My week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 December 2016 was one of my more unusual weeks in 2016, and that’s saying something.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 343: Death and Christmas”Weekly Wrap 343: Death and Christmas
Talking civil use of metadata on ABC 105.7 Darwin
When mandatory telecommunications data retention legislation was first introduced — the so-called “metadata” retention laws — Australia’s favourite Attorney-General Senator George Brandis QC stressed that it wouldn’t be used for civil proceedings. Guess what just happened?
On Tuesday, Brandis’ office announced a review of the laws to see whether retained metadata could be used — wait for it — in civil proceedings.
On Wednesday I wrote about this in a ZDNet column titled Brandis rushes to release telco metadata for civil proceedings.
And on Wednesday afternoon I spoke about it with Kate O’Toole on ABC 105.7 Darwin. Here’s that conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.2MB)
This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Weekly Wrap 342: The rush to the end of 2016 begins
My week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 December 2016 was a funny beast. It started slow, but ended productively.
Podcasts
- The new Corrupted Nerds podcast, Conversations 17: The Ruxcon 2016 Panel, was posted on Sunday. It’s also available on SoundCloud and Spreaker. The panel was Barry Anderson, a security solutions architect for Cisco Security Solutions, Asia Pacific; Prof Jill Slay, director of the Australian Centre for Cyber Security (ACCS) at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA); Meths Ferrer, a malware engineer at the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC); Richard Johnson, Manager of Vulnerability Development for Cisco Talos; and myself. Our moderator was Dr Suelette Dreyfus, journalist and research fellow at the University Of Melbourne.
Articles
- Turnbull’s agile struggle is all glitz and no grunt, ZDNet Australia, 16 December 2016.
Media Appearances
- On Thursday I spoke about the latest Yahoo data breach on ABC Radio’s The World Today.
Corporate Largesse
None.
The Week Ahead
On Monday morning I’m flying to Adelaide for a family funeral on Tuesday. On Monday evening I’ll be at the Exeter Hotel on Rundle Street from 1730 ACDT, and you’re welcome to join me. I return to Sydney on Wednesday evening, when I’ll migrate to Ashfield for a couple weeks of cat-sitting over the holiday season.
On Thursday and Friday I’ll be finishing some geekwork and writing, before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on Saturday and Sunday.
Further Ahead
I plan to stream an episode of The 9pm Edict on the evening of Wednesday 28 December, but watch out for the formal announcement.
Next year’s calendar is staring to fill already. It seems I’ll be covering the APRICOT 2017 / APNIC43 conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at the end of February. Stay tuned.
[Photo: Rain approaches Sydney. An aircraft on approach to Sydney Airport runway 16R on a gloomy afternoon just before the rain begins on 14 December 2016.]
Talking the Yahoo data breach on ABC The World Today
“The internet company Yahoo has revealed it has been hacked again, this time losing a billion user accounts,” began ABC Radio’s The World Today report on Thursday.
Guess which muppet was interviewed by journalist Will Ockenden? Yeah, me.
Here’s the full four-minute story.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.8MB)
The audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is being served directly from the ABC website.
Weekly Wrap 341: Cows, Canberra, and the Cyber Kangaroo
My week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 December 2016 was dominatedby my trip to Canberra to take part in the “360° Cyber Security Game” being convened by RAND Corporation and the National Security College (NSC) at The Australian National University (ANU).
In the background I did quite a bit of work on the SEKRIT editorial project. I promise to tell you more about that before Christmas.
Articles
- The flowering of voice control leads to a crop of security holes, ZDNet Australia, 5 December 2016.
- How the Cyber Kangaroo can help defend the Internet of Things, ZDNet Australia, 9 December 2016. This is the piece that came out of the Cyber Security Game.
Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None.
[Photo: Cows on the Move. Cattle run from the Canberra-Sydney train as it passed at full speed on 9 December 2016.]
Weekly Wrap 340: Summer begins, and everyone’s cookin’
My week of Monday 28 November to Sunday 4 December 2016 started off being as unproductive as the previous week, but it became solidly productive at the end.
I won’t go into the details, because as you’ll see below there’s a lot happening.
Podcasts
- The new Corrupted Nerds podcast, Conversations 16: Reflections on Ruxcon 2016, was posted on Sunday. It’s also available on SoundCloud and Spreaker. Just like the look at Ruxcon 2015, I’m joined by Michael McKinnon, now director of commercial services at Sense of Security; and Darren Pauli, security reporter for The Register.
Articles
None published, but I’ve written something for ZDNet that’ll be posted on Monday.
Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None.
The Week Ahead
Oh boy is this going to be a busy one!
On Monday and Tuesday I have to do a ton of work on one of my geek-for-hire projects, as well as a SEKRIT editorial project I’ll be telling you about soon.
On Wednesday morning I’m taking the four-hour train journey to Canberra, doing some unknown work along the way and when I get there.
All of Thursday will be spent participating in the “360° Cyber Security Game” being convened by RAND Corporation and the National Security College (NSC) at The Australian National University (ANU). It’s an “analytic desktop exercise” that’ll run through two scenarios. The participants, from a range of backgrounds, will be divided into teams to consider one aspect or each scenario.
RAND has run a few of these before, and a write-up of the first event last year explains the concept.
I’ll be reporting on the event for ZDNet on Friday before catching the train back to Sydney on Friday evening, but as it’s being run under the Chatham House Rule, I won’t be able to reveal the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers, nor that of any other participant.
The second Ruxcon-related episode of Corrupted Nerds might be produced on the weekend, but it’ll probably slide into the following week.
[Photo: Backpackers on Campbell Street, photographed on 1 December 2016. At least I assume they’re backpackers, caught in the late afternoon sunlight on the official first day of summer.]