bacolod Gets Ready for Color Manila's CM Blacklight Run

Wazzup Pilipinas!

After the recently concluded CM Challenge Cebu last May 14, that drew thousands in attendance; Bacolod folks who can’t wait for their turn to have that Color Manila experience, can now look forward to the next CM Blacklight Bacolod run, set to take place on the evening of June 3, 2017.

The run will be held at The District North Point, Bacolod, and is part of the 3-city CM Blacklight Tour that includes Manila and Davao City.

For a quick preview of what to expect, participants will be immersed in glow-in-the-dark vibrant colored powder in a series of color stations. They will also be wearing the CM Blacklight headlamps to heighten their blacklight experience. For Rockstar and Challenge categories, they will also have face paint applied on their faces.

Of course, runners can look forward to the signature Color Festival at the end of their journey, wherein everyone throws colored powder up in the air (and at their friends), while the latest beats are playing and everyone just dances to the music.

Participants can choose between three race distances - the 3K, 5K and 10K categories, and 3 types of kits - the Deluxe, Rockstar and Superstar kits. The Deluxe kit is priced at Php750, with the kit containing a singlet, costume prop, race bib, drawstring bag, finisher's medal and a color packet. The Rockstar kit, priced at Php1,050, comes with a drifit shirt, race bib, headlamp, drawstring bag, color packet and finisher’s medal. The Superstar kit, priced at Php1,500, comes with a drifit shirt, race bib, headlamp, 3 drawstring bags, headwear, CM sticker, color packet and finisher’s medal.

Fortinet Urges Organisations in APAC to Take Preventive Measures as Devastation of Massive Ransomware Attack Widens

Wazzup Pilipinas!

As Ransomware WannaCry and its variants continue their global ‘cyber-siege’ across multiple industries, Fortinet, a global leader in high-performance cyber security solutions strongly advises organizations in APAC region to take immediate steps to protect against the highly virulent ransomware strain.

“Fortinet’s FortiGuard Labs has been monitoring and analyzing threat telemetry gathered from over two million sensors around the world. WannaCry and its variants is a highly virulent ransomware strain which is capable of self-replicating. This ransomware is being referred to by a number of names, including WCry, WannaCry,WanaCrypt0r, WannaCrypt and Wana Decrypt0r. It spreads through an alleged NSA exploit called ETERNALBLUE that was leaked online in April 2017 by a hacker group known as The Shadow Brokers. ETERNALBLUE exploits vulnerability in the Microsoft Server Message Block 1.0 (SMBv1) protocol,” said David Maciejak, Director of Security Research at Fortinet.

"WannaCry has infiltrated thousands of organisations around the world, including many key institutions. This ransomware is especially notable for its multi-language ransom demands that support more than two-dozen languages,” added Maciejak. Fortinet’s tracking analysis shows that there has been an average of more than 4,000 ransomware attacks every day since January 1, 2016.

If an organization has been affected by ransomware, Fortinet strongly advise the following steps to be taken:

1. Isolate infected devices immediately by removing them from the network as soon as possible to prevent ransomware from spreading to the network or shared drives. 

2. If your network has been infected, immediately disconnect all connected devices.

3. Power-off affected devices that have not been completely corrupted. This may provide time to clean and recover data, contain damage, and prevent conditions from worsening.

4. Backed up data should be stored offline. When an infection is detected, take backup systems offline as well and scan backups to ensure they are free of malware.

5. Contact law enforcement immediately to report any ransomware events and request assistance

For organizations that have so far been spared a ransomware attack, Fortinet recommends that users and organizations take the following preventive measures:

• Establish a regular routine for patching operating systems, software, and firmware on all devices. For larger organizations with lots of deployed devices, consider adopting a centralized patch management system

• Deploy IPS, AV, and Web Filtering technologies, and keep them updated
   
• Back up data regularly. Verify the integrity of those backups, encrypt them, and test the restoration process to ensure it is working properly
  
• Scan all incoming and outgoing emails to detect threats and filter executable files from reaching end users
  
• Schedule anti-virus and anti-malware programs to automatically conduct regular scans.
• Disable macro scripts in files transmitted via email. Consider using a tool such as Office Viewer to open attached Microsoft Office files rather than the Office suite of applications
  
• Establish a business continuity and incident response strategy and conduct regular vulnerability assessments

“Fortinet addresses organizations’ cyber security challenges with an intelligent Security Fabric that spans the entire network, linking different security sensors and tools together to collect, coordinate, and respond to malicious behavior whenever it occurs,” said Maciejak. “Only by harnessing all their cyber defence resources in a coordinated way can firms effectively fight massive cyberattacks like WannaCry.”