Goooood morning, friends. TGIF. Let’s dive in.
1. Australian government affected by HWL Ebsworth breach
Australian commercial law firm HWL Ebsworth fell victim to a ransomware attack earlier this year, with Russian-linked hackers claiming to have obtained client information and employee data. There have been a number of casualties, the latest, the Australian government. In a post to LinkedIn, brought to our attention by the good people over at iTnews, Australia’s newly appointed National Cyber Security Coordinator Air Marshal Darren Goldie said a number of Australian government entities have been impacted by the HWL Ebsworth cyber incident, with sensitive personal and government information released. Impacted entities are commencing the process of notifying affected individuals about the impacts the data breach has had on their information. Yikes.
2. Threads is a little popular
Meta released its hotly anticipated Twitter copycat, Threads, yesterday. According to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 10 million users flocked to the app in its first few hours. Now, according to The Verge, Threads-ers have made over 95 million threads. But, things on Threads were, to be frank, pretty boring. Ironically, that could be the secret to Threads’ success. On a chaotic internet fuelled by outrage, dull may be what users and advertisers want. Head over here to read our take.
3. Google delays fully custom Pixel chip
The Information and Reuters are this morning reporting that Google has delayed the release of a fully custom chip for its Pixel smartphones until 2025. Apparently, Google originally planned to release the chip, internally called Redondo, next year to replace the semicustom chips it currently designs with Samsung Electronics. Per the reports, we learned Google also plans to switch from Samsung to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co for making the chips, called Tensors, according to The Information.
4. Binance Australia offices raided
The AFR is reporting that Binance’s offices in Australia were searched by ASIC, part of an investigation into its now-defunct local derivatives business. Binance is the biggest cryptocurrency exchange globally, and it has recently caught the attention of financial markets regulators around the world. Per the report, Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao acknowledged that “external pressure” has hurt the company, adding: “Many of those things are outside of our control, but short term they have negative impacts on our business”. Read more here.
5. Man arrested as part of illegal marketplace takedown
A 35-year-old man from Western Australia this week faced Perth Magistrates Court for cybercrime offences after the takedown of an illegal online marketplace that the AFP said allowed users to purchase stolen personal information for alleged criminal offending. The man was allegedly identified as part of Operation Zinger (what a name), which is the Australian arm of a multi-agency international investigation led by the FBI and assisted by the AFP, as well as NSW, VIC, QLD, and WA Police Forces into the users of a well-known criminal marketplace. Anyway, per the AFP, the marketplace, Genesis Market, offered access to stolen account credentials and compromised device information. The site was shut down in April 2023 and 10 people across Australia were arrested as part of the coordinated international effort.
BONUS ITEM: Just a little bit of absolutely hell-freaking-no for your Friday.
Have a great weekend.