Sino-Vietnamese maritime disputes continue to be fought in cyberspace, with China apparently playing offense. Media in other Southeast Asian countries lend a sympathetic ear to former US National Security Advisor Donilon's warnings concerning Chinese cyber threats.

Al Qaeda has apparently, as widely feared and reported, changed its communication tools after reading Snowden's leaks. But this may not be entirely a bad thing, as some observers note that a change to do-it-yourself crypto may have made the terrorist organization's communications easier to read: home-brew crypto seems, Schneier notes, to be "snake oil."

Dark Reading continues its series on Iran's "Ajax Security Team."

Polymorphic malware VOBFUS evolves into polylingual variants, the better to phish its way into targets' networks.

The cyber insurance market may be burgeoning, but it's still immature. AppRiver surveyed "security professionals" at the recent Infosecurity Europe expo and found them skeptical: coverage is expensive and they doubt claims would be paid. This suggests compliance-heavy clauses in policies and lack of consensus over risk management more than it does widespread experience of claims being denied.

That the business risk of cyber incidents is real none would deny. A study of consumer attitudes finds data breaches very damaging to brand reputation. Retailers take note and form R-CISC, the Retail Cyber Intelligence Sharing Center.

Some "anonymous" services hedge their promises: they'll reveal your identity to police, in response to subpoenas, etc., which shows the shakiness of anonymity secured by third parties.

The FBI hints major arrests in cyber cases are coming soon.