Hi, my name is Holly and Welcome to Kalkine TV. You are watching the News
Beyond markets – a special show that will get you all the news that matters for the day.
First up on the show are news updates on lockdown to control the spread of the highly contagious
Delta variant of the virus in Australia. New South Wales reported its biggest daily rise in
locally acquired cases of COVID-19 for the year on Thursday. Officials are struggling to stamp out a
growing cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant in Sydney. The state reported 38 new
locally acquired cases in the last 24 hours. Of the 38 reported, 11 of them were infectious in
the community and nine more were not isolating for the whole of their infectious period. More
concerning still, from this 38, another group of eleven are now in intensive care and three
of them are critical. Though, the NSW government is still ‘aiming’ for the lockdown to end on July
16, but NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was contingent on the community following
the health orders. Both Berejiklian and NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant reiterated
that lockdowns would be necessary until NSW achieved a vaccination rate of 80 per
cent. Meanwhile, South-western Sydney remains an area of concern,
with the virus spreading throughout the Fairfield local government area. Because of the rising
cases, Sydney prepares for a third week of a lockdown. Total infections have neared 400
amid the largest outbreak of 2021 in the state, since the first case was detected in the city
more than three weeks ago. The first case was detected in a limousine driver who transported
overseas airline crew. A strict stay-at-home order had been enforced in Sydney since
June 26 for two weeks restricting people's movements and limiting gatherings. The lockdown
was extended on Wednesday until July 16 after restrictions failed to curtail the spread.
Moving on to the latest updates coming in from the Reserve Bank of Australia. The
country's top central banker said that Australia's unemployment
would need to fall further and hold in the low 4 per cent levels to lift inflation.
He is of the view that this outcome is not expected until 2024. The RBA has
announced massive monetary stimulus since last year to help boost jobs
and economic growth. Governor Philip Lowe said in a speech in Sydney said that it is
challenging to determine exactly when the spare capacity in the labour market will be
absorbed and, hence a sustained lift in wages growth is expected. While it is hard to be sure,
it is likely that the unemployment rate will need to be sustained in the low 4s for the Australian
economy to be operating at full employment. The jobless rate is currently at 5.1 per
cent. To help support the economy, the RBA left the cash rate at a historic low of 0.1 per cent
at its monthly policy meeting and reiterated it will not raise rates until it achieves its
employment and inflation objectives. The RBA's forecasts show Australia's economy
will continue to battle excess spare labour market capacity and mild inflation until 2024.
And now, its time for a short break now,
after the break we will get you more news updates that really matters.
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Welcome back after the break, I am Holly,
and you are watching News Beyond the Markets on Kalkine TV.
Moving on to some news updates from across the Tasman Sea – There are reports that Air
New Zealand is preparing for a busy July, with the airline operating 670,000 seats and
7,500 flights across its domestic network as a record number of Kiwis travel around the
country. Queenstown is the number one destination for Air New Zealand customers,
with 100,000 seats in and out of the picturesque destination. Regional hubs are also booming with
Nelson seeing 870 flights over the break, Napier and Tauranga are also proving popular for
adventure-hungry Kiwis. Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty said that Air New Zealand
crew are excited to roll out the welcome mat for thousands of families looking for a break. The
airlines have seen a 52 per cent increase in seats for this year's school holidays
versus last year. Domestic sales are so strong for July school holidays that the airline is intending
to operate 56 per cent more domestic flights than the July 2020 school holidays. During the holiday
period, Air New Zealand Lounges in the main ports will be serving child-friendly food, including
cake pops and customer-favourite mac 'n cheese. There will be a range of activities on offer to
entertain our younger travelers. The airline will also care for more than 7,000 children
travelling unaccompanied around the network during the two-week period, with the help of
the new Unaccompanied Minors Squad which is up and running across 13 airports this school holidays.
This news comes as a sigh of relief amidst the pandemic and lockdown concerns, On that
note – it is time for a short break,
we will be right back with more news that matters. After the break, there is
another news update on a ransomware attack and that is a concerning one.
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Welcome back after the break, I am Holly and
you are watching News Beyond the Markets on Kalkine TV.
Moving on to a concerning news update coming in for Kaseya customers. Between 800
and 1,500 businesses around the world have been affected by a ransomware attack centered on U.S.
information technology firm Kaseya. The hackers who claimed responsibility for the breach have
demanded $70 million to restore all the affected businesses' data, although they have indicated a
willingness to temper their demands in private conversations with a cybersecurity expert.
US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday the
ransomware attack scrambled the data of hundreds of small businesses worldwide,
including many in the United States centred on the Florida information technology firm Kaseya.
President Biden said it seems to have inflicted only “minimal damage” on American businesses.
REvil, a prolific, Russia-linked cybercrime syndicate, took credit for the breach.
This recent attack was another illustration of how
cybercriminals believed to be operating from Russia are running amok in the United States.
Well, the attacks have escalated recently.
Last month, REvil extorted an $11 million ransom
from meatpacker JBS after snarling its supply chain.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said earlier on Tuesday that senior U.S. officials would
meet their Russian counterparts next week to discuss the ransomware menace.
Now, coming back to the impact.
This attack had a global impact that didn't restrict
to the United States, and disruption was more severe in other countries.
In Sweden, many of the 800 grocery stores run by the Coop chain are still in the process
of recovering from the attack, which knocked out most of its supermarkets.
This attack impacted New Zealand too,
as Kaseya provides IT management software for Managed Service
Providers and small to mid-sized businesses - linking clients and partners in New Zealand.
In New Zealand, 11 schools and several kindergartens were affected
This attack also touched Australia, as reported. At
least three Australian MSPs and their customers have been affected
by the recent ransomware attack affecting Kaseya on-premise software.
Kaseya later confirmed this report, and one MSP had at least
300 customer sites hit with ransomware.
Ransomware
operator REvil, which is behind the attack, made the largest ransom demand of all time,
demanding USD 70 million to decrypt the 1,000-plus victims in the Kaseya ransomware attack
To thwart ransomware threats, the Australian federal government has provided advice for
businesses and users in Australia on how to counter ransomware attacks.
A special advisory, “Locked Out: Tackling Australia’s Ransomware Threat,” has
been prepared by the Cyber Security Industry Advisory Committee
and the Department of Home Affairs, aiming to bring awareness for all
Australians and their businesses on the current ransomware threat landscape.
Recommending organizations to, use multifactor
authentication, Keep software up to date, archive data and back-up,
Build-in security features to systems and train employees on good cyber hygiene.
Lastly, the advisory states that, all organizations should invest
more in their cybersecurity to tackle ransomware attacks.
And as we move to wrap up todays show, there are reports coming in on the NSW Education
Department being hit by cyber-attack hours after remote learning announcement. The
department was forced to deactivate its systems as a precaution after the attack,
which happened about 3pm on Wednesday, causing the online portals used by teachers to go dark
for more than 21 hours. NSW Education Minister Sarah Mitchell confirmed that the department
had been the victim of a cyber-security attack in a tweet issued on Thursday afternoon. Her
tweet said that she has been informed that the Department of Education has been a victim
of a cyber-security attack. As a precaution, all systems have been taken down. She
further assured those systems for teachers will be online ASAP
and students learning from home next week will not be impacted. So
unfortunately, a big week for cyber crime looks like. Hopefully all those affected will be able
to counter the attacks with cyber security measures. Ans hat is all from me on News
Beyond the Markets. Stay tuned for more updates on markets and economy on Kalkine TV Live.