Latest in Bits and Bytes
Global conversations are often skewed in favor of the countries that generate data or possess the technological capability to access it. The encryption debate in countries with advanced technical capacities is very different from the countries without them.
China Targets US Tech Companies in Security Reviews. "Chinese authorities are quietly scrutinizing technology products sold in China by Apple and other big foreign companies, focusing on whether they pose potential security threats to the country and its consumers and opening up a new front in an already tense relationship with Washington over digital security." Who knows, maybe the NSA =is= inserting surveillance into Apple source code, but I doubt it.
A busy day with a nice collection of stories (coincidentally all from the Washington Post this time around):
Pentagon Delays Cybersecurity Requirements. "The Pentagon has delayed for almost two years a requirement that as many as 10,000 companies show that they have systems to protect sensitive but unclassified information from cyber-attacks before signing new defense contracts.
Russia takes down more of the Ukraine. "IT systems at Kiev's main airport were floored over the weekend, sparking a renewed warning from Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) about further BlackEnergy malware-based attacks." Apparently, Ukraine is now a free-fire zone for Russian hackers. Watch out.
Satoshi Nakamoto exposed? As most readers know, Bitcoin is a crypto currency that was first invented by a pseudononymous mathematician who went by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. For years, many has sought his true identity. Now, Wired magazine has made a powerful circumstantial case that it is an Australian named Craig Steven Wright. "In the last weeks, WIRED has obtained the strongest evidence yet of Satoshi Nakamoto’s true identity.
Some entries on the cyber warfare front:
US and China Seek Cyber Arms Deal. "The United States and China are negotiating what could become the first arms control accord for cyberspace, embracing a commitment by each country that it will not be the first to use cyberweapons to cripple the other’s critical infrastructure during peacetime, according to officials involved in the talks." [To be verified how?]
Hacking the hackers. Companies are getting more aggressive in responding to attacks, but the law limits how far they can go.
The Lopht warns of cyber insecurity ... in 1998. A fantastic review article about how we got to where we are today. "The seven young men sitting before some of Capitol Hill’s most powerful lawmakers weren’t graduate students or junior analysts from some think tank. No, Space Rogue, Kingpin, Mudge and the others were hackers who had come from the mysterious environs of cyberspace to deliver a terrifying warning to the world." If only we had listened. [Full disclosure: I know Rogue ....]
Press reports today (New York Times,