OpIsrael, the hacktivist campaign that's so far produced fizzled attacks, promises to return in a big way on September 11. Their record suggests their limitations; still, it would be unwise to dismiss them out of hand.

Norman Shark publishes a well-documented report on Operation Hangover, allegedly an Indian government campaign against, among other targets, Norwegian telecom infrastructure.

Chinese attacks, surely state-directed, again affect Tibetan activist and sympathizer sites. FireEye reports that China's Comment Crew is back, and using new versions of cracking tools "Aumlib" and "Ixeshe."

Counter.php is found redirecting victims to the Styx exploit kit. IPv6 is shown readily adaptable to man-in-the-middle attacks. Researchers warn that Windows XP's retirement next April will be a boon to cyber criminals: users are likely to continue using XP, and attacks on the OS will not be met with patching.

Dark Reading reports on trends in malware obfuscation, including the increasingly familiar ability to detect virtualization.

Joomla, whose platform's vulnerabilities continue to be exploited, issues fixes and strongly encourages users to apply them. Today is, of course, Patch Tuesday, and Redmond is expected to issue its monthly upgrades shortly.

Shortages of cyber talent are affecting many sectors, including medical devices and healthcare.

Mega promises to fill the secure email market niches left by Silent Circle's and Lavabit's exit. Others hope to fill the gap by building meshnets.

US President Obama, whose recent denial of domestic electronic surveillance has met with widespread skepticism, appoints DNI James Clapper to lead a surveillance policy review panel.