BEIJING (Reuters) – Reports that China was involved in cutting off North Korea’s Internet are “irresponsible”, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks at a daily news briefing.
Read moreBy Jane Wardell SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday security officials had intercepted a heightened level of “terrorist chatter” in the aftermath of the Sydney cafe siege. As memorial services were held for the two victims of the 16-hour siege a week ago, Abbott warned that the public needed to remain alert as the country headed into Christmas and New Year celebrations. “The national security agencies today indicated that there has been a heightened level of terrorist chatter in the aftermath of the Martin Place siege,” Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
Read moreBOSTON (Reuters) – Apple Inc has pushed out its first-ever automated security update to Macintosh computers to help defend against newly identified bugs that security researchers have warned could enable hackers to gain remote control of machines. The company pushed out the software on Monday to fix critical security vulnerabilities in a component of its OS X operating system called the network time protocol, or NTP, according to Apple spokesman Bill Evans.NTP is used for synchronizing clocks on computer systems. ..
Read moreBy Meeyoung Cho SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea has not ruled out the involvement of North Korea in a cyberattack on the country’s nuclear power plant operator and has requested the United States to help in investigations, an official involved in the proceedings said on Tuesday. Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co Ltd (KHNP), which runs South Korea’s 23 nuclear power reactors, said on Monday that its computer systems had been hacked but only non-critical data had been stolen. Operations were not at risk, it said
Read moreBy Lesley Wroughton and Megha Rajagopalan WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) – North Korea, at the center of a confrontation with the United States over the hacking of Sony pictures, itself experienced Internet outages on Monday, a U.S. company that monitors Internet infrastructure said. New Hampshire-based Dyn Research said the reason for the disruptions was not known but could range from technological glitches to a hacking attack.
Read moreBy Andrey Kuzmin MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia's Internet watchdog is working to block social networking sites rallying support for a mass protest next month backing Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, activists said on Monday. Navalny, a leader of the 2011-12 Moscow protest movement against President Vladimir Putin's rule, is facing charges of stealing 30 million roubles from two firms, between 2008 and 2012, in a case he has dismissed as politically motivated. ..
Read moreBy Matt Scuffham and William Schomberg LONDON (Reuters) – Top British bankers and other senior executives in the financial services industry are not taking the risk of cyber attacks seriously enough, financial policymakers at the Bank of England say. Cyber crime costs the global economy $445 billion a year and the bill is rising, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Read moreBy Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) – U.S. accusations that North Korea was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures could force Japan to choose between backing its ally Washington and keeping talks on track with Pyongyang about Japanese citizens abducted decades ago. Washington is weighing how to punish North Korea after the FBI concluded Pyongyang was responsible, including possibly returning North Korea to the U.S.
Read moreBy Sohee Kim and Meeyoung Cho SEOUL (Reuters) – Seoul prosecutors have launched an investigation into a leak of non-critical data at South Korea’s nuclear power operator, the prosecutors’ office said on Sunday, as worries mount about nuclear safety and potential cyberattacks from North Korea.
Read moreBy Edwin Chan SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Popular photo-sharing service Instagram on Saturday took down the account of the man said to be behind the “assassination” of two New York City police officers, after the 28-year-old gunman’s veiled threats and provocative messages went viral in the wake of the execution-style shootings. Posted just hours before Ismaaiyl Brinsley allegedly walked up to two officers in a parked squad car in Brooklyn and shot them dead, the dark messages again cast a spotlight on the role of social media in spotting and revealing public threats of violence.
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