Category: Quick shout out

Posted on

What is it about the Australian government and technology?

Pot of pickled peppers

So this government Covid 19 tracking app is an interesting idea – they even said that they would release the source code…. all very good, I’m thinking I may even install the thing… but then today I read this!

https://www.innovationaus.com/sovereign-capability-and-that-shocking-aws-deal/

To sum up it’s yet another govenment SNAFU…
From the article…

“You really have to wonder what kind of crisis would be needed for the Australian Government to use Australian technology providers for jobs that are well within their capability. “

Update 18 May 2020
Some interesting reading hear. The app it’s self seems reasonable but without the back end code questions still remain.
https://www.qte.am/reading-room

Update 14 May 2020
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/security-report-reveals-some-covidsafe-information-could-go-overseas-20200514-p54t2o.html

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/may/14/questions-remain-over-whether-data-collected-by-covidsafe-app-could-be-accessed-by-us-law-enforcement

Update May 24
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/24/how-did-the-covidsafe-app-go-from-being-vital-to-almost-irrelevant

Posted on

Beta testers needed!

Hi I’m very proud to announce that my application (which I still haven’t found a name for!) is ready for beta release. It’s a very light command line app that uses log data for security hardening, so if you use Ubuntu, debian or linux (and or nginx or apache2) and are comfortable with the command line then please do get in touch. At this stage it’s a fairly simple app and in effect a security tool for those of us who can not afford thousands of dollars towards their own IDS.

This application will probably be most useful for smb running their own sites (small aws installs for example) for people who want extra security, and to stop a lot of the “noise” that hits the average web server.
If you want more information, have a look at the intro vid I made that is put up on youtube..
All I ask is that you supply the version of ubuntu / linux that you’re using and that after looking at the app take the time to fill in a short survey.

Look forward to hearing from you
Regards Steve Abrahall
PS if your interested email me at

steveabrahall AT gmail DOT comm

To find out what version of the os your using
lsb_release -a

Posted on

Cisco people update and Patch NOW!

Cisco Tiki art from logic board
Cisco logic board

Just a quick shout out …. So one of the things that is some times talked about is the problem of the “non heterogeneous” or homogenous networking environment. The illusion that choosing the market dominant product (because everyone else buys it) is the right thing to do …. Anyhow it seems that Cisco is in a bit of bother due to its some what hated buggy protocol CDP. If your a cisco nerd and haven’t caught up on this it might be time to do a bit of serious patching!

Have a look at this wired article
Cisco Flaws Put Millions of Workplace Devices at Risk

And also the Reg have something about it
Tens of millions of Cisco devices vulnerable to CDPwn flaws: Network segmentation blown apart by security bugs

Stay safe on the Interwebs!

Steve