Following the announcement of a new Australian Cyber Security Centre, to be built by the end of 2013, I ended up being interviewed by ABC Radio’s AM program on 24 January — but it didn’t turn out so flash.
Journalist Peter Lloyd asked me about cybersecurity threats. I think I mentioned that at one end of the spectrum there’s serious nation-state espionage and sabotage, but at the other there’s all manner of low-end crime that probably doesn’t warrant a national centre — and I used ransomware as an example of that.
But in the finished story, somehow that example became the defining crime. Oops.
PETER LLOYD: So far cyber crime in Australia has largely been a new form of stand-over tactic. The online commentator and writer, Stilgherrian:
STILGHERRIAN: We’ve got the low level cyber crime operatives who are just trying to hack into small businesses, encrypt all their data, hold them to ransom. We’ve seen cases of that with victims in Alice Springs and the Gold Coast and elsewhere in Australia, that a business finds that all the data on their computer is unavailable until they send money of some thousands of dollars to have it unlocked for them.
Anyway, for posterity, here’s the audio of the piece.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.1MB)
The audio is ©2013 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Peter Lloyd ?
Wasn’t he imprisoned in Singapore for drug related offences ?
I heard Peter being interviewed by David Marr at Glee Books a year (or several years) ago. His book on his ordeals is possibly still available. The last time I saw a copy was in Oxford Street (Sydney). I was thinking of asking Peter (very politely) if he would autograph my copy but I didn’t have the money to purchase a copy at the time.
I recall Peter quite well and even have a photo of him from his younger days at Channel 10 🙂
Bob
Hi Bob !! A picture of me from channel ten days? Love it. Can u email?