IT Pro

Cloud

Microsoft to add Australian shores to Azure cloud

LIA TIMSON 9:59am Two Australian facilities announced for Azure, no details of when or how much.

Skills

Practical skills the focus of university's new course

Cynthia Karena 10:35am UTS is introducing an online learning program developed by enterprise software giant SAP to ensure Australian students acquire practical skills.

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Software

Tax Office spends $5.2m to put e-tax on Mac

BEN GRUBB 3:22pm The Tax Office has spent $5.2 million to enable Apple Mac users to lodge their tax returns online this year.

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Business

Should we let wunderkinds drop out of high school?

12:07pm It's one thing to say tech geniuses don't need degrees. After all, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college.

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Cyber security

Chinese hackers got sensitive data from Google: US

Chinese hackers who breached Google several years ago gained access to a sensitive data, officials say.

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Business

'We promise not to screw it up': Yahoo's pledge on Tumblr

In acquiring Tumblr for $US1.1 billion in cash, Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer pledges "not to screw it up".

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SDN

University quick to deploy SDN

Trevor Clarke The University of Technology Sydney has taken the lead on deploying a software defined network.

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CLOUD

Cloud has silver lining for telcos

Stuart Corner Recent forays into cloud computing by Australia's big telcos seem to be paying off, despite the arrival of US cloud providers on our shores.

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Security

Myki mobile fraud delivers free ride

DEBORAH GOUGH Bus passengers have found new ways to ride free on myki.

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Breach

Telstra probed over privacy blunder

BEN GRUBB The federal Privacy Commissioner has launched an investigation into a Telstra data breach which saw thousands of customer names, telephone numbers and home and business addresses show up in a Google search.

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Business

From high school drop out to billionaire

MEGAN LEVY Five years ago, tech prodigy David Karp was determined that the business he founded in his mother's small New York apartment would not be absorbed by a multinational firm.

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Careers

Five reasons why women work in technology

Sylvia Pennington Money, excitement, glamour? Maybe not. Women tell us why they chose a career in tech.

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Data

Solution to hospital data fiddle not ready

PETER JEAN A security measure aimed at preventing a repeat of last year's Canberra Hospital data doctoring is unlikely to be seen this year.

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Takeover

Yahoo buys Tumblr for $US1.1b: report

Veronique Dupont Yahoo's board has approved a deal to purchase the popular blogging platform Tumblr for $US1.1 billion in cash, say reports.

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Security

Keyboard wars: US turns to rookies as cyber threats worsen

Demand for internet security experts is dramatically overwhelming supply, write Sandrine Rastello and Jeanna Smialek.

Expertise

From unemployed to back in the game

Sylvia Pennington With the job market sitting in a ditch, the days when a tech professional could leave a job in the morning and have another lined up by nightfall are gone.

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Start-up

Aussie start-up fights American student debt

LIA TIMSON An Australian start-up is fighting for the financial independence of university graduates in the US, coming to their rescue to reduce student loan debt.

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Tax

Google accused of avoiding tax in UK

UK lawmakers have subjected Google to blistering criticism, accusing the company of playing games with Britain's tax rules.

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Security

Forget carjacking, soon it will be carhacking

Rising cyber security risks over the potential hacking of cars have prompted the US auto-safety regulator to start a new office focusing on the threat.

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Security

Oops: Google search reveals private Telstra customer data

BEN GRUBB The personal information of thousands of Telstra customers has been found online using a Google search.

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Business

Google Australia appoints Maile Carnegie as MD

BEN GRUBB Maile Carnegie's first job was at a local fruit and veg shop, but now she is set to become Google Australia's next managing director.

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Software

'Truth' from single source

Trevor Clarke Energex is claiming success in creating a 'single source of truth' with analytics and information management.

Analytics

University to use web data to retain students

Trevor Clarke QUT is looking to tap the power of analytics with a plan to mine data from multiple systems including massively open online courses.

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Business

Page to keep Google helm despite vocal cord paralysis

Google CEO Larry Page says his vocal cords are partially paralysed but that it will not stop him from running the internet giant.

NBN

Conroy dismisses claims of NBN failing

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has dismissed claims the federal budget reveals the national broadband network (NBN) is failing.

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Hacking

Alleged Lulzsec leader fronts Sydney court

BEN GRUBB AFP claims he was a self-proclaimed leader of Lulzsec, but court documents allege he hacked a council website.

Security

If it's worth coding, it's worth securing

LIA TIMSON There's a push for developers to write secure code from the get-go.

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Federal budget

IT a support act in federal budget

Trevor Clarke The federal budget has a conspicuous absence of funding for new big ticket ICT projects.

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Broadband

Speed bumps halve NBN funds

JONATHAN SWAN Labor spent about half what it forecast last year on the national broadband network, reflecting the sluggish pace of its rollout.

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Opinion

Tough NBN spending decisions await

Bleak budgetary outlook will show how much politicians value an NBN, writes Tony Brown.

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Security

Iran-based hackers attacking US: security expert

An Iran-based hacking group has started cyber attacks inside the US, according to a security company.

Smart grid

Smart grid likely to roll on

Trevor Clarke Australia's nascent energy smart grid may continue to enjoy federal government support whatever party wins the next election.

Health

Scientists take data approach to beat disease

Brad Howarth Computer scientists, mathematicians and geneticists are joining forces to improve the lives of thousands of Australians.

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Big data

Is big data all it's cracked up to be?

Kate Crawford of the MIT Centre for Civic Media goes behind the numbers to debunk five myths about big data.

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Security

Bloomberg private messages leaked online: report

Bloomberg accidentally leaked more than 10,000 private messages online containing sensitive pricing data, according to a report.

Security

Fresh wave of cyber attacks aimed at US

A new wave of cyber attacks is striking US corporations. Officials say the attackers' aim is not espionage but sabotage, and the source seems to be the Middle East.

Hacking

How UNSW creates the world's best hackers

BEN GRUBB The University of NSW is known for producing some of Australia's top lawyers, doctors and accountants. But the 64-year-old institution is now gaining a reputation for excelling in what is often viewed as anti-establishment – hacking.

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Patents

Blow to NAB's Alice Corp over software patents

Erin Geiger Smith A US federal appeals court on Friday ruled that Australia's Alice Corp, owned in part by NAB, does not hold valid patents on a computerised trading platform.

Government

Tech firms winners in $1b Defence project

Mahesh Sharma Defence's existing technology suppliers could be among the biggest beneficiaries of a $1 billion project to overhaul the department's terrestrial communications network.

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Security

Bloomberg bars reporters from client activity after spying scandal

Bloomberg says it has corrected a "mistake" in its newsgathering policies and cut off its journalists' special access to client log-in activity on the company's ubiquitous trading information terminals.

Domains

Melbourne to get own domain name

Melbourne is set to get its own internet domain name with the global web address regulator ticking off on the change.

Overhaul

NAB technology overhaul integral to results

LIA TIMSON Bank says strategy and technology upgrades have sped processes and caused fewer errors at lower costs.

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Hacking

A short history of hacktivism

Hacktivist: n. a person who uses computer crimes to further social or political ends - Australian Oxford Dictionary.

Thieves loot ATMs of $44m in just hours

It was a huge bank heist - but a 21st-century version in which the criminals never wore ski masks, threatened a teller or set foot in a vault.

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Security

Huawei founder attempts to dispel 'myths'

Nick Perry During 26 years at the helm of Chinese tech giant Huawei, founder Ren Zhengfei has never once agreed to be interviewed by a journalist.

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Cybercrime

'Massive 21st-century bank heist': cyber thieves steal $44m

Cyber thieves stole $44 million by hacking into debit card companies, lifting withdrawal limits, and helping themselves from ATMs.

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Cloud

The logic of rendering movies in the cloud

Trevor Clarke Famed Australian digital visual effects company, Animal Logic, is mulling the use of public cloud computing services to help render the visual effects in future blockbuster movies.

Security

Cyber attacks a growing irritant in US-China ties

A surge in cyber attacks emanating from China is endangering its ties with the US.

Cybercrime

Dutchman appears in court over 'biggest ever' cyber attack

A Dutchman arrested in Spain in connection with a cyber attack has appeared before a judge in the Netherlands.

OPINION

Stop focusing on bits, bytes, feeds and speeds

Suzanne Campbell All sides of politics must take the tech sector seriously, argues Suzanne Campbell.

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Broadband

NBN rollout hits asbestos snag

A union claims up to 85 per cent of contractors involved in the NBN rollout in Tasmania could be working unsafely with asbestos.

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Government

Train radio upgrade hits sidetrack

ADAM CAREY Much-needed new digital system is now another two years from completion.

Broadband

NBN speed test website draws quick fire

JONATHAN SWAN A Liberal-leaning university student has been hailed on social media, accused of being a covert Labor agent and taken a verbal slap from Malcolm Turnbull.

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Hacking

Australia's top hackers uncovered in tournament

BEN GRUBB Telstra and Defence give students a hacking challenge - with rewards.

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Start-up

Tech start-ups see Asia as new Silicon Valley

Brad Howarth Investors are looking to fund more start-up companies to realise the potential for technology in Asia.

Customer service

Pulling the plug on call centres

Matthew Hall Businesses and customers are looking for each other in the wrong places.

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Security

Exposed: hacking threat to our vital buildings

BEN GRUBB Researchers find 653 Australian computer-based building management systems attached to the internet.

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Cloud

Adobe CEO: the truth about the cloud

Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen attempts to dispel some of the myths and rumours surrounding Adobe Creative Cloud.

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Mobiles

Nokia investors tell CEO their patience running thin

Nokia investors tell CEO they are running out of patience with his failing attempts to catch up with Apple and Samsung.

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Business

BMC Software agrees to sell for $6.5 billion

BMC Software has agreed to be sold to a private investor group for about $6.5 billion in cash.

Jobs

Technology jobs drying up as market hits the doldrums

Sylvia Pennington Recruiters confirmed what many in the technology sector already knew: the market is in the doldrums.

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Software

Adobe kills packaged software, bets on cloud alone

LIA TIMSON It's out with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign boxes, in with online subscriptions, effective immediately.

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Strategy

ATO in race to update communication channels

Stuart Corner The Australian Taxation Office is planning a major restructuring of its taxpayer communications channels in response to the increasing use of smartphones and social networks.

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Security

Australian Google office building hacked

BEN GRUBB The building control system for one of Google's offices in Sydney was hacked into by two IT security researchers who say hundreds more in Australia are also accessible via the internet.

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Security

The Onion's Twitter hacked by Syrian group

The Twitter and Facebook accounts of satirical US news website The Onion appear to have been hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army.

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Cybercrime

Sham Australian firm at centre of cyber heist

Brian Krebs A fake Australian company is at the centre of a global cyber crime network.

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Broadband

Turnbull pressed on Coalition's NBN upload speeds

JONATHAN SWAN An online debate between Malcolm Turnbull and Stephen Conroy on broadband policy has descended into sledging and personal attacks.

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Cybercrime

Banking Trojan hacker charged after three-year manhunt

Algerian national allegedly behind SpyEye appeared in an Atlanta courtroom after a three-year manhunt ended with his extradition from Thailand.

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Stratetgy

Kodak to exit bankruptcy a different company

Eastman Kodak plans to emerge from bankruptcy protection by the end of September after shedding most of the businesses that made it an icon.

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Broadband

NBN switch-on suffers tech glitch

BEN GRUBB A press conference to turn on Labor's national broadband network to 1300 homes and businesses in Sydney's west on Sunday was hit by a minor technical glitch which saw a video conference unexpectedly drop out.

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NBN

Conroy to extend broadband rollout

HEATH ASTON Another 400,000 homes in NSW will be promised super-fast broadband in a new three-year plan for the rollout of the national broadband network.

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Business

Intel taps COO Krzanich as next CEO

Intel is tasking chief operating officer Brian Krzanich with steering it through an industry shake-up as the new CEO.

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Broadband

Vectoring could boost Coalition's NBN speeds

Stuart Corner The new DSL technology of vectoring could significantly boost bandwidths over the last few hundred metres of copper but there is a great unknown.

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