Issue 2339 - Monday 26 May 2025

The News

Ransomware payment disclosure and cyber attack inquest law coming into effect

Many businesses in Australia will need to report any ransomware payments starting from this Friday as some new government cyber rules come into effect (Security Brief). Under the Cyber Security Act regulations, companies with more than a $3m annual turnover must disclose information about a cyber attack, its impact, the amount of ransomware paid and how it was paid (Legislation dot gov dot au). It’s also the start date for a review board which will do a post-mortem on “significant” cyber security incidents — reserved for serious impacts to the nation, Australian people or “novel or complex” methods — referred by the government or the victim (Home Affairs). TLDR: we’re about to get some more content about people getting pwned in Australia. 

Texas to go app store-level age verification as Australia’s ban inches closer

If you thought Australia’s social media ban was full-on, check out Texas where they’re set to go even further (NBC News). The law will required social media platforms to verify the ages of all users, to ban all users under 18 and to make platforms give parents the ability to delete their children’s accounts within 10 days. Unlike Australia, this law specifically puts the onus on the app store to verify a user’s age, which has prompted Apple’s Tim Cook to personally lobby Texas Governor and whacko Greg Abbott to veto the bill (WSJ, gift link). Back home, the government trial of age verification technologies is getting to the pointy end with 25+ trial participants set to undergo “some degree of practical technical testing”, mystery shoppers and test classrooms soon (Biometric Update).

Crypto is helping family court dads and dodgy business guys hide money

Wow! Another exciting use for cryptocurrencies has just emerged: Australians are turning to cryptocurrencies to try and hide money during their divorces or when their businesses are going bust (The Australian, $). Apparently, it’s becoming increasingly common to call in forensic experts to the family courts or via liquidators to just try and find where people are squirrelling away money, making these processes even harder and more expensive than they already are. Speaking of criminal crypto conduct: US President Donald J Trump held a dinner for the owners of his memecoin on Thursday night, US time, welcoming 220 investors who had collectively spent $220~ million on $TRUMP (Reuters). I wonder what they’re getting in return for their ““““““investment”””””?

Leftovers

Oh, Also

Some sweet requi

red reading for future Sizzles

The “Oh, Also” section has been too low-brow, so it’s time to insert some intellectual rigour. I came across this fascinating paper discussing how the American confectionary industry protects its intellectual property and its use of patents that I wanted to share with you. ‘Trade Secrecy in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory’ is a rollicking read published in the The Law and Theory of Trade Secrecy: A Handbook of Contemporary Research (SSRN). I’m assigning this as Sizzle required reading so we can elevate the level of discourse in this newsletter.

Bargains

Electrical & Electronic

Computing

Mobile

The End

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Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Gadigal land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.