Journal of Law & Cyber Warfare

U.S. cybersecurity chief Howard Schmidt retiring

adminJLCW — Fri, 18 May 2012 13:25:19 +0000

CNET is reporting that the White House advisor on cyber security since 2009 is retiring at the end of the month. He will be succeeded by Michael Daniel, who has been the head of the Intelligence Branch of OMB for the last ten years. More information on the jump.

Cyber security should be promoted with hard-hitting ad campaign, says Labour

adminJLCW — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:27:24 +0000

Should cyber security be promoted as a public service campaign? Some in the UK’s Labor Party seem to think so. The Guardian is reporting that moves to create a campaign, similar to anti-drunk driving ads, are in the works. This may be a viable solution if their security issues are anything like the ones here in the US, with a new report claiming 13 million Facebook users are unaware of privacy risks associated with their social media accounts.

Link to the full Guardian article here.

Update on CISPA

adminJLCW — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:28:52 +0000

The ACLU has strongly advocated against CISPA, the most recent bill to pass through Congress on cyber intelligence, and in this short brief they give their views on CISPA as well as the next bill on the docket, the Cyber Security Act of 2012. More on the jump.

EU Cyber Security Legislation on the Horizon

adminJLCW — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:41:01 +0000

The EU is proposing binding legislation to plug gaps in their security. More on the jump from EU Observer.

FBI Fears Bitcoin’s Popularity with Criminals

adminJLCW — Fri, 11 May 2012 13:38:41 +0000

Wired Magazine recently published an interesting article on the virtual currency known as BitCoin. The FBI is concerned about the use of the largely untraceable currency as a means to move money for terrorism, money laundering, and human trafficking. The article raises interesting questions about who should (or shouldn’t) have control over the internet.

Full article on the jump.

Judge declines to eject Google’s ‘fair use’ defense from Android trial

adminJLCW — Thu, 10 May 2012 13:28:42 +0000

Computerworld reported that on Monday a jury was unable to agree whether Google’s infringement of Oracle’s copyrights fell under “fair use”. This partial verdict will likely result in the issue of fair use being decided by a second jury, as Judge Alsup declined to rule on the issue as a matter of law.

Full story here, written by James Niccolai.

Alerts say major cyber attack aimed at gas pipeline industry

adminJLCW — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:39:44 +0000

Mark Clayton, from the Christian Science Monitor, writes that a major cyber attack is underway, and has been coming in waves for the past four months. The attack is aimed at major natural gas pipelines through the U.S. and Canada. The attack comes as Congress is weighing whether to require infrastructure companies to beef up their computer security to protect against such attacks.

Find the full story here.

Facebook encourages cyber-security poachers

adminJLCW — Fri, 04 May 2012 13:21:03 +0000

Whether they are making the most of the resources they have, or simply keeping their enemies closer, Facebook has set up a program to keep track of those who hack into their systems and reward them, assuming they follow a few rules. While possibly adding to the value of Facebook’s goodwill, from the hacker perspective it acts only as a sorting mechanism of “good guy” hackers and “bad guy” hackers.

Full story from The Guardian here.

America’s Cyber Security

adminJLCW — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:17:04 +0000

The Boston Globe discusses their take on on the new cyber security bills currently making their rounds through the Senate and the House.

Full story on the jump.

NATO Faced with Rising Flood of Cyberattacks

adminJLCW — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:01:08 +0000

NATO cyberwarfare experts suspect that Chinese and Russian intelligence services are behind a recent uptick in cyberattacks against the Western alliance. SPIEGEL ONLINE has learned that NATO’s cyberwarfare unit registers up to 30 such attacks each day. Employees have been warned to be on their guard.

– brought to you by Spiegel Online