Massive Hacking Operation Further Reveals Weakness of Passwords

Canada Beefs Up Security after Cyber-Attacks

By 

PAUL VIEIRA 

CONNECT

July 31, 2014 7:23 p.m. ET

OTTAWA—The Canadian science and technology agency targeted by an alleged Chinese-backed cyberattack said Thursday it has taken additional steps to protect its internal information, although it could be weeks or months before it is able to resume normal business activities.

In a statement, the Ottawa-based National Research Council of Canada said it has beefed up internal security procedures following the cyberattack, which was disclosed on Tuesday. The council said it was forced to shut down its information-technology infrastructure, and it was in the process of building a new one to better protect the council's sensitive business information. It could take a year before the IT system is up and running, and in the meantime there will be disruptions to normal business activity, the council said.

Representatives for the council weren't immediately available for further comment

http://online.wsj.com/articles/canada-agency-beefs-up-security-after-cyberattack-1406849023?mod=Tech_newsreel_6

Tech firms call on U.S. to reform spying activities

By Sophia Yan  @sophia_yan December 9, 2013: 3:54 AM ET

Tech giants including Apple and Google have asked the U.S. government to reform its spying activiites.

HONG KONG (CNNMoney)

Major U.S. technology companies have joined together to ask the U.S. government to reform surveillance activities.

In a letter to President Obama and Congress published Monday, the firms say there is an "urgent need" to change government spying practices, which the companies claim 

http://www.money.cnn.com/2013/12/09/technology/nsa-government-spying/

Managing software vulnerabilities that threaten security

How do we manage and prioritize the security software vulnerabilities we find?

First let's look at prioritizing vulnerabilities. There are two primary questions for prioritizing vulnerabilities for remediation: How serious is the vulnerability and how hard will it be to fix? The answers to these let security and development teams decide what can be remediated and when.

http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/answer/Managing-software-vulnerabilities-that-threaten-security?asrc=EM_ERU_25433614&utm_medium=EM&utm_source=ERU&utm_campaign=20131210_ERU%20Transmission%20for%2012/10/2013%20(UserUniverse:%20584906)_myka-reports@techtarget.com&src=5191846

Google: We're bombarded by gov't requests on user data

Requests from governments worldwide for user information have more than doubled since three years ago. Worse still, says Google, is what the US won't let us tell you.


http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-57612322-83/google-were-bombarded-by-govt-requests-on-user-data/

Surveillance Footage in Litigation - Law Technology News

By John V. Barbieri and Michael K. Dvorkin Contact All Articles 

New York Law Journal

November 11, 2013

 

Surveillance cameras in public spaces, not long ago the stuff of sci-fi films and Orwellian visions, have now become commonplace. Today, one would be surprised indeed to learn that the security protocol of a major department store or supermarket chain did not include surveillance; ubiquity of cameras has affected our world in ways both meaningful (identification of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects) and trivial (the online videos kids watch while putting off their homework), and litigators have increasingly utilized surveillance camera footage of the events that form the basis of the litigation. While courts have long considered surveillance footage to be appropriate, and in many cases even the "best," evidence, what happens when an event should have been captured by surveillance cameras, but the footage is not (or has not been made) available?

Read more: http://www.law.com/jsp/lawtechnologynews/PubArticleLTN.jsp?id=1202627293637&kw=Surveillance%20Footage%20in%20Litigation&et=editorial&bu=Law%20Technology%20News&cn=20131111&src=EMC-Email&pt=Daily%20Alert&slreturn=20131012152423#ixzz2kStZtsiW

If you call yourself a hacker, does that automatically imply you have criminal intent?

If you call yourself a hacker, does that automatically imply you have criminal intent? Although that’s clearly ludicrous, the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho decided that a self-described label of “hacker” is significant enough to be used as evidence for bad intentions. Furthermore, the Court decided that since the defendant called himself a hacker, that was evidence enough to allow for seizure, via the copying of a hard drive, even though the Court said that such copying “is a serious invasion of privacy.”

http://blogs.computerworld.com/cybercrime-and-hacking/23013/if-you-call-yourself-hacker-does-automatically-imply-you-have-criminal-intent

Cybersecurity: Global risk management moves beyond regulations

http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/feature/Cybersecurity-Global-risk-management-moves-beyond-regulations?asrc=EM_ERU_23655900&utm_medium=EM&utm_source=ERU&utm_campaign=20130923_ERU%20Transmission%20for%2009/23/2013%20(UserUniverse:%20571074)_myka-reports@techtarget.com&src=5165800

Securing The Package Before It Goes Out: A Guide To Encryption - JD Supra

Data-Security Expert Kaspersky: There Is No More Privacy

From the Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324432404579053091175949708.html