#IMWeekly October 24, 2014
Poland: ISIS supporters hack the Warsaw Stock Exchange
Hackers stole the login credentials of 41 alleged stock exchange employees from the Warsaw Stock Exchange Thursday in response to the recent shelling campaign of ISIS. The hacker, user name JAN_URBANOWICZ, claimed the credentials belonged to employees from several American and international banks, including JP Morgan Chase and Credit Suisse. “All the Governments that joined the bombing of the Islamic State are our targets now. Europe, your peaceful life is over,” stated the hacker.
Russia: Russia begins to seriously consider building an autonomous Internet
Russia has begun to push for state control of the Internet, after Russian Communications and Mass Media Minister Nikolai Nikiforov suggested that the US might cut off Internet access to other nations. Adversaries of the idea label Nikiforov’s claim as propaganda intended to help bring control of the Internet under the state. Critics worry that the grab for Internet control is less a matter of fear, and more a step towards an autocratic regime.
China: China uses iCloud to spy on users
Less than a day after the iPhone 6 launched in China, an attack was discovered that stripped users’ login credentials of their encryption. The Chinese government remains the prime suspect, though it has not been verified. According to experts, however, only telecom providers or government could engage in such an attack.
Multinational: Leaked Trans-Pacific Partnership papers reveal plans to censor Internet globally
Wikileaks published a draft of the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) detailing the Intellectual Property agreement that the 12 participating countries are entertaining during negotiations. Evidently, the agreement would enforce stricter copyright and patent laws among member countries, and the US is at the head of the initiative. This negotiation is currently confidential; only participating nations and corporations have access to its terms.
Switzerland: The world’s governments select Swiss civil servant to act as chair inside Governmental Advisory Committee.
Thomas Schneider, deputy head of Swiss communications regulator Ofcom, was elected to the role of chairman to the influential Internet governance committee, which advises ICANN, Tuesday. He will play a large role in the development of ICANN as it works to fully privatize the Internet’s domain name system.
US: Congress shuts down FBI request to force companies to decrypt phones
Last week the head of the FBI, Jamey Comey, threatened a dark future if phone companies were allowed to continue encrypting their users’ data. He went as far as to say that "Congress might have to force this [decryption] on companies." Fortunately, Congress responded with a resounding, “no.”
South Korea: After losing millions of users to foreign competitor, South Korea tries to assuage citizen fears of gov't spying
In the wake of a cyber investigation inside South Korea, citizens feared the government might start monitoring their conversations on a South Korean chat app last week. In response, a German competitor, Telegram, saw two million sign-ups from the country, likely because Telegram does not have servers in South Korea. In response, the government has begun a campaign to assuage its citizens of any fears regarding privacy in the hopes of bringing users back to the local tech company.
#imweekly is a weekly round-up of news about Internet content controls and activity around the world. To read more, click here.