Month: June 2024

Australia's telecommunications watchdog has alleged that Optus could have fixed a simple coding error four years before hackers stole personal details of millions of customers. In a claim published by the Federal Court on Wednesday, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) detailed how the September 2022 cyber attack occurred and highlighted Optus's failure to identify or rectify the vulnerability. Approximately 9.5 million current and former customers were affected by the breach, with personal information including names,[more...]

Smaller publishers are already feeling the effects of a potential news ban on Facebook, a parliamentary committee has heard, as both small and large news outlets argue for social media companies to be required to pay for news content. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced in March that it would not enter into new agreements with news companies to pay for news, following the expiration of contracts signed in 2021 under the Morrison government’s[more...]

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has warned that critical gas supplies are running low, potentially affecting New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and the Australian Capital Territory. In a public alert on Thursday, AEMO cautioned that recent gas supply and demand trends for these southern jurisdictions indicate a potential for gas supply shortfalls due to the depletion of southern storage inventories. "The supply of gas in all or part of the East Coast gas system[more...]

A man is under police guard after allegedly rampaging through a Western Sydney hospital and injuring four staff members. Police were called to Westmead Hospital around 11:30 p.m. on Friday night after reports of a 39-year-old man assaulting staff. Upon arrival, officers found two security guards, aged 24 and 25, with stab wounds, another security guard with a dislocated shoulder, and a 29-year-old male nurse with minor injuries.

Golden Goose, a luxury sneaker brand, has canceled its recently planned stock market IPO, citing instability in the European market. The decision by the Venice-based brand and its British owners, private equity firm Permira, followed the recent snap election in France, which caused turmoil in European stocks. "The significant deterioration in market conditions following European Parliament elections this month and the calling of a general election in France has impacted European markets' performance and, in particular, the[more...]

Investors appeared to shrug off hawkish remarks from the Reserve Bank of Australia, as the share market recorded only a slight dip in quiet trading on Wednesday following Tuesday’s strong advance. At the closing bell, the benchmark ASX200 had edged lower by 8.4 points, or 0.11 percent, to 7769.7, while the broader All Ordinaries index dipped by 5.3 points, or 0.07 percent, to finish at 8010.5. Tech stocks slipped 0.16 percent, or 4.9 points, to end at[more...]

TOKYOJapan's exports surged by 13.5% in May, exceeding expectations, driven by a weak yen and robust demand in the U.S. and Asia. According to Finance Ministry data released Wednesday, the trade deficit decreased nearly 12% to 1.22 trillion yen from 1.38 trillion yen a year earlier. Imports grew 9.5% year-on-year, reaching nearly 9.5 trillion yen. Exports totaled 8.3 trillion yen, marking the fastest growth since November 2022. Shipments to the United States increased by nearly 24%, while[more...]

Crippling interest rates and soaring prices of everyday items, from a bag of concrete to a cup of coffee, are driving record business insolvencies in Australia, according to research. CreditorWatch's business risk index highlights the deteriorating outlook for businesses, particularly small companies. In the year to May, insolvencies hit a record high of 1,378, a 38 percent increase in business failures. The electricity, gas, water, and waste services sector saw the highest increase in insolvencies at 89[more...]

KFC has stopped selling chicken nuggets at some of its restaurants in Victoria and South Australia, citing unspecified supply chain issues. The fast-food giant emphasized that this disruption is unrelated to the bird flu outbreak affecting chicken farms in Victoria. As an alternative, diners will be offered Popcorn Chicken.

A scathing report by Australia's Information Commissioner reveals that misconfigurations and missed alerts enabled a hacker to breach Medibank and steal data from over 9 million people. In October 2022, Australian health insurance provider Medibank disclosed a cyberattack that disrupted its operations. A week later, the company confirmed that the threat actors had stolen all of its customers' personal data and a significant amount of health claims data, resulting in a data breach affecting 9.7 million people.