The "dark web" services used by criminals will continue to evolve in an attempt to evade authorities, the UK's cybercrime boss has warned.

"We have to continually probe and identify those forums and then seek to infiltrate them and use other tools."

The Network tells the story of TOLO TV, the first independent television network created in Afghanistan to fill the media void created by 30 years of war, repression and censorship. Since businessman Saad Mohseni first launched TOLO TV in 2004, the network has transformed from a nine-person operation to a staff of 900, filming and broadcasting everything from news reporting and travel shows to singing competitions and soap operas.

Serious electric grid vandalism remains comfortably old school—like climbing a 100-foot high-voltage transmission tower and chopping through the cables with a saw, then removing a few bolts from the bottom of the metal tower, then attaching a half-inch thick cable to the tower with a 15 inch eyebolt, and then pulling the cable across the adjacent Union Pacific railroad track "in an apparent attempt to utilize a moving train to bring down the tower."

Then this week in Jacksonville, Arkansas, someone climbed over a utility company fence to access a parked "Skytrim" tractor complete with circular saw blade on the end of its massive extendable arm. The stolen tractor, used for chopping down tree limbs, was driven through a large cattle gate, down two roads, and then off-road along the clear-cut right-of-way for high voltage transmission lines.

Congressional failure to keep the federal government running has created a "dreamland" for foreign governments to recruit spies inside the U.S. government and has left many threats against the homeland unaddressed, top intelligence officials are warning.

In other words, the shutdown is increasing the risk that intelligence and law enforcement officials fall into debt – and paying off debt is a key sales point foreign governments make to potential spies.

Despite numerous checkpoints and gate agents, officials at Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport say a 9-year-old was somehow able to sneak through security and onto a Delta flight headed to Las Vegas.

"At this point, this is a Delta and TSA issue," said airport spokesperson Pat Hogan. "This is a rare incident."

One year ago Japan introduced a tough new law that was warmly welcomed by the music industry. From October 1 2012, those downloading copyrighted material without permission faced a potential two year jail sentence. But while users of Japan’s favorite P2P networks plummeted, sales have not been positively affected. Total music sales this year so far are down 7% on the same period last year, but digital sales are even worse – down 24% since the law was introduced.

“The new law has been effective in increasing the amount of CD rentals, but seems unconnected to the number of people who are actually buying music,” RIAJ chief Kenji Takasugi told NHK.

MasterCard is joining the FIDO Alliance, signaling that the payment network is getting interested in using fingerprints and other biometric data to identify people for online payments.

The Alliance is developing an open industry standard for biometric data such as fingerprints to be used for identification online. The goal is to replace clunky passwords and take friction out of logging on and purchasing using mobile devices.

Chinese web users have criticised Apple after the company pulled an iPhone app which enabled users to bypass firewalls and access restricted internet sites.

Another user wrote: "Apple is determined to have a share of the huge cake which is the Chinese internet market. Without strict self-censorship, it cannot enter the Chinese market."

Another app, which enables users to access books banned in China, was also withdrawn.

The U.S. government in July obtained a search warrant demanding that Edward Snowden’s e-mail provider, Lavabit, turn over the private SSL keys that protected all web traffic to the site, according to to newly unsealed documents.

Lavabit founder Ladar Levison balked at the demand, and the government filed a motion to compel Lavabit to comply. Lavabit told the feds that the user had “enabled Lavabit’s encryption services, and thus Lavabit would not provide the requested information,” the government wrote.

In the months leading up to Mr Ulbricht's arrest, investigators undertook a painstaking process of piecing together the suspect's digital footprint, going back years into his history of communicating with others online.

With a Gmail address to hand, Agent-1 linked this address to accounts on the Google+ social network and YouTube video site. There he discovered some of Mr Ulbricht's interests.