Vatican hires cyber security to protect its library

THE Vatican Apostolic Library, which holds 80,000 documents, including the oldest surviving copy of the Bible and drawings and writings by Michelangelo and Galileo, has entered into a partnership with a cyber-security firm to defend its digitisation project against criminals, The Observer reports. The library’s chief information officer, Manlio Miceli, said that it had faced an average of 100 threats a month since it started digitising its 41-million-page collection of historical documents in 2012. “We cannot ignore that our digital infrastructure is of interest to hackers. A successful attack could see the collection stolen, manipulated, or deleted altogether,” he said. About one quarter has been digitised so far. The library is working in partnership with Darktrace, a company founded by University of Cambridge mathematicians, which claims to be the first to develop an AI system for cyber security.

Churches to mark day of prayer for the Persecuted Church

CHURCHES and Christian organisations are preparing to mark the 24th International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church on Sunday. It is being promoted by the Evangelical Alliance, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors, and Release International, among others. The focus is on three countries where persecution is reported to be rising: China, India, and Nigeria. “Persecution doesn’t just hide in the backwaters,” the chief executive of Release International, Paul Robinson, said. “It is taking place in plain sight in the largest and most populous nations on earth.” He pointed to Christians in China who were locked out of churches, and whose buildings were being demolished. In India, attacks and false accusations against Christians were now “almost a daily occurrence”. In Nigeria, Fulani militants had continued to drive Christians from their homes. Resources can be found at releaseinternational.org/idop.