Tag: hacking

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Weekly Wrap 373: Three weeks, ending in sunshine

Approaching Gold Coast AirportThis Weekly Wrap covers three weeks, Monday 3 to Sunday 23 July 2017, because I just simply didn’t get around to it. Sometimes the pace needs to be pulled back. Especially when you’re in Queensland.

There was plenty of productivity, but it was in the background. You’ll see hints of it in the lists.

Articles

Podcasts

None, but see below.

Media Appearances

  • On Wednesday 5 July, I spoke about the Medicare data breach and the dark web on ABC Adelaide.
  • On the same day, I spoke with journalism students at Macleay College about the tech press, and my thoughts on journalism generally. They’ve published an article and edited video.
  • On Friday 14 July, I spoke about the Australian government’s cryptography plans on ABC Perth.
  • On Thursday 20 July, I spoke about various ways to help secure your email on ABC Gold Coast.

I probably won’t get around to posting audio of those last two.

Corporate Largesse

None, apart from the food and drink provided at the conferences.

The Week Ahead

Monday through Wednesday will be days of writing and editing, for both ZDNet and the SEKRIT project. The latter is very close to completion now.

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will finally be recorded this Thursday 27 July at 2100 AEST, and streamed live via stilgherrian.com/edict/live/. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

On Friday, I’m heading down to Sydney, and the University of NSW in particular, to help celebrate the 30th birthday of the Australian Privacy Foundation. How time flies.

Further Ahead

At some point between 26 and 28 July, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. Even though it’s a variant of The 9pm Edict, it won’t be streamed live. It’s a different sort of thing. Details soon.

Later in the year, I’m covering SINET61 on 26 to 27 September; the iappANZ Summit 2017 on 3 October; the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Approaching Gold Coast Airport (OOL/YBCG) from the north, photographed on 16 July 2017 from Virgin Australia flight VA517, served that day by Boeing 737-800 registration VH-YVA.]

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Talking Victorian MP website hack on ABC Radio Melbourne

Screenshot of Tunisian Fallage Team defacementABC 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 (2.9MB)

The audio is ©2017 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Weekly Wrap 342: The rush to the end of 2016 begins

Rain approaches Sydney: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 December 2016 was a funny beast. It started slow, but ended productively.

Podcasts

  • The new Corrupted Nerds podcast, Conversations 17: The Ruxcon 2016 Panel, was posted on Sunday. It’s also available on SoundCloud and Spreaker. The panel was Barry Anderson, a security solutions architect for Cisco Security Solutions, Asia Pacific; Prof Jill Slay, director of the Australian Centre for Cyber Security (ACCS) at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA); Meths Ferrer, a malware engineer at the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC); Richard Johnson, Manager of Vulnerability Development for Cisco Talos; and myself. Our moderator was Dr Suelette Dreyfus, journalist and research fellow at the University Of Melbourne.

Articles

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

On Monday morning I’m flying to Adelaide for a family funeral on Tuesday. On Monday evening I’ll be at the Exeter Hotel on Rundle Street from 1730 ACDT, and you’re welcome to join me. I return to Sydney on Wednesday evening, when I’ll migrate to Ashfield for a couple weeks of cat-sitting over the holiday season.

On Thursday and Friday I’ll be finishing some geekwork and writing, before Christmas Eve and Christmas Day on Saturday and Sunday.

Further Ahead

I plan to stream an episode of The 9pm Edict on the evening of Wednesday 28 December, but watch out for the formal announcement.

Next year’s calendar is staring to fill already. It seems I’ll be covering the APRICOT 2017 / APNIC43 conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at the end of February. Stay tuned.

[Photo: Rain approaches Sydney. An aircraft on approach to Sydney Airport runway 16R on a gloomy afternoon just before the rain begins on 14 December 2016.]

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Talking the Yahoo data breach on ABC The World Today

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 (1.8MB)

The audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is being served directly from the ABC website.

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Weekly Wrap 341: Cows, Canberra, and the Cyber Kangaroo

Cows on the Move: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 December 2016 was dominatedby my trip to Canberra to take part in the “360° Cyber Security Game” being convened by RAND Corporation and the National Security College (NSC) at The Australian National University (ANU).

In the background I did quite a bit of work on the SEKRIT editorial project. I promise to tell you more about that before Christmas.

Articles

Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

[Photo: Cows on the Move. Cattle run from the Canberra-Sydney train as it passed at full speed on 9 December 2016.]

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Weekly Wrap 340: Summer begins, and everyone’s cookin’

Backpackers on Campbell StreetMy week of Monday 28 November to Sunday 4 December 2016 started off being as unproductive as the previous week, but it became solidly productive at the end.

I won’t go into the details, because as you’ll see below there’s a lot happening.

Podcasts

Articles

None published, but I’ve written something for ZDNet that’ll be posted on Monday.

Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Oh boy is this going to be a busy one!

On Monday and Tuesday I have to do a ton of work on one of my geek-for-hire projects, as well as a SEKRIT editorial project I’ll be telling you about soon.

On Wednesday morning I’m taking the four-hour train journey to Canberra, doing some unknown work along the way and when I get there.

All of Thursday will be spent participating in the “360° Cyber Security Game” being convened by RAND Corporation and the National Security College (NSC) at The Australian National University (ANU). It’s an “analytic desktop exercise” that’ll run through two scenarios. The participants, from a range of backgrounds, will be divided into teams to consider one aspect or each scenario.

RAND has run a few of these before, and a write-up of the first event last year explains the concept.

I’ll be reporting on the event for ZDNet on Friday before catching the train back to Sydney on Friday evening, but as it’s being run under the Chatham House Rule, I won’t be able to reveal the identity nor the affiliation of the speakers, nor that of any other participant.

The second Ruxcon-related episode of Corrupted Nerds might be produced on the weekend, but it’ll probably slide into the following week.

[Photo: Backpackers on Campbell Street, photographed on 1 December 2016. At least I assume they’re backpackers, caught in the late afternoon sunlight on the official first day of summer.]