Talking recent hacks in Australia on ABC Melbourne

Screenshot from Nine’s news alert confirming last weekend’s cyber attack.
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It’s a week since Australian media company Nine Entertainment became the victim of what’s been called a ransomware attack, one that affected TV and print operations. We still don’t know all that many facts, but on Tuesday I spoke about what we knew on ABC Melbourne.

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Talking about the seed brushing scam on ABC RN Breakfast

Unsolicited packet of seeds believed to be part of a “brushing” scam. (Photo: Ohio Department of Agriculture)
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In recent weeks Australians have started receiving unsolicited packages from China containing seeds, as have random people in other countries. It’s part of a scam called “brushing” and it’s not quite what it seems.

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Talking about the Australian Signals Directorate on ABC Adelaide

Rachel Noble, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate, speaking at the National Security College in Canberra on 1 September 2020. (Australian National University)
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Today Rachel Noble, the director-general of Australia’s cyber agency the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), gave her first speech. It attracted more interest than I thought it might, and I spoke about it this evening with Jules Schiller on ABC Adelaide.

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Talking Twitter hack, COVIDSafe, and Parler on ABC Brisbane and beyond

Computer generated representation of COVID-19 virions (SARS-CoV-2) under electron microscope. (Original by Felipe Esquivel Reed / Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0, colour processing by Stilgherrian CC BY-SA 4.0)
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As COVID-19 breaks out again in Victoria and, fortunately to a lesser extent so far, in New South Wales, the subject of Australia’s COVIDSafe app returns. There’s also interest in the new “free speech” social network Parler.

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Talking about Morrison’s cyber scare on ABC Adelaide

Prime Minister Scott Morrison at his press conference on Friday morning. (Matt Roberts/ABC News)
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On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called a press conference to talk about a “sophisticated nation-state actor” conducting sustained cyber attacks on Australian government and private sector organisations. There’s wasn’t much detail, so why do it? I spoke about that this afternoon with Jules Schiller on ABC Adelaide.

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