Hacktivism against Latin American targets surges, mildly, with the usual diversity of motive. Venezuelan dissenters hit that country's police and military Websites, Anonymous Peru goes after the Peruvian Association of Authors and Composers on behalf of music pirating, and Pakistani hackers attack the Google Video Costa Rica domain for obscure reasons. Other Pakistani hacktivists continue the usual cyber-rioting against India.
In the UK, Parliament offers two object lessons in cyber security. First, the Minister for the Cabinet Office "installed his own Wi-Fi" in Commons, showing the familiar vicious circle of sluggish IT support prompting shadow IT, which in turn opens vulnerabilities, whose closure too often induces even more sluggish support, etc. Second, MPs' widespread on-the-job porn-surfing pastime proves resistant to technical control because of the "Scunthorpe Problem," a reminder of how difficult automated approaches to intensionality can be. Still, worth working on.
Data stolen from PR Newswire turns up beside stolen Adobe code, which suggests there are more companies with hacked data on the criminals' servers.
Researchers supported by Automatak find 25 vulnerabilities in ICS/SCADA protocols. Coupled with Project SHINE's ongoing inventory of Internet-connected SCADA systems, the findings indicate a high degree of industrial control system vulnerability.
Advanced malware appears in the wild sporting Address Space Layout Randomization (ASLR) bypass techniques.
Organized crime turns to hackers to compromise shipping systems.
US NSA Director Keith Alexander will retire in the spring; his deputy will retire this winter. Alexander's retirement has been discussed since June; it's not connected with the Snowden affair.