Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
It was a week for extended radio conversations about the darker side of the internet, it seems.
Not only did I speak about Anonymous on ABC 774 Melbourne, on Friday night I spoke about that ill-defined phenomenon known as the “dark web†on ABC 891 Adelaide with evening presenter Deb Tribe. And here is that conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.5MB)
This audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Anonymous was back in the news last week following their declaration of war against Islamic State, and the declaration of last Friday as a day of trolling against IS.
On Tuesday night, I spoke about the “organisation” and its history with ABC 774 Melbourne evening presenter Lindy Burns.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (9.7MB)
The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Following last week’s news of the security issues relating to Wi-Fi Hello Barbie, the weekend saw the disclosure of a data breach at toymaker VTech which revealed the details of children and their parents.
I’ve just spoken about this with Emma Griffiths on ABC 612 Brisbane.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.9MB)
If you think you might have been affected, search for your email addresses at Have I Been Pwned.
The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. I daresay I’ll be talking about this some more in the coming days.
It has been my very great pleasure this week to produce an entire episode of ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, titled Bug bounties and pentesting: the Wild West of online security.
Here’s how the ABC has introduced this documentary:
Online information security is estimated to be worth more than $75 billion annually. And that figure is certain to grow as more and more of our everyday devices are given internet connectivity.
So why are our cyber-networks still being hacked on an industrial scale? Despite all that we’ve learnt about online fraud and malicious attacks, why is the digital world still so fragile?
In this edition of Future Tense, technology writer and commentator Stilgherrian talks ‘bug bounties’ and ‘pentesting’ as he introduces us to those at the coal-face of the security challenge.
Here’s the full half-hour documentary, featuring Alastair MacGibbon, Children’s eSafety Commissioner for the Australian Government; Casey Ellis, founder and CEO of Bugcrowd; Associate Professor Asha Rao, information security expert from RMIT University; Fatemah Beydoun, Chief Awesome at Security Code Warrior and a former IT security auditor; Joe Franzi, Assistant Secretary, Cyber Security, Australian Signals Directorate; John McCormack, CEO of Raytheon|Websense; Nathaniel Wakelam, professional penetration tester/hacker; and a snippet from Alan Dupont, Professor of International Security at the University of New South Wales.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.5MB)
The program is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and it’s served here directly from the ABC website, where you can also read a transcript.
Both the ABC and I are pleased with how this went, and I’ve been invited to pitch further story ideas in the new year.
[Photo: Recording my Future Tense narration in ABC Radio studio E46 in Sydney, on Monday 23 November 2015. This environment was overkill. I wasn’t using any of the studio gear, just my own Sennheiser e835 microphone, Zoom H6, and MacBook Pro — so basically the three items in the foreground — but I needed a proper quiet room.]
The news that a Wi-Fi enabled Hello Barbie doll had been released got plenty of media interest at the end of the working week, especially since the security and privacy risks weren’t just theoretical.
I was interviewed by journalist Penny Timms about these security risks by ABC Radio’s national current affairs program PM.
The makers of one of the world’s most famous dolls are due to roll out their latest edition. Forget Malibu Barbie, because wifi Barbie could be on shelves by Christmas. The technology means the doll can hold conversations with her owner. But security experts warn there are serious flaws, with suggestions the technology has already been hacked.
Somehow I managed to include some paranoid ideas for using Hello Barbie for psychological warfare.
ABC News also posted a written story, which uses some different quotes. But here’s the radio story.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.0MB)
The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation. It’s being served from the ABC website, where you can also read a transcript.
Would you believe it’s been more than a year since the last time Marc Fennell invited me onto Download This Show? Well, it is.
Ironically, it seems like this week’s episode was designed specifically to troll me. We discussed TV (which I don’t watch) in the context of the new Apple TV, cars (which I don’t drive) in the context of hacking them, and weddings (which I’m not interested in). Still, Janet Carr and I had fun.
Here’s how the ABC website describes the episode:
Has Apple really reinvented the ole TV box? Also is your digital DAB radio the key to hackers accessing your car? More inside…
There’s a video of the Apple TV segment over the fold. If it doesn’t work for you here, watch it on YouTube.
Continue reading “Talking Apple TV, car hacking, more on Download this Show”