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28 Dec 13. Security Classifications: Reduced to Three. In line with all Government Departments, the MoD has agreed to implement a new Government Security Classifications policy by 2 Apr 14. The current security classifications (Top Secret, Secret, Confidential, Restricted, Protect & Unclassified) are to be replaced by three levels (Top Secret, Secret & Official).
Comment: The new policy is said to place “greater emphasis on individual responsibility for managing information securely and recognises that all information has value”. Put another way this appears to signal that every MoD paper will be „classified. in an organisation which is already notorious for its over-classification. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 14/01, 30 Dec 13)

27 Dec 13. BAE Systems is bullish on its plan to make Malaysia its global delivery hub for the group’s security solutions business by 2015. BAE Systems Detica managing director Martin Sutherland said the facility, to be set up here, will serve as the engineering centre for the company’s cyber security solutions products. Sutherland said besides engineering cyber security products for global markets, the centre will also serve customers in the Southeast Asian region, including Malaysia. “We see our business doing very well in the global security market and we are expecting double-digit growth globally. We see the facility here as a key part of our global and regional strategy,” he said recently. To kick off the initiative, Sutherland said the company has recruited some 100 employees, 99 per cent of whom are locals. The wokforce will be bumped up to 300 by next year. “We plan to employ 30 skilled information-technology graduates from local universities via our graduate recruitment programme,” Sutherland said, adding that the facility will become a global resource centre for the group. Stable workforce in the country, coupled with right skills and talent, are one of the main reasons BAE has chosen Malaysia. “Stable workforce is important to us. We looked at skills, talent and capabilities across a number of countries and think the right kind are based here. (Source: OSIR)

03 Jan 14. Cyber security deal highlights threats from spying. Mandiant, a US cyber security company at the forefront of fighting a new wave of cyber attacks, has been bought for more than $1bn, in a deal that highlights the growing concern about government-backed online spying from China and the US National Security Agency. In the largest US cyber security deal in recent years, FireEye, a New York-listed cyber threat detection company, has acquired Mandiant, the security technology company that last year accused the Chinese military of hacking more than 100 US companies. David De Walt, chairman and chief executive of FireEye, said the revelations of the NSA mass surveillance programme and Mandiant’s report on Chinese hackers had “accelerated business opportunities” for the company. “A lot of companies, organisations and governments said ‘look how pervasive these superpowers are in monitoring and stealing from these companies’,” he said. “There is an accelerating awareness that just wasn’t there a year ago.” Mr DeWalt, who was chief executive of McAfee and sold the antivirus software maker to Intel in 2010, said FireEye and Mandiant were the forefront of a new generation of cyber security protection that would replace the older antivirus model. (Source: FT.com)

02 Jan 14. Retired general Michael Hayden, former director of the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, called on President Obama Monday to show “some political courage” and reject many of the recommendations of the commission he appointed to rein in NSA surveillance operations. “President Obama now has the burden of simply doing the right thing,” Hayden told USA Today’s Capital Download. “And I think som