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Russians Implicated In White House Hack After Obama Makes Cybersecurity Executive Order

April 8, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

The same Russian hackers who breached the State Department system for months also gained access to an unclassifed White House computer system, according to a report from CNN. Although the system did not contain classified information, the Russians reportedly had access to the president’s private schedule. The connected cyberattack on the State Department in recent months has been characterized as the “worst ever” hack on a federal agency. The White House is no stranger to attacks from foreign spies. The Chinese have been implicated in several high profile attacks of White House unclassified systems and employee emails. News…

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Cybercriminals Are Misappropriating Businesses’ Web Addresses

March 12, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

As a Result, Customers Can’t Find the Real Companies on the Web Cybercriminals targeting businesses are stealing more than customer passwords and credit-card numbers these days. Some are misappropriating the very Web addresses—or domain names—of the businesses themselves. When Pablo Palatnik of Miami glanced at a Google analytics report showing Web traffic on his office TV monitor one day last month, he was alarmed to discover that traffic to his business website, Shadesdaddy.com, had plunged 80% from its usual level of as many as 10,000 visitors a day. At first,…

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US Internet Regulatory Authority (USIRA) Proposed, “No Legal Basis for IANA Transition”

March 10, 2015May 16, 2016

I believe that such proven methods from contemporary US Public Policy experience must be applied in administrating any Internet Governance structure that would result from the IANA Transition proposals. This further underscores the need for Congress to establish a US Internet Regulatory Authority (USIRA) which I had called for in my December 2014 article (See Congress will Oversight ICANN – CircleID). Written by Sophia Bekele on CircleID “No Legal Basis for IANA Transition”: A Post-Mortem Analysis of Senate Committee Hearing Only proper regulation by an independent agency with full Congressional…

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CIO: The Cybercrime Economy Personified

March 5, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

While the Center for Strategic & International Studies and McAfee estimated the annual cost to the global economy from cybercrime at $375 billion conservatively and $575 billion maximally as of June 2014, at least one expert stands by cost figures that are many times those numbers. “U.S. companies and the U.S. economy lose approximately $500 billion each year to theft of trade secrets and innovation. This includes all forms of economic espionage where cybercrime plays a major factor. When you factor the 10-year life of the investment in innovation, the…

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Sophia Bekele: The rise of “Exclusive Multistakeholder” – Analysis on ICANN Africa Strategy

February 17, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Sophia Bekele has taken an inside look into the ICANN Africa Strategy in the article on CircleID quoted below… ICANN Africa Strategy – A View from the Inside: The rise of “Exclusive Multistakeholder” “In fact, the implementation of the strategy, so far, in the opinion of many Africans, is a failure in the multi-stakeholder model of Internet Governance we aspired for. The entire ICANN Africa Strategy is an apparent usurpation of the model by a Special Interest Group who has appointed themselves as “Leaders of the African Internet Community” and…

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Banks in Russia, Japan, the US, and Europe have fallen victim to a massive, sophisticated malware hack

February 16, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Hackers rob US and global banks of millions in one of the largest heists ever writes Kwame Opam on the Verge Banks in Russia, Japan, the US, and Europe have fallen victim to a massive, sophisticated malware hack, allowing the perpetrators to steal hundreds of millions of dollars since 2013. According to a Kaspersky Labs report provided to the New York Times, more than 100 banks in 30 nations have been affected by the breach, with upwards of $300 million stolen in the process. One of the largest bank heists ever…

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Google US search share drops to 74.8% as Yahoo usage on Firefox almost triples since November

February 3, 2015February 16, 2016 Staff Writer

Yahoo gains further US search share in January Google falls below 75% for first time US Yahoo-on-Firefox usage almost triples since November San Francisco, CA & Dublin, Ireland; Monday 2nd February 2015: January saw Yahoo further increase the gain it made in US search share last month, according to the latest data from independent website analytics provider, StatCounter. Google fell below 75% in the US for the first time since StatCounter Global Stats began recording data*. StatCounter Global Stats reports that in January, Google took 74.8% of US search referrals…

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Apple posts $18 billion profit, the largest in its history

January 29, 2015February 17, 2016

Apple just posted its first quarter results, and as expected, it was a big one. Led once again by record sales of new iPhones and holiday sales of iPads and Macs, Apple posted earnings of $18 billion on $74.6 billion in revenue, far above what it forecasted back in October, and marking the highest quarterly profit in its history. By product, Apple sold 74.5 million iPhones, 21.4 million iPads, and 5.52 million Macs. Those numbers were up big from the number of iPhones and Macs Apple sold during the same time…

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France, Germany Seek Help From Tech Firms in Policing Terrorism Online

January 22, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

Officials Expect Companies Like Twitter, Facebook, Google to Pre-Emptively Remove Content on Terrorism Online LILLE, France—France and Germany demanded that U.S. tech companies help them police terrorism on the Internet, escalating European efforts to wrangle more law-enforcement help from Silicon Valley. Top law-enforcement officials from the two countries said on Tuesday they expect U.S. Internet and social-networking companies like Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Google Inc. to pre-emptively remove terror content from their services—or face new laws aimed at forcing them to do so in order to fight Terrorism Online.…

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Obama Wants Firms to Notify of Data Breach Within 30 Days

January 13, 2015February 17, 2016 Staff Writer

The Proposal Complemented a Series of Data Privacy Related Rules Suggested by the White House Today. President Barack Obama wants companies to notify consumers within 30-days of a personal data breach. Despite a slew of pressing issues facing the administration and a potentially unsympathetic Republican-led congress, the White House today unveiled a handful of legislative proposals aimed at safeguarding consumer privacy, continuing along a path established by its privacy and big data report published in May. The administration’s Personal Data Notification and Protection Act is being pitched in part as…

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