Talking internet security on 2SER’s “The Wire”

The Wire logoLast week I recorded an interview on the state of internet security with The Wire, the current affairs program for Australia’s community radio network produced by 2SER in Sydney. It went to air on Monday night, 5 May.

This year has seen some major internet security breaches — from Heartbleed to iOS. But between these headline grabbing flaws there are numerous smaller bugs that pop up every day. As our devices and services become ever more ubiquitous, and flaws continue to popping to, we take a look at internet security.

I spoke with journalist Josh Nicholas for maybe 15 minutes, so this 4-minute edit is very much a condensed version. However we did manage to cover such subtleties as Apple’s secretive approach to security vulnerabilities, Heartbleed, bug bounties, and calls for better disclosure of vulnerabilities — that last link being to a story I wrote this week.

The audio is ©2014 2SER-FM 107.3. It’s also available at The Wire program website — that’s exactly the same as what you can hear here, it’s just that the audio file here has my branding — and you can also listen to the entire episode.

Does Nine’s cosy relationship with Microsoft prevent truth emerging?

Crikey logo

If there’s a problem with some product which puts you at risk, you’d expect news bulletins to explain your safest options, yeah? But is that possible when the media outlet is a key business partner of the product’s manufacturer?

Yesterday’s zero-day exploit for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is a real risk. But Channel Nine’s story last night didn’t include options like using a non-Microsoft web browser. Was this just the journalist’s ignorance of computers? Or is it because of Nine’s 50/50 business partnership with Microsoft in one of Australia’s busiest websites, NineMSN?

That’s what I ask in Crikey today. The article isn’t behind their paywall, so it’s free for all to read.