Sunday, August 26, 2012

Quote: S. America cybersecurity spend set to grow




 

S. America cybersecurity spend set to grow

UPI.com
Security Industry
August 24, 2012
Originally published: http://bit.ly/PGNyAZ

Cybersecurity products and services are geared for a major growth in Latin America between now and next year, with a surge in spending already in evidence, current industry data indicated.


SANTIAGO, Chile, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Cybersecurity products and services are geared for a major growth in Latin America over the next year, with a surge in spending already in evidence, current industry data indicated.

Regional interest in cybersecurity has increased with rising development expenditure and multibillion-dollar government and private sector investment in high-value projects in aviation, defense, oil and natural gas, hydroelectric power generation, transport and border security.

Demand for high-end information technology, defense and security hardware and software has drawn international manufacturers, suppliers and security experts to Latin America.

The market for purchases of information technology goods and services by business and government will go through two transitions during the period, the Global Tech Market Outlook For 2012 and 2013 report predicted.

The report by Andrew Bartels identified Latin America as a major growth area alongside the Asia Pacific region.

"Fast growth in emerging markets like Asia Pacific and Latin America has partially offset a struggling Europe," Bartels said in the report. "Vendors will focus more on the potential of emerging markets in 2012."

South American buyers and vendors showed up in significant numbers at England's Farnborough Air Show, which brought together not only aviation and defense experts but also security industry businesses.

Subsequent shows in Brazil and Chile and a forthcoming event in Puerto Rico reinforced business leaders' view that Latin America would see further cybersecurity growth in the coming months.
Analysts said the industry was also seeing a major shift from older technologies like servers, routers and desktop computers to mobile devices, analytics and advanced software.

Latin American companies, with cash infusions from governments, especially in Brazil and Chile, have turned attention to acquiring technological capacity they can turn around and exploit as new avenues for business activity and exports.

Niksun Inc., a major U.S. manufacturer and provider in real-time and forensics-based cybersecurity and network monitoring solutions, announced it is hosting a customer and partner event next week in Puerto Rico as part of its strategy to position itself in Latin America and the Caribbean.

"Entering the Caribbean and Latin America region is part of our strategy to continue that growth. After all, cyberwarfare has no borders," Niksun Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Parag Pruthi said.
The company cited a Forrester Research study that said, "Fast growth in emerging markets like Asia Pacific and Latin America has partially offset a struggling Europe," and vendors would likely focus more on the potential of emerging markets in 2012.

A World Wide Security and Mobility Conference July 9-11 in Princeton, N.J., highlighted recent high profile cyberattacks that have cost industry and governments billions of dollars.

"The amount of money costing companies and governments from even a minor data breach is staggering," Pruthi said at the conference.

A report by the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, which has headquarters in Washington, noted Latin American awareness of cybersecurity risks is growing.

"While demonstrably the expansion of Internet usage (in Latin America) has not rivaled that of the United States, Europe, or some Asian states like South Korea and Japan, the growth of the Internet in the region continues at a steady tempo," said the report by W. Alex Sanchez, a research fellow at the council.

"Additionally, we are witnessing a rise in the importance of cybersecurity as cases of hacking and other cybercrimes proliferate," Sanchez added.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2012/08/24/S-America-cybersecurity-spend-set-to-grow/UPI-47501345836220/#ixzz24f62amCQ

Saturday, August 25, 2012

VOXXI: The E-Freedom of Speech in Mexico: Journalists, bloggers and the drug cartels



The E-Freedom of Speech in Mexico: Journalists, bloggers and the drug cartels
W. Alex Sanchez
Research Fellow, Council on Hemispheric Affairs

VOXXI
August 24, 2012
Originally published: http://bit.ly/RaFHYT

A highly troubling development in Mexico due to the war between the government and the drug cartels in recent years, has been the violence affecting journalists throughout the country. According to reports, the cartels have murdered at least 55 journalists between 2000 and 2012 (other official reports put the number at 81) and have harassed numerous others, including editors and other newspaper staff, or threatened them to the point that some chose to flee the country. In some cities, the violence against journalists seems to have reached a tipping point. Editors have published open letters to the cartels where they asked which occurrences they could report on without triggering further violence against their employees. For example, in September 2010, the daily El Diario de Juarez, published a front-page editorial addressing the cartels, simply asking “What do you want from us?” after a number of their staff were murdered. This is a troubling development that shows the dire situation of the state of the press and freedom of speech in Mexico today.

The rise of the bloggers in Mexico



To partially fill in the void caused by the difficulties of sustaining a free and independent press, a critical development in Mexico has been the emergence of an increased number of blogs, online fora and other forms of social media used by e-citizen journalists. The individuals running them have attempted to fill in a journalistic black hole by reporting on the operations of various cartels, particularly the Zetas and the Sinaloa. Among the popular blogs reporting on these developments are Nota Roja, Mundo Narco and El Blog del Narco, which constantly post videos of operations carried out by the cartels.
Nevertheless, it is important to mention that there are suspicions that some of these blogs may have been coerced by cartels that are now using the internet to report on their operations. A researcher interviewed by the author for this analysis, and who is an expert on Mexican cartels, explained that “the posts from narcos usually identify themselves as such and have the words ‘exclusivo’ or something to that effect.” This does not necessarily mean that a blog may be controlled by the narcos, but that they may have chosen to publicly advertise a particular operation and decided to go down the “plata o plomo” [silver or lead] route to reach a wider audience. “The bloggers must know the rules of the game regarding what you can post,” the Mexico expert mused, or they could find themselves in deadly jeopardy. Unfortunately, this has already happened.

Bloggers in peril in Mexico and beyond



It seems clear that the cartel-related violence has also affected amateur internet journalists, with tragic consequences. In September 2011, two individuals (a man and a woman), were found hanging from a bridge in the state of Tamaulipas, with their eyes and fingers missing. According to CNN Mexico, the two had reported on cartel operations through social media, the likely reason for their murder. A sign was found on the bodies threatening people who used the internet to report on organized crime. Two months later, in November 2011, the body of a moderator, an individual known asEl Rascatripas, was found decapitated at the foot of a statue of Christopher Columbus in Nuevo Laredo. The body had a sign that read: “I’m Rascatripas and this happened to me for failing to understand that I should not report things on social media websites.”
As such, it is important to highlight that bloggers reporting on either criminal organizations or even their respective government may now be in peril, and not just in Mexico. In Brazil a bizarre case occurred in December 2011, with the apparent suicide of Alexander Hamilton, a blogger known as “Mosquito.” Mosquito had allegedly received several threats, especially after he reported “a rape case in Florianopolis, capital of Santa Catarina, which involved the son of a director (Sergio Sirotsky) of RBS, a leading media company linked to Rede Globo in the region, and a 13 –year-old girl, in June 2010.” His family and friends do not believe that he took his own life.

E-Citizen journalists in Mexico



As is the case with the murder of other individuals (of which there are plenty of unsolved, open cases), the Mexican authorities have proven generally incapable of finding the perpetrators of the assassinations of bloggers and other e-reporters attempting to report on the country’s internal war. As a consequence, some of the media outlets’ staff either flee or, essentially give up independent, objective journalism to give in to the cartels’ wishes in the hope to be left to live in peace. The coercion of traditional media has, sadly, only increased the need for e-reporters on blogs
It is a very tragic and disconcerting development when a country’s situation becomes so dire that there is a need for normal citizens to take over the responsibilities of a sector of society. Other Latin American countries have faced major levels of violence against journalists during high periods of violence, e.g. Colombia during the 1980s, when, besides the guerrilla movements such as the FARC and ELN, other major drug crime groups like the Cali and Medellin cartels ravaged the country. During this violent era in particular, the journalist corps were one of their targets, either via assassination, intimidation or bribery.
Despite Latin America’s recent violent history, the developments that we are witnessing in Mexico are alarming, particularly regarding the safety and professionalism of its journalist corps. Unfortunately, just as local authorities have not been able to protect the staff of the traditional, criminal organizations like the Zetas and Sinaloa cartels have managed to track down bloggers and other e-journalists, making targets out of them as well. These individuals have paid dearly for reporting on stories that drug cartels did not want to have reported. Unless, of course, such operations are reported in the exact manner these criminal groups want them to be, either via cartel-friendly journalists or by coercing themselves into the narco-blogs. The Mexican internal war has certainly spiraled into the internet realm.
Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/mexico-journalists-bloggers-cartels/#ixzz24ZrhuIPI

Interview: Ecuador, Julian Assange and the OAS

Topic: Ecuador, Julian Assange and the meeting held at the Organization of American States on August 24th
HispanTV
August 24, 2012

Mention: Latin America and UN Peacekeeping

Latin America and UN Peacekeeping
by Sabrina Karim Americas Quarterly - blog
August 20, 2012
Available: http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/3913

 Karim mentions a January 2010 report I did for the Council on Hemispheric Affairs entitled "Peacekeeping and Military Operations by Latin American Militaries: Between Being a Good Samaritan and Servicing the National Interest."

I expanded a section of the report regarding Brazil's role in peacekeeping operations for: "Brazil's Grand Design for Combining Global South Solidarity and National Interests: A Discussion of Peacekeeping Operations in Haiti and Timor." Globalizations. Volume 9, Issue 1, 2012. Special Issue. Pages 161-178 http://bit.ly/wj1bTI