Stilgherrian

Talking end-to-end encryption on ABC RN Breakfast

13 June 2017 in Conversations, Defence, Internet, Media, Politics by Stilgherrian | No comments

Australia is opening a new campaign in the seemingly never-ending Cyptowars. This time, the target is end-to-end encryption.

Our favourite attorney-general, Senator George Brandis QC, wants “the cooperation of companies like Apple and Facebook and Google and so on” to help the government break into encrypted communications. That cooperation would presumably extend to messaging apps that use end-to-end encryption, such as WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram, and so on.

And cooperation would be ensured, thanks to new legal sanctions.

Brandis says he’s not interested in putting mandatory “back door” access into the encryption used by messaging platforms. But how can that be true when he’s asking for the tech companies to be able to provide access to customers’ encrypted messages? That’s exactly what a back door is.

Anyway, this morning I was interviewed on this topic by Fran Kelly on the ABC’s RN Breakfast. We spoke for more than seven minutes.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 7:29 — 6.9MB)

For more analysis, try George Brandis’s salvo in cryptowars could blow a hole in architecture of the internet, by the Guardian’s Paul Farrell.

Weekly Wrap 361: The last pause, I hope

01 May 2017 in Weekly Wrap by Stilgherrian | Permalink

This Weekly Wrap covers two weeks, Monday 17 to Sunday 30 April 2017, because little happened during this time apart from the continuing throat infection, and grumpiness, and a day off for Anzac Day.

Here’s a list, and a completely unrelated photo.

Articles

Australia’s bold plan for cybersecurity growth, ZDNet Australia, 20 April 2017.

Podcasts

None, but I’ll be announcing the next date for The 9pm Edict very soon.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday 19 April, I spoke about a whole bunch of things on ABC Melbourne. Once more, I may or may not post this audio. Stay tuned, or something.
On Thursday 27 April, I was quoted in an ABC News story, FaceApp: Experts have privacy concerns about popular face transformation app.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday 20 April, I covered the launch of Australia’s Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and a lovely buffet breakfast was served. This is what generated the article listed above.

The Week Ahead

Monday will be a day of catching up on work and household loose ends as I finally kill this throat infection. And writing this.

On Tuesday, I’m working on the SEKRIT editorial project, then catching a train down to Sydney for The Double Disillusionists podcast recording at Giant Dwarf that evening. I’ll stay in Sydney overnight.

On Wednesday morning, I’ll be covering the half-day conference Cyber Security — the Leadership Imperative 2017, which I daresay I’ll write about before returning to Wentworth Falls.

Thursday through Sunday are as yet unplanned, but I know there’s lots of writing and editing to catch up on. What the daily plans emerge on Twitter.

Further Ahead

I’m covering ~~the AusCERT Information Security Conference on the Gold Coast from 24 to 26 May;~~ the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, or at least I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney on 10 to 12 October.

Update 17 May 2016: Edited to reflect schedule changes.

[Photo: Approaching Singapore, photographed on 6 March 2017 when I was en route from Ho Chi Minh City back to Sydney.]

Talking Victorian MP website hack on ABC Radio Melbourne

11 January 2017 in Conversations by Stilgherrian | Permalink

Screenshot of Tunisian Fallage Team defacement ABC logo “Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas’ website hacked by Tunisian Islamists” was the headline on the Herald Sun story today. Yes, the Tunisian Fallage Team had taken credit for the defacement.

This afternoon I put this into context with presenter Warwick Long on ABC Radio Melbourne, formerly ABC 774 Melbourne.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:14 — 2.9MB)

Talking civil use of metadata on ABC 105.7 Darwin

23 December 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media, Politics, Privacy by Stilgherrian | Permalink

ABC logo 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 (Duration: 6:53 — 4.2MB)

Talking the Yahoo data breach on ABC The World Today

17 December 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media, Privacy by Stilgherrian | Permalink

ABC logo “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 (Duration: 4:00 — 1.8MB)

Talking Twitter and Vine on ABC Radio’s AM

05 November 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | Permalink

So Twitter is closing down Vine, the app that shares six-second videos. I’m not surprised. I always thought Vine was a gimmick.

On 28 October I gave my feelpinions to ABC Radio journalist Brendan Trembath, and they ended up in a 3-minute story for AM. There’s also a written story, Vine video sharing app killed off in latest sign of troubled times for Twitter.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:39 — 1.2MB)

Talking medical device hacks on ABC The World Today

05 November 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | Permalink

ABC logo Whenever there’s news of a medical device being hacked, it gets a lot of attention — and rightly so. So when cardiac devices made by St Jude Medical got some attention, I did a radio spot.

ABC Radio journalist Lindy Kerin recorded a brief interview with me on 25 October, and fragments were used in this 5-minute story from The World Today, and in a separate written story, Cyber security experts claim St. Jude cardiac implants vulnerable to life-threatening hacks.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:55 — 2.2MB)

Talking the death of voicemail on ABC 1233 Newcastle

02 October 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | Permalink

On Thursday, Mornings on ABC 1233 Newcastle noticed that some big businesses in the US had turned off voicemail, using text messaging instead. They also noted that many people had stopped using voicemail personally too.

That led to a conversation on the radio with Rosemarie Milsom, and here’s a recording.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 8:42 — 6.9MB)

Talking the Yahoo data breach on ABC Radio National Drive

25 September 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media, Privacy by Stilgherrian | Permalink

ABC Sydney TARDIS 1 ABC logo Yahoo was the victim of the biggest data breach in history, at least so far, so it was inevitable that I ended up talking about it in the media.

This is my conversation with Jonathan Green on ABC Radio National Drive on Friday night.

Yahoo has confirmed the theft of user data including e mail addresses, birth dates, encrypted passwords and security questions. It took the internet giant two years to find out about the massive data breach. Stilgherrian is a Yahoo user and avid writer and commentator on the topic of cyber security and privacy. He talks to RN Drive about the incident.

And here’s what it sounded like.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 5:13 — 4.8MB)

[Photo: The view in ABC Sydney TARDIS 1, photographed in April 2016.]

Talking The Code and smart cars on ABC 774 Melbourne

25 September 2016 in Conversations, Internet, Media by Stilgherrian | Permalink

Screenshot from The Code series 2 ABC logo I haven’t made a big deal of being technology consultant for the new series of the ABC TV drama The Code — at least not here — but we decided to talk about that on ABC 774 Melbourne on Thursday night.

The conversation with Casey Bennetto also included some of the recent news about self-driving and smart cars — and, for some reason, the Twitter account Florida Man. Amongst other things.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:33 — 12.1MB)

[Photo: Jan Roth (Anthony LaPaglia) and Jesse Banks (Ashley Zukerman) in The Code series 2. Photo courtesy ABC TV.]