U.S. government reveals breadth of requests for Internet records

By Dustin Volz WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Federal Bureau of Investigation has used a secretive authority to compel Internet and telecommunications firms to hand over customer data including an individual’s complete web browsing history and records of all online purchases, a court filing released Monday shows. The documents are believed to be the first time the government has provided details of its so-called national security letters, which are used by the FBI to conduct electronic surveillance without the need for court approval. The filing made public Monday was the result of an 11-year-old legal battle waged by Nicholas Merrill, founder of Calyx Internet Access, a hosted service provider, who refused to comply with a national security letter (NSL) he received in 2004

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Swedbank website down in hacker attack

Swedbank's Swedish website has stopped working after a hacker attack and cannot be reached by its customers, a spokesman said on Friday. The attack means that customers cannot conduct online transactions or contact the bank through the Internet although mobile applications and payments continue to function, Swedbank spokesman Claes Warren said. The website was also hit by a hacker attack in October.

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Florida private investigator charged for trying to hack charity

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) – A Florida private investigator is facing criminal charges over his alleged effort to infiltrate a charity's computer network while researching whether nonprofits are financing Islamic militants, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.

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China adopts new security law to make networks, systems ‘controllable’

By Michael Martina BEIJING (Reuters) – China's legislature adopted a sweeping national security law on Wednesday that covers everything from territorial sovereignty to measures to tighten cyber security, a move likely to rile foreign businesses. A core component of the law, passed by the standing committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), is to make all key network infrastructure and information systems “secure and controllable”

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China draft counterterror law strikes fear in foreign tech firms

By Michael Martina and Krista Hughes BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – China is weighing a far-reaching counterterrorism law that would require technology firms to hand over encryption keys and install security “backdoors”, a potential escalation of what some firms view as the increasingly onerous terms of doing business in the world's second largest economy.

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Risk modelers look to clarify cyber risk costs

By Luciana Lopez NEW YORK (Reuters) – Even as the Sony Corp cyber attack laid bare the kinds of vulnerabilities that typically drive companies to buy insurance policies, the lack of a risk model for insurers means such protection is not always easy to get.

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Staples says security breach may have affected 1.16 million cards

(Reuters) – Office-supply retailer Staples Inc said about 1.16 million payment cards might have been affected by the data breach announced in October. An investigation by external data security experts showed that criminals deployed malware to some point-of-sales systems at 115 U.S. stores, Staples said

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