As people began to spend more time online in 2020, it resulted in a boom of DDoS attacks…
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The number of DDoS attacks detected by Kaspersky DDoS Prevention in Q4 2020 increased slightly in comparison to the same period of 2019. However, it is 31% less compared to Q3 2020. This drop can be connected to the growing interest in cryptocurrency mining.
However, in Q4 2020 there were only 10% more attacks than in Q4 2019. And compared to Q3 2020, the number of attacks in Q4 2020 fell by 31%, while Q3 2020 also saw a drop compared to Q2.
Experts suggest that this can be caused by a surge in cryptocurrency costs. As a result, cybercriminals may have had to ‘re-profile’ some botnets so that C&C servers, that are typically used in DDoS attacks, could repurpose infected devices and use their computing power to mine cryptocurrencies instead.
This is further proved by KSN statistics[1]. Throughout 2019, as well as in the beginning of 2020, the number of cryptominers was dropping. However, from August 2020 the trend changed, with the amount of this form of malware increasing slightly and reaching a plateau in Q4.
“The DDoS attack market is currently affected by two opposite trends. On the one hand, people still highly rely on stable work of online resources, which can make DDoS attacks a common choice for malefactors. However, with a spike in cryptocurrency prices, it may be more profitable for them to infect some devices with miners. As a result, we see that the total number of DDoS attacks in Q4 remained quite stable. And we can predict that this trend will continue in 2021,” comments Alexey Kiselev, Business Development Manager on the Kaspersky DDoS Protection team.
To stay protected against DDoS attacks, Kaspersky experts offer the following recommendations:
Maintain web resource operations by assigning specialists who understand how to respond to DDoS attacks
Validate third-party agreements and contact information, including those made with internet service providers. This helps teams quickly access agreements in case of an attack
Implement professional solutions to safeguard your organisation against DDoS attacks. For example, Kaspersky DDoS Protection combines Kaspersky’s extensive expertise in combating cyberthreats and the company’s unique in-house developments
CoinCorner’s CEO, Danny Scott, explains why he believes there is more positive growth set for Bitcoin in 2021
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“As we come to the end of what has been an iconic year for Bitcoin, I can only see more positive growth in 2021 and here’s why…
By CoinCorner’s CEO, Danny Scott
“Living and breathing this extremely fast-paced industry and soaking up global bullish news daily means that I’ve forgotten more good news from this week alone than Bitcoin had in years back in its early days.
“Here are a few of the reasons why I’m incredibly bullish on Bitcoin for 2021.”
“Starting simply, Bitcoin is finite and there will only ever be 21 million. Back in May, we celebrated Bitcoin’s third halving —an event that happens roughly every 4 years, halving the supply of Bitcoin coming into circulation —and this year saw it go from 12.5 Bitcoin to 6.25 Bitcoin per block (every 10 or so minutes). There are expectations for what might come after, with history telling us that the Bitcoin price will typically begin to rise significantly (20x+) within the 18 months following a halving — often simply put down to supply and demand.
“While we know the supply is fixed, what about the dynamic demand? This is the part that I feel has been underestimated at each halving, including by ourselves at CoinCorner following the 2016 halving which led to the bull run of 2017. During the bull run, we were signing up a record number of registrations but our system and processes weren’t ready for this, and we weren’t alone. Some of the larger exchanges had to freeze registrations as they couldn’t handle the throughput, while others experienced technical issues with their trading engines locking up and websites going down due to overload.
“This time around though the industry as a whole is better prepared for the predicted 2021 bull run… it’s not perfect, but it’s better.”
Where’s the current demand coming from?
“Compared to 2017 when demand came from the retail market (this will eventually happen again, of course), the current demand is coming from an institutional level completely flying under the radar for many people and it looks set to continue through 2021.
“Roughly 27,000 Bitcoin are mined (brought into circulation) each month and although this may sound like a lot, it’s really not. For context, Grayscale added 32,000 Bitcoin to their portfolio in October, CashApp received $1.6 billion worth of revenue from their customers buying Bitcoin in Q3 2020 and PayPal has entered the cryptocurrency market, allowing customers to buy Bitcoin with full global roll out planned for next year.”
“In October, Microstrategy became the first publicly traded company to add roughly 38,250 Bitcoin to their balance sheet, with Square closely following in their footsteps with a purchase of 4,709. I fully expect to see this trend continue through 2021 as more companies look for the best place to exit their fiat positions and choosing Bitcoin as their inflation hedge asset.
“At CoinCorner, our balance sheet (like many other Bitcoin companies) already holds Bitcoin and this is likely to be a growing trend as inflation begins to kick in due to the current financial climate.”
What about traditional investment?
“Companies aside, traditional investors are also beginning to make their moves. The well-respected Rauol Pal has this year become more and more bullish on Bitcoin and his position, even more recently mentioning that he was going to sell his gold to buy more Bitcoin.
“Another example is Stan Druckenmiller and Paul Tudor Jones — two high-profile billionaires who recently opened up about their Bitcoin investments and how bullish they are for the coming years.
Stan is yet another person to compare Bitcoin to gold as an investment, stating he owns both but believes Bitcoin should outperform gold. He was quoted saying:
“…so I own many, many more times gold than I own Bitcoin, but, frankly, if the gold bet works, the Bitcoin bet will probably work better because it’s thinner and more illiquid and has a lot more beta to it.” — Daily Hodl
“Again, this is a trend we can expect to see continuing as wealthy individuals look to inflation hedge assets.”
“There are lots of price models and predictions coming out, with Stock-to-Flow (S2F) from PlanB being one of the more popular ones, all ranging in price from $50,000 to $288,000 per Bitcoin in 2021.
“The chart below shows the previous halvings, with the red line indicating our current progress since the halving earlier this year. If it continues to follow the previous trends, we can expect to see the S2F model being somewhat accurate — meaning that $288,000 may not be an unrealistic target price.”
“Touching briefly on the unfortunate situation the world has suffered this year, the coronavirus crisis had the knock-on effect of causing a long-awaited financial crash in March. This resulted in Government bailouts: the U.S. FED printing $3 trillion (plus another $2 trillion on the way), the Bank of England likely printing towards £1 trillion and many more around the world following suit. Not to forget the introduction of negative interest rates which look to become the norm. Although this may be necessary in their eyes to stimulate the economy and its future protection, this comes with a huge risk of inflation on a scale unseen in these territories before.
“Putting this into perspective, the FED printed $3.9 trillion between 2008 and 2014 during the 2008 financial crisis, and they’ve already surpassed this in 2020 alone, with more likely to come.
“When it comes to financial uncertainty, people look for a safe haven and Bitcoin is becoming this.”
“61.71% of all Bitcoin in circulation hasn’t moved within the last 12 months. Bitcoin investors have stomached sharp drops greater than 50% this year and still didn’t sell. Bitcoin’s sitting comfortably around the $15,000 — $16,000 region right now and still those coins aren’t moving. Bitcoin investors are here for the long-term, they have strong hands and are preparing for the next 20x.
“This Bitcoiner crowd is also continuing to accumulate and hodl more every day, leaving less liquidity available for newcomers. In turn, this will drive the price. Once Bitcoin pushes past the $20,000 previous all-time high and starts hitting mainstream media again, retail investors will enter just as they did in 2017, but this time with the backing of public global companies, billionaires and hedge funds.”
Online searches for Bitcoin
“A quick look on Google trends for the search term “Bitcoin” shows that interest today isn’t anywhere close to that of 2017, sitting at only 13%. Yet, the Bitcoin price is hovering around 75% and looks likely to hit that $20,000 before the interest spikes again.
“Interest during the 2013 bull run was only 10% of what 2017 became and so, I fully expect the 2021 bull run to peak “Bitcoin” interest in excess of 5x, maybe towards 15x, of what we saw in 2017.”
“Bitcoin’s history shows that after a halving (2012 and 2016), the price sees an incredible increase in the following year, with the year after that being the only negative years (2014 and 2018).”
2010: 𝟵,𝟵𝟬𝟬%
2011: 𝟭,𝟰𝟳𝟯%
2012: 𝟭𝟴𝟲%
2013: 𝟱,𝟰𝟴𝟭%
2014: -𝟱𝟳%
2015: 𝟯𝟰%
2016: 𝟭𝟮𝟯%
2017: 𝟭,𝟯𝟲𝟴%
2018: -𝟳𝟯%
2019: 𝟵𝟮%
2020: 𝟭𝟮𝟭% (so far)
Is Bitcoin a success?
“The industry has been challenged by a lot of negativity over the years, but as time has passed, its reputation and sentiment has grown stronger.
“At what point do we call something a success? 10 years? 20 years? What if it fails in 70 years time? Would that make Bitcoin a failure? No, it would mean that it’s had its time and something better has surfaced.
“Personally, I’ve gone past the stage of treating Bitcoin like an experiment, or wondering when it will be considered a success — I already see Bitcoin as a success.
“The Bitcoin community is continuing to build a decentralised monetary future and this is only the beginning.”
With an ever-increasing demand for digital and online payments, Paypal will increase the utility and usability of cryptocurrencies by making…
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With an ever-increasing demand for digital and online payments, Paypal will increase the utility and usability of cryptocurrencies by making them available as a funding source for purchases, with nearly 26 million merchants accepting the currencies.
The service has been enabled by a partnership with Paxos Trust Company and has seen PayPal secure a first-of-its-kind conditional Bitlicense from the New York State Department of Financial Services.
With over 5,300 different types of cryptocurrencies, PayPal has been selective in its choices, and will only offer support to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash. Customers will then be able to instantly convert their cryptocurrency balance to fiat currency.
In addition to this, PayPal will offer educational content which aims to help account holders understand more about cryptocurrency and blockchain, as well as the risks and opportunities associated with investing.
Dan Schulman, President and CEO of PayPal, said: “The shift to digital forms of currencies is inevitable.”
“This shift will bring with it clear advantages in terms of financial inclusion and access; efficiency, speed and resilience of the payments system; and the ability for governments to disburse funds to citizens quickly.”
“Our global reach, digital payments expertise, two-sided network, and rigorous security and compliance controls provide us with the opportunity, and the responsibility, to help facilitate the understanding, redemption and interoperability of these new instruments of exchange.”
However, there are concerns from the crypto community, as customers currently cannot move the cryptocurrencies to other accounts either on or off PayPal, and PayPal will not provide customers with the private key. There will also be a transaction fee for any purchase or sale, but these have been waived until 2021.
Upon the news, Bitcoin’s price hit a record high for the calendar year, rising 13% to $12,900 on Thursday. PayPal’s share price had a similar reaction, with shares up 7% to $215.
The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce of the Lawtech Delivery Panel, chaired by Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, has…
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The UK
Jurisdiction Taskforce of the Lawtech Delivery Panel, chaired by Sir Geoffrey
Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, has today published its legal statement on
the status of cryptoassets and smart contracts under English and Welsh law.
The landmark statement seeks to address legal uncertainty by recognising cryptoassets as tradable property and smart contracts as enforceable agreements under English law.
Smart contracts can be used to create more secure and more efficient ways of implementing (and automating performance of) contracts between parties. This could revolutionise agreements, from mortgages and medical research to property ownership, as smart contracts automatically execute transactions and remove the need for a middle man.
For example:
smart contracts remove the need for expensive services in property
ownership and could even enable sellers to handle transactions independently.
smart contracts can be applied to mortgage transactions – allowing both
parties to digitally agree to the sale before processing the payment, making
the process more secure and reducing the likelihood of fraud.
Not only will this legal
statement be beneficial for consumers but also for investors. Cryptoassets are already
demonstrating considerable traction, with the top 100 cryptoassets worth a
collective quarter of a trillion dollars.[3]This statement
will provide more certainty to investors in the UK market providing them
with a greater understanding of their legal rights when they trade in
cryptoassets.
The statement will also
provide a dependable foundation for the mainstream adoption of cryptoassets and
smart contracts, in particular offering a strategic boost to startups and
scaleups operating in this space. The UK already has an established Blockchain
ecosystem and community. London is home to more blockchain and crypto meetup
members than San Francisco, Berlin and Seoul[4].
The common law system of England
and Wales makes the UK well-suited to adapting to and dealing with
fast-changing technologies, as well as expertly positioned to provide a sound
legal foundation for their development – with 40% of all arbitration cases
globally applying English and Welsh Law.
The legal statement has been
drafted by Lawrence Akka QC, David Quest QC, Matthew Lavy and Sam Goodman and
supported by members of the UKJT, Linklaters LLP and the respondents to a
public consultation which included businesses, academics and the wider legal
sector.
Chancellor
to the High Court, the Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Vos, chair of the UKJT, comments: ‘‘I am delighted to welcome the publication by the UK Jurisdiction
Taskforce of a Legal Statement on the Status of Cryptoassets and Smart Contracts.”
‘‘In legal terms, cryptoassets
and smart contracts undoubtedly represent the future. I hope that the Legal
Statement will go a long way towards providing much needed market confidence,
legal certainty and predictability in areas that are of great importance to the
technological and legal communities and to the global financial services
industry.’’
Christina
Blacklaws, Chair of the Lawtech Delivery Panel, comments: “It is excellent to see that English and Welsh law has no issue
embracing new technology – recognising cryptoassets as tradable property and
smart contracts as enforceable. That this work was initiated and powered by the
UKJT is a great example of how the LawTech Delivery Panel can support the
growth of new technology.”
Jenifer
Swallow, Director – Lawtech Delivery Panel, comments: “The worldwide smart contract market is expected to reach $300m by
2023 and the World Economic Forum predicts 10% of global GDP will be stored on
the blockchain by 2027. It is great to see the adaptability of our common law
system to fast-changing technology, demonstrated in this landmark legal
statement from the UKJT. Tech Nation is excited to work with the Lawtech
Delivery Panel on leading initiatives such as this, to support business growth,
clarity in law and the evolution of new tech.”
SecuX will demonstrate the Cryptocurrency POS Payment EcoSystem as the revolutionary mutual beneficial solutions at the startups stand of BlockShow…
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SecuX will demonstrate the Cryptocurrency POS Payment EcoSystem as the revolutionary mutual beneficial solutions at the startups stand of BlockShow Asia, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore during Nov. 14-15, 2019.
Hsinchu, Taiwan, October 29— SecuX Technology Inc., a blockchain security company, is going to participate in BlockShow Asia 2019 and exhibit at the startups stand of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on Nov. 14-15. SecuX will launch its new cryptocurrency point-of-sale payment ecosystem and demonstrate how a consumer uses SecuX Merchant Payment App to pay at the physical (brick-and-mortar) stores or on the vending machines via QR Code Scan/NFC/Bluetooth from the mobile phone that using the crypto-coins/tokens for an immediate transaction through SecuX Merchant Database Payment Hub (Cloud Server) at the fingertips. At the same time, the clerk can see the transaction is done correctly on SecuX P20 the POS payment terminal. Moreover, the SecuX Merchant Payment Hub is functioning as a CRM and Merchandise Information management system to serve the massive consumers for the potential procurements from the customers.
SecuX invites worldwide partners including Crypto-coin/token issuers, Payment mobile application providers, Payment online system companies and Travel & Tourism groups to the SecuX stand to foresee together the most economic, efficient and cutting-edge payment ecosystem to reduce the operational cost and on the other hand, increase the revenue via this very revolutionary business model.
“We can’t wait to introduce the SecuX crypto POS payment ecosystem at BlockShow Asia in Singapore on Nov 14 and Nov. 15. As we are aware that online payment will definitely prevail the whole world and what we cannot ignore is the cryptocurrency online payment system is the ideal system eventually and SecuX is the bridge to provide all possible modulized business models inside this ecosystem to meet our partners’ requirements and these miscellaneous business services shall be customized by SecuX Team’s dynamic services to build up a regional profitable solution.” said David Hsu, Chief Strategy Officer, SecuX Technology Inc.
Meanwhile SecuX will have a live demo on its hardware wallets V20, W20 and W10 at its stand that visitors may see how to transact Bitcoins or Altcoins on SecuX Crypto Hardware Wallets and use SecuXcess the Chrome OS base web wallet and SecuX Mobile iOS app to have a physical experience about the ease, convenience and the intuitive new UI from SecuX firmware 2.0. The features and advantages of SecuX Wallets are:
1. Big Screen – 2.8”Color Touchscreen LCD 2. Dual Connectivity – Bluetooth 5.0 Low Energy + USB 3. Cross-platform – Major Operating Systems Compatibility 4. SecuXcess – Web-based Transaction Platform 5. Account Expandability – Addable up to 500 Accounts 6. ERC-20 Token Support – All ERC-20 970+ Tokens Support 7. Long Battery Life –600mAh Rechargeable Li-Polymer Battery 8. Security Chip – Infineon SLE97 CC EAL5+ SE Embedded 9. Support BTC, BCH, ETH, LTC, XRP, BNB, GRS, DGB and ERC-20 Tokens 10. A Hidden Wallet is available for most secure User’s privacy
Anthony Perridge, VP International, ThreatQuotient In 2017, the value per Bitcoin reached over €20,000 (£17,324) – a climax in the…
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Anthony Perridge, VP International, ThreatQuotient
In
2017, the value per Bitcoin reached over €20,000 (£17,324) – a climax in the
hype surrounding the cryptocurrency. However, confidence has been lacking for
the price to remain stable. To date, online currencies are more speculation
than real means of payment as concerns around security are being raised. An
establishment is only possible if users believe in the value’s sustainability,
and this applies to every means of payment.
In no industry is the
subjective perception of security as important as in the field of finance. Both
private users and large customers are increasingly handling transactions
online, so the fear of digital innovation isn’t what stop them from adopting
this type of currency. It’s security they really care about, or rather their
data’s security. The financial sector has acknowledged this and, must above all
focus on security to appease the apprehensions some might have.
Blockchain is considered safe
to this day, yet speculation is causing such great uncertainty that
cryptocurrencies have not yet developed into serious competition for
established currencies. IT decision-makers should therefore always keep in mind
the importance of the users’ sense of security in their industry. As part of
their digital transformation, many financial organisations have implemented
several security tools and also have their own security teams.
These are necessary to comply
with legal requirements. After all, almost all other sectors depend on the
financial sector. Of course, it is also about the security of customers and
partners’ data. Therefore, it is not surprising that this industry has taken a
pioneering role over the years. While some organisations already have their own
Security Operations Centres (SOCs) to respond to potential threats and identify
Indicators of Compromise (IoCs), they should think about other ways to optimise
their organisation’s cybersecurity.
From
information to intelligence
The SANS Institute recently
investigated the latest developments in security and revealed that companies
are increasingly taking advantage of Cyber Threat Intelligence (CTI). The
findings show a development that goes beyond the expertise of IOC and gives a
new perspective of Threat Intelligence.
It is well known that public
sources such as the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), security vendors and
open source communities publish reports and threat feeds on current threats. At
the same time, security tools such as Security Information and Event Management
(SIEM) or firewalls also collect information that can be used to combat threats
and create a situational picture. In addition, there are industry-specific
Information Sharing and Analysis Centres (ISACs) that organisations can
participate in. The number and quality of both information sources and IoCs
continues to grow and is currently the most important resource for an effective
cyber-defence.
However, the trend is moving
towards Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs), meaning a better
understanding of how the attackers want to penetrate victims’ networks. Instead
of focusing only on the evidence of attacks, IT teams should work to stay one
step ahead of the criminals by anticipating their next steps: leveraging cyber
threat intelligence.
Thus, it is necessary to step
away from the manual evaluation of individual fragments to the building of
strategic knowledge about the danger landscape and the extent of the threats
for the own systems. Without support, the analysis of IoCs is extremely
time-consuming. Indeed, IT teams in the financial sector can sometimes find
themselves having to compare and check data from different sources manually. In
this situation, there’s no agreement on the activities between the individual
teams, the work become inefficient and information silos start to emerge. At
the same time the number of attacks continues to increase, and the growing
networking infrastructures are also more complex.
When IT departments do not
have an overview of their own security situation, there is no basis for
creating trust – the basic but crucial quality that we mentioned earlier. CTI
works at this point: SANS notes that after deploying an appropriate platform,
81 percent see their defence and detection capabilities as improved. It
involves partial or complete automation to turn the available information into
actionable intelligence and use it in your own organisation.
Building
your own Threat Library in practice
It takes a variety of tools
and processes to set up your own cyber threat intelligence platform. However,
most financial companies already have the most important components for
implementation. Often internal data sources already exist: SIEM solutions or
threat information from security providers whose solution is used (IDS,
Firewall, End Point Security). As mentioned, government agencies and open
source offerings (such as www.malwaredomainlist.com) also have reports
and analysis. In addition, information from industry associations and their own
analyses of network traffic can be incorporated.
The challenging final step is
building a cross-platform. The SANS speaks of a collection management platform
(CMF), which is characterised mainly by building a local threat database, in
which all data from external and internal sources are stored in a central
location. In addition, information should then be automatically aggregated,
normalised and de-duplicated, as well as relevance and priority for the own
company be checked by means of a scoring system. The Threat Library serves as a
“single source of truth” for all teams and systems within a company.
In terms of personnel, there
are many departments that should be considered: in addition to SOCs and
incident response teams, IT operations and security teams can also coordinate
their actions with one another via a CTI platform. Of course, the departments
are very differently positioned, especially in the financial area. This is why
there are also own teams for compliance and audits, but also for the management
of vulnerabilities. Moreover, service providers also took on such tasks.
Depending on the size and
budget of an organisation, service providers play an important role. However,
SANS experts are increasingly recommending partnerships and cooperation rather
than considering outsourcing altogether. Proper management of the threat
situation is essential, since the cyber threats are already an integral part of
everyday life in the area of finance, and organisations must prepare
themselves for further attacks. The question then arises as to whether and how
strongly your own company is affected.
Conclusion
The Threat Intelligence
Platform figures speak for themselves: survey respondents recognise the
greatest benefits in improving their security operations, threat detection and
attacks, and blocking. Coordinating the use of CTI proved to be of particular
value to 90 percent of users stating that it has improved the visibility of
threats in their own network environment. Additionally, in almost all cases,
the accuracy and speed of eliminating noise improved.
These are all areas that
directly affect the user experience. Banking and payment in the digital world
are particularly dependent on customers’ trust and subjective sense of
security. Therefore, players in the industry need to have a clear understanding
of the overall threat situation and their individual threat situation in order
to respond properly at all times.
In a piece penned by Mike Orcutt for the MiT Technology Review, it turns out that blockchain isn’t the super…
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In a piece penned by Mike Orcutt for the MiT
Technology Review, it turns out that blockchain isn’t the super
secure vault that everyone thought it was. An increasing number of security
holes have appeared in the cryptocurrency and many of them form the foundations
of how these systems were built. At the same time, a new survey released by Globant
has found that many companies aren’t quite ready to tackle blockchain
technology yet, even though they recognise its benefits.
Of course, this isn’t changing the unprecedented innovation and investment into blockchain solution and company as evidenced by a release revealing that Ternio – a blockchain architect – has been accepted as an Amazon Advanced APN Technology partner. The framework developed by Ternio is capable of handling more than one million transactions per second, is fully decentralised and on-chain.
Still on blockchain, the technology remains a strong contender for
transformation in the supply chain as it can positively impact on trust, speed
and reliability. There are even some solid examples
of how this technology has already been used to effect positive results.
Moving beyond the blockchain and into the supply chain, Cause
Technologies announced that it has acquired Donseed UK, Enhanced BDM
and NJW Limited as part of its growth strategy into international markets. The
company focuses on providing software solutions for the supply chain industry
that drive efficiencies and capabilities.
Forbes tackles the US-China trade talks, examining how these will impact global supply chains and the changes that will inevitably come. The article postulates that regardless of the outcome, the supply chain is already changing to adapt to market demand and challenge. In BusinessWire, JDA has announced its development of a supply chain management platform as part of its plan to achieve an autonomous supply chain. The company’s AI-powered platform is designed to blend a bevy of powerful technologies into an accessible space that will help companies transform their processes and systems.
Also in the news: Aspirus was named Best 50 supply chain in the GHX list, a new technology that can capture the movement of quantum particles was revealed, a new joint unit designed to bring digital to the NHS was announced, AstraZeneca announced it would be adjusting its supply chain to prepare for a no-deal Brexit.