Trevor Hughes and Jessica Guynn:

The pattern of attacks [on fiber-optic telecommunications lines] raises serious questions about the glaring vulnerability of critical Internet infrastructure, said JJ Thompson, CEO of Rook Security, a security consulting and services provider in Indianapolis.

Michael Adams:

The U.S. government either doesn't understand or is obfuscating the national-security implications of this cyberattack. These people either need serious help or need to come clean now.

Steve Ragan:

What if records were not only taken, but some were added as well? Would OPM be able to tell?

Benjamin Wittes:

Would somebody ... really want to go through such an intrusive examination, knowing all the while that the examination itself might (will?) expose that person and their family at least to scrutiny by the likes of Russia and China, as well as possible social and professional embarrassment?

I have no way of knowing myself, but I can understand if the answer for many people -- at least until the gov'ment cleans up its act -- is a resounding "hell no."

An exchange:

David Sanger: There's a lot we miss every day. I go to work every day convinced that I've got a handle on fully 3% of what's going on, okay?
Stewart Baker: [laughing] The key is [that] you can persuade us it's the most important 3%.
David Sanger: [laughing] That's right. [laughing] That's right.

Emerson Brooking, on "Ghost Fleet":

Readers are spared the months of frustrated cabinet meetings, angry congressional hearings, and endless hand-wringing within the defense bureaucracy.

Dan Geer, on OPM:

Even talking about whether to fire someone is a criminally profligate waste of the citizenry's attention span.

John Oliver:

No one cares. [Americans] don't give a shit.

The Economist:

When your most important ally is ringing alarm bells it is a good idea to listen.

Wendy Shanker:

There's very little you can say in 10 minutes that you couldn't say better in five.

Kari Paul:

A friend told me a girl he never actually hangs out with frequently sends him 15 minute voice memos talking about what she did that day, decidedly a breach of voice message etiquette. "I've never actually listened to anything she's sent me," he told me.

Anil Dash:

Out of about 550,000 followers on Twitter, it's very common for fewer than 400 of them to click on a link I share.

Lauren Clark:

It's good to have a plan, but if something extraordinary comes your way, you should go for it.

Barack Obama:

I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America ... hereby declare a national emergency ...

Katie Moussouris:

One must never waste a good crisis.

Arik Hesseldahl:

Peiter Zatko, a respected computer security researcher better known by the nickname Mudge, says he's leaving his job at Google to explore ways to help U.S. government make software more secure.

Joe Davidson:

OPM said the system will be down four to six weeks, which will cause delays for those seeking background investigations.

Bob Stratton:

It may take decades to truly assess the consequences of this breach ...

OPM:

OPM is taking this step proactively, as a result of its comprehensive security assessment, to ensure the ongoing security of its network.

Dan Kaminsky:

What, you think OPM's the only hacked agency?

Ashley Garrigus, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Consular Affairs:

While switching to the backup system, we discovered that the data was damaged and unusable. We deeply regret the inconvenience ...

The Bureau of Consular Affairs:

The database responsible for handling biometric clearances has been rebuilt and is being tested. We are working to restore full biometric data processing.

Safety Research & Strategies:

It would be near impossible for NHTSA to ever pin an electronic failure on a problem buried in software. NHTSA didn't even have any software engineers ... They have no real expertise ...

Ben FitzGerald, director of the technology and national security program at the Center for a New American Security:

There is a lot of talent out there ...

Arik Hesseldahl:

Peiter Zatko, a respected computer security researcher better known by the nickname Mudge, says he's leaving his job at Google to explore ways to help U.S. government make software more secure.

Nicolas Colin and Bruno Palier:

Technology doesn't only allow old things to be done better and cheaper; it also opens up new potential business models and the means to satisfy previously unidentified needs.

Rachael King:

Vehicle-to-vehicle communications, as envisioned by U.S. regulators, would broadcast the position of every equipped vehicle 10 times per second to similarly equipped cars and trucks within 1,000 feet of each other for the purposes of crash avoidance, said Michael Shulman, a technical leader at Ford, and program manager for CAMP's Vehicle Safety Communications Consortium.

Drivers won't need to worry about the technology, because it will be managed automatically.

Andy Greenberg:

Nearly all modern vehicles have some sort of wireless connection that could potentially be used by hackers to remotely access their critical systems. The company's protections on those connections are "inconsistent and haphazard" across the industry. And in addition to security weaknesses, Markey's survey also found that many auto companies are collecting detailed location data from their cars and often transmitting it insecurely.

James Comey:

The Internet is the most dangerous parking lot imaginable.

Cornelius Baur and Dominik Wee:

We define Industry 4.0 as the next phase in the digitization of the manufacturing sector, driven by four disruptions: the astonishing rise in data volumes, computational power, and connectivity, especially new low-power wide-area networks; the emergence of analytics and business-intelligence capabilities; new forms of human-machine interaction such as touch interfaces and augmented-reality systems; and improvements in transferring digital instructions to the physical world, such as advanced robotics and 3-D printing.

Michael Fertik:

Say goodbye to Big Data as a dominant concept -- it's time to recognize its evolutionary next leap: Big Analysis.

James Gleick:

Humans seem to crave the precision that is available.

Sqrrl:

DHS has already begun to revamp cybersecurity defenses to incorporate the powerful potential of big data security analytics.

Gary Bernhardt:

Consulting service: you bring your big data problems to me, I say "your data set fits in RAM", you pay me $10,000 for saving you $500,000.

Bill Wasik:

If digital imperialism is happening -- if smartphones and other gadgets are bearing cultural freight as they cross borders -- there is little doubt as to which nation's values are hiding in the hold.

Mike Isaac:

For Google, payments are a hook to reel people into its ecosystem of services and another way to gain insight about consumers.

ZestFinance's motto:

All data is credit data.

Christopher Gates:

Our shared conversations are increasingly taking place in privately owned and managed walled gardens, which means that the politics that occur in such conversations are subject to private rules.

Brian Barrett:

A whopping 73 percent of Facebook's $3.32 billion advertising revenue (which accounts for nearly all Facebook revenue) came from mobile devices last quarter. Nearly nine out of 10 Facebook users accessed the service from a mobile device in that same time. As a result, according to IHS, Facebook owns 46.8 percent of mobile display ad revenue worldwide. Google comes in a distant second at 23.6 percent, and Twitter is the only other company that hits double digits.

Teri Robinson:

The U.S. and China said they've reached an accord of sorts, a code of conduct for cybersecurity going forward.

James Clapper:

You have to kind of salute the Chinese for what they did.

Paul Carsten and Gerry Shih:

As Chinese companies grapple with a sharp increase in the number of cyber attacks, many hackers are finding it increasingly lucrative to go above board and join the country's nascent cyber security industry.

Mark Perry:

"Can you get there?" Robert E. Lee asked. The commander nodded and said he could. But it's staying there that's the hard part.

Sean Parker:

The moment anyone begins to worry about what the establishment thinks, it's probably an indication that they've become a part of it.

Radiolab:

Once we realize what we can do, we wonder whether we should.

Martin Wolf:

The reason we are impressed by the relatively paltry innovations of our own time is that we take for granted the innovations of the past.

Radiolab:

Once we realize what we can do, we wonder whether we should.

Decius:

If you've got the right perspective on things, the fact that you can wash dishes is totally amazing.