My week of Monday 1 to Sunday 7 June 2015 has been both productive and exhausting, covering two conferences in two states.
It’s a long time since I’ve written five articles in week. It’s at least six months since I’ve done four, which is as far back as I could be bothered scrolling let alone five. But of course, there’s podcasts and other projects that have generated revenue, including random geekery and technical consultancy, so “number of articles” isn’t a fair measure.
Still, this has been one of my most productive weeks in a while. Excellent.
Articles
- ASIC still able to wield its magic hammer online, Crikey, 2 June 2015. The hammer I refer to is section 313(3) of the Telecommunications Act 1997.
- Australia’s cyber defence ‘pretty ordinary’ before ASD’s Top Four, ZDNet Australia, 3 June 2015. This piece quotes Major General Stephen Day, who heads up the defensive side of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). This and the following piece were generated from Check Point’s Cyber Security Symposium in Sydney.
- T​elstra CISO blasts cyber ‘attribution distraction’, ZDNet Australia, 4 June 2015. Mike Burgess is said CISO.
- Air gaps still a cheap and effective defence for critical networks: Kaspersky, ZDNet Australia, 4 June 2015. This is the first of two articles that came out of the AusCERT Information Security Conference, and there’ll be more next week.
- Islamic State has ‘best cyber offence’ of any terrorist group, ZDNet Australia, 5 June 2015. This article cites Mykko Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure in Helsinki.
Podcasts
None. The next episode of The 9pm Edict is scheduled for Monday 15 June, or the day after.
5at5
There were two editions of 5at5 this week, on Monday, and Sunday. To save me having to tell you this, you could just subscribe.
Media Appearances
- On Monday, I spoke about Chinese ATMs with face recognition on ABC 891 Adelaide.
- On Friday, I took part in the AusCERT Speed Debate. The Livestream recording has bad audio, so I’ll link to the YouTube version when it becomes available.
- Also on Friday, I was interviewed by the University of Melbourne student newspaper Farrago. I’ll link to that story when it goes live.
Corporate Largesse
- On Tuesday, I went to the Check Point Cyber Security Symposium in Sydney, or at least part of it. The goodie bag included a signed copy of Brian Krebs’ book Spam Nation, a Check Point branded notebook, a chocolate from A10 Networks, and of course copies of Check Point’s promotional material. Food and drink were supplied.
- From Tuesday night through to Friday, I was at the AusCERT Information Security Conference as AusCERT’s guest. They provided return flights from Sydney to the Gold Coast, airport transfers, three nights accommodation at RACV Royal Pines Resort, and of course all the conference food and drink — and there was plenty of that. For taking part in the Speed Debate, I was given a bottle of Jim Barry The Lodge Hill Shiraz 2012 from the Clare Valley. And everybody got a copy of Bruce Schneier’s book Data and Goliath, an AusCERT-branded shirt, and a rather well-made courier bag. From CyberArk: A macaron, delivered creepy-like into my hotel room while I wasn’t there. From Firemon: A branded glass-cleaning cloth. From Mimecast: a keyring bottle opener. From NCC Group: a golden bath duck. From the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service: an NCIS cap — yes, from the real NCIS, not the TV show.
The Week Ahead
Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, but nevertheless I’ll be working. I’ll be writing a feature for ZDNet, as well as returning to Wentworth Falls after a week away.
From Tuesday to Thursday, I’ll be working on another feature for ZDNet, as well as my “regular” column, as well as the running so late it’s embarrassing ebook. I see there’s an Apple keynote at 0300 AEST on Tuesday, so that may feed into something. [It didn’t.] And I’ve got an interview to do on Thursday afternoon.
On Friday, I’ll be heading down to Sydney for a media briefing by Cisco. Friday is another writing day.
I’m not sure how the weekend will go, but I see that there’s Poetry in the Pub in Katoomba on Sunday afternoon. I happened to be there last month, and I thought it might be interesting for The 9pm Edict podcast. We’ll see.
Update 11 June 2015: Edited to reflect the abandoning of the Friday trip to Sydney.
[Photo: Sunset on the Gold Coast, Photographed from the 16th floor of the RACV Royal Pines Resort on 3 June 2015.]
Monday 9 to Sunday 15 November 2015 was a busy week. But apart from speaking briefly at a conference, and taking part in a couple of media briefings, it was mostly about things being done in the background.
As expected, last night the Australian parliament passed new laws enabling copyright-holders to take out Federal Court injunctions requiring internet service providers to block access to overseas websites that host infringing material.