Indian leading companies introducing their products and services www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ India-Mongolia Oil and Gas Exhibition yesterday opened at Buyant Ukhaa Sport Palace. Present at the opening ceremony were Cabinet Secretariat of the Government L.Oyun-Erdene, Minister of Foreign Affairs D.Tsogtbaatar, MP L.Bold and representatives of some Embassies in Mongolia.

WhatsApp discovers 'targeted' surveillance attack www.bbc.com

Hackers were able to remotely install surveillance software on phones and other devices using a major vulnerability in messaging app WhatsApp, it has been confirmed.

WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook, said the attack targeted a "select number" of users, and was orchestrated by "an advanced cyber actor".

A fix was rolled out on Friday.

The attack was developed by Israeli security firm NSO Group, according to a report in the Financial Times.

On Monday WhatsApp urged all of its 1.5bn users to update their apps as an added precaution.

The attack was first discovered earlier this month.

How was the security flaw used?
It involved attackers using WhatsApp's voice calling function to ring a target's device. Even if the call was not picked up, the surveillance software would be installed, and, the FT reported, the call would often disappear from the device's call log.

WhatsApp told the BBC its security team was the first to identify the flaw, and shared that information with human rights groups, selected security vendors and the US Department of Justice earlier this month.

"The attack has all the hallmarks of a private company reportedly that works with governments to deliver spyware that takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems,” the company said on Monday in a briefing document note for journalists.

The firm also published an advisory to security specialists, in which it described the flaw as: "A buffer overflow vulnerability in WhatsApp VOIP stack allowed remote code execution via specially crafted series of SRTCP packets sent to a target phone number.”

Who is behind the software?
The NSO Group is an Israeli company that has been referred to in the past as a "cyber arms dealer".

Its flagship software, Pegasus, has the ability to collect intimate data from a target device, including capturing data through the microphone and camera, and gathering location data.

In a statement, the group said: "NSO's technology is licensed to authorised government agencies for the sole purpose of fighting crime and terror.

"The company does not operate the system, and after a rigorous licensing and vetting process, intelligence and law enforcement determine how to use the technology to support their public safety missions. We investigate any credible allegations of misuse and if necessary, we take action, including shutting down the system.

"Under no circumstances would NSO be involved in the operating or identifying of targets of its technology, which is solely operated by intelligence and law enforcement agencies. NSO would not or could not use its technology in its own right to target any person or organisation."

Who has been targeted?
WhatsApp said it was too early to know how many users had been affected by the vulnerability, although it added that suspected attacks were highly-targeted.

According to Facebook's latest figures, WhatsApp has around 1.5bn users worldwide.

Amnesty International, which said it had been targeted by tools created by the NSO Group in the past, said this attack was one human rights groups had long feared was possible.

"They're able to infect your phone without you actually taking an action," said Danna Ingleton, deputy programme director for Amnesty Tech. She said there was mounting evidence that the tools were being used by regimes to keep prominent activists and journalists under surveillance.

"There needs to be some accountability for this, it can't just continue to be a wild west, secretive industry."

On Tuesday, a Tel Aviv court will hear a petition led by Amnesty International that calls for Israel's Ministry of Defence to revoke the NSO Group's licence to export its products.

Strong gold results point to further potential in Mongolia www.mining-journal.com

Standouts included 112m at 5.9g/t gold from 13m at Bayan Khundii's Midfield zone; 3m at 40g/t at depth in Striker West about 210m west of the proposed pit boundary; and 1m at 51.9g/t at depth beyond the resource perimeter in southern Bayan Khundii.

Mongolia: UN expert warns against setbacks in rule of law and shrinking space for civil society www.ohchr.org

ULAANBAATAR (13 May 2019) – Mongolia must ensure that reforms to its legal framework promote rather than restrict the work of human rights defenders, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst, said today.

While Mongolia has often – and rightly so – been depicted as champion of democracy in East and Central Asia, recent legislative amendments are of concerns and are sending mixed messages, Forst said in a statement at the end of a two-week visit to the country.

“Having carefully considered the information received from the Government, civil society and other stakeholders, I conclude that, Mongolia is a relatively safe country for human rights defenders,” the UN expert said. “Although some cases of attacks and abuses against human rights defenders were reported, I did not observe a pattern of systematic attacks against them.

“However, this relatively safe environment does not translate into a conducive environment for human rights defenders. Obstacles such as stigma, the lack of understanding of who human rights defenders are, and dangerous amendments to several laws instil fear and hinder their work.”

The Special Rapporteur expressed concerns regarding amendments allowing political interference into the judiciary and public prosecution and reforms preventing administrative courts from overseeing Cabinet’s decisions. “These reforms may deter judges and prosecutors from taking action against corruption, and ultimately prevent people from speaking out against discrimination, or from calling for justice.”

“During the visit I heard about cases of intimidation, discrimination, harassment and stigmatization of human rights defenders, including LGBTI rights defenders and children rights defenders,” Forst said. “Environmentalists and investigative journalists who are working on corruption or environmental issues have also faced threats and pressure. Some have died in circumstances that are still to be properly investigated.

“Defenders also mentioned more diffuse strategies of social or economic threats against their relatives - like difficulties to access jobs, scholarships and projects - or rumors that these kinds of reprisals might happen whenever they get more vocal on sensitive issues such as corruption or environmental protection. Given that the community in Mongolia is small and interconnected, these pressures create an environment of suspicion and fear which has a serious adverse deterrent impact on human rights defenders who would like to expose wrongdoings.”

The Special Rapporteur concluded that the adoption of a law on human rights defenders would be critical to promote and recognise the vital and legitimate work of human rights defenders, and to penalize and end impunity for attacks against defenders in a concrete way. He urged Mongolia to become the first country in the region to enact such a law.

Forst met the President of Mongolia, State officials and other authorities, members of the diplomatic corps and representatives from the private sector. He also heard the testimonies of more than 100 defenders in Ulaanbaatar, Airag and Sainshand/Zuumbayan.

The Special Rapporteur will present his final report and recommendations on the official visit to Mongolia to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in March 2020.

ENDS

Background: The UN has a very extensive and broad definition of human rights defenders, which has been enshrined in the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by consensus 20 years ago, in December 1998. Human rights defenders are those who, individually or with others, act to promote or protect human rights, nationally and internationally, in a peaceful manner.

Mr. Michel Forst (France) was appointed by the Human Rights Council as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders in 2014. Mr. Forst has extensive experience of human rights issues and specifically of the situation of human rights defenders. He was the Director General of Amnesty International (France) and Secretary General of the first World Summit on Human Rights Defenders in 1998. He is a former UN Independent Expert on the human rights situation in Haiti.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

New economic forum to seek effective ways to solve economic problems www.zgm.mn

The main objects of the New Economic Forum are to identify the challenges of economic development and to seek realistic opportunities in a scale of the national producers of excellence, international organizations, and the private sector developers.

Cardano Taps On Entire Nation Of Mongolia To Develop Blockchain Infrastructure www.investinblockchain.com

IOHK, the blockchain and cryptocurrency development company behind Cardano (ADA), is adamant in their goal to boost adoption of Cardano’s technology in developing nations, and they have recently made big strides in their efforts.

Wheat and potato need to be fully supplied from domestic market www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. This year, 478 thousand hectares of areas will be cultivated for crops, including 387 thousand hectares for grains of which 368 thousand hectares for wheat, 32 thousand hectares for fodder plants, 29 thousand hectares for oil plants, 13.8 thousand hectares for potatoes, 8.9 thousand hectares for vegetables and 7.3 thousand hectares for fruits and berries.

UB’s ecological revolution starts www.news.mn

Ulaanbaatar in wintertime is famous for being the coldest capital city in the world; it is also one of the most polluted. The acrid smog is thickest when people living in the ger (yurt) district shanty towns prepare their evening meals and when they light the stoves in the mornings. About 202 thousand households in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar burn 1.1 million tons of raw coal each winter, which produce around 80 percent of the smog which envelopes the Mongolian capital and fills the hospitals to overflowing.

Historic Siberian mine to become automated www.mining.com

The Siberian Coal Energy Company or SUEK has partnered with Zyfra Group’s subsidiary VIST Group, to develop an unmanned drilling technology at the Tugnuysky coal mine, located on the border between the Buryatia and Chita regions in south-central Siberia.

Officially created in 1989, the open-pit operation has an annual output of approximately 12.5 million tonnes of low-nitrogen hard coal, which is mainly exported to China and Japan.

SUEK, however, has said it has plans to increase the total capacity of Tugnuysky and the neighbouring Nikolsky mine to reach about 13.6 million tonnes a year with the idea of raising deliveries to Asian markets by 50% by 2021.

The system incorporates an on-board computer with independent control software which contains the basic logic of the drill control, I / O controllers for controlling analogue and discrete signals, and a set of environmental scanning sensors.
In the miner’s view, these growth plans require modernizing the way work is done. Thus, management engaged VIST to develop a custom, unmanned drilling technology that only requires direct human interaction once, when the drill operator moves the equipment to the required stack in manual mode. Once this is done, another employee remotely sets a drilling plan for the drill rig and starts the independent operation mode.

According to VIST, the system’s built-in safety algorithms will be responsive to equipment and employees performing auxiliary work in its surroundings, which means that the drill’s movements will vary depending on whether there are nearby elements or not.

If necessary, a remote operator can take control of the equipment during any process operation. “Specialists will be able to remotely control the engines, compressors and controllers, moving, turning, mast raising and lowering mechanisms, assembly of the drilling unit, the braking system, drilling itself, etc. In addition, the dispatcher will deal with security issues such as the admission of equipment and people to the automated site,” the tech firm explained in a media release.

VIST also said that the automated system includes satellite navigation and special drill control programmes that are activated when directly approaching a specific location and that are able to provide pointing accuracy of up to 10 centimetres. Routes for the drill’s movement between the wells can also be developed.

To create such a solution, the Moscow-based company will equip a conventional Epiroc Pit Viper 27 drill with sensors to ensure accuracy and reliability. Then, it will record the entire data set on its operation, and the initial and changing conditions will be compared with the drilling parameters and the driver’s commands. The resulting information will be the input used to configure and optimise the drilling algorithm.

“The newly developed solution will become a part of the Intelligent Mine system, making it possible in the future to centralise control over several drills simultaneously, including simultaneous operation of these rigs in the same stack,” VIST’s press release reads.

Cabinet meeting news in brief www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ At its regular meeting on May 12, the Cabinet made the following decisions: