The warnings about Dragonfly sounded this week by Symantec continue to reverberate. It amounts, observers say, to a sabotage warning, since the threat actor is believed to have established access to operational networks controlling the power grid. The US, Switzerland, and Turkey are said to be particularly heavily infested. A nation-state is said to be behind Dragonfly; which nation-state hasn't yet been publicly identified.

Votiro, Fortinet, and FireEye re-emphasize findings that groups associated with Chinese intelligence services are working actively against countries with whom China is disputing territorial claims in the South China Sea: Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam (especially Vietnam).

Facebook says that over the last two years between $100,000 and $150,000 in some 3000 Facebook ads were placed by the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg outfit known to operate on behalf of the Russian organs. The topics the ads addressed were characterized as "divisive," concentrating on race, immigration, and equal rights. $150,000 is not much in terms of advertising dollars. If it was a Russian buy aimed at disruption, that's a spectacular return-on-investment. (Some, like Virginia Senator Warner, are calling this "the tip of the iceberg.") The ads were fairly well distributed across the political spectrum.

The US continues its minor stumbles over information operations. Anti-Taliban leaflets dropped in Afghanistan alienated their target audience by carelessly juxtaposing the Taliban flag (with a Koranic verse) and a dog (a ritually unclean animal).

Google's September Android Security Bulletin addressed eighty-one bugs, thirteen of them critical remote code execution vulnerabilities.