In March 2022, the author of node-ipc, a software library with over a million weekly downloads, deliberately broke their code. If the code discovers it is running within Russia or Belarus, it attempts to replace the contents of every file on the user’s computer with a heart emoji. A software library is a collection of… Read more »
Shortly after Australian telecommunications company Optus announced the identity data of millions of customers had been stolen, a person claiming to be the hacker announced they would delete the data for US$1 million. When Optus didn’t pay, the purported hacker published 10,000 stolen records and threatened to release ten thousand more every day until the… Read more »
Optus fears data on up to 9.8 million of its customers has been accessed in a sophisticated cyberattack – including, for some customers, passport and drivers licence details, as well as phone numbers, dates of birth and email addresses. It made the announcement through the media, in the middle of Thursday’s national day of mourning… Read more »
Data exposed includes names, birthdate, phone no. and email ID information such as driver’s licence or passport numbers may also be involved Experts warn to beware of scams in the months head Optus shut it down once it was discovered The personal data of up to nine million Australians may have been been accessed by… Read more »
Uber has experienced a significant cyber breach, with an 18-year-old reportedly gaining access to the tech giant’s internal systems and databases after tricking an employee. Uber on Friday confirmed it was investigating a “cyber security incident”, and that it had taken a number of its internal communications and engineering systems offline while this was taking… Read more »
At least 44 Australian victims have been identified after the arrest of a 24-year-old man named as the alleged author of remote access trojan (RAT) spyware, who allegedly made up to $400,000 by selling the ‘stalkerware’ to more than 14,500 people in 128 countries. Called Imminent Monitor (IM), the application allowed users to monitor and… Read more »
Greed, desire, wishful thinking and naivety are lucrative markets for scam artists – and their age-old hustles are increasingly being supplemented by digital chicanery. In 2021 Australians lost an estimated $2 billion to fraudsters, more than double that of 2020, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The consumer watchdog’s latest scam report details… Read more »
Spare a thought for admins running Atlassian Confluence Server or Data Centre on the weekend after a cyber security company discovered bad actors actively exploiting a previously undiscovered vulnerability in those Atlassian products. On Friday morning, Steven Adair, President of security firm Volexity, tweeted about the vulnerability, saying it was “10/10 on the badness scale”. “Get your… Read more »
Last week, Australia’s new Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his government’s first full ministry, with Victorian member Clare O’Neil appointed Minister for Home Affairs and Minister for Cyber Security. It’s the first time cyber security has had its own portfolio in the Australian cabinet. Former Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews was in charge of… Read more »
An Indigenous Australian Army veteran who’s build a successful tech startup over the last six years has spun out a cybersecurity company with the ambition one day launching it on the ASX. Kieran Hynes is a Worimi man from the Newcastle region who spent 13 years as an Army officer, dealing with military tech, from… Read more »
The Canberra Cyber Hub, ACT Government and Digital Skills Organisation (DSO) have partnered together to deliver a pilot program aimed at addressing the massive shortage of a skilled workforce in cyber security. DSO CEO Patrick Kidd said the 12-month pilot will help identify which skills companies will be need on the cybersec front in the… Read more »
In the 2022 federal budget, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg launched a range of vote-winning initiatives – one of which included a breathtaking A$9.9 billion for cyber security over ten years. Bundled under the acronym REDSPICE (which stands for resilience, effects, defence, space, intelligence, cyber and enablers), the program is expected to help build Australia’s intelligence and… Read more »
I looked for the cybersecurity line items in the budget so you don’t have to. Initial Thoughts I commented in my corresponding post when last year’s budget was released that: “This (2021) budget continues the historical trend of spending a significant amount on national security, which includes cybersecurity, but having most of the money directed towards the… Read more »
Infamous hacking collective Anonymous is taking aim at Russian infrastructure and its President Vladimir Putin following the country’s invasion of Ukraine last week. Twitter accounts purporting to represent Anonymous claimed responsibility for taking out websites belonging to the Russian government, banks, news outlets, and a gas company through distributed denial of services (DDoS) attacks. A video posted… Read more »
The Australian Cyber Security Centre is asking organisations and businesses to be on high alert amid Russia’s cyber attack bombardment of Ukraine. The United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Centre issued a similar warning, as have New Zealand and the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Australian Cyber Security Centre has said it is not… Read more »
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