Amazon is laying off another 9,000 employees, with senior management citing “the uncertain economy in which we reside”. The cuts will come from its cloud business Amazon Web Services (AWS), streaming platform Twitch, and its advertising department. This latest round of layoffs comes just two months after Amazon said it would cut more than 18,000… Read more »
The driver licence information of a hundred thousand Australians has been stolen after a major consumer finance company was targeted with a “sophisticated and malicious cyber-attack”. Latitude Financial, a major non-bank lender of consumer credit in Australia boasting 2.8 million customer accounts, revealed on Thursday that it had been breached following a significant cyber attack… Read more »
Government and Greens Senators have called for a significant trial of the four-day working week after hearing “substantial evidence” of its effectiveness. The Select Committee on Work and Care, chaired by Greens Senator Barbara Pocock, released its report late last week. A key recommendation from the report is for the federal government to undertake a… Read more »
The battle between Facebook and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) had a hearing in the High Court this week over the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal in which the personal data of 300,000 Australians was harvested without their consent. Facebook has been fighting a court battle for three years following revelations that between… Read more »
The five largest tech giants may be using ‘dark patterns’ to prevent consumers from adopting online services from competitors, the ACCC has warned as it solicits feedback on a new issues paper exploring the companies’ entrance into a diverse range of markets. Recent years have seen Amazon, Apple, Facebook parent company Meta, Microsoft, and Google… Read more »
The hacker got credentials from a third-party IT provider. Australian health insurer Medibank made a “rookie mistake” that led to one of the largest data breaches in our country’s history, a cyber security expert has claimed in the wake of new details about the breach. In its half-yearly report, Medibank shared a brief outline of… Read more »
Meta will trial a new subscription service for Facebook and Instagram users in Australia, at a cost of just under $25 per month. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the trial of Meta Verified on Monday morning, with Australia and New Zealand to be the first testing grounds for the service. The monthly subscription service will… Read more »
Twitter has been criticised for its move to make users pay for SMS-based two-factor authentication, with an expert warning that security on the platform is about to get worse. Last week it was announced that only paying subscribers to Twitter would be able to use two-factor authentication (2FA) via text message from next month. Two-factor… Read more »
The landmark three-year review of Australia’s Privacy Act has recommended significant new rights be handed to individuals, including to sue over privacy breaches, have their data erased and to opt out of targeted marketing. A widespread review of the Privacy Act was launched in 2020 by the former Coalition government on the back of a… Read more »
Tech salaries have bucked the global headwinds and continued to grow around the world, with pay for the most in-demand roles jumping by 20% in just a year. According to recruiter Talent’s More Than Money Salary Guide 2023, salaries for tech and digital jobs around the world have remained strong and in some cases continued… Read more »
Australian businesses are on notice. The gender pay gap within large Australian companies will be made public under legislation introduced this week by the federal government. The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 was introduced to the Senate by Minister for Women Katy Gallagher on Wednesday afternoon. Under the legislation,… Read more »
Tech workers are less likely to explore other job opportunities when their current employer covers the cost of their training and certification, according to a new global study that found cloud computing, cyber security, and networking to be the most common certifications. Although 83% of respondents who paid for their own training said they were… Read more »
Sudden mass layoffs at the biggest technology companies on Earth could be an opportunity for Australian organisations to fill long-standing gaps in their workforces. More than 70,000 employees have been sacked from tech giants in the past year as companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Meta – which saw enormous growth during the pandemic – are now winding back their staffing… Read more »
‘Stupid money’ is out and smart investors are looking for opportunities in the Australian startup scene, say leading venture capital partners. Speaking at the Melbourne Startup Bootcamp at Bay City Labs yesterday, Skalata Ventures cofounder and CEO Rohan Workman called out the ridiculous funding rounds that had given startup founders unrealistic expectations. “It’s a great time… Read more »
Tech salaries have surged in recent years, but a leading recruiter has warned that salaries are “starting to stabilise” as widespread economic challenges force companies to tweak their strategic plans and reassess their hiring requirements. Despite a continued appetite to invest in “paramount” critical technology functions – for example, infrastructure, governance, and development – many… Read more »
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