VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee voted 14-1 on Thursday to approve a bill intended to enhance information sharing between private companies and intelligence agencies about cybersecurity threats.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned U.S. businesses to be on the alert for a sophisticated Iranian hacking operation whose targets include defense contractors, energy firms and educational institutions, according to a confidential agency document.

Twitter Inc (TWTR.N) sued the U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday, intensifying its battle with federal agencies as the Internet industry's self-described champion of free speech seeks the right to reveal the extent of U.S. government surveillance.

The U.S. government in 2008 threatened to fine Yahoo Inc $250,000 a day if it failed to turn over customer data to intelligence agencies, according to documents unsealed on Thursday.

Personal data including text messages, contact lists and photos can be extracted from iPhones through previously unpublicized techniques by Apple Inc employees, the company acknowledged this week.

US President Barack Obama is getting ready to propose a legislation that will halt the bulk phone data collection of the National Security Agency (NSA) and instead let the agency procure individual court authorizations for every phone number to be investigated.

US District Judge Jeffrey White of San Francisco ordered that the evidence related to the lawsuits filed by a privacy rights group against the NSA's surveillance operations be kept intact, Bloomberg News reported.

The MYSTIC operation of the National Security Agency has the ability to retrieve phone calls in a foreign country in the past 30 days, The Washington Post reported citing documents provided by Edward Snowden and people with knowledge of the matter.

Those who use encryption tools are viewed with suspicion by the National Security Agency and users can be targeted by the agency because of it, says "The Intercept" Editor Glenn Greenwald, VentureBeat reported.

Chief Executive Officer Larry Ellison eased worries that the private information of Oracle's cloud computing clients could be accessed by the National Security Agency, Reuters reported.

For the first time, tech companies like Google Inc and Apple Inc will be allowed to give information about government requests for customer data, Bloomberg data.

The National Security Agency in the US collects nearly 200 million text messages every day, storing in its database information like addresses, financial transactions and contact networks.

Micro-blogging site Twitter reportedly enabled Perfect Forward Security (PFS) across its mobile site, website and API feeds.

A letter given by NSA Inspector General George Ellard to Senator Charles E. Grassley confirmed that some NSA employees used the agency's signals intelligence powers to spy on their romantic interests.

The fallout from the Snowden reports indicate the National Security Agency has the capacity to intrude into any system.