Brian Krebs

The federal government is struggling to fill a growing demand for skilled computer-security workers, from technicians to policymakers, at a time when network attacks are rising in frequency and sophistication.

Electric utilities vying for $3.9 billion in new federal "smart grid" grants will need to prove that they are taking steps to prevent cyberattacks as they move to link nearly all elements of the US power grid to the public Internet.

A widespread and coordinated cyberattack during the past few days has targeted Web sites operated by major government agencies, including the departments of Homeland Security and Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Trade Commission.

The resignation of the federal government's cybersecurity coordinator highlights a power struggle underway over how best to defend the government's civilian computer networks against digital attacks.

Open government groups scored a small but potentially decisive victory this week in a long-running battle to win publication of thousands of secret reports that Congress uses to fashion new laws.

Businesses, governments and educational institutions reported nearly 50 percent more data breaches last year than in 2007, exposing the personal records of at least 35.7 million Americans, according to a nonprofit group that works to prevent identity fraud.

How could a massive concentration of spam activity be hosted for so long by servers at a single U.S.-based facility, in the belly of the security and tech community in Silicon Valley?

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide may have dropped drastically yesterday after a Web-hosting firm, identified by many in the computer security community as a major host of organizations engaged in spam activity, was taken offline.

The decision yesterday by three Internet service providers to block access to online child pornography is the latest in a series of steps by companies and government officials to curb the distribution of such materials.