Andrew Leckie

In a time of an increasing volume cyber-attacks, the Bureau of Meterology an Australian Government website still doesn't support HTTPS. 🔓 Sure most of the weather information is non-sensitive but is this acceptble for a government website in 2024? Who knows what backdoor API, or authentication data in plain text is lurking deep within our treasured rain-radar . . . 🤔 🌧 💻 To read up on the differences and security gaps between http and http-ssl/tls, have a read of this article: https://lnkd.in/gy7M7WZF

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I discover new method of file sharing, but it has become paid. It is by using the NZB files, NZB search index is paid, Meaning you have to pay a vendor for searching NZB files Also you have to buy service for using server to transfer the media. https://lnkd.in/dvWS3nbb But it is fast method and longer retention of content is assured. You can store and download content upto terabytes , depending on how much you can pay. It is not very costly. In early days these may have been free. Also , while torrents can be blocked by ISP, This method cannot be blocked , at it is probably smaller text files that are combined to form and complete binary file.

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Hacked robot vacuums chasing pets... yes, it has finally happened. Imagine your vacuum suddenly chasing your pets around the house and yelling nonsense—sounds like a cartoon, right? Unfortunately, it’s a reminder that IoT security is no joke! A recent breach turned robotic vacuums into mischievous chaos agents, highlighting just how vulnerable smart devices can be. In our latest blog post, we dive into why IoT security matters and what you can do to keep your devices in line. 🔗 Read the full story here: https://smpl.is/9tmwe #smarthome #robotvacuum #cybersecurity

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Great news for mobile networks in the Wheatbelt 📱📡 Round 2 of the Federal Government’s Mobile Network Hardening Program (MNHP) has seen 92 WA based projects receive $6.04 million in funding. Even more exciting? 22 sites are in the Wheatbelt region! 🌾 This investment is not just about enhancing mobile networks; it's about bolstering resilience, improving digital connectivity, and ensuring communities stay connected, especially during emergencies. WDC is committed to identifying gaps and advocating for investment in telecommunications infrastructure to ensure businesses, communities, and industries have essential mobile connectivity for economic growth and community wellbeing. 🔗 Read the full ministerial media release here: https://lnkd.in/gspDH-ve #wheatbeltdevelopmentcommission #regionaldevelopment #digitalconnectivity #mobilenetworks

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There are some fascinating details in the 2024 National State of the Assets Report, put together by IPWEA in partnership with the Australian Local Government Association. For example: 1. Local Governments collectively own one-third of all Australia's public infrastructure assets, yet employ under 10% of the public workforce. 2. Local Governments are the most asset-intensive level of government in Australia. 3. Total value of assets under Local Government control is $643bn, yet amazingly, their combined revenue was just a fraction of that (around $60bn in 2022-23). Just imagine operating, maintaining and renewing all those assets on this budget - let alone funding all the other non-asset services delivered by Local Government, such as urban planning, economic development/tourism, environmental health (nobody likes dodgy takeaway), animal and pests/weeds management and so much more... It is a real challenge to balance the needs and expectations of the community with financial reality. Therefore, it's not surprising that ~8% of L.G. assets (worth $50-55 billion) are in poor condition. Take just roads... Poor to very poor roads can have significant social, safety and productivity implications at a local and national level (even people living in the big cities don't want bananas bruised from a farm=>store journey via a washed out or potholed road!). All of the above, extracted from the report below, help to emphasise the need for continual improvement to our asset management and long-term financial planning capacity. This continual improvement and, importantly, the long term financial planning and properly funding renewal and replacement of ageing assets takes strong yet delicate leadership. I do not envy any Local Government politicians who seriously engage with this challenge. If you're a local government infrastructure operator, and you'd like to understand more about your assets, we'd love to hear from you! #LocalGovernment #Assets #Planning #AssetManagement #FinancialPlanning #FinancialSustainability #Infrastructure #Australia #Queensland #NorthernTerritory Mangoesmapping GIS Mapping (Mangoesmapping)

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I support the Albanese government's $3 billion funding boost to the NBN. The aim is to upgrade the remaining fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) connections to fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) - the technology that was intended for 93% of users under the Kevin Rudd government's original plan. Starlink is an excellent solution for remote areas, but the advantages of FTTP are overwhelming - e.g. fewer interruptions to connectivity, no performance drop when it rains. Nonetheless, NBN Co needs to drop its prices across the board to make Internet access more affordable. https://lnkd.in/gAqgzMMc

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In recent years, vulnerable legacy enterprise networks have migrated to full cloud solutions to improve security, scalability, and functionality. However, this shift has often come at the cost of data sovereignty and data lifecycle ownership. I am confident that, eventually, we will need to consider a mix of data sovereignty solutions and offshore computer processing. A likely return to edge computing, which emphasises local data storage and enhanced protection, is on the horizon. I look forward to helping our customers diversify their computing storage and processing capabilities by shifting from cloud computing to edge computing. Let’s see how this plays out!

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The funding crunch is hitting infrastructure leaders harder than ever in 2024. According to ADAPT's Cloud and Infrastructure Edge Surveys of 279 Australian infrastructure leaders, "lack of funding" has overtaken "competing business priorities" as the top execution barrier this year. This shift signals growing financial pressures, while legacy systems and talent shortages continue to hinder progress. To overcome these challenges: 💡 Secure buy-in by articulating the business value of infrastructure projects in relation to broader business goals. 🔑 Invest in upskilling to address talent shortages and future-proof your team. 🛠️ Address technical debt strategically by prioritising system upgrades that deliver immediate value and support long-term agility, reducing costly inefficiencies. #CloudStrategy #InfrastructureLeadership #DigitalTransformation #BusinessPriorities #TechInvestment #CloudInfraEdge #ADAPTResearch Matt Boon

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🔥 BREAKING NEWS 🔥 Chorus NZ Limited and Datagrid New Zealand join forces on a 6,000km subsea cable to supercharge Trans-Tasman data connectivity and improve New Zealand’s connections with the world.   With an unprecedented design capacity of up to 540 Tbps, if sufficient demand is established, the #TasmanRingNetwork is planning to connect: #Auckland #NewPlymouth #Greymouth  #Invercargill #Sydney #Melbourne    The Tasman Ring will greatly improve Internet capacity and #resilience in New Zealand and provide much needed diversity out of the South Island.   This is an important milestone for Datagrid New Zealand in achieving our wider vision of developing a 240MW sustainable AI training data centre park in #Makarewa #Southland.   « We believe the Tasman Ring is the right vision and the right design to make New Zealand an attractive location for #hyperscale data centers looking for abundant #renewable electricity sources. #Southland NZ has all the ingredients to become a major AI Training hub, but diverse international connectivity. This partnership with Chorus will help make that connectivity a reality » says Datagrid CEO Perrine DHALLUIN.   « Combined international and domestic connectivity is key to unlock the huge potential of #NewZealand and #Southland in particular. Together with Chorus we aim to make NZ #AI ready - moving from the Gigabyte era to Terabyte era.»   « Chorus' state of the art national fibre network combined with their strategy to extend into adjacent markets makes them an obvious partner for Datagrid New Zealand. We are delighted to partner with Chorus to make this ambitious project happen and contribute to the prosperity of the nation ». Mike Shirley, Chorus' Executive General Manager of Infrastructure adds: « This is a really exciting opportunity. Chorus NZ Limited and Datagrid see a need for integrated international and domestic connectivity solutions into the future. The Tasman Ring would hugely improve data centre connectivity in New Zealand and across the Tasman. Trans-Tasman connectivity is a natural adjacency to Chorus. The Tasman Ring project would allow New Zealand to compete in the international #AI market and harness the global acceleration of #cloud adoption ».

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Load growth and constrained distribution capacity seems to be a massive issue in the US electricity network. A decade ago Australian DNSP’S were accused of “gold plating” - the practice of overbuilding networks to lock in monopolistic profits. Is that why we aren’t seeing the same issues play out here? Was gold plating a good thing in retrospect!? Or are the US issues driven by demand side factors more prevelant there… manufacturing renaissance, data centre growth, electrification? Would love to hear your views and insights on the difference…

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Another update from Prof Bill Buchanan OBE FRSE. There will be many challenges leading up to 2030. Can compliance match these changes? The ASD's move reflects the inevitability of a quantum-driven paradigm shift in cybersecurity. Organisations must think beyond compliance and adopt solutions that ensure security for decades to come. With the TQCEP framework, businesses can take the heat out of compliance while ensuring quantum resilience from day one. If you’re ready to lead the way, let’s start the conversation about quantum-ready security today. 🚀

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The Australian Government has introduced Ministerial Direction 111 (MD111), replacing MD107, to streamline offshore student visa processing. Priority 1 (High) applies to providers who have not reached the enrolment threshold as tracked in PRISMS, ensuring faster processing. Once a provider meets the threshold, applications shift to Priority 2 (Standard), which may see slower processing times. To maximize approvals, agents and providers must lodge decision-ready files early for upcoming intakes and plan ahead. Hola World #studyinaustralia #aussieeducation #highereducation

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In reply to a post about Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently released 'The latest Measuring Broadband Australia report', Musk said on his X platform...“Starlink’s giant latency advantage is the real killer. Current Starlink satellites at around 550km are around 65 times closer than geosynchronous satellites. Our next generation satellites will be at around 350km, so around 100 times closer.” The ACCC report found that the maximum speed measured for the Starlink service in Australia during the month of September was 470Mbps for downloads and 74Mbps for uploads. The average download speed was 192Mbps across all hours, and 165.5Mbps during busy hours, with uplink speeds averaging 28.6Mbps across all hours and 27.8Mbps during busy hours. https://lnkd.in/gqy8ksrG

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Shape Technology has officially joined the NZ IoT Alliance. IoT presents huge potential for the NZ tech sector, the IoT Alliance is a collaborative system designed to connect industry leaders throughout the country. Shape's commitment to innovation aligns perfectly with the IoT Alliance’s mission to foster this ecosystem that accelerates the adoption and growth of IoT technologies in New Zealand. The New Zealand IoT Alliance is a member of Tech Alliance, a group of independent tech associations from across New Zealand that work together to ensure a strong voice for technology. Coordinated by NZTech, the Alliance represents almost 500 organisations that employ over 100,000 New Zealanders who work together to help create a prosperous New Zealand underpinned by technology. As a member of the IoT Alliance, Shape will work closely with a variety of industry leaders and partners to drive advancements in IoT technology, share best practices, and contribute to cutting-edge developments. More information: Members - NZ IoT Alliance https://hubs.li/Q02NgCz40 #shape #technology #internetofthings #iot #iotalliance #nztech #nzbusiness

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I had the most delightful chat with Christine Hall this morning about Everything Open, Linux Australia and linux.conf.au https://lnkd.in/gNiVQqXq #FreeSoftware #OpenSourceSoftware #AllThingsOpen #OpenGLAM #OpenData #OpenScience #OpenEducation #OpenGovernment #OpenAustralia #Security #Observability #Virtualisation

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Almost every data migration I've seen in Melbourne has had the scope gradually cut until it is described as a "lift-and-shift", which basically translates to taking all the legacy garbage on-premise and then moving it to be modern garbage off-premise, but with a A$1M dollar Databricks/Snowflake bill. The team doing the administration isn't even smaller because the Cloud implementation is so complected that to gaze upon its architecture diagrams is to invite madness. So this is just a PSA that if you are non-technical and actually have skin in the game (i.e, you control the company and care about it wasting money), the phrase "lift-and-shift" should send you into a blind panic. You're probably being scammed. Actually, the words "Snowflake" and "Databricks" should also send you into a blind panic, not because there's anything wrong with the products, but because all the stuff that actually needs fixing has very little to do with them in most cases. You're probably being scammed. Actually, the word "Data" should send you into a blind panic. I spend most of my time telling people to invest in things that aren't complex data operations, and that they should just be spending the money doing things like making sure the dates in their system are actually stored as dates. You're probably being scammed. Actually, you know what, just panic.

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There has been a lot of hype around the Rust programming language. Most articles and blogs I read are heavy on promises, and a little light on testing. I’ve done a simple comparison between a lambda written in Python vs the same lambda written in Rust. Both use the official AWS SDKs. Boto3 is well established but the Rust SDK is new. The official release was about 8 months ago at reinvent. I’ve load tested both using K6. Why? Well, because I want to see for myself if I really do get the 8x improvement in performance and equivalent reduction in cost that people promote. What were the results? Come along and find out! https://lnkd.in/gfzVfDXY

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Is your antenna ready for the 3G shutdown? 🤔 As this ABC AM story explains, when the Telstra 3G network shuts down on 31 August, it's not just phones that will be affected. Weather stations, machinery telematics units, and even your vehicle's antenna and signal repeater need to be checked for 4G and 5G compatibility. If you're currently running a signal booster in your car, here's what you need to know: ✅ Make sure your antenna is suitable for 4G. If you have an old antenna, it might not be designed for 4G frequencies. ✅ Update the signal repeater settings to Auto or 4G-only by 31 August. Our Cellular (4G/5G) Smart Antenna is future proof. Not only does it provide automatic switching between high and low gain modes, but it is also optimised to provide exceptional performance across all 4G and 5G bands. https://lnkd.in/dZQhsUPF

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