Cybercrime bill makes it through – but what does that mean for you?
By Mark A Gregory, RMIT University
Yesterday afternoon the Australian Senate passed the Cybercrime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 following amendments suggested by the Labor Party.
Anonymous' Operation Australia – can the federal police stop them?
By Mark A Gregory, RMIT University
About 10am this morning, Anonymous used Twitter to announce an attack on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) website. Anonymous claimed the ASIO website would be unavailable for the rest of the day.
The ASIO website was down for about 30 minutes after the attack and is now operating slowly or not at all. It appears the attack may be ongoing, but ASIO’s technical staff are recovering the situation.
UK court ruling on ISP filtering: copyright victory or download defeat?
By Mark A Gregory, RMIT University
Last week, the English High Court ordered British Telecom (BT) to block access to a members-only website that offers links to pirated films.
NewzBin2, the site in question, offers links to pirated films on what’s been described as a “grand scale”.
Beyond .com ... an online world where anything.goes?
By Mark A Gregory, RMIT University
At 11 o'clock this morning (Melbourne time), the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) started accepting applications for custom top-level domain (TLD) names.
Wardriving and surviving: who else is using your Wi-Fi?
By Mark A Gregory, RMIT University
Late last month the Queensland Police started a new project to highlight the urgent need for secure wireless internet connections.
The “wardriving” project involves police driving the streets of Queensland, searching for unsecured Wi-Fi coming from houses and businesses.
SCAMwatch – a helping hand against online scammers
By Mark A Gregory, RMIT University
Crimes of confidence, known as scams, are on the rise. You probably know the basics. The way the most common type of scam works involves you being presented with an offer, product or service for which you pay and then don’t receive anything.
Scams have always been big business and perpetrators have adapted quickly to new technology. Telephone, mail and now the internet have provided an ever-growing platform for large-scale, and coordinated, scam attacks.