Cyber security chatter at the week's opening is driven by, first, the US Administration's continued push for punitive operations against the Syrian regime (with attendant minor hacktivism and opportunistic cyber crime), second, the coming anniversary of al Qaeda's 9/11 terror attacks (with Islamist calls for cyber rioting), and third, concerns over NSA surveillance capabilities.

These last are exacerbated by Der Spiegel's weekend reports of pervasive NSA smartphone data inspection. Many observers regard Spiegel's claims as overblown, but they've contributed to general worries about electronic surveillance. The consensus is that NSA generally attacked encryption implementations as opposed to the algorithms themselves (which realization has breathed some life into a long-shot US House bill to restrict backdoors), and that making full use of strong encryption remains an important (and generally effective) security measure.

There is no shortage of advice on how to achieve and preserve security, ranging from dead-man switches to quantum cryptography (a bit prematurely, this, despite recent advances—quantum cryptography isn't exactly available at the corner office supply store).

Hackers continue to probe Joomla and WordPress users. Obad and Hesperbot worry online banking customers in Europe and the Middle East. It's increasingly clear that Sykipot malware users target US civil aviation.

Auburn University, recently designated an NSA cyber center of excellence, expands programs that enable students to work with the US Intelligence Community.

As the US seeks to soothe cyber relations with (among others) Germany, Mexico, and Brazil, the Register describes the scope of the Indian government's lawful intercept operations.