• White House to coordinate cybersecurity efforts

    White House to coordinate securing networks government-wide, identifying more than 250 requirements in an on-going 60-day review of federal cybersecurity initiatives

  • Manipulating Google searches as counter-terrorism tool

    The U.K. government will train pro-West Islamic groups to game Google searches in order to fight the influence of radicals; search engine optimization techniques will make moderate Islamic groups come up first in Google searches

  • Texas electrical grid's operator says he is on watch for hackers

    Bob Kahn, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas: “We are constantly modifying and upgrading our protections as technology advances, business requirements change and new threats emerge”

  • SBAC to U.K. government: don't starve successful sectors

    The Society of British Aerospace Companies tells government investment in defense and aerospace should be increased; more investment should go to science, technology, engineering, and maths education

  • Aussie government in $43 billion fast Internet scheme

    The economic slowdown found private Australian telecommunication companies unwilling to fund a high-speed national broadband network, a network which Kevin Rudd’s government believes is essential for the country’s economic competitiveness; the government is stepping in, saying it would invest at least $21.9 billion of taxpayers’ money to get the project going

  • Hackers of U.S. electrical grid left behind "sleeper" software programs

    The U.S. electrical grid has been penetrated by sophisticated hackers who left behind “sleeper” software programs which could be remotely activated to disrupt the system; the intelligence community says it is the work of Russian and Chinese government operatives

  • U.K. Home Office terrorism advisory site offered link to a porno site

    On Monday, a new EU regulation went into effect mandating that ISPs store details of user e-mails and Internet calls; a Home Office site contained a link for citizens who felt the measure was too intrusive, and who would want to send the Home Office a complaint about it; trouble is, those who clicked on the link were sent to a Japanese porno site

  • CCTV doorbell could deter, catch crooks

    New CCTV-equipped doorbell takes pictures of people ringing your doorbell, and stores picture for future use

  • £44 million to U.K. universities to share knowledge with business

    U.K. Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) created the Knowledge Transfer Accounts (KTA) program to increase collaboration between academia and business; so far, the EPSRC’s KTA programs have awarded a total of £44 million

  • Texas university offers maritime degree

    The growing security mandates imposed on U.S. sea ports, and need to manage these mandates with but minimal disruption of the flow of commerce, have led Texas Southern University to begin to offer a new degree program in maritime transportation; the bachelor’s and master’s degrees will prepare students in three areas: maritime logistics, security, and environmental compliance

  • Dennis Blair ousts ONI Inspector General

    Last November, the Inspector General (IG) at the U.S. Office of National Intelligence issued a report in which he highlighted ongoing problems inside ONI and the intelligence community, including poor communication, turf battles, incompatible computer systems, and mission confusion; last Friday, Dennis Blair, director of ONI, fired the IG

  • California politician wants to censor online maps

    The twin developments of improved satellite imagery and the availability of such images on Google Maps lead many to worry that among the main beneficiaries of these developments are terrorists; in California a law is being debated which would blur features of sensitive buildings and sites

  • Privacy advocates: fusion centers threat to civil liberties

    U.S. intelligence fusion centers — in which federal, state, and local authorities collaborate in collecting, analyzing, vetting, and disseminating intelligence to first responders on the ground in an effort to disrupt terrorist or criminal activity — have grown dramatically since 9/11: DHS now recognizes 70 such centers, and they engage 800,000 state and local law enforcement officers; privacy advocates worry

  • U.K. Tories charge government's legal dodge over Comms database debate

    The U.K. government last year revealed plans for creating a massive central database of e-mail, Web browsing, telephone, and social networking data; U.K. law mandates that such a database be approved by parliament; Tories charge that the government is using the European rules obliging data retention by ISPs — rules which come into effect today — to begin assembling this centralized system, or its prototype

  • A wave of food recalls fuels drive for food safety reform

    The FDA told consumers Monday to stop eating anything containing pistachios; the FDA was tipped off by Kraft Foods on 24 March, after the company found salmonella in routine testing and recalled some trail mix