Tag Archive for: boss

Optus: Telecom boss Kelly Bayer Rosmarin quits after Australian outage

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The firm has come under fire following a nationwide network outage this month

The chief executive of Australian telecom giant Optus has resigned after a nationwide outage this month.

Kelly Bayer Rosmarin has been under pressure to quit after overseeing a tumultuous three years for the firm.

Along with the network failure which left almost half of Australia disconnected, she was at the helm during a major data breach last year.

In a statement, she said it had been “an honour to serve” but it was now appropriate for her to step down.

“Having now had time for some personal reflection, I have come to the decision that my resignation is in the best interest of Optus moving forward.”

Ms Bayer Rosmarin will be replaced by chief financial officer Michael Venter while the firm searches for a replacement.

The chief executive of Optus’s Singaporean parent company thanked her for her hard work during a “challenging period” – pointing out she had improved financial performance despite being appointed at the beginning of the pandemic.

But Yuen Kuan Moon said the Singtel Group understood her decision to resign.

“We recognise the need for Optus to regain customer trust and confidence… Optus’ priority is about setting on a path of renewal for the benefit of the community and customers,” Mr Moon said.

The outage on 8 November left 10 million Australians and thousands of businesses without mobile or internet coverage for over 12 hours.

The failure caused transport delays, cut hospital phone lines, shut down payment systems, and blocked about 200 people from calling emergency services.

Ms Bayer Rosmarin has faced criticism over her response to the incident, including at a Senate hearing on Friday.

There she revealed thousands of Australians were pursuing the telecom for compensation.

The company is also fighting a class action lawsuit from more than 100,000 current and former customers over the data breach in September 2022.

Affecting 10 million people, it was at the time believed to be the worst data breach in Australian history.

Optus had apologised and blamed a sophisticated cyber-attack, but critics disputed that, including the Minister for Cyber…

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Telstra boss talks down need for legislation in ransomware fight

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The federal government ought to place a greater focus on “community awareness” in the fight against ransomware as the risk of attack continues to escalate, according to outgoing Telstra chief Andy Penn.

But Mr Penn, who chairs the government’s telco-heavy Industry Advisory Committee on Cyber Security, has stopped short of recommending legislation, despite urging the former government adopt a “clear policy position”.

The committee made the recommendation in its annual update last year after observing that it was not clear to business whether paying ransomware gangs was illegal or what best-practice was for incident reporting.

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Penn: Community awareness is the best defence for ransomware.

The recommendation followed a spate of high-profile ransomware attacks including one that forced US pipeline operator Colonial Pipeline to proactively close down operations and freeze its IT systems.

The then government took on the advice shortly thereafter, releasing a ransomware action plan in October 2021 that sought to introduce tougher penalties for criminals and a mandatory incident reporting scheme.

But legislation that would have enacted tougher penalties lapsed at the dissolution of Parliament in April, and legislation for the mandatory ransomware incident reporting regime was never introduced.

The newly minted government is yet to detail its plans in this space, though it could form part of country’s revised Cyber Security Strategy.  A spokesperson from Home Affairs minister Claire O’Neil’s office has been contacted for comment.

In the previous term of government, Labor attempted to force the Coalition’s hand by introducing a bill that would require businesses and government to notify the Australian Cyber Security Centre before paying a ransomware gang.

During his address to the National Press Club on Tuesday, Mr Penn said ransomware remained “major and escalating issue”, estimating that 80 per cent of Australian businesses had experienced an attack in 2021, up from 45 percent in 2020.

Asked whether legislation was important to address ransomware risks and whether it should be an urgent consideration for the new government, Mr Penn said there…

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WhatsApp boss warns users: Don’t download this app

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Issuing a stern warning to users, WhatsApp has asked them to beware of the fake versions of the messaging app. The instant messaging app’s CEO, Will Cathcart has urged users on Twitter to not use the modified version of WhatsApp as they could end up in big trouble by doing so.

Stating that the security research team of the company found some malicious apps that claim to offer services similar to WhatsApp, Cathcart warned that apps like “Hey WhatsApp” from a developer called “HeyMods” are dangerous and people should avoid downloading them. 

He further said that the company’s team discovered that these apps promise to offer some new features to users, but that is just a scam to steal personal information stored on people’s phones.

He said that mobile phone malware is a pernicious threat that must be countered and the security community continues to develop new ways to prevent it from spreading.

Do keep in mind that the modified or fake versions of WhatsApp can offer features similar to WhatsApp but they don’t offer the end-to-end encryption feature that you get with the original version of the messaging app. This helps protect your chats and personal data, so no one can access your details, not even WhatsApp.

The new fake version of WhatsApp is not visible on Play Store, but users who try to download the apps…

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Top U.S. Fuel Pipeline Hires Cyber Safety Boss Months After Hack

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(Bloomberg) — Colonial Pipeline Co., which manages the largest fuel conduit in the U.S., hired a Chief Information Security Officer nine months after a ransomware attack completely paralyzed its operations, drove up gasoline prices and sparked shortages at filling stations along the East Coast. 

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