Security News
Australia's consumer watchdog launched legal action against Facebook on Wednesday, alleging the social media giant "Misled" thousands of Australians by collecting user data from a free VPN service advertised as private. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has accused Facebook and two of its subsidiaries - Facebook Israel and Onavo Inc - of misleading people who downloaded its virtual private network app Onavo Protect, by collecting and using their "Very detailed and valuable personal activity data".
The United States and Australia on Friday announced a partnership for the continuous development of a virtual cyber training range. The Cyber Training Capabilities Project Arrangement, which was signed on November 3, results in the incorporation of Australian Defense Force feedback into the U.S. Cyber Command's simulated training domain, the Persistent Cyber Training Environment.
The United States and Australia have signed a first-ever bilateral agreement that allows the U.S. Cyber Command and the Information Warfare Division of the Australian Defense Force to jointly develop and share a virtual cyber training platform. The two countries' departments of defense will achieve this by incorporating IWD's feedback into USCYBERCOM's simulated training domain known as the Persistent Cyber Training Environment.
In 2016 Australia's online census crashed and burned after legitimate attempts to complete the survey were mistaken for a DDoS attack, the routers funnelling traffic failed, and disaster recovery plans did likewise. "Generally appropriate frameworks have been established covering the Census IT systems and data handling, and the procurement of IT suppliers. The ABS has not put in place arrangements to ensure that improvements to its architecture framework, change management processes and cyber security measures will be implemented ahead of the 2021 Census."
Australia will develop the capability to use payment records in the service of coronavirus contact tracing. A National Contact Tracing Review released last Friday called for a raft of information technology responses to the pandemic, on grounds that containment of the novel coronavirus will be needed even after a vaccine emerges.
Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has just exposed personal details of over 1,000 citizens in an email. Australia has all-but-closed its borders during the COVID-19 pandemic, rationing the number of citizens who can fly into the country each day.
Most online attacks could be easily avoided by following basic cyber security advice, Australia's national cyber security bureau has said - even as it warned that the impact and severity of things like ransomware attacks are getting worse and worse. "Cybercriminals follow the money," said the Australian Cyber Security Centre in its annual report for 2019-20, published earlier this week.
Privacy watchdogs in Britain and Australia have opened a joint investigation into facial recognition company Clearview AI over its use of personal data "Scraped" off social media platforms and other websites. Clearview AI Inc. came to attention after investigative reports detailed its practice of harvesting billions of photos from social media and other services to identify people.
Australia will hire 500 hackers as part of a AU$1.35bn boost to protect the nation's networks from a wave of cyber attacks. Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this morning that the government would funnel the money from existing defence funding over the next decade to bolster the capabilities of the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Cybersecurity Centre.
Australia unveiled the "Largest-ever" boost in cybersecurity spending Tuesday, days after Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke out about a wave of state-sponsored attacks suspected to have been carried out by China. Morrison said Tuesday that malicious cyber activity against Australia was increasing in frequency, scale and sophistication.