Government

The ongoing controversy surrounding the SOPA and PIPA anti-piracy bills in Congress has produced a lot of things: misunderstanding of what the bills would do; silly rhetoric from trade groups supposedly defending content creators; confusion on Capitol Hill; and a clear demonstration of how insulated and uninformed many citizens are. But perhaps the worst thing to come out of all of this is the almost comical picture it paints of Congress and its complete lack of understanding of the Internet and its role in society, business and freedom.

Vladimir Zdorovenin, an alleged prolific Russian cybercriminal, has arrived in New York City following his arrest and subsequent extradition by Swiss authorities. The FBI had been working to find and extradite Zdorovenin for several years.

VIEW SLIDESHOW Ten Tips For Protecting Your Devices From Seizure By U.S. CustomsFourth amendment be damned. With U.S. Customs agents increasingly interested in the contents of digital devices like iPhones, iPads and laptops, The Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued guidance for getting your mobile device across the border safely and protecting the data on it should it get seized.

The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is the latest high profile government agency in that country found to be infected with a computer virus.

The latest edition World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report takes a dim view of our hyper connected world. At the group’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, members wrestled with the consequences of ubiquitous Internet connectivity, concluding that groups or individuals with few resources are capable of launching attacks with devastating consequences for both commercial and geopolitical powers.

A report from Alien Vault says that variants of the Sykipot Trojan have been found that can steal DOD smartcard credentials.

The targeted attack that exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Adobe’s Reader application last month was extremely focused on defense industrial base firms, and affected just a handful of systems, according to a company spokesman.