Continuing from my post on Saturn-Jupiter in Aquarius. There, I referred to the increase of cyberattacks under the square of Saturn with Uranus next year. This post was published on Saturday 12. On the very next day, the U.S. Treasury Department disclosed that hackers had gotten into its computers and possibly into the systems of other federal agencies after a monthslong global cyberespionage campaign. The news touched off a US government response involving the National Security Council.
The attack initially appeared on the American company SolarWinds and its compromised product is called Orion. The malware that opened remote-access backdoors was injected into Orion’s updates released between March and June. After the disclosure of the cyberattack, which penetrated multiple U.S. government agencies and private organizations, governments and major corporations are scrambling to see if they, too, were victims. Experts say that the hack’s impact extends beyond the affected USA agencies, though they haven’t disclosed which companies or what other governments were targeted. SolarWinds said it was advised that an “outside nation state” infiltrated its systems with malware, but neither the U.S. government nor the affected companies have said which state they think is responsible. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity told The Associated Press on Monday that Russian hackers are suspected, but Russia responded that it had “nothing to do with” the hacking.
According to investigators, the malware was injected into SolarWinds’ product updates released between March and June. In the end of March this year, Saturn and Mars from the begining of Aquarius formed a square with Uranus at 5 Taurus. Saturn and Uranus remained in square within an ample orb of 10 degrees, until the end of June, when Saturn returned to Capricorn. The Saturn-Uranus square will be effective also in 2021, within a tight orb of 5 degrees, from January 10 until August 6, then from November 10 until the end of the year and into 2022. The square will be more effective in 10-26/1, 26/6-6/7, and 12-24/11, 2021, when Mars will be in Taurus, Leo and Scorpio, respectively. These periods are the most hazardous for cyberattacks next year. In February, Mercury retrograde in Aquarius might reveal cybersecurity issues created in the previous months.
Today, the European Union unveiled plans to revamp the 27-nation bloc’s outdated cybersecurity rules. Plans include an “EU-wide Cyber Shield” linking national authorities that would use artificial intelligence and machine learning to detect early signs of attacks, a cyber unit to respond to incidents and threats, and re-enforcing cooperation between countries and with organizations like NATO. This strategy would focus on protecting essential infrastructure like electricity grids, heating systems, gas and hydrogen plants as well as air, rail, water and road links. Financial market and health infrastructure would also be among the priorities.
More on 2021 in the posts that will follow.
Astrolocality 