Great Decisions 2012 Winter Update: Cybersecurity


Great Decisions Updates are issued seasonally and provide groups with the latest news and analysis on topics. The Winter 2012 Update is current as of January 13, 2012. Download the Winter 2012 Update as a PDF here.

by Leslie Huang, assistant editor

 

Secretary of State Clinton spoke out in December against government censorship and filtering of the Internet. Her speech came just days after South Korea’s Communications Commission announced that it would begin removing “offensive or immoral content”—such as North Korean propaganda—from social networking. India also announced intentions to remove offensive content, such as YouTube videos that take aim at political figures after major companies, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Microsoft, refused to do so. Though these tactics are common practice for autocratic countries, the growing willingness of democratic nations to censor content has alarmed free speech advocates.

In December, the Chinese government announced new restrictions that would force users of weibo (microblogs) to register with their real names. Microblog companies in Beijing will also be required to be licensed, and it is expected that similar restrictions will be announced for the rest of the country.

In December, the U.S. began investigating allegations that Iranian and Venezuelan diplomats were recruiting student hackers to launch a series of cyberattacks on targets such as the Pentagon, nuclear power plants, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). A number of Venezuelan diplomats in the U.S. and in Mexico were implicated in the plot, which has stirred up concerns that Iran’s efforts at cultivating relations with Latin American nations is a threat to the U.S. In response to these allegations, the U.S. expelled the Venezuelan consul general in Miami.

The Department of Homeland Security released a “Blueprint for a Secure Cyber Future: The Cybersecurity Strategy for the Homeland Security Enterprise.” Involving both federal and local agencies, as well as the private sector, the “Blueprint” is an integrated response to cyber threats. In January President Obama unveiled a new defense budget proposal that—despite deep cuts in military spending—places emphasis on cyber capabilities.

Following a rash of attacks on major corporations such as DuPont, Research in Motion (RIM), Google and Intel, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering a new interpretation of existing disclosure requirements to require companies to disclose security breaches to investors. These instances of cyberburglary, which are often carried out in search of sensitive intellectual property or trade secrets, are usually omitted from financial filings now available to investors.