Tag Archive for: race

Far North mayoral race: Nine tussle to replace retiring mayor John Carter

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Nine candidates are vying for the position of Far North mayor, representing a number of different sectors in the community, including Māori, business, farming and parents.

The candidates are Jaqi Brown, Ann Court, Clinton Dearlove, Kevin Middleton, Joshua Riley, Kelly Stratford, Moko Tepania, John Vujcich and Rachel Witana.

Three-term mayor John Carter, and former MP, is standing down this year.

The Far North faced a number of controversies in the last term, including reclassification of significant natural areas – which many people described as a “land grab”, the Government’s new Three Waters amalgamation and new Māori wards.

READ MORE:
* Running for mayor in the top of the country? Here’s what you need to know
* Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) in the Far North: What you need to know
* Far North District Council about turns, votes for Māori wards

Stuff asked each mayoral candidate to describe themselves in one sentence, if they represent a minority and to explain what they hope to achieve in Whangārei.

Jaqi Brown

Jaqi Brown is of Ngāpuhi, Croatian and English descent, has served three terms on the Te Hiku Community Board. She is mother to seven.

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Jaqi Brown is of Ngāpuhi, Croatian and English descent, has served three terms on the Te Hiku Community Board. She is mother to seven.

Brown, from Ahipara, is of Ngāpuhi, Croatian and English descent, and has served three terms on the Te Hiku Community Board.

“I have a passion for finding solutions to life’s jigsaw puzzles, having parented seven children – my own two and five whāngai [fostered] – I’ve learned to wedge open doors to advocate for those less able to speak for themselves.

“I’ve participated in a plethora of community initiatives and committees and boards to see things stood up for the betterment of our community, all while holding down a full-time job or two, to give me the experience and knowledge I need to become mayor.”

Brown said she is standing for mayor to ensure the community voice is heard at the council table, and to champion the unique region using her governance, networking, advocacy and taha Māori skills.

Ann Court

Ann Court is a married mother of three, who has been in local government since 1995.

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Ann Court is a married mother of three, who has been in local government since 1995.

Court is currently deputy mayor and was first elected to local government in 1995.

“I am a married mother of…

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India’s 5G auction kicks off today. These are the companies in the race

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The number of 5G subscribers in India is expected to grow to 500 million by 2027, according to a report. Mobile phones in the vast country have become almost indispensable even among rural Indians, with a farmer here seen taking a selfie during a protest in stock photo from 2019.

Vishal Bhatnagar | Afp | Getty Images

India’s 5G auction kicks off on Tuesday and four local companies will be in the race to bid for the country’s first 5G spectrum ahead of a planned rollout in 2023.

Bidders will include all the three major mobile operators in India: Reliance Jio, the market leader, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

The surprise entry of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani as the fourth contender could still rock the boat.

5G refers to the fifth generation of high-speed mobile internet which promises super-fast download speeds that can support technologies like driverless cars and virtual reality.

A total of 72 gigahertz of 5G spectrum will be on the block, for which winning bids will retain the rights for 20 years.

In total, the four bidders have put up $2.7 billion (218 billion Indian rupees) in earnest money, the mandatory sum required to confirm a contract. The amount of earnest money deposited provides an indication of the amount of spectrum a company wishes to buy.

Companies bidding for India 5G spectrum

5G bidders Earnest money (in Indian rupees)
Reliance Jio 140 billion
Bharti Airtel 55 billion
Vodafone Idea 22 billion
Adani Data Networks 1 billion

The auction will see aggressive bidding by Reliance Industries’ Jio, which has deposited 140 billion rupees of earnest money with the government — the largest amount among the contenders.

Other major mobile operators include Bharti Airtel which put 55 billion rupees and Vodafone Idea which deposited 22 billion rupees of earnest money.

Adani enters the 5G race

The Adani Group conglomerate, which operates mainly in infrastructure, put in only 1 billion Indian rupees as earnest money, which entitles it to bid for only a limited amount of spectrum.

Before the fourth bidder’s identity was disclosed, there was speculation of a new competitor in the mobile network and data space, which drove up expectations of higher bidding. 

However, the company moved to…

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On the podcast: Why a hedge fund joined VC’s cybersecurity arms race

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Hosts Adam Lewis and Alec Davis discuss recent coverage of the femtech frenzy, PE’s march on VC and an update on the red-hot fintech space. Then, Maverick Ventures managing director Matt Kinsella joins the pod to discuss why hedge funds are getting to venture, how that influx of capital will impact the industry and the never-ending arms race within cybersecurity. 

Listen to all of Season 4 and subscribe to get future episodes of “In Visible Capital” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or wherever you listen. For inquiries, please contact us at [email protected].

Transcript

Matt: They are like some of the best swag to send out to your customer. That’s great. Think that they don’t get some Maverick Yeti mug. I work for a place called Maverick, and it’s a hedge fund with about $12 billion under management. It’s an early-stage venture fund called Maverick Ventures, which is where I spend most of my time. We also have a growth equity fund, which is a bit of a newer offering from us.

Maverick’s around since 1993. I’ve been here since 2005. I started here out of school after Notre Dame and have been here ever since. It’s a long time to be at one place, but I’ve been able to do a lot of interesting things while I’ve been here. The first chunk of my career was all focused on public equity markets. I worked at our hedge fund and did mostly software investing. Then in 2014, moved over to help get Maverick Ventures off the ground and have been focused on that ever since.

James: You made the switch from public to private. We call that crossover investing. It’s definitely like a hot topic. It’s something that has really upended the venture capital world. I’m just wondering, from your point of view, how big of a mindset shift was that going from public software to early-stage startups?

Matt: It was quite a mindset shift. The way Maverick has gone about this is when we had a public equity investment vehicle and then an early-stage investment vehicle. Really those are very different investment strategies. At the end of the day. You’re still trying to find great companies that you think are going to be worth a lot more in the future. The signals you look for in the analysis you do are…

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Kaseya Ransomware Attack Triggers Race to Hack Other Managed Services Providers

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A ransomware attack in July that paralyzed as many as 1,500 organizations by compromising tech-management software from a company called Kaseya has set off a race among criminals looking for similar vulnerabilities, cyber security experts said.

An affiliate of a top Russian-speaking ransomware gang known as REvil used two gaping flaws in software from Florida-based Kaseya to break into about 50 managed services providers (MSPs) that used its products, investigators said.

Now that criminals see how powerful MSP attacks can be, “they are already busy, they have already moved on and we don’t know where,” said Victor Gevers, head of the non-profit Dutch Institute for Vulnerability Disclosure, which warned Kaseya of the weaknesses before the attack.

“This is going to happen again and again.”

Gevers said his researchers had discovered similar vulnerabilities in more MSPs. He declined to name the firms because they have not yet fixed all the problems.

Managed service providers include companies such as IBM and Accenture offering cloud versions of popular software and specialist firms devoted to specific industries. They typically serve small and medium-sized firms that lack in-house technology capabilities and often boost security.

But MSPs also make an efficient vehicle for ransomware because they have wide access inside many of their customers’ networks. Kaseya’s software serves many MSPs, so the attacks multiplied before Kaseya could warn everyone, rapidly encrypting data and demanding ransoms of as much as $5 million per victim.

The business of MSPs has boomed during the coronavirus pandemic alongside the rapid increase in remote work.

“That’s where you find the trusted access to customers’ systems,” said Chris Krebs, the first leader of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which has made ransomware a top priority. “It’s a much more economical approach to launch a breakout attack. And it’s hard for the customer to defend.”

Bugcrowd Inc, one of several platforms where researchers can report vulnerabilities, has also seen security flaws as bad as Kaseya’s, said Bugcrowd Chief…

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