Security & Defense

Romanian Ambassador Chosen to be New NATO Assistant Secretary General

By Foreign Ministry of Romania

From Foreign Ministry of Romania:  Foreign Minister Titus Corlăţean welcomes the designation of Ambassador Sorin Ducaru as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Risks.

Iran’s Escalating Cyber Campaign Edging US Closer to Retaliation

By Siobhan Gorman and Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal

From Siobhan Gorman and Danny Yadron, Wall Street Journal:  Iranian-backed hackers have escalated a campaign of cyberassaults against U.S. corporations by launching infiltration and surveillance missions against the computer networks running energy companies

German Armed Forces Equipping for Cyber War

By Michael Fischer, DPA

NATO Faces About Ten Serious Cyber Incidents Each Month

By Paul Ames, Global Post

From Paul Ames, Global Post:  The Boolea attack is fiction, the center-piece of operation Locked Shields, a "live fire" cyber exercise run by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence in late April, to test the rapid response capabilities of allied cyber units.

Crisis in the Sahel: Mali Terrorism Threat Growing

By Rudolph Atallah

Over the past year, things have escalated dramatically in Mali, causing further instability in the Sahara and the Sahel. Many skeptics underestimated the Islamist threat and claimed that the Saharan branch of Al-Qaeda in the Magreb (AQIM) was only focused on kidnappings for ransom and illicit trade, rather than jihadist activities.

NSA Deputy Warns Against Cyber Vigilantes

By Colin Clark, Breaking Defense

From Colin Clark, Breaking Defense:  The private sector — and the government — must “exhaust” the use of traditional responses such as public shaming, criminal charges, diplomatic demarches, and sanctions “before we contemplate the dangerous possibility we might encourage vigilantism

Report Recommends US Permit Private Counterattacks Against International Hackers

By David E. Sanger, New York Times

From David E. Sanger, New York Times:  With President Obama preparing for a first meeting with China’s new president, a commission led by two former senior officials in his administration will recommend a series of steps that could significantly raise the cost to China of the theft of American industrial secrets.