07 Feb 13. Europe proposes companies disclose hacking. Companies operating in Europe across a wide range of industries, including banking and energy, would be required to report cybersecurity breaches under European Commission proposals unveiled on Thursday. The proposed cybersecurity strategy would also require EU member countries to set up national authorities charged with defending against online attacks, sharing information with each other, law enforcement agencies and data protection authorities, and issuing public warnings about impending online threats. The proposal comes at a time when governments in Europe and North America are scrambling to get to grips with a surge in cybercrime and the twin threats of cyber espionage and cyber warfare. In the US, the administration is preparing to order stronger cybersecurity measures by the end of this month, as a rash of unprecedented cyber attacks against financial institutions and energy companies are prompting some big companies to rethink the need for government intervention. Commenting on the EC’s proposals on Thursday, Mark Brown, director of information security at Ernst & Young said: ”The EC’s move confirms that cyber security is a growing problem for businesses and governments alike. With 88 per cent of organisations in the UK reporting an increase in cyber attacks, according to our latest Global Information Security Survey, the damage of a breach, not just to individual companies, but the economy as a whole, becomes clear,” he added. (Source: FT.com)

03 Feb 13. Broad Powers Seen for Obama in Cyberstrikes. A secret legal review on the use of America’s growing arsenal of cyberweapons has concluded that President Obama has the broad power to order a pre-emptive strike if the United States detects credible evidence of a major digital attack looming from abroad, according to officials involved in the review. That decision is among several reached in recent months as the administration moves, in the next few weeks, to approve the nation’s first rules for how the military can defend, or retaliate, against a major cyberattack. New policies will also govern how the intelligence agencies can carry out searches of faraway computer networks for signs of potential attacks on the United States and, if the president approves, attack adversaries by injecting them with destructive code — even if there is no declared war. (Source: glstrade.com/New York Times.com)

04 Feb 13. EU Develops New Cybersecurity Rules. The European Union will propose new cybersecurity rules Thursday, requiring search engines, energy providers, banks and other companies to report disruptions to government authorities. Transit hubs, stock exchanges and a host of other entities would be covered by the proposal, which has been seen by The Wall Street Journal and which the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, drafted after a decade of failed voluntary measures. The proposals still must be reviewed by the European parliament and the leaders of the EU’s 27 national governments before becoming law. Such proposals are generally amended but ultimately approved, a process that normally takes roughly two years. (Source: glstrade.com/WSJ)