Tag: infosec

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Weekly Wrap 77: Canberra, infosec, Chinese and bees

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. Given that this is being posted so late, suffice it to say that I went to Canberra again and I was too tired for much of anything by the end of the week.

Podcasts

Articles

Only two articles this week — well, that were published. There’s more to come, articles that were written but not published. Both of these, though, are from the Trend Micro Canberra Cloud Security Conference.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday, breakfast was provided at the Trend Micro Canberra Cloud Security Conference. That was the historic Hyatt Hotel Canberra, though not their full and rather wonderful buffet.
  • Also on Wednesday, I had lunch at The Chairman and Yip, Canberra, courtesy of Datacom.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: As I walked from Bunjaree Cottages to Wentworth Falls today, most of Railway Parade was lined with yellow flowers. The bees seemed quite interested. I’m also very impressed with the detail on the bee, given this was shot on a sub-$300 camera.]

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Weekly Wrap 76: Slightly more settled, still chaotic

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. There wasn’t quite as much chaos as last week, but still sufficient.

The Patch Monday podcast ended up being published on Tuesday, and I delayed my return to Wentworth Falls until then too. And I ended up coming down to Sydney very early on Friday, on the 0609 train, to cover the Apple vs Samsung case in the Federal Court for ZDNet Australia.

So despite sleeping most of Wednesday, I was still short of sleep by the weekend. Sigh.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 114, “Everyday malware is everyday criminals”. Alex Kirk, senior researcher with the Sourcefire Vulnerability Research Team (VRT), explains that Stuxnet is probably not your problem.

Articles

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Tuesday I had lunch at Quay Restaurant courtesy of NetSuite. We were also each given a copy of restaurateur Peter Gilmore’s book Quay: Food inspired by Nature.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: The Commonwealth Bank headquarters, Darling Harbour, photographed from Parkroyal Darling Harbour. Hey, if I’m going to stay in Sydney an extra day I might as well take a photo.]

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Weekly Wrap 75: eCrime, Canberra and a dead computer

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets. This week included a visit to Canberra and the final death of my battered MacBook Pro.

The computer was three and a half years old, and has seen quite a few accidents. The biggie was doing a somersault down an asphalt road, bouncing off every corner and denting and warping the case. Another fall was only a cafe table leg, which dented the spine. After all that and plenty of other dents and scratches, the “9” and “delete” keys had failed and it tended to crash randomly if I picked it up carelessly.

This morning the motherboard finally gave out. I’m amazed it lasted this long. It has been replaced with a crisp new MacBook Pro.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 113, “Bell Labs’ high-bandwidth future”. An interview with Bell Labs’ chief scientist Alice White covering social computing, optics, quantum computing, and the potential of Australia’s National Broadband Network..

Articles

Every article I wrote this week related to the third annual eCrime Symposium in Canberra.

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

  • The organisers of the eCrime Symposium provided refreshments during the event, and a meal at Sammy’s Kitchen and drinks at the Tongue & Groove on the first night.
  • On the night after the conference, I was bought far too many drinks by various people with kangaroos, emus and the word “security” or “crime” on their business cards.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: The Canberra Rex Hotel, where I stayed for three nights this week, is being renovated — and it’s long overdue. This is the toilet-flush button from my room, and there’s further evidence.]

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Visiting Canberra for a cloud security conference

I’m off to Canberra again on 22 November for Trend Micro’s half-day Canberra Cloud Security Conference on 23 November, which I’m covering for CSO Online.

I’m actually a bit skeptical about the worth of this event. Some of the language on Trend Micro’s promotional materioal does not fill me with confidence.

This C-level gathering will bring together stakeholders across government, while offering a dedicated platform that weighs the pros and cons of the journey to the cloud… This event will offer a unique format for leading security specialists and business leaders in Federal Government to exchange ideas, gain valuable knowledge, and share their real-world risk management experiences.

What’s so goddam “dedicated” and “unique” about a bunch of people listening to a few blokes talking, followed by a panel discussion? Arsehats.

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Weekly Wrap 74: More than just a pub sign

A weekly summary of what I’ve been doing elsewhere on the internets — which was a relatively quiet week after three significantly more busy ones. Thank the gods.

Podcasts

  • Patch Monday episode 112, “Security: PGP to Android, NFC and beyond”. A conversation with Jon Callas. He’s now chief technical officer with Entrust, but he’s been at the centre of computer security since the olden days. Thoroughly enjoyable, this was.

Articles

Media Appearances

None.

Corporate Largesse

None.

Elsewhere

Most of my day-to-day observations are on my high-volume Twitter stream, and random photos and other observations turn up on my Posterous stream. The photos also appear on Flickr, where I eventually add geolocation data and tags.

[Photo: A Harts Pub sign, The Rocks, Sydney, photographed this afternoon.]

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Visiting Canberra for eCrime Symposium

I’m off to Canberra for a few days next week to cover the 3rd Annual eCrime Symposium, which this year is a two-day event at the University of Canberra.

This event has been steadily growing since it was kicked off by former Australian Federal Police chaps Alastair MacGibbon and Nigel Phair two years ago. On that occasion I filed a story for Crikey, eCrime: the bad guys pwn the internet.

Last year I don’t seem to have filed a written story — I was writing abut the National Broadband Network instead — but I did chat with the FBI’s Will Blevins for a podcast, Cybercrime: the FBI’s worldview.

Those first two events were run under the rubric of the Surete Group, but now Messrs MacGibbon and Phair have formed the Centre for Internet Safety, part of the law school at the University of Canberra, and it’s all rather more special.

This year I’ll be filing for CSO Online. I’m arriving in Canberra on Monday evening 7 November, and will stay in town until just before lunchtime on Thursday 10 November.

[Update 12 November 2011: The articles I wrote about this conference are listed at Weekly Wrap 75: eCrime, Canberra and a dead computer.]