DefenceTalkSome 140 tech companies, civil liberties and privacy activists urged the White House Tuesday to pull back efforts to weaken encryption or include law enforcement “backdoors” on technology products. The effort marked the latest turn of events in a dispute between Silicon Valley firms and the US government, which is seeking ways to access encrypted […]https://www.defencetalk.com/tech-firms-activists-press-us-on-encryption-64262/

DefenceTalkPresident Barack Obama said Tuesday the cyber attacks against Sony and the Pentagon’s Central Command highlight the need for toughened laws on cybersecurity. Obama made the comment as the White House unveiled a proposal to revive cybersecurity legislation stalled over the past few years. “With the Sony attack that took place, with the Twitter account […]https://www.defencetalk.com/obama-says-hacks-show-need-for-cybersecurity-law-61907/

DefenceTalkA group declaring sympathy for the Islamic State jihadist group hacked US Central Command’s Twitter account and YouTube page Monday, posting internal military documents online. The self-declared Cybercaliphate “is already here, we are in your PCs, in each military base,” the hackers wrote on the seized Twitter feed for Centcom, which oversees the US-led air […]https://www.defencetalk.com/pro-is-hackers-seize-us-centcom-social-media-accounts-61845/

DefenceTalkThe US intelligence chief revealed Wednesday that he dined with the North Korean general believed responsible for hacking Hollywood studio Sony, during a secret mission to Pyongyang two months ago. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper gave a riveting account of the visit at a New York conference on cyber security days after the government […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-spymaster-dined-with-north-korea-general-responsible-for-sony-hack-61305/

DefenceTalkHackers invoked the 9/11 attacks Tuesday in their most chilling threat yet against Sony Pictures, again warning the Hollywood studio not to release a film which has angered North Korea. The threat came as lawyers filed a class action suit against the embattled studio alleging that it failed to protect employees’ data, stolen in a […]https://www.defencetalk.com/hackers-invoke-911-in-new-chilling-sony-threat-61178/

DefenceTalkCyber attacks might be taking a toll now, but just wait: a survey of experts says things are likely to get even worse in the US over the next decade. A majority of cybersecurity experts surveyed in a poll see a likelihood of major damage from a cyber attack in the coming years, according to […]https://www.defencetalk.com/major-hacking-attack-in-us-looms-expert-survey-60921/

DefenceTalkThe US military is looking to flex its muscles in cyberspace as a “deterrence” to hackers eying American targets, the nation’s top cyber-warrior said Tuesday. Admiral Mike Rogers, who heads the Pentagon’s Cyber Command as well as the National Security Agency, evoked a policy often put forward for avoiding nuclear warfare, because holding powerful weapons […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-eyes-cyber-deterrence-to-stop-hackers-60896/

DefenceTalkYahoo said some of its servers were breached briefly by hackers, but that the attack was unrelated to the newly discovered Shellshock vulnerability, and that no user data was compromised. In a posting late Monday on the Hacker News forum, Yahoo’s chief information security officer Alex Stamos said hackers managed to breach three of its […]https://www.defencetalk.com/yahoo-says-some-systems-breached-not-by-shellshock-60706/

DefenceTalkChinese hackers believed to be linked to Beijing conducted dozens of cyberattacks on US defense contractors between 2012 and 2013, potentially compromising military operations, a congressional probe warned Wednesday. A study by the Senate Armed Services Committee found that hackers gained access to systems run by companies doing contract work for the US Transportation Command […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-accuses-china-of-hacking-into-defense-contract-firms-60607/

DefenceTalkWashington will push Beijing to crack down on cyber-spying and halt the theft of corporate data when the two powers meet next week for high-level talks, a US diplomat told AFP Wednesday. Concerns about widespread Internet hacking as well as regional maritime tensions will be among a slew of issues on the table during two […]https://www.defencetalk.com/us-to-push-china-on-hacking-at-high-level-talks-60021/