ransomware – Page 3 – Stilgherrian

21 May 2017

Weekly Wrap 364: Cruising through May, striking few rocks

It’s another multi-week Weekly Wrap, covering the three weeks from Monday 1 to Sunday 21 May 2017. The throat infection is finally gone — touch wood — but the sleep patterns are still rubbish, and the care factor low.

I don’t want to whinge any more, through, so here are the things.

Articles

Cyber cooperation leads to cybersecurity, so why won’t Australia cyber do it?, ZDNet Australia, 3 May 2017.
Lawyers and insurers set for data breach payday, ZDNet Australia, 10 May 2017.
Hey cyber techbros, smugly yelling ‘patch and back-up’ won’t fix ransomware, ZDNet Australia, 15 May 2017. This was my response to the WannaCry worm outbreak a few days previously, and I got a bunch of hate mail, but also a bunch of compliments. Go figure.

Podcasts

None, but see below for my podcast plans.

Media Appearances

On Tuesday 2 May, I spoke very briefly about the attempted extortion of Netflix by a hacker group on Ten Network’s The Project. It was originally planned to be a longer package followed by a studio guest, but we were cut back to make room for a breaking political story. I forgot to grab a copy of the video, alas.
Some of my comments on WannaCry were quoted in an article at Popular Science, 5 things we learned from WanaCryptor, the biggest ransomware attack in internet history, as well as some other places.
Some of my tweets about Twitter’s privacy changes were quoted at Breitbart, of all places, in Twitter Introduces 'Creepy' New Privacy Settings, Auto Location Tracking.
Some of my tweets on the death of Mark Colvin were quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald, ABC journalist Mark Colvin dead at 65.

I’ve just finished reading Mark Colvin’s book, Light and Shadow: Memoirs of a Spy’s Son, and it’s wonderful. If you’re in Australia, it’s currently AUD 8.60 on Kindle.

Corporate Largesse

On Wednesday 3 May, I covered Cyber Security — the Leadership Imperative 2017, and a lovely breakfast was served. It also led to the first two stories listed above.

The Week Ahead

I’ve dropped my plans to cover the AusCERT Information Security Conference on the Gold Coast later this coming week, in part because I’ve got plenty of other things to do.

This week I plan to do a solid amount of work on the SEKRIT editorial project; write a thing or two for ZDNet, including a 1500-word feature; plus, I guess, a bunch of other things. But I won’t assign specific tasks to specific days, because that tends to jinx things, especially with my sleep patterns still being so dodgy.

Further Ahead

The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Tuesday 30 May from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.

(For those of you who’ve been asking about ongoing contributions, yes, I still intend to set up a better system for that. That won’t be finalised for a while, though, so one-off contributions are very welcome.)

Beyond that, 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 on 10 to 12 October.

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

[Photo: Circles and Spikes. The side of the cruise liner Carnival Spirit docked at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, Circular Quay, Sydney, on 17 May 2017.]

19 June 2016

Weekly Wrap 315: Mooning at the future, or something

My week Monday 6 to Sunday 12 June 2016 ended a week ago, for reasons that will become clear in the next Weekly Wrap.

Podcasts

“The 9pm Edict Public House Forum 3”, being The 9pm Edict episode 59, 8 June 2016. The podcast is also available on SoundCloud and Spreaker.

Articles

None. Stand by.

Media Appearances

On Monday, ZDNet posted the video Avoiding ransomware is not that hard, which is part of the series Security TV.
On Wednesday afternoon, I recorded a spot for ABC 720 Perth about hacking smart cars, which was broadcast on the digital channels on Saturday afternoon.
On Wednesday night, I spoke about hacking smart cars on ABC 774 Melbourne.
On Friday, ZDNet posted the second video in the Security TV series Which CMS should be used for your next website?

Corporate Largesse

None.

[Photo: Office with Moon, being the Moon as seen between office buildings in Haymarket, Sydney, on 8 June 2016.]

17 April 2016

Weekly Wrap 306: Via Bundanoon to a cyber-filled Canberra

My week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 April 2016 began in chaos, but ended with a few wins — with most of it being spent in Canberra.

I was well impressed with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Conference. I learned a lot, met some people that were handy to meet, and gathered plenty of material for future stories. And the train journeys there and back were delightful.

Articles

Australian organisations suffer ransomware because they make basic mistakes, ZDNet Australia, 14 April 2016.
Cybercriminals now target payroll, invoicing, and superannuation systems: AFP, ZDNet Australia, 15 April 2016.

Both of these articles came from the ACSC Conference. Another will appear at ZDNet on Monday. More material from the conference will doubtless emerge in coming weeks.

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

There’s nothing that involved me directly. But my name cropped up incidentally in a story at The Independent, Australia has a new $5 dollar note and people think it looks like ‘vomit’. And one of my tweets ended up becoming part of the headline in a New Matilda story, Tiger Airways’ “Modern Theory Of Gender”.

I’ve also just discovered that one of my photos was used to illustrate a Mother Nature Network story, Take up the cause to help bees and butterflies pollinate, back on 25 March.

Corporate Largesse

While I made my own way to Canberra this week, there was plenty of sponsored food and drink and swag. This is not a full list of what was on offer, just what I happened to grab, or that was included in the conference satchel. BT had sunglasses. Cisco was giving away mints. f5 Networks had a crank-recharging LED torch. Fortinet sponsored the excellent conference backpack, a Crumpler that normally retails for more than $100. Juniper Networks sponsored the conference dinner at the Australian Institute of Sport, and were giving away Smarties. LogRhythm gave away Cylon Bluetooth Headphones. Nuix had playing cards. ObserveIt had one of those handy USB-to-everything charging cables. RSA had a notebook and pen, as well as the much-appreciated post-dinner Berocca. And Thales had more of those pens with the secret screwdrivers inside.

The Week Ahead

It turns out that I’ll probably be spending the whole week in Sydney, staying at my usual SEKRIT cave in Lilyfield.

On Monday, I’m writing a thing or two for ZDNet. I’m also going to a lunchtime briefing by Nuix on cybercrime — which should be interesting, because it’s co-sponsored by the Walkley Foundation and chaired by legendary Australian investigative journalist Kate McClymont.

On Tuesday, I’m writing for Crikey for the first time in ages, then working on my much-delayed geek-for-hire projects.

On Wednesday, I’m doing the long commute in reverse, catching the train to Wentworth Falls to collect my recording equipment, and returning to Sydney the same day. Research and writing will be done en route.

Thursday is a combination medical and writing day. Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull is releasing the government’s much-delayed Cyber Security Strategy. Thanks to iTnews journalist Allie Coyne, well already know what’s in it, but I’m almost certain to have more to say once we we have the full text. In between all that, I’ll have two medical appointments.

On Friday, I’ll start work on a new episode of The 9pm Edict podcast. That may or may not have an Anzac Day theme, given that it’s then going to be the long weekend with Anzac Day on Monday. But we’ll see.

Friday will also see the release of an episode of Steve Molk’s podcast Humans of Twitter consisting of the interview we recorded last week.

Further Ahead

I’m going to the Amazon Web Services Summit Sydney on 27-28 April. And on 24-27 May, I’m covering the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast.

[Photo: Waiting at Bundanoon. An older couple waits, watching the Canberra-to-Sydney Xplorer pass through Bundanoon railway station, 150km south-west of Sydney, on 15 April 2016.]