Weekly Wrap – Page 89

22 June 2015

Weekly Wrap 263: Cold, but productive and entertaining

My week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 June 2015 was yet another reasonably productive one, though the cold weather meant that I spent more time than ever before in the warmth of the Blue Mountains City Library in Katoomba.

This week also saw a significant reduction in my stress levels, for a variety of reasons. I’ll write more about that later in the week.

Articles

Encrypting data at rest is vital, but it’s just not happening, ZDNet Australia, 18 June 2015.
Every step you take: how advertisers are monitoring your every move, Crikey, 19 June 2015. A quick explanation of just how much data Facebook, Twitter and Google are using to fuel their targeted advertising.
Australia seeks rules for ‘peacetime norms’ in cyberspace, ZDNet Australia, 19 June 2015.

Podcasts

The 9pm Planet of Fascist Delusions, being The 9pm Edict episode 45. I think that podcast production expands to fill the time available for it. This episode soaked up 17 hours, spread over two days.

5at5

There were five editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That’s more than 25 things for you to read! To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

On Thursday, I spoke about Samsung’s smartphone vulnerability on ABC Radio’s The World Today.

Corporate Largesse

On Friday, I went to a lunchtime briefing by the Wynyard Group about their advanced crime analytics software can be used to “manage the foreign fighter threat”. It was held at the Sydney offices of UBS, who provided lunch in the form of a salmon.

The Week Ahead

My week will begin with the Winter Solstice — sorry, I’m running late — the week began with the Winter Solstice, which happened at 0238 AEST on Monday morning. I celebrated the Solstice as I often do, by reflecting on many things overnight, so Monday is a bit slow. Household chores, administrivia, some research, and the like. In the evening I’ll plan my writing for ZDNet.

Tuesday to Thursday will be writing days, with a couple of stories for ZDNet, as well as that goddam ebook. Friday will be devoted to certain activities related to the end of the financial year. The weekend will see the production of another episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, interspersed with a modest social life. That episode will be completed and posted on Monday 29 June.

That seems a bit thin. But my ponderings over the Solstice will trigger further actions, trust me. There is much that I want to change in the coming months.

[Photo: The View from Level 16, being the UBS offices on level 16 of Chifley Tower, 2 Chifley Square, Sydney, photographed on 19 June 2015.]

14 June 201517 June 2015

Weekly Wrap 262: From a birthday to a wake

My week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 June 2015 has been another productive one, despite Monday allegedly being a holiday. Thank you, Your Majesty. I’m exhausted.

I also think I’m coming down with a cold, which is hardly surprising. We’ll see.

There’s much I want to talk about, but this very moment I’m at the regularly monthly Poetry in the Pub in Katoomba. I have Sunday Lunch here many weeks. But this month it’s essentially a wake, because one of their number has passed. I’ll admit that I shed a tear as one chap read Henry Lawson’s “The Glass on the Bar”. My whinges can wait for another time.

Articles

Is cybersecurity moving away from all the military language?, ZDNet Australia, 9 June 2015. I’ve written before the militarisation of the language of infosec before, so I was surprised to see this column generate some reaction.
Spearphishing and how to stop it: Some lessons from AusCERT, ZDNet Australia, 12 June 2015.

There’s also two more ZDNet pieces in the pipeline. They’ll appear in the first half of the coming week, I imagine.

Podcasts

None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict is now scheduled for ~~Wednesday 17~~ Saturday 20 June.

5at5

Media Appearances

On Wednesday, I spoke about so-called digital detox on ABC 891 Adelaide.
On Friday, I spoke about Australia’s proposed new laws for blocking websites that infringe copyright on ABC Riverina and across western NSW, ~~but there’s no recording~~ and there’s now a recording.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

On Monday and Tuesday, I’ll be finishing off those two ZDNet stories. In theory, I’m also heading in to Sydney on Tuesday for the Optus Business Lunch, to hear the company’s chief executive officer Allen Lew deliver a keynote speech on “how customer behaviours are driving digital transformation” — but with deadlines, that may have to be cancelled. That Sydney trip will definitely be cancelled.

~~On Wednesday, I’ll be completing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast. On Thursday, I’ll be writing a column for ZDNet.~~ Wednesday and Thursday are writing days, completing those two ZDNet items, plus a piece for Crikey, plus starting on an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.

On Friday, I’m definitely doing the long commute to Sydney, to go to a lunchtime briefing by the Wynyard Group on corporate and cyber criminals.

On Saturday I’ll be completing the podcast, and perhaps helping with some, um, engineering work at Bunjaree Cottages. While the rest of the weekend has not yet been planned, the Solstice is on Sunday night — well, for me it’s at 0238 AEST on Monday morning — so I’ll be marking the occasion in some way. How? I’m not sure yet. The same applies to the rest of the weekend, I suppose.

Update 15 June 2015: Edited to reflect the schedule change. Second update, 1620 AEST: Edited to add link to ABC Riverina recording. Update 17 June 2015: Edited to reflect further schedule changes.

[Photo: Surveillance, photographed at Wentworth Falls railway station on 13 June 2015.]

07 June 201511 June 2015

Weekly Wrap 261: Two conferences, two states, many cybers

My week of Monday 1 to Sunday 7 June 2015 has been both productive and exhausting, covering two conferences in two states.

It’s a long time since I’ve written five articles in week. It’s at least six months since I’ve done four, which is as far back as I could be bothered scrolling let alone five. But of course, there’s podcasts and other projects that have generated revenue, including random geekery and technical consultancy, so “number of articles” isn’t a fair measure.

Still, this has been one of my most productive weeks in a while. Excellent.

Articles

ASIC still able to wield its magic hammer online, Crikey, 2 June 2015. The hammer I refer to is section 313(3) of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
Australia’s cyber defence ‘pretty ordinary’ before ASD’s Top Four, ZDNet Australia, 3 June 2015. This piece quotes Major General Stephen Day, who heads up the defensive side of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). This and the following piece were generated from Check Point’s Cyber Security Symposium in Sydney.
Telstra CISO blasts cyber ‘attribution distraction’, ZDNet Australia, 4 June 2015. Mike Burgess is said CISO.
Air gaps still a cheap and effective defence for critical networks: Kaspersky, ZDNet Australia, 4 June 2015. This is the first of two articles that came out of the AusCERT Information Security Conference, and there’ll be more next week.
Islamic State has ‘best cyber offence’ of any terrorist group, ZDNet Australia, 5 June 2015. This article cites Mykko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure in Helsinki.

Podcasts

None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict is scheduled for Monday 15 June, or the day after.

5at5

There were two editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, and Sunday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

On Monday, I spoke about Chinese ATMs with face recognition on ABC 891 Adelaide.
On Friday, I took part in the AusCERT Speed Debate. The Livestream recording has bad audio, so I’ll link to the YouTube version when it becomes available.
Also on Friday, I was interviewed by the University of Melbourne student newspaper Farrago. I’ll link to that story when it goes live.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday, I went to the Check Point Cyber Security Symposium in Sydney, or at least part of it. The goodie bag included a signed copy of Brian Krebs’ book Spam Nation, a Check Point branded notebook, a chocolate from A10 Networks, and of course copies of Check Point’s promotional material. Food and drink were supplied.
From Tuesday night through to Friday, I was at the AusCERT Information Security Conference as AusCERT’s guest. They provided return flights from Sydney to the Gold Coast, airport transfers, three nights accommodation at RACV Royal Pines Resort, and of course all the conference food and drink — and there was plenty of that. For taking part in the Speed Debate, I was given a bottle of Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2012 from the Clare Valley. And everybody got a copy of Bruce Schneier’s book Data and Goliath, an AusCERT-branded shirt, and a rather well-made courier bag. From CyberArk: A macaron, delivered creepy-like into my hotel room while I wasn’t there. From Firemon: A branded glass-cleaning cloth. From Mimecast: a keyring bottle opener. From NCC Group: a golden bath duck. From the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service: an NCIS cap — yes, from the real NCIS, not the TV show.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, but nevertheless I’ll be working. I’ll be writing a feature for ZDNet, as well as returning to Wentworth Falls after a week away.

From Tuesday to Thursday, I’ll be working on another feature for ZDNet, as well as my “regular” column, as well as the running so late it’s embarrassing ebook. ~~I see there’s an Apple keynote at 0300 AEST on Tuesday, so that may feed into something.~~ [It didn’t.] And I’ve got an interview to do on Thursday afternoon.

~~On Friday, I’ll be heading down to Sydney for a media briefing by Cisco.~~ Friday is another writing day.

I’m not sure how the weekend will go, but I see that there’s Poetry in the Pub in Katoomba on Sunday afternoon. I happened to be there last month, and I thought it might be interesting for The 9pm Edict podcast. We’ll see.

Update 11 June 2015: Edited to reflect the abandoning of the Friday trip to Sydney.

[Photo: Sunset on the Gold Coast, Photographed from the 16th floor of the RACV Royal Pines Resort on 3 June 2015.]

01 June 2015

Weekly Wrap 260: Winter is coming

My week of Monday 25 to Sunday 31 May 2015 did not unfold as planned, but it wasn’t a complete disaster.

Podcasts

“The 9pm Orgy of Confusion”, being The 9pm Edict episode 44. There’s actually a lot more to this episode than this simple entry might suggest. Please listen.

Articles

Lessons from a Sydney cryptoparty, ZDNet Australia, 25 May 2015. Quite a few people have said this is a good piece, despite its bland headline, so perhaps you might do me the honour of clicking through and reading it.

5at5

There were two editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, and Friday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

None. But this will change next week.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be doing various tasks which I am not at liberty to reveal, before heading to Sydney and getting a decent night’s sleep before…

On Tuesday, I’ll be getting up early and heading to the morning sessions of Check Point’s Cyber Security Symposium 2015. In the afternoon I’m flying to the Gold Coast for the AusCERT 2015 Information Security Conference, which runs through to Friday afternoon. I’ll even be taking part in the AusCERT Speed Debate — check out last year’s — before flying back to Sydney on Friday night.

Then it’s the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, and I haven’t quite decided what happens with that.

[Photo: Winter in Katoomba, photographed on 31 May 2015.]

24 May 201524 May 2015

Weekly Wrap 259: Another introspective calm before a storm

My week of Monday 18 to Sunday 24 May 2015 wasn’t overly productive — as the lack of published articles and podcasts listed below suggests — but it was the calm before the storm rather than a disaster.

Mostly.

Shut up. This is my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Podcasts

None.

Articles

None.

5at5

There were four editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

On Monday, I spoke about the supposed hacking of an airliner on Sydney radio station 2UE.
On Tuesday evening, I spoke about various tech news stories on ABC 702 Sydney, but there is no recording.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday morning, I had meetings with people from Ping Identity and ForgeRock at Customs House in Sydney. Their PR firm Bass Public Relations paid for my coffee.
Also on Wednesday, SimpliVity hosted a media lunch at the Bentley Restaurant and Bar in Sydney. As always the food was lovely. I had the calamari and kohlrabi with roast almond and red currant, the snapper and clams with sweetcorn and lemon myrtle infused sorrel, and the cheeses. SimpliVity also gave us media people a rather useful gift pack containing a branded pen, a USB battery for recharging phones and stuff, a laptop sticker, and mints.
On Friday I met with Tom Sulston from Thoughtworks, and he paid for the coffee.

The Week Ahead

It’s the first of several busy weeks, made more busy by the fact that I’ve fallen behind in my writing.

On Monday, I’ll be filing a column for ZDNet, then working on a feature story. That’s likely to continue into Tuesday and Wednesday, wiping out previous plans to head to Sydney for a SANS Institute gathering and Optus Vision 2015.

On Thursday I’ll be watching a SANS Institute webcast on “Continuous Monitoring, Real World Analysis and Strategies to Mitigate Targeted Attacks”, and then writing it up as a column for ZDNet.

On Friday, I’ll be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, I reckon. And then it’s the weekend.

Further Ahead

On Tuesday 2 June, I’ll be in Sydney yet again for Check Point’s Cyber Security Symposium 2015, and then flying to the Gold Coast for the AusCERT 2015 Information Security Conference, which runs through to Friday 5 June. Then it’s the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, and I haven’t quite decided what happens with that.

[Photo: Glenbrook Gorge, which is my favourite part of the train journey from the Blue Mountains down to Sydney, photographed on 20 May 2015.]

17 May 201518 May 2015

Weekly Wrap 258: Many thoughts, reminiscences, questions

My week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 May 2015 was a strange beast. It followed a most unproductive week, and on the surface it looks equally unproductive. But it wasn’t. It seemed to herald a change. Or something.

I didn’t squeeze any articles out of the word-nozzle, but I did produce a solid podcast, and I did a big, big chunk of work on the SEKRIT project. This pleases me, because the work is both enjoyable and well-paid. I’ll have to find out whether I can tell you anything about it.

In between all that, I’ve been both stressed and in pain. The stress was just the confluence of the many things that need to be changed, from work to accommodation to financial matters to health to some personal issues. The pain was my old neck and shoulder injury flaring up. All these things are being dealt with slowly.

During this time, I’ve been ignoring Twitter. That’s simply part of a “strategy” to reduce the extraneous noise, and giving myself some thinking space. I shall resume Twitter activity on Monday, at the time of the New Moon, 1413 AEST. You have been warned.

Podcasts

“The 9pm Inadequate Sense of Occasion”, being The 9pm Edict episode 42. Posted on Wednesday, it contains trains, bombs, terrorism, conspiracies, more bombs, and more trains. Plus Attorney-General the Honourable Senator George “Soapy the Ankle” Brandis QC. It runs for more than an hour.
“The 9pm Supplementary Sense of Occasion”, being The 9pm Edict episode 43. Posted on Thursday, it runs for just a little more than three minutes, because it’s mostly just a fix for production errors in the episode proper.

Articles

None.

5at5

There were actually five editions of 5at5 this week, the proper amount, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

On Tuesday, I went to a media briefing on research by Telsyte, which was sponsored by Epicor. It was held at Gowings Bar and Grill at the QT Sydney Hotel, and the food and wine was lovely — although I didn’t photograph it this time. Epicor gave us each a rather nice leather compendium, which I’ve passed on to someone with a greater need.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be sorting out my writing and media production plan for the next three weeks. It’s also a day of shopping and pain killers.

On Tuesday, it’s a morning of writing, ~~and then the journey to Sydney for some errands,~~ and then a radio spot with Dom Knight on ABC 702 Sydney at 2045 AEST. ~~I’ll probably stay in Sydney overnight because…~~

On Wednesday, I’ve got meetings at Circular Quay at 1000 and 1130, and then at 1230 it’s a media lunch with Doron Kempel, founder and global CEO of SimpliVity, at a nearby restaurant. He’ll be giving us his worldview on the evolution of this technology stuff. And then I head back to Wentworth Falls.

Thursday is a day of writing, with a break at lunchtime for RSA’s webcast, “Endpoint Malware: Finding the Evil in the Haystack”. Cute title. Friday is a day of writing too. I’m thinking of coming into Sydney on Friday evening to see what goes down at Cryptoparty Sydney. That could be an interesting thing to observe for the next episode of The 9pm Edict, but this will all depend on my levels of pain, fatigue and give-a-fuck.

The weekend will be spent well away from you people.

Further Ahead

There’s a few busy weeks ahead. The first will start off with podcast production. On Tuesday night 26 May I’ll be in Sydney again for a SANS Institute gathering, at which I should be learning about how those evil hacker people exfiltrate data out of the target organisations. And on Wednesday it’s Optus Vision 2015, an event that I always get plenty of value from. The rest of the week will be full of writing.

The following week, on Tuesday 2 June, I’ll be in Sydney yet again for Check Point’s Cyber Security Symposium 2015, and then flying to the Gold Coast for the AusCERT 2015 Information Security Conference, which runs through to Friday 5 June. Then it’s the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, and I haven’t quite decided what happens with that. Whew!

Update 18 May 2015: Edited to reflect changing plans regarding a potential overnight stay in Sydney on Tuesday.

[Photo: En route from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma , photographed at the side of Tanzania’s central highway on 30 June 2009. Click through for the back story.]