mobile – Stilgherrian

18 June 201729 June 2017

Weekly Wrap 368: Plodding through winter, thoughtfully

My week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 June 2017 was steadily more productive than the last, despite appearances.

I did foreshadow last week that I’d be recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ve put that back a few weeks, for various reasons, but as you’ll see below there will be a podcast soon.

Articles

Mobile security is really about risk and identity management, ZDNet Australia, dated 1 June 2017, but actually published this week.

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday morning, I spoke about the idea of restricting end-to-end encryption on ABC Radio’s RN Breakfast.

Corporate Largesse

On Thursday morning, I met with some people from Bitdefender and their external PR firm, and they bought me a coffee.

The Week Ahead

I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project and writing for ZDNet, with a break mid-week to celebrate the Winter Solstice. At some point I’ll probably pop down to Sydney, but I haven’t set a date yet.

Further Ahead

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Thursday ~~29 June~~ 6 July from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

I’m covering the Data + Privacy Asia Pacific conference in Sydney on 12 July; the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

Update 26 June 2017: Edited to reflect schedule changes.

[Photo: Approaching the Bridge. The approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, off-camera to the right, photographed on 30 October 2012.]

12 June 201712 June 2017

Weekly Wrap 367: Too much rain, too little evidence

My week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 June 2017 wasn’t bad at all, despite the rain. Most of the achievements were in the background, however.

Articles

Mobile security is really about risk and identity management, ZDNet Australia, dated 1 June 2017, but actually published this week.

Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

Monday is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday, but I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project. That work will continue on Tuesday, after which the project should not be SEKRIT. Wednesday will be devoted to administrivia.

Thursday will be spent in Sydney. So far I’ve scheduled a meeting, two medical appointments, and a bunch of errands.

On Saturday, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ll tell you more about that in about a week.

Further Ahead

I’m covering 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; and the national conference of the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October.

If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.

[Photo: Central station in the rain, photographed on 9 June 2017. The view is from a NSW TrainLink V-set (#purpletrain) standing on platform 7 looking towards platform 8.]

05 November 2016

Weekly Wrap 335: Being a busy media whore in Melbourne

My week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 October 2016 was spent in Melbourne, being busy, and being a bit of a media whore.

Since this Weekly Wrap is late, just like last week’s, I’ll get straight into it.

Articles

International mobile data networks still a serious security problem, ZDNet Australia, 24 October 2016.
Censusfail: An omnishambles of fabulous proportions, ZDNet Australia, 26 October 2016.

Podcasts

None, but I recorded material for another Ruxcon-related episode of Corrupted Nerds, and The 9pm Edict Public House Forum 4. Both will appear during the week of 7 November.

Media Appearances

On Monday, some of my comments about the late Leslie Nassar were included in the Crikey obit, Razer: vale Leslie Nassar, engineering genius and champion shit-stirrer.
Also on Monday, one of my silly tweets was included in a Junkee story, People Are Roasting George Brandis Over His Incredibly Weird Signature.
On Tuesday, my comments on medical technology hacks were feature on ABC Radio’s The World Today. The ABC also ran a news item, Cyber security experts claim St Jude cardiac implants vulnerable to life-threatening hacks.
On Tuesday night, I spoke about various technology matters in ABC 774 Melbourne. I hope to have a recording available by 10 November.
The Register ran an item on my tweeted observation, Aussie trams equivalent to 30 skateboarding rhinos.
On Wednesday, I was MC for the La Trobe University event, “Big Data and Cybersecurity: Are We Ready?”. I’m told that a recording will become available eventually.
On Friday, my comments on Twitter closing Vine were featured on ABC Radio’s AM. The ABC also ran a news story, Vine video sharing app killed off in latest sign of troubled times for Twitter.

Corporate Largesse

None.

[Photo: Melbourne is doomed, photographed on 30 October 2016. A cold front was approaching Melbourne, accompanied by a severe weather warning about strong winds. This is what it looked like from St Kilda Beach.]

21 February 201621 February 2016

Talking smartphone data and battery life on ABC Kimberley

ABC logo Last Sunday, Telstra gave free data to all its mobile customers in an attempt to make up for a major screw-up in the previous week. That triggered a conversation…

As a variety of news outlets reported, one guy managed to download more than 420GB of stuff. Telstra’s mobile network was reported to be pretty slow as many other selfish pigs pigged out.

On Wednesday, I told Vanessa Mills on ABC Kimberley in Western Australia how people could reduce their mobile data usage and increase their battery like. This is the resulting nine-minute conversation.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.5MB)

The ABC also turned this into a news story, Simple tricks to double your phone’s battery life and halve your data usage, posted Thursday morning.

05 March 201510 March 2015

Talking Airpnp and sharing economy on ABC 105.7 Darwin

ABC logo It’s not every day that I end up talking about my experiences in Thai urinals on live radio, but that’s exactly what I did today. It’s all down to Vicki Kerrigan.

Kerrigan is the drive-time presenter on ABC 105.7 Darwin, and a story about Airpnp caught her eye — or that of her producer. No, not the accommodation-related app Airbnb. And no, inner urban gay men, it’s not what you just thought of either.

Airpnp is a service that supposedly lets you “find a clean, comfortable bathroom no matter where you are” — not so much here in Australia, but certainly in the US and some other places as it’s spread out from New Orleans, where it was founded a year ago.

Here’s the full 10-minute conversation we had — including Kerrigan’s introduction, which may leave you with a slight pressure somewhere.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.9MB)

26 February 2015

Talking Gemalto’s response to ‘hack’ on ABC Radio’s AM

ABC logo So SIM card manufacturer Gemalto has responded to the claims that America’s NSA and Britain’s GCHQ had hacked their network in 2010 and 2011 and stolen SIM card encryption keys. I spoke about that response on ABC Radio’s AM this morning.

You can read Gemalto’s full press statement, but The Wall Street Journal has a good summary, and The Intercept has various infosec experts disputing Gemalto’s analysis.

If nothing else, it seems unlikely that Gemalto could have conducted a thorough forensic investigation in just six days — although they may have just dig out a report they’d prepared earlier.

Here’s how AM introduced the story today:

Overnight the world’s largest SIM card manufacturer has responded to allegations it was hacked by American and British spies. Dutch company Gemalto confirmed it was the target of sophisticated hacks in 2010 and 2011, and most likely the US National Security Agency and their British counterparts were responsible. Last week, documents from Edward Snowden alleged spies stole encryption keys from Gemalto, giving them potential to monitor mobile communications. But Gemalto denies there was mass theft of encryption keys and says their products are secure.

And here’s the full report from journalist Sarah Sedghi.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (1.8MB)