Chinese cyber-rioting against Vietnamese targets coincides with China's assertive deployment of drill rigs in disputed waters.

Fresh allegations surface that Russia hacked Belgian Foreign Ministry networks. The goal seems to have been intelligence on international reaction to Russian ambitions in Ukraine. Radware warns that other nations' networks should expect to be targeted, with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the United States of particular interest to Russian intelligence services. Russian information operations—marketing in battledress—directed toward the Near Abroad intensify.

Iran seems satisfied with its influence on the Syrian civil war, and also increases its cyber optempo. FireEye reports on "Operation Saffron Rose," in which apparent hacktivism evolved into a practically overt Iranian government cyber campaign.

Anonymous Tunisia continues to count coup against Israeli sites. In other respects Anonymous isn't doing so well these days: the collective is riven by a dispute over missing funds and allegations of mismanagement. The funds and mismanagement aren't large, but who would have thought a disinterested anarchist collective had any of either?

Many patches have been announced at mid-week. Beyond Microsoft's, users will also find fixes and upgrades to Adobe, Google Chrome, Linux, BlackBerry, and AVG software.

Breaking Defense reports on the difficulties widespread participation in cyberspace poses to armies (specifically the US Army, but all conventional armies are affected). Force protection and counterintelligence become difficult; asymmetric threats evolve more rapidly.

Damballa says North American businesses get, on the average, 10,000 security alerts daily. This is obviously too much to process: it's glare, not light.