News Briefs

Obama to Sign Executive Order for Streamlining Approval of Internet Networks

Currently, the process for approving broadband construction projects on federal property varies from agency to agency. Property controlled by the federal government includes roads, about 30 percent of the nation's land and more than 10,000 buildings. The order will require the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Interior, Transportation and Veterans Affairs as well as the Postal Service to develop a single process for approving Internet construction projects. more

Data Broker Reported to Have Exposed a Database Containing Close to 340 Million Individual Records

A data broker based in Palm Coast, Florida, is reported to have exposed a database that contained close to 340 million personal records on a publicly accessible server. more

European ccTLDs Have Reached 66.5 Million Registrations, CENTR Reports

According to the latest DomainWire, CENTR's quarterly report, european ccTLDs closed August 2014 with 66.5 million registrations -- a net growth of 0.3% over the past 3 months. Chart below shows growth rates (3m averages) for both European ccTLDs and legacy gTLDs over the past 12 months. It suggests a continued trend downward of both TLD types with a stabilization observed since July. more

Botnets: Most Prevalent Threat on the Internet for the Enterprises

Based on the total number of transactions, Zscaler reports botnets as the biggest security risk on the Internet for the enterprises. "Once a host gets infected, the botnet usually spreads quickly within an enterprise. It also generates a significant amount of traffic to the command and control server, to download additional malware or perform other actions." more

Amazon Propels Into the Satellite Internet Race With New $120 Million Florida Facility

In an ambitious move, Amazon, in collaboration with state officials, has declared its plans to erect a high-tech satellite processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Backed by $120 million budget, this expansive 100,000-square-foot complex will be the keystone of Amazon's Kuiper initiative. more

Obama Administration Announces $400 Million Advanced Wireless Research Initiative

Obama Administration announced today a $400 million Advanced Wireless Research Initiative led by the National Science Foundation (NSF). more

The Hill: FCC Response to Sen. Cruz Reveals Hidden ICANN Agenda in Net Neutrality Order

Fred Campbell reporting in The Hill writes: "It's no secret that controversy has plagued the Obama Administration's plan to surrender U.S. oversight of the Internet domain naming and numbering systems from the current U.S.-based ICANN to the 'global multistakeholder community.' But the reason the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) declined to exercise its statutory jurisdiction over Internet numbering inside the United States was indeed secret until Senator Ted Cruz forced the FCC to explain itself." more

SANS Develops Small-Scale City to Train Cyber Warriors

SANS has announced NetWars CyberCity, a small-scale city located close by the New Jersey Turnpike complete with a bank, hospital, water tower, train system, electric power grid, and a coffee shop. NetWars CyberCity was developed to teach cyber warriors from the U.S. Military how online actions can have kinetic effects. more

Facebook Proposes New Optical Detector to Enable Free-Space Laser Communication

Published today in a scientific journal, Facebook has proposed a new type of optical detector that could simplify the technology behind free-space laser communication and enable high-speed connectivity in areas where traditional infrastructure is difficult to build. more

EU Launches First European Public-Private Partnership on Cybersecurity, Plans $2B Investment

The European Commission has launched a new public-private partnership on cybersecurity expected to trigger €1.8 billion ($2B) of investment by 2020. more

Kansas System Hacked, Social Security Numbers of Millions Accessed Spanning 10 States

Hackers breached a Kansas Department of Commerce data system used across multiple states and gained access to more than 5.5 million Social Security Numbers, according to local news sources. more

UPDATEDGoogle Flags Entire Web Unsafe, Glitch Due to Human Error According to Company

A glitch in Google's security update on Saturday morning caused links to every search result -- including Google's own pages -- to get flagged with the warning: "This site may harm your computer." The errors caused panic among users around the world who at first feared the popular search engine had suffered a major security failure. The problem which lasted for approximately 40 minutes has now been acknowledged and fixed by Google. The reason for the hiccup, as explained by Google, was due to a human error in the list of URLs Google uses to identify and flag websites known to install malicious software. more

Article Expresses Concern That Google and Other Tech Giants are Quietly Buying Up Undersea Cables

Big tech's ownership of the internet backbone will have far-reaching, yet familiar, implications, says Tyler Cooper, a broadband policy watcher, and editor at BroadbandNow. more

Ron Paul Caught in Domain Dispute with Supporters

Former U.S. presidential candidate and congressman Rob Paul has filed a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization against the registrants of RonPaul.com and RonPaul.org in order to gain control of the domains. more

Airplanes Vulnerable to Hacking, Says U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Researchers have been able to successfully demonstrate a commercial aircraft can be remotely hacked. more