Privacy International have filed an application for judicial review of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) refusal to release information about the potentially unlawful export of Gamma International’s FinFisher surveillance technology.

Titled, “Internet Security and Networked Governance in International Relations”, the paper asks whether the Internet’s heavy reliance on nonhierarchical, networked forms of governance is compatible with growing concerns about cyber-security from traditional state actors.

Noman discussed the recent Twitter compromises, techniques believed to be used (phishing URLs), and how the regional dimensions of the conflict in Syria is reflected on the Internet (e.g., defacement of Iranian and Russian websites over their support to Syrian regime).

In a report published by The School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary, professor Ron Deibert argues that Canada has potential to be a global leader in cyber security, but this opportunity is being squandered because of the lack of a clear strategy in this area.

Brian Stewart’s piece for CBC News features Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert on the Russian cybercrime underworld.

Professor Deibert spoke about the Canadian company Blackberry and the lack of transparency in Blackberry’s agreements with governments abroad.

Titled “800 Titles but no policy – Thoughts on Cyber Warfare,” the piece examines the cyber arms race and government responses to cyber warfare threats.

The annual Security Analyst Summit (SAS) is taking place from 3-7 February in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

This month’s Social Media Watch looks at the privacy concerns around Facebook’s Graph Search, an open letter to Skype detailing concerns about its practices, several noteworthy legislative privacy stories and several other policy, security and privacy stories from the social media community.

Citizen Lab Director Ron Deibert, former Post-Doctoral Fellow Stefania Milan and Senior Security Analyst Seth Hardy will participate in a conference hosted by the International Relations Society on Saturday, 26 January 2013.