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Microsoft outage 'dress rehearsal' for cyber warfare — expert

Australian information technology expert Richard Buckland emphasized that the disruption was not deliberate

SYDNEY, July 19. /TASS/. For Canberra, the global disruption of Microsoft services acted as a kind of "dress rehearsal" for a potential cyber war, Australian information technology expert Richard Buckland said.

"It is playing out how an attack would play out. We could be getting a taste now, even if it is just a dress rehearsal for what a cyber warfare or cyber terror attack would look like. We’ve not really seen those in Australia yet, this is new for us all, so this is a good rehearsal," he told ABC.

He emphasized that the disruption was not deliberate. The expert cited preliminary assessments by authorities and the fact that hackers and fraudsters usually make demands before attacking IT systems or immediately after they are breached.

Australia became one of the first countries to report the widespread disruption. It affected the work of airports, banks, and payment systems. Photos of stores closed due to technical problems are circulating on social media.

Another cybersecurity expert Alastair MacGibbon explained that Australia was one of the first and most affected countries because of the time gap with the US. The US started fixing the problem when it was evening and fewer people were working on their computers, while Australia saw the peak of the outage in the morning business hours.

Throughout the day, there have been reports of massive outages of Windows-based computer devices from different countries. Leading international banks, air carriers, media outlets and companies in a number of other industries reported disruptions. The American developer of information security solutions CrowdStrike confirmed to CNBC that there is a connection between the latest update of its antivirus software and widespread failures in the Windows OS. The company added that its specialists are working on a forced rollback of the application to an earlier version.

Microsoft later said that the root cause of the global technology outage had been resolved, but some systems in the Microsoft 365 cloud platform may still experience problems.

European Commission gives ‘positive assessment’ for payment of 4.1 bln euros to Kiev

The commission concluded that Ukraine had satisfactorily fulfilled the nine agreed reform indicators for this payment

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Russian diplomat hails Odessa woman as defender of truth after flag protest

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Trump’s victory to make Seoul reconsider shipping arms to Ukraine — news agency

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West to face 'devastating' response if it allows Kiev to strike deep into Russia — MFA

According to Maria Zakharova, Ukrainian social media accounts are meanwhile speculating that the Zelensky regime plans to present the received Western missiles as Ukrainian, changing the labels to use the weapons to attack Russia

Russian Marines destroy Challenger 2 tank with FPV drone in Kursk Region

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Kremlin comments on possible return of Japanese, European cars to Russia

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Russia says its FPV drones disrupted Ukrainian troops rotation in Sumy Region

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Ukraine targets medics and journalists as priorities — military doctor

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Russia has written off $20 bln worth of African debts — MFA

Mikhail Bogdanov added that it allows using those debts "to implement socio-economic projects directly in the country"

US views Russia as present-day threat, Trump may prioritize containing China — Lavrov

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Russian forces gain foothold near Kupyansk as Kiev begins to retreat

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ISS orbit raised by almost 5 km before launch of Progress MS-29 spacecraft — Roscosmos

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Ukraine aims to call up 1 mln people in eastern areas by end of 2024 — official

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Trump does not rule out he may run in next US presidential election

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US missile defense base in Poland to defend US, Europe alike — Polish foreign minister

Radoslaw Sikorski also expressed hope that the base will never go into action

Turkey invited to join BRICS as a partner state, says minister

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Trump to zero in on fragmenting BRICS, Ukraine to take back seat — expert

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Trump to rely on forces that brought him to power — Russian presidential aide

Nikolay Patrushev agreed that Trump, when he was still a candidate, "made many statements critical of the destructive foreign and domestic policies pursued by the current administration"

Grossi oversteps authority by talking about freeze of Ukraine conflict — Russian MFA

The Russian diplomats also said that IAEA experts will stay at the ZNPP as long as Russia deems their presence there necessary

Tehran to retaliate against anti-Iran resolutions at IAEA — official

Tehran views the approach of the United States and the European troika to the situation surrounding Iran's nuclear program as hostile

Lukashenko tells Putin situation is "starting to get tense with Wagner"

The Belarusian leader noted that they want to go to Warsaw

US administration always seeks to weaken Russia — Lavrov

The foreign minister pointed out that the Americans had long declared the idea that "there should be no country in the world more influential than the United States"

Ukrainian forces ready to withdraw from Kurakhovo, but no order yet — serviceman

According to the report, the Russian army is "attacking from three sides"

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Lavrov likens proposals to freeze Ukraine crisis to worse version of Minsk agreements

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Elections can be held in various ways, Lavrov on Ukrainian situation

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Russian Su-34 bomber strikes Ukrainian troops in borderline Kursk area

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Russia elected to UN Committee for Program and Coordination

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Russia to hold Astana-format summit in 2025 — Russian diplomat

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Next-gen Su-57 shows strength of Russia’s defense sector — diplomat

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Finnish government requests EU sanctions exemption for Russian owners of sports arena

Finland's Foreign Ministry will need to obtain unanimous approval from EU countries

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West criticizes Russia's growing ties with Caspian region countries — presidential aide

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Bulgarian president calls for using all diplomatic opportunities to end Ukraine conflict

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Russian forces liberate Voznesenka community in Donbass region over past day

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Kiev's Western allies begin to acknowledge need for territorial concessions — report

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Russian troops storm into Kupyansk outskirts in Kharkov Region — military expert

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Scholz promises to transfer sixth IRIS-T system to Kiev by yearend

Ukraine and Germany also discussed further defense cooperation

Trump's planned key appointments

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Russia ready for contacts with Trump administration, ball is in US court — Lavrov

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Ukraine's Kurakhovo Reservoir dam blast to help, not hurt Russian troops — expert

At least ten Ukrainian troops were killed

Erdogan praises Russia, China for backing arms embargo on Israel

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Russia to collaborate with Arab nations for Middle East de-escalation — diplomat

"A call was made to the international community to contribute to the achievement of this goal," Maria Zakharova added

Russian troops secure ground near Novodarovka, Rovnopol in Zaporozhye Region — official

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US has no technical need to conduct nuclear tests, senior official says

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US plans to remove 'arrogant' Zelensky and stage 2025 elections in Ukraine — SVR

"At the initial stage, it is planned to encourage entities within the Ukrainian civil society under their control, through US 'democratization' foundations and think tanks, to come up with a corresponding initiative," the statement reads

Putin discussed Ukraine with Saudi crown prince — Kremlin

"The sides indeed touched upon the topic of the conflict. We have nothing more to say," Dmitry Peskov said