cybersecurity – Page 27

13 March 2016

Weekly Wrap 301: Canberra, with quite a few cybers

My week of Monday 7 to Sunday 13 March 2016 was another moderately steady improvement, in both productivity and mood. I am moderately pleased.

The Canberra trip went well, as you’ll see immediately below, but it was also exhausting. The rest of the week was therefore relatively quiet.

If you follow my Twitter stream, you already know all of this, and more.

Articles

Both of these articles are derived from material presented at the Australian Internet Industry Association (AIIA) Navigating Privacy and Security Summit on Tuesday.

Opt-out e-health a ‘fundamental breach of trust’: Victorian regulator, ZDNet Australia, 9 March 2016.
Australia needs a ‘national discussion’ on security and civil liberties, ZDNet Australia, 11 March 2016. The conference presentations by two of the people quoted in this article are now available on YouTube: Dr Tobias Feakin, director of the International Cyber Policy Centre, and a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI); and Mike Burgess, chief information security officer at Telstra.

Podcasts

None. I know you’ve heard this before, but I do want to wrap up that episode of The 9pm Edict podcast very soon. See below.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

I travelled to Canberra as a guest of the Australian Internet Industry Association (AIIA). They paid for my flights, plus one night of my stay at the Little National Hotel. And of course there was plenty of food at the Navigating Privacy and Security Summit.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’m heading a few kilometres up the Great Western Highway to Leura for part of Tech Leaders, namely a keynote by Labor’s communications spokesperson Jason Clare, and then reporting on same for ZDNet. I’ll probably have lunch in Katoomba after that.

I then plan to spend the rest of the week working on three geek-for-hire projects that have fallen behind schedule, and catching up a big chunk of that bookkeeping for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

That said, I hope to make the day trip to Sydney one day for a medical appointment and various errands. I’m also looking at doing that episode of The 9pm Edict podcast one evening. And I should probably write a ZDNet column in there somewhere too.

I can’t make final arrangements until Monday afternoon, however, and I need to keep the pace reasonable, so stay tuned for details.

Further Ahead

The following two weeks are the two short weeks either side of the Easter long weekend, and will mostly be an extension of the plan just described.

I then plan to be in Canberra on 12-14 April for the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Conference. The trick will be organising travel and accommodation.

I’ll definitely be on the Gold Coast on 24-27 May for the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference.

[Photo: The End of Summer. These are the colours of an Australian summer, as you can also see from last week’s photo â€” and we’ve had a long one this year. Photographed from VA654 on final approach to Canberra airport (CBR) on 7 March 2016.]

21 February 201621 February 2016

Talking surveillance and privacy on ABC 774 Melbourne

ABC logo Earlier this month I was in Melbourne to speak at Pause Fest, as well as talk to the media about some of the issues surrounding digital surveillance and privacy.

Here’s the 19-minute conversation I had with Lindy Burns on ABC 774 Melbourne on Wednesday 10 February. As usual, we rambled all over the landscape of the topic, but I think you’ll find it interesting.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.2MB)

[Note: Yes, I’m catching up on my blog posts, I should have them all caught up within the next 24 hours.]

20 December 2015

Weekly Wrap 289: Storm, podcast, change, and more

My week of Monday 14 Sunday 20 December 2015 was full of many things, few of which are listed here. I’ve been doing random geekery rather than media stuff this week.

While I would like to blame my relative lack of productivity solely on my ratty sleep patterns this week — and they have been a thing, for various health-related reasons — I would also like to blame Certain People for plying me with alcohol. You know who you are.

Articles

Hey Australian businesses, if you fear it, do something about it, ZDNet Australia, 15 December 2015. This is a response to the release of a joint report by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and CERT Australia, 2015 Cyber Security Survey: Major Australian Businesses (PDF).

Podcasts

None, but The 9pm Edict’s Public House Forum #2 was recorded on Saturday, and will be edited and posted online early in the coming week. It was immense fun, and you may well find it amusing.

Media Appearances

On Monday, I spoke about the security risks of Wi-Fi Hello Barbie on Sydney radio 2UE, but I did not record it. I’ve spoken about it previously on ABC Radio’s PM.

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday, I went to a lunchtime briefing by Hitachi Data Systems at the ever-wonderful Gowings Bar and Grill in Sydney. Apart from the usual fine food and wine, we all got a goodie pouch containing a HDS-branded 2600mAh Power Bank, and an 8GB memory stick with the presentation.

The Week Ahead

Since the silly season has begun in Australia, and this coming week is the short week before Christmas, I won’t even bother trying to schedule it too closely. Besides, I’m cat-sitting in Ashfield again, in Sydney’s inner west, and some key items that I’ll need in the next couple of weeks are still in Wentworth Falls.

Nevertheless, between now and Thursday night, which is Christmas Eve, I know I have to design a simple website, write at least one thing for ZDNet, and edit and publish that pub podcast. I’d also like to do that yearly wrap episode of Corrupted Nerds, but I’m not so sure that will happen now.

There’s only two fixed appointments so far, Huawei’s Christmas Drinks on Tuesday evening, and a medical appointment late on Wednesday afternoon. As for the rest of it, I’ll be making it up as I go along.

As you should know by now, my Twitter feed is the most up-to-date data source for these things.

Friday is Christmas Day, so I’m likely to be offline then, as well as through the following weekend.

[Photo: Sydney Storm. The Sydney CBD seen from Lilyfield just before Wednesday’s storm hit. While the CBD itself suffered little harm, around 50 houses were damaged by severe winds at Kurnell.]

05 December 2015

Talking the VTech hack on Kinderling Radio

While I’d heard of Kinderling, I hadn’t really known what it was about — until this Wednesday, when I did a spot on this new digital radio station in Sydney.

Kinderling grew from the Australian independent music and arts community with a vision to create contemporary childrenâ€™s radio that is grounded in Australian culture, society and natural habitat.

With over a decade of radio experience (and ten kids!) between them, the Kinderling team has developed a program schedule that soundtracks your day with kids.

The trigger for this conversation was of course this week’s news of the VTech hack and data breach. Here’s my 10-minute conversation with Kinderling Conversation presenter Shevonne Hunt.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.7MB)

You can check to see if you were caught up in this data breach at Troy Hunt’s Have I Been Pwned.

01 December 201510 December 2015

Talking the VTech hack on ABC 612 Brisbane

ABC logo 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.

29 November 201504 December 2015

Weekly Wrap 286: Rain, radio, and relative progress

My week of Monday 23 to Sunday 29 November 2015 was remarkably productive, a sharp comparison with last week. This pleases me.

Apart from the stuff listed below, I’ve also started a fresh program to tackle my on-again off-again “friendship” with the black dog of depression. I haven’t yet decided whether to write about this highly personal topic or not. Maybe when the timeline takes clearer shape.

I also got quite a bit of planning done for December, including locking in a couple geek-for-money projects that won’t be detailed here.

Podcasts

ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, Bug bounties and pentesting: the Wild West of online security. Not just a podcast, of course, but a “proper” broadcast radio program. It fits well here as an audio-based media object, however.
Corrupted Nerds Conversations 14: Joe Franzi, Australian Signals Directorate, in which the head of the ASD’s cyber security outfit gives his first on-record media interview in his five years in that role.

Articles

We don’t need an amateur small-business infosec army, ZDNet Australia, 27 November 2015. This column met immediate opposition from certain key people in the infosec community, so I’ll probably present their opposing views on Monday.

Media Appearances

On Friday, I spoke about the security risks of Wi-Fi Hello Barbie on ABC Radio’s PM.

5at5

Should 5at5 eventually reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday morning, I went to the launch of Deloitte’s Cyber Intelligence Centre in Sydney, and was given a very nice cup of coffee.
Also on Thursday, I went to AVG Technologies’ media lunch at the Park Hyatt Hotel at Circular Quay. The food and wine was excellent. I had the snow crab and avocado with green apple and finger lime and sumac spice; and the lamb rump, hummus and smoked eggplant with coriander and lemon jus, pomegranate and dukkah. We we also given an AVG Ultimate VIP Gift Card, which includes unlimited licenses to many of AVG’s products; a copy of AVG’s book One Parent to Another: Managing technology and your teen; and AVG-branded stationery, including sticky notes, and a pen.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet, as well as heading to Parramatta and Petersham to choose a venue for the next Public House Forum. Various loose ends will be sorted out while on the trains.

On Tuesday, I’ll finish the ZDNet column, make some progress on certain geek-for-money projects, and do some shopping and other errands in Katoomba.

I’ll sleep in on Wednesday, and then head to Sydney to record a SEKRIT podcast episode. Then in the evening I’ll go to VMware’s end-of-year drinks, and then speak at the launch of a Sydney chapter of Electronic Frontiers Australia. It looks like I’ll be getting home quite late.

On Thursday, I’ll write for ZDNet, ~~and then the rest of the week is flexible. I do have some geek projects to weave into the schedule, however~~.

On ~~Tuesday~~ Friday, I’ll be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, tentatively titled “The 9pm Garden of Hate”, in which I’ll finish off all of the sponsored content that I owe my supporters. I plan to stream that recording session live at 2100 AEDT. This episode will now be made on Monday night 7 December.

Further Ahead

I’ll record a “2015 Wrap” episode of the Corrupted Nerds podcast some time in the week beginning Monday 14 December.

The next episode of The 9pm Public House Forum, similar to the first one, will be recorded on the afternoon of Saturday 19 December, somewhere in or near Parramatta. The venue will be confirmed in a few days.

I’ll also produce “2015 Wrap” episode of the Edict some time between Christmas and New Year.

[Update 1 December 2015: Edited to reflect schedule changes. Update 4 December 2015: Edited again to reflect further schedule changes.]

[Photo: Departing Mt Victoria. The #purpletrain (also known as a V-Set) pulls away from Platform 1 of Mt Victoria railway station on a wet Saturday afternoon, 28 November 2015.]