Emails from The Sizzle have been unreliable this week because one of my shared IPs was added to a spam list and Mailgun hasn't done anything about it for 3 days. I posted a more detailed explanation up on the forums but that's the core problem. My options are wait for Mailgun to remove that IP from their pool, the IP gets removed from the blocklists, or I waste a weekend changing mail provider. Ugh. In the meantime, you can visit the Sizzle Archive to catch up on any issues you may have missed.
ACMA has confirmed in a filing with the Federal Court that it was Optus' incompetence that lead to one of the biggest data breaches in Australian history. It wasn't sophisticated hackers, foreign actors or a criminal gang's fault, it was a "coding error" that lead to the access controls for api.www.optus.com.au "vulnerable for attack" for two years and "was not decommissioned despite the lack of any need for it". This API end point happened to return customers personal identifying information. ACMA even says "the cyberattack was not highly sophisticated or one that required advanced skills or proprietary or internal knowledge of Optus' processes of systems".
Some good news - the EU's proposed Regulation to Prevent and Combat Child Sexual Abuse (aka Chat Control) has been withdrawn. According to a spokesperson, the proposal couldn't get a majority to approve it to be on the agenda so in the bin it goes. Don't get complacent however, as something similar is likely pop up next year when Hungary takes over Presidency of the EU Council as they've said in the past they're keen for this kinda thing. If you've forgotten, Chat Control would have made it mandatory for platforms to scan all communications for CSAM and report it to the police, including end-to-end encrypted messages. I don't think I need to explain why breaking end-to-end encryption is a bad idea.
The eSafety Commissioner had a rare moment of common sense, clarifying in the final two industry codes (Designated Internet Services & Relevant Electronic Services) to specifically state that "companies will not be required to break encryption and will not be required to undertake measures not technically feasible or reasonably practical". A change from previous wording where it was vague if "feasible" meant financially or technically, because for a company like Apple or Google, there really is no financial limit as to what they can spend as they have more money than God. You can read more about the changes to these two industry standards on eSafety's website.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get onboard.
A colour poster featuring a photograph of a woman in a red jumper standing in front of a mainframe computer equipment. Photograph is cropped in a keyhole shape and set on a black background to suggest the viewer is looking through a keyhole. [Australia] : Department of Defence, [1980-1990?] (National Library of Australia)
📻 Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) - ABBA
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