Wednesday 29 June 2016

IBM launches security centre

theAustralian: "Global technology giant IBM is setting up a National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in Canberra with former AFP assistant commissioner Kevin Zuccato to lead the facility."



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PM launches Woomera test range upgrade

news.com.au: "When it comes to trying out advanced weaponry, wide open space is necessary but so too is minimal electromagnetic interference and the Woomera test range possesses both attributes in abundance."



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ISIS loses Fallujah

news.com.au: "ISLAMIC State has lost a major strategic city after the fall of Fallujah, but the “West will need to sleep with one eye open” with the terror group thirsty for revenge."



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Healthcare not so healthy in preventing cyber attacks

iTWire "Cybercriminals are attacking the healthcare industry more than any other. Why? It’s a gold mine of privately identifiable information usually running on older, unpatched versions of Windows and ripe for being exploited through ransomware or data breaches."



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Milton Osborne

The News Lens 關鍵評論網: "Dr. Milton Osborne is a visiting fellow at the Lowy Institute. He has been associated with Southeast Asia for more than 50 years since being posted to the Australian embassy in Phnom Penh in 1959. He has held academic positions in Australia, the U.K., U.S. and Singapore. He was a consultant to the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees in relation to the Cambodian refugee problem, and served as Head of the Asia Branch of the Office of National Assessments."



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Australia's Defence Department tips AU$12M to seat spies

 The Register: "The Department of Defence has tipped A$12 million (£6.1 million, US$9.1 million) into an information security facility to attract new blood by housing signals spooks alongside Australian National University academics."



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Defence and ANU join forces

ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "The Department of Defence has announced $12 million in funding for a new purpose-built facility at the Australian National University (ANU) to shore up Australia's cyber security."



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Wednesday 22 June 2016

Coalition plans to install Frances Adamson at DFAT

theAustralian: "Observers say Ms Adamson’s postings in Taiwan and Hong Kong have given her a more rounded, and perhaps more critical, appreciation of China than is generally the case for China specialists who have had multiple appointments in mainland China itself."



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AFP release report into who leaked top secret report on Iraq War to Andrew Bolt

theAge: "Independent Tasmanian MP Andrew Wilkie has strongly rejected what he claims is offensive and unfounded "innuendo" levelled against him in a 12-year old Australian Federal Police report into the leaking of an intelligence document on the Iraq War to conservative columnist Andrew Bolt in 2003."



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Friday 17 June 2016

MPs on new committee will have access to national-security secrets

The Globe and Mail: "The federal government will entrust a new committee of parliamentarians with high-level national-security secrets, while cautioning members that any breach or leak would be a crime deserving of jail time."



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Up to 61 Australian jihadists killed

 9news.com.au: "Australian security authorities now reckon as many as 61 Australians have been killed while fighting with Islamist terror organisations in the Middle East."



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Former SAS Trooper Evan Donaldson Declines $1 Million Settlement Offer

huffingtonPost: "A former SAS trooper who alleges his identity was stolen and the event covered up by top Army brass has rejected a $1 million compensation offer from the Department of Defence because they refuse to recognise his prior military service."



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Thursday 16 June 2016

The lies surrounding the Sydney siege unravel

World Socialist Web Site: "The Sydney siege on December 15–16, 2014 has entered the international lexicon, along with the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US, the 2005 bombings in London and the latest attacks in Paris, as a justification for the bogus “war on terror.”"



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Monday 13 June 2016

Salesforce joins government’s secure cloud services list

Computerworld: "Salesforce has been added to the Certified Cloud Services List (CCSL) maintained by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).

The company’s software as a service and platf"



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Wednesday 8 June 2016

Higher security level coming to govt’s certified cloud list

Computerworld:

"Services certified to be used with information classified at the PROTECTED level are expected to be added to the government’s Certified Cloud Services List (CCSL) by the of the year, according to the Department of Defence."



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After Snowden, there is clear evidence of a paradigmatic shift in journalist-source relations

Comments from media industry experts:

 "Until Edward Snowden’s documents began to be published in June 2013 – again by the Guardian – no one other than the intelligence agencies and a handful of cabinet ministers knew the sheer scale of personal information that was being collected by GCHQ as part of the National Security Agency’s ‘Five Eyes’ network."



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Election 2016: AFP and Innovation Dept fail cybersecurity test

afr.com:

"The Australian National Audit Office, which conducted the audit, found the AFP and the Innovation Department did not comply with the "Top 4" security strategies recommended by the secretive electronic spy agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, that would deter 85 per cent of cyber crooks"



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Australian Federal Police ordered to reveal its report into Iraq war leak

new.com.au: "The Administrative Appeals Tribunal has ordered the Australia Federal Police to make public its report on the affair at 9am, June 17.
It is expected to reveal what police knew and suspected about the leaking, 13 years ago, of a top-secret intelligence paper written for the Office of National Assessment by Andrew Wilkie, now an MP."



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Sunday 5 June 2016

Australia’s Nick Xenophon: An “anti-politician”

World Socialist Web Site:

"Earlier this year, Xenophon joined the clamour against the leasing of Darwin’s civilian port to a Chinese company, echoing objections by US President Barack Obama. “I can’t believe Defence, and even ASIO [the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation], waved this through,” Xenophon told journalists."



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Saturday 4 June 2016

​Organisations should stop playing malware whack-a-mole

FireEye | ZDNet:

 "Previously, Scott Brown, senior tech with CERT Australia, said around 95 percent of malware in the country still arrives via email, with the volume of those emails "skyrocketing" at the beginning of 2016."



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Government Surveillance of U.S. Law Firms is About Power

 Big Law Business:

"Layton was reportedly representing Indonesia in trade negotiations with Australia on cigarette packaging and shrimp. The article said that the Australian Signals Directorate conducted the surveillance, which included attorney-client privilege information and offered to share it with the NSA."



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Timor-Leste Blazing a Trail for Maritime Dispute Resolution

The Diplomat:

"Flanked by two giant neighbors, Timor-Leste endured a 24-year occupation by Indonesia during which a quarter of its population – some 200,000 souls – perished. More recently, it has faced skulduggery and espionage, with Australian spies planting listening devices in the Timor-Leste prime minister’s offices during treaty consultations."



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EU referendum: Will Brexit make the UK more or less safe?

UK Politics | News | The Independent:

"Intelligence sharing between the US will not be affected by Brexit, Barack Obama has assured, although he added that it would be preferable for the UK to be inside the EU to push through reforms in the intelligence sector. It should be noted that the US and Britain share intelligence with Canada, Australia and New Zealand – the Five Eyes network – without any plans to extend this to the EU."



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Why you need to plan for IT disasters

BIT:

 "Not enough businesses are prepared for the worst, according to the former head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
If you rely on IT, it is important to think about business continuity and make plans for coping with failures or attacks, according to Major General Stephen Day, the former head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre and former Head of Cyber at the Department of Defence."



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ISIS, Fallujah: Loss of city would be fatal blow

GoldCoastBulletin:

"Mr Reed, a former Australian Secret Intelligence Service agent, said it was clear IS were holed up in a bitter fight to the end.

“The city is highly symbolic because it’s so close to the capital of Baghdad,” he said"



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