The Syrian Electronic Army returns to media hacking, this time with a bogus story of a nuclear strike on British broadcaster Channel 4's website. A number of Chinese government sites are defaced by "SultanHalkal" hacktivists, who believe themselves to be thereby striking a blow at both Zionism and Shi'ite Islam that will contribute to "free[ing] Syria."

Zimbabwe's election-theater illustrates how cyber attacks on opposition sites have become a new normal for repressive regimes.

Some observers see China's "secure" OS Kylin as an effective counter to US offensive cyber operations. Others mull what the weekend's breach of Tor anonymity reveals about cyber capabilities.

OpenX ad servers are "pre-compromised" with a remote code backdoor. Weaknesses in Windows phones' authentication render them vulnerable to attack, especially through "rogue" Wi-Fi connections. Users find much to complain about in Chrome's password storage functionality, and warn others to stay clear of it. Prodigy email vulnerabilities worry users (particularly those in Mexico). A security flaw is found in HP printers.

Having heard warnings that the human is the weak leak, it's worth remembering the famous Robin Sage catfish exploit. At DefCon Jordan Harbinger (whose name itself sounds a bit catfishy) described how understanding dating and "charm" enabled him to socially engineer security professionals on LinkedIn.

The market continues to sort out the Snowden affair's effect on US cloud vendors and the US Government's ability to recruit newly-shy cyber talent.

The US administration, counting itself embarrassed by Russia's refusal to extradite Snowden, cancels a planned Obama-Putin summit.