infosec – Page 22 – Stilgherrian

13 April 2014

Taking Heartbleed on ABC Radio “The World Today”

ABC logo By Thursday, news of the Heartbleed security bug had permeated from the technical press and the odd radio talk show into mainstream current affairs.

And so it was that ABC Radio’s Will Ockenden spoke to me for a story on the lunchtime current affairs program, The World Today.

Online security experts are warning today that nearly every user of the web over the last two years is exposed to a security bug sweeping the internet. Known as Heartbleed, the bug is a serious vulnerability in a piece of encryption software which secures data on nearly two in three web servers. It’s now a race between the server administrators and hackers to either fix the software in time or come under attack.

Here’s the full story, served directly from the ABC website, where you can also read the transcript.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.1MB)

13 April 201413 April 2014

Talking Heartbleed on 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide

I’ve already hinted at the importance of Heartbleed, the internet security bug, to my working week. Oh, and to the internet, yeah, that too. Well, my first media object was an article for Crikey. The second was this conversation on Adelaide commercial radio station 1395 FIVEaa.

Even though a lot more has been learned about Heartbleed since this conversation took place, and I’ve written a bunch of stuff for ZDNet Australia after each of the daily briefings by the SANS Institute’s Internet Storm Centre (ISC), which will be listed in the Weekly Wrap, this conversation with Will Goodings from Wednesday afternoon stands up surprisingly well.

I think.

Judge for yourself.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.3MB)

The audio is Â©2014 dmgRadio Australia, but here it is ‘cos it hasnâ€™t been posted on the radio station’s website. Besides, this is a reasonable plug, and they sent the audio file to me knowing this is exactly what I was going to be doing with it.

12 April 201412 April 2014

Heartbleed kills my schedule

Heartbleed logo Nothing has appeared here since Weekly Wrap 200 last Sunday — including the update to my guest lecture at UTS from Monday — because my work schedule has been dominated by the Heartbleed internet security bug.

There’s a lot that’ll appear here in the coming three days, and not just the UTS lecture. There’s radio spots that I did with ABC 720 Perth, ABC 783 Alice Springs, 1395 FIVEaa Adelaide, ABC Radio’s The World Today, and ABC 702 Sydney, for starters, plus links to the stories I’ve written on Heartbleed — one for Crikey and four for ZDNet Australia — although clever possums will know that they’re already listed on the media page.

In the background, I’ve also been sketching out ideas for a Pozible crowdfunding campaign or two, continuing from the one I did last year, to resurrect Corrupted Nerds and The 9pm Edict. Stay tuned.

I guess I shouldn’t whinge about Heartbleed killing my schedule. Some people have to do the really hard programming and systems administration work to clean up the mess, not just write and talk about it, and the extra work is heartbleeding revenue straight into my pocket.

06 April 201412 April 2014

Weekly Wrap 200: Banksia, rain and a little work

My week of Monday 31 March to Sunday 6 April 2014 has definitely seen the beginnings of some sort of return to normality, despite the almost continuous dreary weather.

I won’t go on about that, however because I don’t want to jinx it. I’ll just list the stuff.

Articles

Plibersek loses our privacy in a haystack of envelopes, ZDNet Australia, 31 March 2014. A reader emailed me to say this column was “annoying and juvenile”, which I have taken as a compliment.
Cyber criminals are out-spending the defenders two to one: HP, ZDNet Australia, 4 April 2014.

Media Appearances

On Monday I had a brief chat about identity, security and the concept of federated ID on ABC 105.7 Darwin.
On Tuesday I spoke about Facebook’s disturbing new “Big Cat” technology on ABC 702 Sydney, technology that can detect when it’s likely that your partner is cheating on you. Scary stuff. You should listen.

5at5

I managed to pump one out every weekday this week, which hasn’t happened in a while. I think it’s about time for you to subscribe, if you haven’t already done so.

5at5 number 24, 31 March 2013.
5at5 number 5×5, 1 April 2013.
5at5 number 26, 2 April 2013.
5at5 number 27, 3 April 2013.
5at5 number 28, 4 April 2013.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday I went to a briefing session by HP Enterprise Security Services at the Four Seasons Hotel in Sydney, where a lovely afternoon tea was served — although I’d had a big lunch, so didn’t really taste much of it.

The Week Ahead

On Monday I’m presenting an updated version of my guest lecture at University of Technology Sydney (UTS) at 1000, and that means it’s an early start. I’m catching an 0636 train from Wentworth Falls, arriving at Sydney Central at 0817. I could catch a later train, but I want to grab a bite to eat before meeting the course coordinator for coffee at 0900. Plus I want to allow for the possibility of delays. My Twitter stream should be fun that morning, for some value of fun.

If you want to take me to lunch on Monday, or otherwise catch up, now is the time to stake your claim.

~~I have another morning gig in Sydney on Tuesday, a meeting at 1045, so it looks like I’ll be spending plenty of time on trains over the next couple of days.~~

Then on Wednesday it’s an 0845 start in Sydney for the Amazon Web Services Sydney Summit. Ideally I’d stay in Sydney overnight from Tuesday, but the early-month cashflows look like they won’t permit that. Stay tunes for updates, however.

[Update 12 April 2014: Those two trips to Sydney didn’t happen — and it’s a good thing they got cancelled, because once the Heartbleed security bug was announced on Wednesday my time, I was flat out on work related to that, Expect plenty of updates over the next 72 hours.]

The rest of the week and the weekend, including what will be written when, has yet to be mapped out. That will depend very much on what I manage to get done in the next 48 hours.

[Photo: Banksia in the Mist, photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 4 April 2014.]

01 April 2014

Talking ID and security on ABC 105.7 Darwin

ABC logo Yesterday I ended up having a brief chat about identity, security and the concept of federated ID on ABC 105.7 Darwin. Here it is.

Breakfast presenter Richard Margetson had received a message from listener Heather from Tiwi, who’d lost her wallet. Amongst the hassle of having to replace all her cards, it was going to take up to six weeks for her new Medicare card to arrive — although she did get a new Medicare number to use straight away.

Margetson wondered whether technology might fix this. I set him straight.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.9MB)

23 March 201431 March 2014

Weekly Wrap 198: Secrets, security, Sydney and more wine

My week of Monday 17 to Sunday 23 March 2014 was a busy one, and moderately productive. I am happy with it.

Apart from the media objects listed here, I did quite a bit of background work on a SEKRIT project that I’ll announce on Tuesday. The only hint for now is that it’s something that quite a few people have been wanting for a while now.

Articles

NSAâ€™s malware and spying ops far more powerful than you think, Crikey, 18 March 2014.
It’s time that ‘metadata’ met an end, ZDNet Australia, 20 March 2014. I’m talking about the way that metadata is being downplayed as merely “billing data” by proponents of a mandatory data retention scheme for internet service providers.

Media Appearances

On Wednesday I was interviewed about Tor and related matters on ABC Radio’s The World Today.

5at5

We’re back up to four out of five days being published. Excellent.

5at5 number 18, 17 March 2013.
5at5 number 19, 18 March 2013.
5at5 number 20, 19 March 2013.
5at5 number 21, 20 March 2013.

Corporate Largesse

On Monday I went to an event with a delightful name: Dell Australia’s Steak, Storage & Solutions Media & Analyst Lunch at Kingsley’s Steak & Crabhouse in Woolloomooloo. Obviously they paid for the food and wine.
On Tuesday I went to a media briefing by Imperva at Wolfies Restaurant, Circular Quay, where of course they paid for the food and wine. Imperva also gave us: A rather nice branded notebook; a branded pen; and a well-made carry bag to put them in. M.Tech, one of Imperva’s channel partners, gave us: A branded water bottle, carry bag, and business card holder.
On Tuesday I finally got around to checking my postbox, where I discovered that Sourcefire had sent me a six-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and a branded bottle opened / key ring to open them with. Thanks for that.

The Week Ahead

It’ll be a busy week. Indeed, it’s the first week of a challenging three months ahead. I’ll tell you more about that later, but one key issue is that I need to decide how I’ll ramp up my revenue in the coming quarter. I have plenty of ideas, I just have to choose — and choose wisely.

On Monday I’ll be doing the final planning for the SEKRIT thing to be announced on Tuesday, as well as speaking with my editors about their needs for the next month or so.

On Wednesday I’m heading into Sydney for a few things, including the SANS Australia Community Night presentation Why Do Organisations Get Compromised? I’ll then stay in Sydney overnight, and on Thursday I’ll write my ZDNet Australia column before heading back up the hill.

Friday has been kept clear for work on my legacy business Prussia.Net, although that may change. The weekend is currently unplanned.

[Photo: Sydney skyline, with frigate, 17 March 2014, being a photograph taken from the steps leading from Potts Point down to Woolloomoloo. In the background is the Sydney CBD. In the foreground, mostly hidden behind trees, is a Royal Australian Navy frigate docked at Fleet Base East.]