### Issue 1508 - Monday 6th December, 2021

## In Today's Issue

- NSO Group spyware used on iPhones of "at least" nine US state department employees in Uganda
- Melbourne crypto exchange director lost password to wallet holding $21m of coins
- Right before Christmas, government decides to start discussion on major electronic surveillance law changes
- Stuff I saw on the internet a while ago
- Cheap UniFi U6-LITE AP, Zendure USB charger & battery, TP-Link travel router, Samsung 4TB SSD, Amazon TV Fire Stick 4K Max, Xbox Series S, AirPods Max, Sony earbuds, Nikon Z6 camera, Shelly 1 & Shelly 2 smart relays, 15% off JB & Good Guys gift cards

## The News

### NSO Group spyware used on iPhones of "at least" nine US state department employees in Uganda

Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are claiming that the "iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees were hacked by an unknown assailant" using NSO Group's spyware as a service platform. The State Department officials were either based in Uganda or focused on matters related to Uganda. NSO responded to the story saying "did not have any indication their tools were used, but canceled access for the relevant customers and would investigate". The relevant customer here, I assume, being Uganda. I think there's enough evidence now that not even Apple's relatively secure smartphones are that secure when a spy agency wants to know what you're up to.

### Melbourne crypto exchange director lost password to wallet holding $21m of coins

The former director of a Melbourne based cryptocurrency exchange called ACX, currently getting sued by its users after shitting the bed and losing $21m, said he has the wallet containing the user's cryptocurrency - but "the credentials needed to access it were on a laptop that had gone missing" while in China and that laptop was the only place with the passphrase for the wallet. Oh, and all the directors of Blockchain Global Limited have fled to China and are no longer responding to the court, so even if the case succeeds and the court says "give these people back their $21m", they've got fuck all chance of getting paid.

### Right before Christmas, government decides to start discussion on major electronic surveillance law changes

The federal government is considering big changes to electronic surveillance laws in what it calls the "most significant reform to Australia's national security laws in more than four decades". Some of the things flagged for review is an expansion of the agencies that can access telecommunications metadata (the fucken RSPCA and local councils have access, who else needs it that hasn't got access already!?) and the website blocking law that allows government agencies to force ISPs into doing DNS blocks of naughty websites (e.g: how ACMA blocks torrent sites whenever Village Roadshow or Foxtel have a whinge). Yet another thing for our friends at EFA and DRW to wrap their heads around, consider giving them a few bucks.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

- New Zealand is getting its own Amazon Web Services region. Will go live in 2024 and be physically located in Auckland. I'm surprised they didn't have one already. Could be a good backup location for all your cloud crap instead of Singapore.
- Enjoy this delightful gallery of BYTE magazine covers created by artist Robert Tinney. Would be awesome to buy prints of these. You can find more cool BYTE magazine covers on the Internet Archive.
- Enter the Walkman Archive and bask in the high quality images of the mobile CD and cassette players that gave us so much joy until the iPod and MP3 players were affordable. The Sony WM-DD30 looks sick.
- Feast your eyeballs on winners of Nikon's 2021 Small World Photomicrography competition. It's a bunch of photos of stuff taken via a microscope and made all pretty. Go on, click through, there's worse ways to waste a few minutes of your life.
- Pretty sure I've mentioned this in the past, but Disk Prices is a live-updated site showing the cheapest HDDs and SSDs on Amazon (including Amazon AU). If you need some extra storage, be it internal or external, check it out before dropping any cash.

## Bargains

- Ubiquiti UniFi Wi-Fi 6 Access Point U6-LITE - $127.20 from NinjaBuy's eBay store
- Zendure 4-port 30W USB charger or 18W USB charger with built-in 5200mAh battery - $5.99/$10.99 delivered from Kogan
- TP-Link TL-WR902AC AC750 travel router - $38 from Amazon
- Samsung 4TB QVO 2.5" SATA SSD (MZ-77Q4T0BW) - $399 from Computer Alliance
- Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max - $59 from Amazon
- Xbox Series S with Fortnite & Rocket Leauge - $474.05 from Big W
- Apple AirPods Max (pink colour only) - $628.20 from Wireless1's eBay store
- Sony WF-1000XM3 wireless noise cancelling earbuds - $179 at JB Hi-Fi
- Nikon Z6 mirrorless camera (body only) - $1648.85 from Ryda's eBay store
- Shelly 1 or Shelly 2.5 wi-fi enabled relays - $12.99/$24.99 plus postage from Oz Smart Things
- Don't forget about the 15% off JB & Good Guys gift cards at Coles starting this Wednesday

## The End

📻 Brother Keith on Destructor Mountain (4001) - Gerling

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