Social media OSINT and intercepted phone calls are playing a large role in understanding the MH17 shootdown. Defense intellectuals warn of the dangers of "cyber war" should sanctions "push Russia too far." Some see campaigns like Havex and Dragonfly as Russian battlespace preparation for economic warfare.

Cyber criminals continue to exploit the crisis in Ukraine. A transparently bogus video circulating on Facebook purports to show the Malaysian airliner's destruction. It of course leads the ghoulishly unwary to crimeware. Dyre malware also reappears, now emblazoned with "Slava Ukraini!" ("Glory to Ukraine!").

Ransomware evolves as foreseen. Android Simplocker's masters have raised their ransom demands and "taught the malware to speak English" as they target Anglophones' devices. Bitdefender says Crytolocker is rising from the ashes to which law enforcement reduced it. Some cyber blackmail is crudely retro, threatening to release victims' explicit pictures.

Trend Micro reports on the "Emmental" bank fraud campaign (named for the perforated cheese, evocative of security holes). Some thirty-four (unnamed) banks in Europe were affected.

Researchers report finding remotely exploitable vulnerabilities in OleumTech's wireless industrial monitoring systems.

"W0rm" achieved his (her? their?) hack of the Wall Street Journal with an SQL injection exploit.

Apple pooh-poohs a researcher's claim to have found backdoors in iOS. What he found, says Apple, is a diagnostic feature put there to improve the user experience.

Their respective developers promise security fixes for Tor and TAILS.

IBM and Bromium issue security trend reports.

Cyber insurers seem unsure whether to write policies or offer security consultation.