The Federal Reserve discloses that hackers briefly penetrated one of its internal networks. While "critical functions" were unaffected, some data were lost. The exploit may be related to recent hacktivist exposure of commercial bankers' personal information.
Universal plug-n-play (UPnP) flaws remain troubling, and anyone with a router would do well to consider disabling UPnP.
US Federal agencies prepare to furlough workers as budget sequestration approaches. Some contractors are also reducing headcount: Lockheed Martin will shed 350 middle managers through "voluntary layoffs." Mergers and acquisitions also figure in today's marketplace news. CACI says it intends to buy cyber and intelligence support companies. Dell (with help from Microsoft) continues to work on the leveraged buy-out that will take the company private. HP's board is said to be considering breaking up Hewlett Packard.
Indian tech entrepreneurs see opportunity in BYOD security. IBM offers very capable, aggressively priced servers to smaller customers. Microsoft's Surface Pro earns some positive reviews.
The denial-of-service attacks troubling the security-aware financial sector lead industry observers to worry about less-prepared industries' vulnerability. Canadian security experts advise operators of industrial control systems to use of data diodes for network segmentation.
The United Kingdom begins a major program of comprehensive Internet surveillance. The US Congress goes on record in favor of an open Internet. Activists urge going beyond proposed "Aaron's Laws" and reducing the severity of criminal penalties for what they see as relatively benign forms of hacking. The FBI warns attorneys of a coming wave of cyber attacks against law firms.