Tag: infosec

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Launching “Send Stilgherrian to Ruxcon 2015”

I’m re-launching Corrupted Nerds, my podcast about “information, power, security and all the cybers in a global internet revolution that’s changing… everything.”

And to kick things off, today I launched a crowdfunding campaign to take the podcast to Ruxcon 2015, one of Australia’s key information security conferences, which is being held in Melbourne on 24–25 October 2015.

[Update 16 October 2015: The campaign closed last night, and was successfully funded. Thank you.]

Screenshot of completed Pozible campaign: click for campaign web page

There’s plenty of information on the Pozible campaign page. I should mention, though, that the initial $2000 target just gets me to Melbourne and puts a roof over my head. We need to go beyond that to fund some production.

If there’s something you think should be explained better, or if you have a suggestion, please let me know.

Bonus link: Today, ABC Radio National’s Media Report broadcast an interview with me about my crowdfunding work, Crowdfunding journalism.

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Weekly Wrap 274: Spring has sprung, with many thoughts

Wading in Kuala Lumpur: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 31 August 2015 to Sunday 6 September was a bit all over the place, but I did achieve most of what I wanted to achieve.

I did take some time out to do some bits and pieces which I’ll explain another time — but that’s why this week’s list looks a bit thin.

Articles

Podcasts

Media Appearances

  • On Tuesday evening, I spoke about various tech stories with Tim Brunero on ABC 702 Sydney and Local Radio around NSW. I chose not to record it.
  • On Wednesday, I took part in the closing debate of the ACCAN National Conference. A recording will appear in due course. I have now posted a video recording and transcript.

5at5

There were three editions of 5at5, on Monday, Tuesday, and Saturday. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

On Monday, I’ll be doing the laundry, shopping, and tidying the Ashfield apartment, ready for its inhabitants’ return, and eventually making my own way back to the Blue Mountains. With luck, I’ll also finish the ZDNet column that I started writing on Friday and catching up with a couple of people. On Tuesday, I’ll finish some chores before returning to Wentworth Falls.

On Tuesday Wednesday, I’ll be going to Parramatta to buy the audio gear that’s been funded by The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh, testing it all, and creating the software configuration to use on Saturday.

On Wednesday Thursday, I’ll be preparing my UTS lecture, and writing for ZDNet again.

On Friday, I’ll head to Sydney on an early train, because I’m presenting my guest lecture at UTS at 0900. I’ll then return to Wentworth Falls around lunchtime to prepare for the weekend. This includes some more detailed testing of the audio gear.

On Saturday, it’s the recording session for The 9pm Edict Public House Forum in Penrith, and on Sunday that will be turned into a finished podcast.

Update 8 September 2015: Edited to reflect a change to this week’s schedule. Update 27 September 2015: Edited to add link to ACCAN debate recording.

[Photo: Wading in Kuala Lumpur, a bird of unknown species photographed on 12 September 2011.]

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Weekly Wrap 273: Security, dentistry, and technology

Don't be a cog in the machine: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 August 2015 was disrupted by dentistry. A filling broke, quite a large one, and I lost half a day of covering the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit. There were also budgetary impacts. Why do we have teeth?

There was some good news, however. My new MacBook Pro arrived, courtesy of The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh. Migrating everything to the new machine was seamless, and took just over two hours. I’ll report further on its performance in due course.

Articles

None, but I’ve done most of the work on a ZDNet column that will be posted on Monday.

Podcasts

None, but a new episode of The 9pm Edict will appear on Tuesday. I’ve already done a lot of the pre-production.

Media Appearances

  • On Wednesday morning, I spoke about telecommunications metadata on ABC 105.7 Darwin.
  • On Wednesday evening, I spoke about this very same subject at length on ABC 774 Melbourne, but I didn’t make a recording.

5at5

There were three editions of 5at5, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Corporate Largesse

  • On Monday and Tuesday, I covered the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit at the Hilton Hotel Sydney, and there was plenty of food and drink. While I was there, Blue Coat gave me a 16GB thumb drive.

The Week Ahead

It’s the second of two weeks in Sydney, and it starts off hectic. On Monday, I have to finish a ZDNet column, scope out a server upgrade for a client, and complete The 9pm Edict podcast.

On Tuesday, I’ll organise the final technology purchases for The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh, and write my bit for the ACCAN National Conference debate on Wednesday. Then at 2030 AEST that night, I’m talking about some recent tech stories on ABC 702 Sydney and Local Radio around NSW.

On Wednesday, I’ll actually be at the ACCAN National Conference, or at least in the afternoon for the panel discussion. The morning is likely to be spent catching up on various background tasks.

On Thursday, I’m writing a column for ZDNet, and turning my UTS lecture from April into a video.

On Friday, I’ll design and test my new podcast recording set-up. I’ll post a description once that’s done.

The weekend will see me not working at all, ideally. No, really.

Further Ahead

On Friday 11 September, I’ll be presenting my regular guest lecture at UTS. And then on Saturday 12 September, it’s the recording session for The 9pm Edict Public House Forum, with post-production to be done on the Sunday.

[Photo: Don’t be a cog in the machine, being graffiti photographed somewhere in Sydney on 29 July 2007.]

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Weekly Wrap 272: Kangaroos and fabrication, and the rest

The wokking of the kangaroo: click to embiggenMost of my week of Monday 17 to Sunday 23 August 2015 was wiped out by a cold, as I mentioned last time. But apart from that, I’m pleased with proceedings.

I didn’t get much new done, but some of my recent ZDNet columns seem to have gotten plenty of attention. I squirted out a new podcast, and locked in plenty of stuff for the future.

Articles

Following on from last week’s Android, you have serious security problems, we have…

Podcasts

Media Appearances

5at5

There were four editions of 5at5, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday, I met with Dick Bussiere from Tenable Network Security — the chap who was quoted in this week’s ZDNet column — and their PR people paid for the coffee.

The Week Ahead

The week begins with the 0636 train to Sydney, because this is the first of two weeks I’m spending in Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west, catsitting. On Monday and Tuesday, I’m covering the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney. I daresay that I’ll spend a big chunk of Wednesday writing about things from that event. Thursday too, maybe.

Mid-week I’ll also be announcing the full details of The 9pm Edict Public House Forum. I’ve already said elsewhere that it’ll be recorded on Saturday 12 September at the Australian Arms Hotel in Penrith, but still to come is information on how you can be part of the live audience.

In the latter part of the week, I’ll finally be able to buy all the hardware that you good people have paid for in The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh. The new MacBook Pro has already been ordered, and should arrive late in the week. I’ll shop around for the rest as I get the time.

The weekend sees a Full Moon, so I shall take the necessary precautions. I’ll probably also knock off a quick episode of The 9pm Edict.

Further Ahead

During the following week, starting Monday 31 August, I’ll design and test my new podcast recording set-up. I’ll post a description once that’s done. I’ll be at the ACCAN National Conference on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 September, and indeed taking part in a panel discussion on the Wednesday afternoon. The weekend of 5 and 6 September will see another special episode of The 9pm Edict.

Further ahead still, on Friday 11 September, I’ll be presenting my regular guest lecture at UTS. And then on Saturday 12 September, it’s The 9pm Edict Public House Forum, with post-production to be done on the Sunday.

[Photo: The kangaroo is wokked, being a photograph of my breakfast in progress, taken on 23 August 2015.]

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Talking the Ashley Madison hack on ABC Gold Coast

ABC logoThe Ashley Madison hack returned to the news this week, because the 30-day deadline given by Impact Team, the hacker(s) who claimed responsibility, expired, and the site’s data started being dumped onto the internet.

While I’d spoken about this before on ABC 936 Hobart, this week I spoke about the then-latest developments on Friday with ABC Gold Coast. Here’s the full conversation with morning presenter Nicole Dyer.

The site I mentioned at the end, where you can check whether your email address appears in the Ashley Madison data dump, or in many of the larger data breaches of recent years, is haveibeenpwned.com, run by Australian security researcher Troy Hunt. Use it.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (7.0MB)

The audio is of course ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Weekly Wrap 271: New Moon, engage first gear

Barangaroo from Pyrmont: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 10 to Sunday 16 August 2015 was just as remarkable as the previous week, in that I got plenty of interesting things done.

Given that this Weekly Wrap is so dreadfully late, however, I won’t go into any details.

Articles

Podcasts

None. But there’ll be a new episode of The 9pm Edict on Sunday 23 August. See Update 11 of The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh for details of the plan from there on.

Media Appearances

5at5

There were three editions of 5at5, on Monday, Thursday, and Friday. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Most of it’s gone already, thanks to a nasty cold. Many people in and around Sydney seem to have been hit by this one. However, there’s a good two and a half days left, so…

On Friday (today), I’ll be re-planning everything post-cold, and writing a column for ZDNet.

On Saturday, I’ll be heading to Penrith to sort out a recording location for The 9pm Edict Public House Forum, as well as running a few errands. En route, I’ll be working on the script for the first of the three special podcast episodes for The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh. And on Sunday, I’ll be recording and posting that episode.

Further Ahead

The week beginning Monday 24 August will be the first of two weeks I’ll be spending in Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west, catsitting. I’m looking forward to it, though visiting Ashfield is always a bittersweet experience for me, for reasons that some of you may be aware of.

On Monday and Tuesday, I’m covering the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney. In the past, I’ve gotten good value out of this event. I daresay that I’ll spend a big chunk of Wednesday writing about things from that event. Thursday too, maybe.

In the latter part of the week, I’ll finally be able to buy all the hardware that you good people have paid for in The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh. In between some meetings in the city, I’ll be designing and testing my new recording set-up, and posting a description once I’ve gotten it all working to my satisfaction. The weekend sees a Full Moon, so I shall take the necessary precautions.

Looking even further ahead, I’ll be at the ACCAN National Conference on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 September, and indeed taking part in a panel discussion on the Wednesday afternoon. The weekend of 5 and 6 September will see another special episode of The 9pm Edict.

And further ahead still, on Friday 9 September, I’ll be presenting my regular guest lecture at UTS. And then on Saturday 10 September, I should be recording The 9pm Edict Public House Forum — though I’ll officially confirm that date tomorrow afternoon.

[Photo: Barangaroo from Pyrmont, photographed on 11 August 2015 as I was waiting for a coffee companion. The Barangaroo development is certainly dominating the western side of the Sydney CBD now.]