Islamic State makes Telegram messaging app a major marketing tool

The mobile messaging service Telegram, created by the exiled founder of Russia’s most popular social network site, has emerged as an important new promotional and recruitment platform for Islamic State. A new feature of Telegram that was introduced in September has become the preferred method for Islamic State to broadcast news and share videos of military victories or sermons, according to security researchers.

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Former U.S. spy agency contractor Snowden draws crowd with Twitter debut

By Bill Trott WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Edward Snowden has come in from the cold – on Twitter. Snowden, the fugitive former National Security Agency contractor who leaked details about the U.S.

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Top U.S. spy says skeptical about U.S.-China cyber agreement

By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top U.S. intelligence official said he was skeptical that a new U.S.-China cyber agreement would slow a growing torrent of cyber attacks on U.S. computer networks, adding that his approach will be to “trust but verify.” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that the agreement did not include specific penalties for violations but that the U.S

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U.S. urged to tighten cyber security to counter Chinese hacking

By Mark Hosenball and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States must beef up cyber security against Chinese hackers targeting a broad range of U.S. interests to raise the cost to China of engaging in such activities, America's top intelligence official said on Thursday.

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Exclusive: U.S. weighs sanctioning Russia as well as China in cyber attacks

By Arshad Mohammed, Matt Spetalnick and Mark Hosenball WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States is considering sanctions against both Russian and Chinese individuals and companies for cyber attacks against U.S.

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Internet privacy bill gets initial approval in Russian assembly

Russian parliament gave initial approval on Tuesday to a law that would require Internet search sites to remove outdated or irrelevant personal information from search results on request from users. The bill, passed by the State Duma lower house in its first reading, seeks to emulate European Union rules on the “right to be forgotten”, under which search engines must take down certain results that appear under a search of a person’s name

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Russia should not cut itself off from foreign investment: Putin

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday the country should not cut itself of from foreign investment and technologies. “We should not, on any account, cut ourselves off” from the kind of foreign investment and technology that can drive economic growth, Putin told a conference of business people. After annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region in March 2014, Russia was hit with Western sanctions that limited its access to foreign capital and technologies, especially for the banking, energy and defense sectors

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Russia warns Google, Twitter and Facebook on law violations

By Maria Tsvetkova and Eric Auchard MOSCOW/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Russia's media watchdog has written to Google, Twitter and Facebook warning them against violating Russian Internet laws and a spokesman said on Thursday they risk being blocked if they do not comply with the rules. Roskomnadzor said it had sent letters this week to the three U.S.-based Internet firms asking them to comply with Internet laws which critics of President Vladimir Putin have decried as censorship.      “In our letters we regularly remind (companies) of the consequences of violating the legislation,” said Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky.     He added that, because of the encryption technology used by the three firms, Russia had no way of blocking specific websites and so could only bring down particular content it deemed in violation of law by blocking access to their whole services.

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