Some entities in the UAE were caught up in the biggest hack of US government agencies, the National Cyber Security Council said on Monday.
Hackers gained access to the networks of several US government agencies and about 18,000 other clients of technology company SolarWinds by hiding malicious code in a software update.
Analysts have accused Russian hackers but Moscow has denied any role.
"The Cyber Security Council would like to note its acknowledgement of the SolarWinds attack, where it has proactively worked on the case in collaboration with relevant entities in the UAE, in order to investigate and assess what happened," the council told state news agency Wam.
"It has been shown that some UAE-based entities were attacked, and as such necessary measures were taken to deal with these incidents and secure constituencies.
"In parallel, the teams involved began communicating with SolarWinds and global partners from security organisations and technical service providers to follow progress on the matter, obtain information and act to contain the incident."
This month, Microsoft president Brad Smith said the attack "unfortunately represents a broad and successful espionage-based assault on both the confidential information of the US Government and the tech tools used by firms to protect them".
While about 80 per cent of the victims were in the US, others were hit in Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Israel and the UAE, Microsoft said.
On Monday, the council said it was "taking all precautions and procedures necessary to safeguard the UAE's digital infrastructure".
It called on public and private sectors to follow cyber-security guidelines, promptly update systems, protect networks and alert the national computer emergency response team in the event of an incident.
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Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
