A Sydney, Australia-based journalist, Michael Lee covers a gamut of news in the technology space including information security, state Government initiatives, and local startups.
Well intended hackers might discover plenty of security vulnerabilities during their travels across the internet, but when businesses sue them or make it hard to pass the information along, it's no wonder that they don't even bother.
I caved in. I had all intentions of pre-emptively spending my $900 government handout on a $700 HP netbook this weekend. But I was pwned by a shiny little MacBook in about the time it took white hat Charlie Miller to hack its upscale brother, the MacBook Air.
Facebook's answer as to why it removed vigilante groups that had posted details about accused fire-bug Brendan Sokaluk smells of fear that it may be as responsible as media for content published on its network.
Scared of being swept out in a round of redundancies? Then join a security company, where your misery is the industry's opportunity to protect intellectual property.
It's always funny watching an event force a company to break old habits and this IE zero day was enough for Microsoft to do it. As Microsoft Australia's strategic security advisor Stuart Strathdee said "we pulled all stops to get this patch out".
In light of the unpatched IE zero day, AusCERT has cautiously advised organisations to "consider" using an alternative browser; or even kill browsing altogether. For organisations with locked down computers, is it time to support two browsers?
This week the Australian online banking system was tested by an agent of KAOS — Kevin Rudd and his $10 billion dollar fiscal package that, as Agent 86 would say, "missed it by that much" on knocking out the banking system.
What's easier to manage — 200 Mac OS X systems without antivirus or 200 Windows systems running a leading antivirus package?
Following yesterday's admission by the Australian Taxation Office that its courier had lost a CD containing the details of 3,000 self-managed super funds, it wants to review how it handles information. My suggestion: go back to the review completed in April.
Does anyone seriously believe that Australian businesses and government agencies manage security any better than the US or UK?