News (5)

That isn't lovely code, it's an ugly monkey

It is possible to develop secure code but only if vendors use a robust software development process and aren't afraid to call a monkey when they see a monkey, according to the retired chief scientist of the National Security Agency (NSA). Read more »

Is whitelisting the new blacklisting?

The IT security industry has come to a frank realisation that the current approach to preventing malware is simply not working. Is whitelisting, which is the reverse of our current approach, the answer? Read more »

Is desktop security broken beyond repair?

At the AusCERT 2007 conference in Queensland last week, keynote speaker Ivan Krstić, who is the director of security architecture for the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project, told attendees that desktop security was fundamentally broken. We asked several security experts who attended the conference if they agreed and how the problem could be fixed. Read more »

Antivirus is 'completely wasted money': Cisco CSO

Companies are wasting money on security processes — such as applying patches and using antivirus software — which just don't work, according to Cisco's chief security officer John Stewart. Read more »

Web banking: It's time to write down your password

Banks should stop forcing customers to create long, alphanumeric passwords because they can't protect against today's threats, according to AT&T computing researcher William Cheswick Read more »

Video (1)

It's not lovely code, it's an ugly monkey

At the AusCERT 2008 conference in the Gold Coast, ex-NSA staffer Brian Snow, told ZDNet.com.au that software can be secure -- but only if vendors overhaul their development processes. Read more »

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  • Staff Crying, mooning and leaving

    In this week's roundup we see that continuous whining can get results, Linux users get 64-bit Flash and Moonlight previews, the latest in the Yahoo/Microsoft relationship and Senator Conroy ducks and weave in Senate Question Time. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Brendon Chase Sun eye Web developers with Netbeans 6.5

    Despite the recent employment axe hitting Sun the company has pushed out a new release of its Netbeans open source IDE with an eye to appeal more to Web developers. Read more »

    -- posted by Brendon Chase

  • Renai LeMay BarCamp buzz: Let the hacking continue

    Attending last weekend's BarCamp in Sydney, it was hard to escape the conclusion that a certain "dot-com bust" flavour had seeped into the kool aid previously being drunk by Australia's web 2.0 and early stage start-up sector. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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