As many observers predicted, yesterday's OpUSA proved largely a fizzle.

Reports appear that the Syrian Electronic Army has shifted its campaign against Israel (an adjunct to its primary mission of supporting Assad's regime) from denial-of-service to attacks on SCADA. Syria shuts down its Internet connectivity for the second time during the ongoing civil war—but this won't disrupt the Syrian Electronic Army, which operates largely from outside the country.

The US Department of Defense calls the alleged Chinese cyber attack on QinetiQ North America "disturbing" but says it's "not in a position to investigate the security practices of a private company." ("Investigate" here seems to mean "investigate as a matter of law enforcement.") China remains in high dudgeon over US charges of cyber espionage, but the official allegations have lent urgency to the US Senate's consideration of new anti-espionage legislation. Bill Gates thinks he sees a solution—briefly, an Internet "referee," which he regards as technically feasible.

Attacks on media outlets continue, now in the form of redirection of Internet visitors to malicious sites serving malware and bogus antivirus software. Site visitors appear to be vulnerable only if they're using Internet Explorer. Twitter accounts remain attractive to hackers as well.

The Cool Exploit Kit is active and dangerous in the wild. IE, Java, and Apache vulnerabilities continue to be exploited, and SQL injection still succeeds against unprepared targets.

The US Department of Homeland Security will get a new CIO, and the CIA has a new head of its Clandestine Service.