Scouts Victoria sent an email late yesterday to affected people about a security incident that occurred in late July and early August. Unauthorised access to the organisation’s email system, through a phishing attack, resulted in access to two staff email accounts and a “shared dropbox”.

The list of data compromised is significant and could result in significant harm, with Scouts Victoria telling affected parties via email that names, email addresses, residential addresses, driver’s licences, Medicare and passport numbers, tax file numbers, and copies of handwritten signatures were all in the treasure trove of data that was stolen. In some cases, bank account, criminal history information, and parenting orders pertaining to child custody arrangements were also exposed.

“The investigati...

Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) on Thursday handed down its examination of the Services Australia Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation (WPIT) program, finding the agency had “largely appropriate arrangements” in many areas, but was lacking on the cyber and cost monitoring fronts.

Kicked off in 2015, WPIT was originally slated to cost around AU$1.5 billion and run from 2015 to 2022, with one of the core reasons for the program being to replace the then-30-year-old Income Security Integrated System (ISIS).

“In June 2020, the decommissioning of this key element of the system was confirmed to be the main goal of the welfare payment system redeployment,” ANAO wrote.

“However, almost half of the decommissioning was not expected to be completed by the end of the...

Seared and roasted sirloin tip is a meaty treat. A seasoned salt mixture rubbed onto the beef give it a spicy crust; tangy broth keeps it super juicy in the oven.

3 pounds sirloin tip roast
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 tablespoon ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup beef broth or dry red wine

Make restaurant-quality risotto the way chefs do. It doesn’t require exotic ingredients, just attention to detail.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
6 cups chicken stock, heated until hot
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

When New Zealand went into lockdown as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation saw a drastic shift in network usage, with daytime use looking awfully like it was 9pm for an entire day.

With telco Spark previously calling this a 7-day weekend, its daytime broadband load almost doubled in April, with peak broadband demand hitting 27% above normal levels, while mobile peak traffic was 22% higher.

See also: Spark warns of larger COVID impact to New Zealand telco in coming year

Spark New Zealand head of IT infrastructure Siddharth Kumar on Thursday said the telco could handle it, thanks mostly to preparations it had already made around modernising its infrastructure and how that investment during COVID-19 had, in a sense, paid off.

“The changes that we saw was around the workload distr...

Microsoft and Telstra have announced an extension of their long-standing partnership, with plans to jointly build cloud-based solutions on Azure while leveraging the Telstra Data Hub.

Specifically, this will see the pair leverage Internet of Things (IoT), edge computing, artificial intelligence, and digital twin capability to develop solutions in areas such as asset tracking, supply chain management, telematics, and smart spaces.

One of those projects will involve Telstra building a digital twin based on Azure across its own commercial buildings, which will be initially deployed at five buildings including the telco’s flagship site at 242 Exhibition St in Melbourne.

Additionally, under the partnership, Telstra will leverage Azure as the cloud platform for the telco’s ongoing internal ...

Amazon held an invite-only hardware event on Thursday, Sept. 24 to announce an entirely new range of Amazon Alexa-enabled smart devices, including new Echo speakers. ZDNet has rounded up all the goodies, below, complete with photos and information on pricing, when they’re available, and how to buy them. Consider this your one-stop shop. 

Also: When is Prime Day 2020? Everything we know so far

Release date: Preorder from Sept. 24 | Shipping starts Oct. 22

This is Amazon’s next-generation Echo. Gone is the cylindrical design! Featuring a spherical form factor, fabric finish, and a bright LED light ring at the base, the new Echo is certainly striking. It also combines the “best of Echo and Echo Plus into a single device,” Amazon said. On the inside, it packs a 3...

The National Australia Bank (NAB) has launched a bug bounty program, offering a reward to security researchers who uncover previously undisclosed vulnerabilities in the bank’s environment.

The bank has partnered with crowdsource security firm Bugcrowd for the new program. To participate, individuals must have an “Elite Trust Score” on the Bugcrowd platform.

NAB executive of enterprise security Nick McKenzie said using “controlled crowdsourcing” methods would assist NAB to further test and strengthen its existing cybersecurity capabilities.

“Controlled, crowdsourced cybersecurity brings together uniquely skilled testers and security researchers with fresh perspectives to uncover vulnerabilities in our defences that traditional assessment might have missed,” McKenzie said.

“Proactive cy...

A new study by Monash University, together with Alfred Health and The Royal Melbourne Hospital, has uncovered how machine learning technology could be used to automate epilepsy diagnosis.

As part of the study, Monash University researchers applied over 400 electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings of patients with and without epilepsy from Alfred Health and The Royal Melbourne hospital to a machine learning model. Training the model with the various datasets enabled it to automatically detect signs of epilepsy — or abnormal activities known as “spikes” in EEG recordings.

“The objective of the first stage is to evaluate existing patterns involved in the detection of abnormal electrical recordings among neurons in the brain, called epileptiform activity...