Tim Watts: It was 1989 and the world was experiencing the emergence of HIV/AIDS. Exploiting this moment an unstable biologist unleased the world's first ransomware attack, which is malware that holds IT systems hostage by encrypting files until a ransom is paid. Dr Joseph Popp was ambitious. He sent 20,000 infected floppy disks to medical researchers all over the world, ostensibly containing medical...
Read More >Tim Watts: Given the very unconventional circumstances that bring me to my feet today, I hope you'll excuse me and give me a moment to gather myself, following the shock of that bill being rammed through without a single speaker in opposition just now. I'm sure that there was a great urgency and contingency that drove that from the government side. But we now come to the Broadcasting Services Amendment...
Read More >Tim Watts: Since 2016, the US government has invited the public to hack the Pentagon. It's true! Knowing that adversaries are constantly trying to breach their systems, the US Department of Defense periodically invites white-hat hackers to try to breach its systems and win a cash bounty if they're successful. It's known as a bug bounty-a financial reward used to harness external security...
Read More >Tim Watts: Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen people from all backgrounds in our community chipping in to help our community get through this challenge together. Over the past two months, the pub that shares a wall with my electorate office, the Plough Hotel in Footscray, has been leading a fantastic 'meals for healthcare heroes' program, led by chef Scott Thomas and manager Ben Foster. They...
Read More >Tim Watts: The Commonwealth government's 2016 cybersecurity strategy reached the end of its life more than seven weeks ago. The Minister for Home affairs, Mr Dutton, has been working on a new strategy for 10 months now. In that time a Department of Defence review expressed concerns about Australia's preparedness for cyberwar; the head of ASIO has warned that the COVID-19 pandemic has made Australia less...
Read More >Tim Watts: I want to thank the member for Kingston for moving this important motion, bringing this to the attention of the parliament, though it did make me feel somewhat sorry for the minister who's gone from being stalked in this place by Jenny Macklin to being stalked in this place by the member for Kingston. It almost made me feel sorry for him. But this moment before us is an historic moment. It's...
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