Year: 2017

The Judiciary Police announced on 19^th May that it had arrested in Beja a seventh member of the group suspected of several crimes of robbery using violence and weapons in the Alentejo region in 2016.

In a statement sent to the Lusa news agency, the PJ South Board explains that the 38-year-old man has been “working together” with six other men aged between aged 21 and 57 who were arrested on 22^nd March, also in Beja, on suspicion of 12 crimes of robbery using violence and firearms and seven other robberies.

The man was identified and detained on Wednesday “for the alleged practice of various crimes of robbery and multiple thefts,” pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Ferreira do Alentejo, in the district of Beja. The operation was conducted jointly with the GNR and PSP.

The suspect was subjected to a first judicial interrogation at the Court of Ferreira do Alentejo on Wednesday, Lusa news agency reported.

According to the Judiciary, during the year 2016, in the Baixo Alentejo, the seven suspects, “resorting to physical violence and the use of firearms”, attacked individuals in isolated areas or entered their homes, forcing them to surrender their money, gold, cell phones and various objects.

“Also taking advantage of the lack of surveillance,” the suspects broke down doors and windows to enter homes and warehouses and seize valuables.

The first six men detained were subjected to judicial interrogation at the Court of Ferreira do Alentejo on March 23, which ordered the detention measures

They are 19 and 21 years old; the two young persons nicknamed  the “hugs and kisses thieves”, have now been detained by the PSP on suspicion of joining a group that walks around the city of Lisbon offering hugs and kisses to girls, some under physical coercion, to steal mobile phones, money and other personal items.

The Lisbon Metropolitan’s area is one of the areas used by the gang who also operate on the streets of Loures.

In all, PSP’s Public Transportation Security Division has so far recorded 15 robberies for the “hug and kiss” process.

According to the PSP, the two young people now detained have been remanded in custody.

Two others are also identified and the PSP continues to investigate all the activity carried out by the group.

The National Republican Guard conducted three operations during the visit of His Holiness, Pope Francis, on the occasion of the centenary of the Fatima apparitions, from May 1 to 14, namely to:

• Ensure the safety of (Operation “Pilgrimage Segura”),
• For the control of the borders (Operation “Border Guarded”, integrated in Operation “White Frontier” of the Service of Shepherds and Borders) and,
• For the prevention of incidents in the city of Fatima (Operation “Centenário”).

During the three operations, in order to fulfil the objectives, 17,336 military personnel were involved, namely:

• 8 392 in the Sanctuary of Fatima, surrounding area and access;
• 4 505 in border surveillance and control;
• 4,449 in support of pilgrims on their journey to Fatima.

Also involved in the three operations: were: 4 505 vehicles; 260 horses and 238 dogs.

Operation ” Centenary “

In Fatima, in terms of public order and  ensuring the safety of all participants in the pilgrimage and the celebrations, there was a low crime rate; only 29 crimes were reported (18 thefts by pickpocketing, one vehicle theft, four other types of robbery and six other crimes There were only five damage only traffic accidents, during the 10 days of the operation. And traffic flow was smooth, both in the city and in the accesses.

Operation “Border Guarded”

The GNR conduct of various patrols, provided surveillance along the land, sea and inland waterways, as well as at aerodromes and runways, with the aim of preventing entry into national territory of citizens, vehicles and means that could carry out or be used in hostile actions.

4 505 soldiers from various branches of the GNR carried out 1 457 border patrols, of which: 976 at border crossing points; 259 at sea borders; 166 at aerodromes and runways; 36 on river frontiers and 20 in rail transport.

The following were checked: 146 893 people; 87,833 vehicles;· 81 vessels and  20 trains.

Of these patrols, 63 people were detained in all these frontiers, especially: 34 for possession of a prohibited weapon; Three for money laundering; Two for drug trafficking; Two for illegal stay in national territory and one for fraud.

As a result of these patrols on various frontiers, the following were seized: 708 thousand euros in cash; 36.35 kg of hashish (equivalent to more than 72 thousand doses); Eight vehicles; 46 weapons and 40 rounds of ammunition.

Operation “Safe Pilgrimage”

This operation was carried out from May 1 to 12, with the reinforcement of the patrolling in the main access roads to the city of Fátima and its sanctuary, with the purpose of guaranteeing the safety of the pilgrims.

50,000 reflective vests and 300,000 leaflets from councils were distributed, Some 117,500 pilgrims benefited from the support and / or monitoring of the GNR military personnel during their trip to Fatima, and there were no significant accidents or incidents during the Pilgrimage.

The mobile application for iOS and android “APPeregrinos” was also created, with the objective of providing useful information in real time for those who went to Fátima.

Public administration and companies only had some disruption due to preventive measures, but were not damaged by WannaCry.

Public administration services, as well as Portuguese companies in general, were not hit by WannaCry, the ransomware that was the center of a large-scale international cyberattack. “The situation has been quiet; there have been malfunctions in some agencies, but only as a result of action to mitigate the problems,” said Pedro Veiga, President of the National Cybersecurity Center (CNCS).

The CNCS had operatives working 24 hours a day from Friday until yesterday. Cyberattacks have already affected 150 countries and 200,000 computer systems.

There are likely to be infected Portuguese computers, but at the level of large organizations there has been no major damage, rather than what happened in England, with the hospitals being hit. In Portugal, the disturbances refer to the temporary suspension of services such as e-mail in public organizations, as was the case of the units of the National Health Service. The computers were all disconnected on Sunday and when restarted they were limited use of e- Mail, in the case of those who had not yet implemented all security measures. But there was no record of any problems, according to the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, which maintain the same recommendation for access to e-mails. Also in Justice and Finance precautions have been taken but there is no record of any incident affecting the services.

“The mitigation measures were taken because there was a fear that the attacks would intensify at the beginning of the week, but it did not happen, there is calm, which does not mean that it is over,” explained Pedro Veiga, assuring that the CNCS keeps a yellow alert.

Europol warns that the attacks should not be over. It says it has reached “an unprecedented level” and will require “a complex international investigation to identify the culprits.” The task is not easy, as the director of the Unit to Combat Cybercrime of the Judiciary Police, Carlos Cabreiro, acknowledged. He added that the PJ is cooperating with the CNCS and with Europol itself to take all possible “precautions” to tackle cyberattack, whose degree of sophistication is “difficult to measure”, although it is “persistent and large “.

“We do not know the origin, it’s something we’re finding out,” he told Lusa Carlos Cabreiro, referring to the attack as a mass distribution of malware (software that infiltrates another computer unlawfully, causing damage)

The possibility of further attacks was also prompted yesterday by multinational technology services company Claranet, which advised users to upgrade systems, not open unknown attachments and turn off any equipment suspected of being infected.

The European Commission has assured that no community institution has been affected but, through its spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, stressed that “the use of cyberattacks for criminal purposes is a growing threat requiring a coordinated and comprehensive response by the EU.” Source Diario da Noticais

The expert who stopped spread of attack by activating software’s ‘kill switch’ says criminals will ‘change the code and start again’

The “accidental hero” who halted the global spread of an unprecedented ransomware attack by registering a garbled domain name hidden in the malware has warned the attack could be rebooted.

The ransomware used in Friday’s attack wreaked havoc on organisations including FedEx and Telefónica, as well as the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), where operations were cancelled, X-rays, test results and patient records became unavailable and phones did not work. As many as 70,000 NHS devices including computers, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, blood storage fridges and theatre equipment could have been affected.

But the spread of the attack was brought to a sudden halt when one UK cybersecurity researcher tweeting as @malwaretechblog, with the help of Darien Huss from security firm Proofpoint, found and inadvertently activated a “kill switch” in the malicious software.

The researcher, who identified himself only as MalwareTech, is a 22-year-old from south-west England who works for Kryptos logic, an LA-based threat intelligence company.

“I was out having lunch with a friend and got back about 3pm and saw an influx of news articles about the NHS and various UK organisations being hit,” he told the Guardian. “I had a bit of a look into that and then I found a sample of the malware behind it, and saw that it was connecting out to a specific domain, which was not registered. So I picked it up not knowing what it did at the time.”

The kill switch was hardcoded into the malware in case the creator wanted to stop it spreading. This involved a very long nonsensical domain name that the malware makes a request to – just as if it was looking up any website – and if the request comes back and shows that the domain is live, the kill switch takes effect and the malware stops spreading. The domain cost $10.69 and was immediately registering thousands of connections every second.

The attack affected mainly Asia and Europe and which originated in Brazil.  Portugal Telecom, which ensured that the attack had no repercussions or impact on services, activated a security plan, asking some workers to turn off the computer. Energy company EDP has cut its network’s Internet access to prevent possible cyberattacks and has ensured that no problems were recorded. Galp also said it was monitoring and monitoring the situation and reinforced security measures.

In France, Renault stopped production at several sites to prevent the spread of the global cyber attack. Deutsche Bahn, the German National Railway was hit, the ransom demand appearing on departure and arrival boards. In Sewden the local authority in Timra said about 70 of its computers were effected. In China some universities and secondary schools were hit and in Indonesia two of its largest hospitals were attacked.

The Judiciary Police is monitoring the situation and trying to understand the scope of cyberattack. Yesterday, the G7 finance ministers, who met in Italy, focused their attention on cybersecurity.

At the border inspections, 20 arrests were made, one for fraud, 14 for possession of a prohibited weapon and one for falsification.

Operation Fatima 2017, which was conducted for Pope Francisco’s visit to Portugal, on Friday and Saturday, took place with all normalcy and tranquillity, the Government said today.

A press release from the Office of the Secretary General of the Internal Security System stated that “during the visit of His Holiness Pope Francisco to Portugal ends,” the Cabinet, “on behalf of all security forces and services involved in the Operation Fatima 2017, reiterates that everything was went fully as planned, with total normalcy and tranquillity. ”

The note adds that from 00:00 from Friday to 24:00 of the same day, in the area of ​​protection and relief, 927 pilgrims were assisted, 88 prehospital emergencies were and 18 transports transportations were undertaken to hospitals.

The statement added that in the scope of the reinstatement of the documentary control of people at the borders (land, sea and air), 66,372 people were checked, with 23 refusals for documentary reasons.

There were 62,953 inspections: 39,929 people, 23,001 vehicles, 18 boats and five trains.

The information adds that 20 arrests were made, most notably one for crime of fraud, 14 for possession of a prohibited weapon and one for falsification of a technical notation.

A total of three vehicles, 16 blank weapons, 40 rounds of ammunition and 1,650 euros were seized

Pope Francisco ended a two-day visit to Portugal on 13^th May celebrating the Centenary of the Apparitions and canonizing two of the shepherd children of Fatima.

A young Russian who persuaded children to enter the game is accused of inciting 16 teenagers to commit suicide

The 21-year-old who was accused of inciting 16 girls to commit suicide in Russia and is suspected of having created the Blue Whale game, said he was “cleaning up society.” Philipp Budeikin confessed to the crimes to the police and said that his victims were “biological garbage” and that they were “happy to die”.

The online game Blue Whale has worried authorities in several countries by the way it ends: the participant commits suicide.

Philipp Budeikin, also known as Phillipp Lis (Lis means fox, in Russian), was arrested in November in Russia. Since then, the young man has received several love letters from teenage girls who say they are in love with him, according to the Daily Mail .

By law, the Russian authorities can not prevent Phillipp from responding to the letters by contacting the teenagers.

Anton Breido of the Russian investigative committee said Phillipp Lis “knew exactly what he had to say to get the result he wanted” with the victims. “It started in 2013 and since then it has improved tactics and corrected its mistakes,” said the researcher, adding that Lis and partners lured children to social networks with videos.

“Their mission was to attract as many children as possible and then find out which would be the most susceptible to psychological manipulation,” the investigator quoted by the Daily Mail as saying .

A Chinese citizen was detained on 11th May 2017 at the Caia border in Elvas, in possession of 266,000 euros in cash, after the GNR announced the arrest of two other Chinese citizens holding 480,000 euros.

A citizen of Chinese nationality was detained by the GNR in possession of 266 thousand euros and the vehicle in which he was driving was seized during the control of the border of Caia that takes place under the “Operation White Frontier”.

The Supreme Court of Justice (STJ) has sentenced to 14 years of prison for the leader of a “gang” that was dedicated to the drug trafficking in the city of Oporto.

In a note published on Thursday 11^th May , the Oporto District Attorney General’s Office states that the Constitutional Court did not grant an appeal filed by the defendant, so that the sentence imposed by the STJ is maintained.

In the first instance, the defendant had been sentenced to 10 years for an aggravated drug trafficking crime and two crimes of active corruption.

The Court of Appeal upheld the sentence for 16 years in prison and the STJ eventually fixed it at 14.

In the same case, the defendant’s son was sentenced to six and a half years in prison.

The events occurred between March and November of 2012 and relate to the activity of drug trafficking in Oporto, especially in the Sé District.

A total of 43 dogs, 25 cats and a bird of the species Garrulus glandarius (common jay) were recovered from a residence in Alhos Vedros, Moita, due to lack of adequate conditions and for mistreatment. The GNR Territorial Command of Setúbal, through the Center for Environmental Protection of Montijo, rescued the 69 animals on 9^th May 2017.

A search warrant was issued, headed by the Department of Investigation and Criminal Action of Moita, at the residence and its annexes, which were already referenced as sites for the accumulation of companion animals which had been reported to police. Although there have been some enforcement actions in the house, the conditions of animal welfare, public health and possibly mistreatment have deteriorated in recent times, according to the GNR in a statement.

All animals underwent a veterinary examination. The 68 pets were sent to the Official Collection Center of Barreiro and Moita for reception and medical-veterinary assistance, and were kept at the center until they are sent by judicial decision, for later adoption.

The recovery of the animals resulted from a joint action between the GNR, the municipal veterinary authority of Montijo, supported by the veterinarians of Barreiro and Moita and the Association of Municipalities of Barreiro and Moita, an environmental health technician and a chamber psychologist municipal. The military of the Research Center for Environmental Crimes and Offenses of the Territorial Post of Moita and the Special Programs Section of the Montijo Territorial Detachment also contributed to the outcome of the action