Author: media

A long-term Australian Federal Police (AFP) investigation has resulted in the arrest of two men in two states allegedly involved in a campaign targeting Australian and international websites.

The AFP will allege in court that the two men claimed to be members of the online issue motivated group ‘Anonymous’.

Since 2012, people who claim to be members of ‘Anonymous’ have targeted a number of Australian government and corporate networks. These attacks have resulted in theft of personal data, defacement of websites and Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks causing websites to drop offline.

National Manager High Tech Crime Operations Tim Morris said attacks such as these can have a serious impact on government and business services.

“Hacking activities can affect everyone from small businesses right up to large government organisations,” said Assistant Commissioner Morris.

“These acts can cause serious disruption to government and business networks, which in turn can be catastrophic for people who rely on these networks to run their small business or administer their entitlements or personal finances.”

“The impairment or disruption of communications to or from computer networks is a criminal act and can have serious consequences; it is not harmless fun.”

AFP officers last night conducted search warrants at residential addresses in Penrith, NSW and Scarborough, WA.

A number of computer hard drives and other equipment were seized during the warrants. It is anticipated that it will take several months to analyse these items due to the amount of information stored on them.

It will be alleged in court that these two men were known to each other online and targeted organisations including a large internet service provider and web servers hosting Australian and Indonesian government websites.

A 40-year-old Scarborough (Western Australia) man was charged with:

Aid the unauthorised modification of Melbourne IT Limited computer network located in Brisbane, Queensland to cause impairment, contrary to Section 477.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995 pursuant to Section 11.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995; and

Unauthorised modification of Indonesian Government web servers, to cause impairment, contrary to Section 477.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.

An 18-year-old Penrith (New South Wales) man was charged with the following offences:

Unauthorised modification of data to Netspeed ISP located in Canberra, ACT, to cause impairment, contrary to Section 477.2 of the Criminal Code Act 1995

Unauthorised access to and modification of restricted data belonging to the ACT Long Service Leave Board, Canberra, ACT, contrary to 478.1 of the Criminal Code Act 1995.

 

UN Women launches global campaign to mark 20 years since the landmark women’s rights conference in Beijing.

The Beijing Platform for Action was launched at the 4th World Conference on Women in Beijing in September 1995. Attended by some 17,000 people, the Conference was a landmark event for gender rights as world leaders committed themselves to an agenda for women’s empowerment. This month UN Women is launching a global campaign to celebrate the gains made across the world over the last two decades, and raise awareness of the challenges that still remain before women can enjoy their full human rights equally with men.

The global campaign, called “Empowering Women, Empowering Humanity: Picture it!” centres on the 12 core areas in which gender equality requires progress, which include unequal access to education, health and justice; political marginalisation; and violence. The campaign aims to engage the public in mobilising political will to work towards gender equality.

The Australia National Committee is launching a program of activities to support the global campaign, beginning in June with a launch at Parliament House in Canberra. The campaign will run from May 2014 to September 2015, in time for the world conference which will discuss progress made on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

“The Beijing Platform for Action sets out a manifesto for women’s rights,” says the Executive Director of the Australian National Committee for UN Women, Julie McKay. “For the first time UN Member States acknowledged that gender equality was at the heart of the development agenda and that no economic or political progress could be made when half of the world was excluded from leadership roles.”

UN Women’s Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka notes that “during the past two decades much progress has been made in women’s legal rights, educational achievements, and participation in public life. But much still remains to be done to address gender wage gaps and unequal opportunities, low representation of women in leadership in public office and the private sector, child marriage, rampant violence and other violations against women and girls.”

“This anniversary of the Beijing Conference takes place at an historic moment,” stresses Mlambo-Ngcuka, “as the nations of the world are coming together to accelerate progress to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and define a new global development framework. We must seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to position gender equality, women’s rights and women’s empowerment at the centre of the global agenda and make it a reality.”

The website of the Australia National Committee for UN Women will be regularly updated with details of the campaign: www.unwomen.org.au

Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey has been forced to defend his Federal Budget to the Not for Profit sector, saying that while the Coalition’s Budget may seem tough, society’s most vulnerable will end up paying unless “remedial action” is undertaken.

Speaking in Sydney at a post-budget lunch organised by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) and attended by more than 200 sector leaders, Treasurer Hockey said: “If we don’t start to live within our means sooner or later the people most vulnerable in the community are going to be the ones most affected.

“This budget is not about being popular. Nor is it about making people happy. It’s about doing what we believe must be done to lift the quality of life that people are going to have into the future.”

Hockey delivered his first budget – coined by ACOSS as an attempt to ‘divide the nation’ – last week amid strong criticism from the Not for Profit sector.

The Treasurer’s defence however came as ACOSS released new figures that reveal that people on low and middle incomes will carry the overwhelming burden of repairing the Federal Budget.

“The burden of restoring the Budget will not be fairly shared,” ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said.

“Over the next four years, people and families living on low incomes will be expected to contribute over half the savings in the Budget (52 per cent), compared with less than one sixth coming from people on high incomes.

“More than $19 billion out of $37 billion (52 per cent) in budget savings in key programs and services over the next four years will come from reductions in spending on programs that mainly assist low and middle income earners. Only $5.7 billion (15 per cent) are tax increases or savings in programs mainly benefiting people on high incomes.”

At the ACOSS post-budget event yesterday the Treasurer said: “Unquestionably there has been an expansion of the welfare system over the years.

“But in extending what is deemed to be welfare, higher and higher up the pay scale and what it means is you can afford it while you’ve got money coming in but then when the money doesn’t come in how do you pare it back?

“What we’d really like to see is a strong, entirely sustainable safety net in Australia. And the balancing act is trying to reduce the spread of welfare but at the same time trying to ensure the welfare safety net is strong.”

Dr Goldie said that while there were some elements of the budget the sector was pleased to see, they were obviously hoping to see some very different policies.

“Why have we now seen a budget – which we said at the time and we maintain this view – that seems to divide us… where we know that the level of poverty is most entrenched in the experience of young unemployed people, single mothers and children living in poverty and the biggest hit is on those lowest income families,” she questioned.

“And we have not yet done anything in this budget to look at the assets test on the aged pension, we’ve got people who are able to own their own multi-million dollar home and still be able to claim a part pension.

“That’s what throws up to us why we don’t have a budget that’s delivered on targeting government funding where it’s needed the most.”

But the Treasurer denied that the government was seeking to divide the nation, saying the claim could not be further from the truth.

Among the key themes to emerge at the lunch were concerns around youth, single parents, families and unemployment.

The Treasurer appeared lost for words when pressed on questions around the cuts to the family tax benefits by National Council for Single Mothers and their Children chief executive Terese Edwards, the Treasurer stalled, unable to provide an answer.

“I implore you to hit the pause button, do not proceed; particularly in regards to slashing family tax benefits and I would really like to hear from you that you may reconsider,” Edwards said.

Hockey attempted to reassure sector leaders that the Government was interested in ongoing conversation.

“It’s not the last word. It’s the first word,” he said. “And I am here to engage in constructive dialogue with ACOSS and others for our term in government.”

Author: Jackie Hanafie of Pro Bono Australia

See more at: http://www.probonoaustralia.com.au/news/2014/05/hockey-defends-%E2%80%98remedial%E2%80%99-budget-not-profits#sthash.Tz2w1AbH.gQbZUtL7.dpuf

 

The Australian Government has released a series of guides aimed at helping small businesses adopt and use cloud computing services with confidence.

Cloud computing is the term commonly used to describe the delivery of an ICT service over the Internet, on demand.

Cloud computing is already proving to be revolutionary for small businesses, as it significantly lowers cost barriers to ICT adoption. KPMG estimates the increased adoption of cloud services in Australian firms could boost the Australian economy by $3.32 billion a year.

The guides published today will assist Australian small businesses to be part of this revolution. They cover a range of topics from questions to ask your cloud provider, to legal issues to consider in the cloud. The guides are published on the digitalbusiness.gov.au website.

These cloud guides have only been possible because of the development of a longer, more detailed ‘Stock Take’ of regulation that impacts the cloud services market in Australia. The Cloud Computing Regulatory Stock Take provides an overview of regulation affecting the Australian cloud market and how this might impact the take up of services.

The Stock Take aims to give consumers confidence and industry certainty about the regulatory arrangements that apply to cloud computing.

The Government welcomes additional comment by industry, consumer stakeholders or the public at large. In particular, the Government would be interested in views on whether the regulation in this space is overly complex or burdensome.

More information about the Stock Take and how to provide feedback is available at www.communications.gov.au/cloud

The Brisbane Produce Market ‘How do you like them apples’ scratch and win campaign kicked off on Saturday 17 May with participating greengrocers across South East Queensland.

Customers who shop at their participating local greengrocer in May and June could win $1,000 worth of fruit and vegetables along with instant prizes, like a bag of free apples or $5 off their next visit.

The promotion is part of the Brisbane Produce Market’s retailer program which is designed to encourage consumers to shop at their local independent greengrocers and support excellence in fresh produce retailing.

Ben Hannant, Healthy Eating Ambassador for the Brisbane Produce Markets is an advocate of the retailer program. “I shop at my local greengrocer and they provide excellent customer service and they are the experts in their field—they know what is in season, what is fresh and how to use it.

“And I really know it’s fresh because just before I started my professional football career I worked at the Brisbane Produce Market, and it’s the owners of these independent greengrocers who personally select their produce at the Markets every day.

“Shopping at your local greengrocers not only helps a family business it could also help your family budget with the chance of winning $1,000 worth of fruit and veg,” said Mr Hannant.

Consumers have a great chance of winning as each participating store is offering the major draw of $1,000 worth of fruit and vegetables as well as instant prizes.

The promotion commenced on Saturday 17 May and closes on Saturday 14 June. The major winners will be drawn and notified on Wednesday 18 June. Full terms, conditions and participating stores can be found at www.promotions.brisbanemarkets.com.au

This week the federal government launched yet another attack on the environment through the budget – including the complete removal of Queensland Conservation’s federal government funding.

This mean spirited budget has singled out small community and environment organisations.

Almost $5 million in grants to community organisations will end from July 2014, including $1.3 million to over 150 environment organisation across Australia through the Grants to Voluntary Environment, Sustainability and Heritage Organisations.

Queensland Conservation is one of the environment organisations around Australia that will be affected by these funding cuts …. with the loss of $70,000 towards our vital work.

“The loss of these vital funds to our organisation will have a devastating affect on our ability to work on the protection of Queenslands environment” said Toby Hutcheon, Executive Director of Queensland Conservation.

“We are asking not only our committed supporters but every Queenslander who cares about the environment and is concerned about the raft of funding cuts and the changes to policy and legislation that is being introduced by the State and Federal Governments, to support QCC with a donation to help ensure our financial future.

The funding cut comes at a time when the Federal Government has just removed support for clean energy, is likely to approve a new mega mine in Queensland, supports the dumping of dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef and is winding back a range of hard won environmental laws.

Cutting Queensland Conservation funding will make little difference to the budget bottom line, but does harm our ability to fight for the environment.

“The State and Federal Governments have made it clear that the environment is not a priority for them. As Premier Newman said “we are in the coal business” – a statement which is supported by their actions and those of the Federal Government.”

As you would know, budget cuts are not the only problem facing the environment. The federal government is currently holding an Inquiry into streamlining environmental regulation, ‘green tape’, and one-stop-shops, which looks set to completely change the way environmental regulation works across Australia. Ultimately it risks creating a confusing array of rules and lower environmental standards, where the main winners will be mining and property development lobby groups.

There has never been a more important period in the history of Queensland for every environment organisation or community group to rally the people of Queensland into taking action to ensure that our voices are heard and that governments are held accountable for their actions both now and in the future.

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO DONATE ONLINE. YOUR DONATION WILL HELP TO ENSURE THAT THE QUEENSLAND CONSERVATION COUNCIL WILL CONTINUE TO BE QUEENSLAND”S VOICE FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

http://qldconservation.org.au/donate-now/