cybersecurity

Facebook no longer supports a controversial federal cybersecurity bill that would let U.S. companies share personal information with government agencies in ways currently prohibited by privacy laws.

The social-networking company had previously applauded the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, which was reintroduced last month. Facebook Vice President Joel Kaplan wrote a letter (PDF) last February to Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, "to commend you on your legislation," and Rogers sent out his own press release noting Facebook's "strong support" for the bill.

But then groups including the American Civil Liberties … Read more

President Barack Obama met with 13 chief executives yesterday to dig deeper into cybersecurity.

According to The New York Times, which first reported on the meeting, the discussion took place in the White House Situation Room and was a "two-way" exchange of information between the president and the chief executives.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, along with chief executives at Exxon Mobil, Bank of America, and JPMorgan Chase, were all in attendance, according to the Times.

Over the last several weeks, a slew of companies has been hit with cyberattacks. Online banking sites have also been targeted. … Read more

It's not exactly a secret where President Obama stands on a controversial Republican-backed cybersecurity bill: he's already promised to veto it.

But a cadre of Internet activists opposed to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act nevertheless created a petition to the president asking him to "stop CISPA" -- and it has crossed the 100,000-signature threshold necessary to secure a response from the administration.

In reality, there's little Obama can do to stop CISPA that he hasn't already done. The administration offered a stark warning in last year's veto threat, which talked … Read more

Aaron Swartz, the Internet activist who committed suicide while facing the possibility of a felony criminal conviction, was prosecuted under a law that was never intended to cover what he was accused of doing.

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984 dealt only with bank and defense-related intrusions. But over the years, thanks to constant pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice, the scope of the law slowly crept outward.

So by the time Swartz was arrested in 2011, the tough federal statute meant to protect our national defense secrets covered everything from Bradley Manning's offenses to … Read more

If he was trying to scare the hell out of his listeners about the current state of cybersecurity, consider the newest warning from the nation's top intelligence official a mission accomplished.

In stark testimony delivered today to Congress, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper described a fast-eroding economic and national security landscape that's being rapidly penetrated by foreign agents infiltrating the nation's computer networks. This was the first time Clapper has included cyberattacks in his yearly congressional report on security threats facing the nation -- the Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community (PDF) -- … Read more

The U.S. and China both say they want to directly discuss the issue of cybersecurity, but the odds of an open discussion are slim at best.

The Chinese government today responded to a U.S. invitation to enter into a dialogue with the U.S. over acceptable behavior in cyberspace, Reuters reported.

At a daily news briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chuying said that "China is willing, on the basis of the principles of mutual respect and mutual trust, to have constructive dialogue and cooperation on this issue with the international community including the United States to maintain … Read more

The White House warned China today to end a campaign of cyberespionage against U.S. companies, saying in its toughest language yet on the issue that the hacking activity threatens to derail efforts to build stronger ties between the two countries.

U.S. companies are increasingly complaining that intellectual property is being stolen through attacks "emanating from China on an unprecedented scale," Tom Donilon, the president's national security adviser, said during a speech at the Asia Society in New York.

"The international community cannot afford to tolerate such activity from any country," Donilon said. "… Read more

The idea of governments waging futuristic cyberbattles and online espionage campaigns actually isn't too farfetched. A new study released today by Team Cymru basically says as much.

The study, shared exclusively with The Verge, says that overseas hackers are stealing as much as one terabyte of data per day from governments, businesses, militaries, and academic facilities. Apparently, the hackers are using a network of 500 computer servers.

According to a lengthy article by The Verge, Team Cymru concludes that the hackers are so sophisticated and are running such massive campaigns that they must be state-sponsored. "This is Internet … Read more

President Obama invoked the pageantry of his State of the Union address this evening to announce a long-anticipated executive order on cybersecurity, a move that caps months of discussions with technology companies and could reduce pressure on Congress to move forward with controversial new legislation.

The order will "strengthen our cyber defenses by increasing information sharing, and developing standards to protect our national security, our jobs, and our privacy," Obama said.

Obama's executive order doesn't propose new and potentially onerous regulations targeting private businesses, which Democrats had proposed in their unsuccessful legislation last year. It also … Read more