It looked too effective for hacktivists, and it now seems the ongoing cyber campaign against South Korea is the work of the DarkSeoul gang (h/t Symantec). The PinkStats downloader and a new disk wiper have also been found in these attacks.

Hacktivists (or provocateurs) remain active as "Antileaks" hits Russia Today's site to protest Wikileaks. (Expect continuing hacktivist fraternal and sororal strife.) RedHack attacks Turkish government sites (and claims they've erased citizen debt). Islamist hacktivism rises in the Maghreb and Sahel, with effects felt in Africa, South Asia, Europe, and North America.

When malware becomes widely available, it evolves and spreads. It's happening with the venerable Citadel Trojan now—formerly targeting banks, it's now seen in exploits against e-commerce site users, like Amazon customers. Expect similar transformation and repurposing of Carberp. Note, too, that a commodity version of Zeus source code is also out.

Thefts of a laptop in Tennessee and backup tape in Iowa compromise personal information.

Cisco, Facebook, and Ruby all patch vulnerabilities.

The PRISM affair continues to induce people to mull the nature of privacy, and the "I-have-nothing-to-hide" school of thought appears to be losing this war of ideas. General Alexander responds to Guardian PRISM reporting with an account of how NSA did in fact work to safeguard privacy. Russia beats the UK with a diplomatic stick crafted from GCHQ surveillance allegations. The architect of China's Great Firewall retires amid surprising obloquy.

Retired General Cartwright is formally notified he's the target of an investigation into Stuxnet leaks.