Metal Pole Critter

Recent Articles

• Weekly Wrap 102: Infosec and interference

  21 May 2012 in Weekly Wrap

  My week from Monday 14 to Sunday 20 May 2012 was mostly about the AusCERT information security conference and a blur of returning pain thanks to my dodgy shoulder. As I finish compiling this post, I’ve still got lots of AusCERT material to produce and Monday looks like being intense. So let’s just list everything [...]

• Video: 5 Conference Tips for PR Professionals

  19 May 2012 in Business, Internet, Marketing

  On the way back from the AusCERT 2012 information security conference this afternoon I found myself stranded at Gold Coast airport for a couple hours, exhausted. What better, then, than an impromptu video explaining how public relations operatives can improve the way they interact with journalists at these events. This video was shot with a [...]

• Talking AusCERT 2012 and cyberwar on ABC Local Radio

  19 May 2012 in Conversations, Internet, Politics

  My full output from the AusCERT 2012 information security conference has yet to appear. Stand by. But last night I did a half-hour conference wrap with Dom Knight on ABC Local Radio. We spoke about the conference atmosphere itself, cybercrime, cyberwar, the risk of Cybergeddon (yes, I know), and the claim by Eugene Kaspersky that [...]

• AusCERT 2012: What’s changed since 2011?

  15 May 2012 in Internet, Politics

  I’m currently on the train down from the Blue Mountains to Sydney, en route to the AusCERT 2012 information security conference on the Gold Coast, and I’m thinking about what stories might emerge. Here’s what I wrote last year when, just like this year, I was on the ZDNet Australia team: AusCERT 2011: Firms ignore [...]

• Talking Facebook pay-for-highlighting on ABC 702 Sydney

  14 May 2012 in Conversations, Internet, Media

  While the Facebook IPO Roadshow rolls on, the company is trying a bunch of experiments — both to search for new revenue streams and to maintain the buzz. One of them is paying $2 to have your post highlighted. The numbers in the story don’t surprise me. Typically a Facebook user’s posts are only seen [...]