Legal, Privacy & Security
04 May 2013
Dark web drugs site Silk Road knocked offline by hacker BBC News
An "underground" website famed for selling drugs and other illegal items has been targeted in a cyberattack.
02 May 2013
Erasing History New York Times
For a contemporary take on the subject of un-history, I take you now to a lawsuit scheduled for argument next month in a Connecticut courtroom. The case tests the proposition that in America in the Internet age, there are benign, even humane reasons that sometimes history should be erased.
Belgian ISPs Sued for Providing Internet Access Without Paying Copyright Levies CIO
Sabam, the Belgian association of authors, composers and publishers, has sued the country's three biggest ISPs, saying that they should be paying copyright levies for offering access to copyright protected materials online.
01 May 2013
Twitter warns news organisations over hacking amid Syrian attacks BBC News
News organisations including the BBC have been warned by Twitter to tighten security in the wake of several high-profile hacks.
EFF: Trust Twitter -- but not Apple or Verizon -- to protect your privacy PC World
Verizon and MySpace scored a zero out of a possible six stars in a test of how far 18 technology service providers will go to protect user data from government data demands.
26 April 2013
Technology makes it easier for terrorists to act, senior official warns Daily Telegraph [UK]
Modern technology is allowing terrorists to act more easily without the risk of being caught, the Government's most senior counter-terrorism official has warned.
'More data is being collected and stored about each one of us than ever before' - Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work And Think by Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier The National
Consider the Stasi, the hated secret police force in the former German Democratic Republic. Officially known as the ministry for state security, the agency was a particularly pernicious force in an already oppressive communist state. Its modus operandi was simple: to intimidate, infiltrate and gather intelligence on East German citizens using the most invasive methods. For four post-war decades, the Stasi ruled everyday life with a clenched fist. Only the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the simultaneous fall of the Iron Curtain derailed its operations.
Google-Facebook Privacy-Probe Tactics Criticised in Germany Bloomberg
Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. were criticized by German data protection regulators for "delay tactics" and "impertinent" behavior when responding to probes into their privacy policies.
24 April 2013
Germany's Complicated Relationship With Google Street View New York Times
Germany is one of the most privacy-sensitive countries in the world. So when Google started taking pictures of buildings and homes for its Street View maps, some people were outraged, even though it was legal.
German court: Facebook can keep its real name policy PC World
Facebook doesn't have to allow nicknames on its platform and can keep its real name policy in Germany, the Administrative Court of Appeals of the State of Schleswig-Holstein said Tuesday.
U.S. and China Put Focus on Cybersecurity New York Times
The United States and China held their highest-level military talks in nearly two years on Monday, with a senior Chinese general pledging to work with the United States on cybersecurity because the consequences of a major cyberattack "may be as serious as a nuclear bomb."
The Year in Hacking, by the Numbers New York Times
Security experts like to say that there are now only two types of companies left in the United States: those that have been hacked and those that don't know they've been hacked.
China: Cyberattacks Are Like Nuclear Bombs Wall Street Journal
Cyberattacks could be "as serious as a nuclear bomb," according to a top Chinese general, who rejected suggestions that the Chinese military is behind cyberspying aimed at Western companies.
23 April 2013
Editorial: Government, private sector must team up to fight cyberthreats Washington Post
The house passed a new cybersecurity bill on Thursday, and the accompanying report emphasizes what many corporate and government experts know only too well. "A number of advanced nation-state actors are actively engaged in a series of wide-ranging, aggressive efforts to penetrate American computer systems and networks" and "these efforts are targeted not only at sensitive national security and infrastructure information but are also often aimed at stealing corporate research and development information that forms the very lifeblood of the American economy." The report called it nothing less than "pillage."
One in five data breaches are the result of cyberespionage, Verizon says CIO
Even though the majority of data breaches continue to be the result of financially motivated cybercriminal attacks, cyberespionage activities are also responsible for a significant number of data theft incidents, according to a report that will be released Tuesday by Verizon.
Vast majority of global cyber-espionage emanates from China, report finds Washington Post
Analyses of hundreds of documented data breaches found that hackers affiliated with the Chinese government were by far the most energetic and successful cyberspies in the world last year, according to a report to be issued Tuesday by government and industry investigators.
New Microsoft Campaign Promotes Privacy Prowess PC World
Microsoft has launched yet another privacy awareness campaign, but this time around, the company decided to focus more on its own privacy right-doings rather than Google's alleged wrongdoings. Declaring " your privacy is our priority," the campaign runs online, in print, and on TV, billing Microsoft as the "good guy" of online privacy and offering educational resources for those who want to better control what they share online.
Stern Words, and a Pea-Size Punishment, for Google in Germany New York Times
Regulators in Germany, one of the most privacy-sensitive countries in the world, unleashed their wrath on Google on Monday for scooping up sensitive personal information in the Street View mapping project, and imposed the largest fine ever assessed by European regulators over a privacy violation.
Google Glass in Australian privacy battle Australian Financial Review
Google is set to face a battle with Australian privacy regulators when it releases its hotly anticipated Google Glass product as federal and state commissioners raise the alarm about covert filming and security implications.
21 April 2013
From SOPA to CISPA: A controversial cyber-bill sparks a heated debate about online privacy The Economist
When a coalition of internet activists and web companies scuppered the Hollywood-sponsored Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) last year, they warned Congress that future attempts to push through legislation that threatened digital freedoms would be met with a similar response. Now some of them are up in virtual arms again, this time against the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). This is one of several bills designed to reinforce America's cyber-defences that were being discussed by the House of Representatives as The Economist went to press this week.
19 April 2013
Internet drug dealing on the rise, survey finds The Guardian
The internet is starting to rival the backstreets as a place to buy illicit drugs, according to findings from the 2013 Global Drug Survey, with 22% of users reporting they had bought drugs online.
18 April 2013
Pirate Bay co-founder charged with hacking and fraud BBC News
The Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg has been charged with hacking into several Swedish companies and stealing personal data.
17 April 2013
Symantec report finds small businesses battered by cybercrime Computerworld
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting small businesses due to their less sophisticated defenses, according to a new report from Symantec.
Cyberattacks can't break the Internet CNN
A recent string of gigantic cyberattacks has proven it is possible to bend, but not break the Internet.
16 April 2013
Cyber criminals target employees' devices Financial Times
It's unclear exactly when BYOD, or bring your own device, computing was born. But it was probably some time between the launch of the iPhone and its appearance in the boardroom.
