The Islamic State (formerly known as ISIL/ISIS) imposes media strictures in the Syrian provinces it controls — all journalists must swear allegiance to the caliphate and submit to its censorship. This will disproportionately affect online activity, including social media: the journalists affected are largely activists and citizen journalists. Few traditional media operate in the region.

Recorded Future reports on Al Qaeda encryption, post-Snowden: leaks appear to have induced changes, and the current encryption doesn't look like homebrew.

Hacktivists sympathizing with Gazans claim webpage defacements against Israel's Mossad and (oddly) the US state of Connecticut.

The BBC says it's seen evidence that Chinese cyber espionage services indeed obtained information about Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system. Canada stands by attribution of the NRC hack to China.

Kaspersky reports the Crouching Yeti cyber espionage campaign seems also to have targeted francophones and speakers of Swedish. (If you're keeping score, "Crouching Yeti" is "Energetic Bear" is "Energetic Yeti.")

Researchers warn that point-of-sale malware "Backoff" is active in the wild, integrating keylogging, memory scraping and other capabilities. (Observers also note that focus on compliance has blinded some retailers to security realities.)

Symantec publishes mitigations for Endpoint Protection vulnerabilities.

Cyber firms remain M&A darlings. IBM picks up CrossIdeas, Twitter gets Mitro, and BlackBerry (aspiring to "security powerhouse" status) announces intent to acquire Secusmart.

Behavioral biometric modalities (such as how you physically handle your smartphone) are touted as password alternatives (reminiscent of the operator's "fist" in Morse telegraphy).

Russian law clamps down on bloggers, requiring registration, forbidding anonymity.