The Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI) has just released its latest report on cyber threats and the protection of personal and business information. One aspect, which is particularly worrying for everyday computer users, is extortion malware or ransomware. This is used to extort money from the owners of infected computers.
The principle is frighteningly simple. Spread by infected e-mail attachments and via bogus websites, the attacks result in what are known as website infections or drive-by downloads. Common types of ransomware display a message on infected computers that appears to be from the police or other authority. It demands immediate payment of a fine claiming that illegal information was stored on the infected computer. It threatens that if payment is not made, all files on the hard drive will remain inaccessible. However, this type of malware is relatively benign as it does not cause any real harm to files on the computer and the block can be removed by relatively simple means. In most cases, the nuisance can be removed by with up-to-date antivirus software.
According to the MELANI report, much more serious is a CryptoLocker malware infection, which was introduced for the first time in Switzerland last November. CryptoLocker also encrypts all of the data on the hard disk and all other data devices connected to the computer, meaning that the victim can no longer access it. The accounts of individuals and businesses in such cases are dramatic: they have in some cases lost their entire digital past.
Copy-cat criminals have now developed similar malware. In return for a ransom, the victim should receive the decryption key for recovering their files. Although various antivirus products are able to locate and eliminate the malware, it is too late in most cases because the files on the computer have already been encrypted. Therefore, the real problem is not removing the malware, but recovering the original data.
There currently appears to be no realistic method for decrypting the data without the key that only the extortionist knows. Nevertheless, MELANI advises against giving in to the criminals’ demands and making a payment, “There is no guarantee that the criminals will actually send the victim the key that is needed to decrypt the files and there is every possibility that they will take advantage of the victim’s willingness to pay and demand more money.” The solution? Prevention not cure. Back up regularly on at least two separate devices in turn.

The number of new motorcycles registered in Switzerland increased by a staggering 15.1% in the first quarter of 2014 as compared to last year. Over 10,500 two-wheelers will now be taking to the nation’s roads. In the same period, according to Office fédéral des routes, 68,722 new passenger cars (voitures de tourisme) were registered – down by 4.7% from the first quarter 2013. But the figure may be misleading sentiment as the fall in registrations in the month of March alone was by an eye-watering 7.9% on March 2013’s figures. Gratifyingly for public transport enthusiasts, the number of passenger transport vehicle registrations rose over the quarter by 3.8% to 928.

An interim solution to the halt of Erasmus + has been given the all clear by the Federal Council at a meeting this week in Bern. In an announcement likely to be welcomed by academia, students and business alike, the Federal Council has agreed that costs of implementing an interim solution to maintain key elements of Erasmus + will be met from the budget of CHF 22.7m originally earmarked for the Erasmus+ programme. This temporary fix does not provide the full range of opportunities offered by Erasmus+. However, according to a government statement, “It ensures that Swiss participants enjoy as much continuity as possible until such time as Switzerland can again become an associate country in Erasmus+.”

Exchange programmes will be given priority, with 89% of the available funding going to fund this area. This means that the share of the budget dedicated to other projects is much lower than the amount allocated to full association to Erasmus+. The country will now set its own criteria regarding the projects to be funded and will award funds only to “excellent projects which meet the education policy objectives set by the Confederation and the cantons.”

The Federal Council has made it clear that it wishes Switzerland to regain full associate country status. The government also aims to re-establish its association to the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The Federal Council will draw up an interim solution on this issue at a later stage, once the situation with the EU has been clarified.

Bern is to reduce what it heavily terms as “VAT-related competitive disadvantages suffered by domestic companies”. It claims that services bought from abroad are often wrongly procured without VAT and are thereby less expensive for the buyer than domestic services. The government has therefore decided that in future, foreign companies must give a Swiss VAT number when selling services in Switzerland. Foreign companies will have to clarify their VAT liability in Switzerland. If a company’s turnover is more than CHF 100,000 globally rather than just in Switzerland, it will be liable for Swiss VAT.
According to government estimates, the additional receipts will be worth at least CHF 10 million a year.