### Issue 1972 - Monday 13th November, 2023

## In Today's Issue

- Container ports across Australia out of action due to cyber incident
- Google offered Netflix a special discount on in-app purchases on the Play Store
- ASIC survey shows most financial businesses in Australia suck at cybersecurity
- They're gonna make a movie about Elon Musk
- Cheap Apple Watch bands, Korg instrument plugins, iPhone 11, CSIRO magazine, Binge, Topping & SMSL DAC amp combos, Lenovo tablets & laptops, Hisense TV, Sennheiser headphones, Nikon camera, Pro-Ject turntable, Switch games, loads of gift carfds, Philips & Dell monitors, Pixel phones, refurb Starlink dishes

## The News

### Container ports across Australia out of action due to cyber incident

DP World is one of the largest port operators in Australia (and the world), handling up to 40% of the goods that flow in and out of our country, and it got absolutely owned in a "cyber incident" Friday night. Don't know what happened but they've halted operations at container terminals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle since Friday after "pulling the plug" on internet connectivity at these sites once they discovered they've been hacked. According to DP World it'll still be a few more days until things are up and running again. The Australian Federal Police and the Australian Cyber Security Centre are assisting in this "nationally significant incident".

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### Google offered Netflix a special discount on in-app purchases on the Play Store

Looks like not only did Google offer Spotify a special discount in order to avoid them bypassing the Play Store's in-app purchase system, they did it for Netflix too. According to documents and testimony in the Epic vs Google trial currently happening in San Francisco, Google came up with a program called "LRAP++" (Living Room Accelerator Program) that only Netflix was invited to take place in, where instead of the usual 15%/30% cut Google takes for an in-app purchase, it was only 10%. Netflix still didn't go for it, preferring to re-direct users to sign up on the web (because Google doesn't allow where they pay roughly 3%, saving them almost US$250m/yr. Maybe if Google wasn't so damn greedy and charged 3%-5% for in-app purchases instead of 10%, they'd get 3-5% of something rather than 0%.

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### ASIC survey shows most financial businesses in Australia suck at cybersecurity

ASIC's latest "cyber pulse survey" of almost 700 ASIC regulated financial businesses found that 58% have "limited to no capability to digitally protect confidential information", 44% "don't manage third-party or supply chain risks" and nearly a third "failed to perform vulnerability scans of assets, with a substantial proportion showing limited capabilities in monitoring unauthorised connections, devices and software, baselining normal network activity, performing vulnerability scans and patching information assets". Only 52% "have strong capabilities in recovery planning after an incident" and a third said "they don't have strategies to deal with the repercussions of an incident". Fucken hell, this is grim. Full report on ASIC's website if you need to rattle some executive cages.

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## Something I Saw On The Internet

### They're gonna make a movie about Elon Musk

I love a good biopic, Chopper, Ted K, Bronson and Oppenheimer, just to name a few of the good ones that I bothered logging on my Letterboxd account. There's a good chance then, I will watch the recently announced Elon Musk biopic. It will be based on the Walter Isaacson book (which I haven't read and do not intend to read), directed by Darren Aronofsky (who's movies I typically do not enjoy - but I'm yet to watch The Whale) and produced by A24 (who have an excellent track record of movies I do like). Musk probably does deserve a movie about him, but ideally it happens when he's dead so you can really say what you want about the guy and not worry about getting sued, turning the movie into a 120 minute suck fest.

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## Bargains

- 3x Apple Watch nylon sports loop bands - $7.98 from GeekOnline's eBay store
- 50% off Korg Collection software instruments (plugins for audio DAWs)
- iPhone 11 64GB/128GB when purchased with a pre-paid SIM - $479/$559 from Amaysim
- CSIRO Double Helix magazine 12/24 month subscription - $62/$120 from CSIRO publishing
- Binge basic with ads - $2/m for first 3 months
- Topping DX3 Pro+ or SMSL C200 USB DAC & amplifier - $243/$237 from Aliexpress
- Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 3rd-gen Android tablet with case & stylus - $199 from Aldi
- Lenovo ThinkPad E15 Gen 2 (15.6" 1080p, i5-1135G7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) - $777 from Lenovo
- Hisense 75" U7KAU 4K TV & bonus $200 Visa gift card - $1779 + delivery from Powerland/Betta
- Massdrop X Sennheiser HD 6XX open back headphones - $312 from Drop
- Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera (body only) - $5,999 from Amazon
- Pro-Ject T1 Phono SB turntable - $479 from CHT Solutions
- Essential EV Bundle 10A Charger & 22kW Type 2 Cable - $439 from Inchargex
- Limbo or Inside for Nintendo Switch - $1.50/$2.99 from Nintendo eShop
- 10% off Ultimate gift cards and 20x Everyday Rewards Points on Apple gift cards at Big W
- Philips 221S9A 21.5" 1080p monitor - $87 at Officeworks
- Pixel 8, Pixel 8 Pro, Samsung T7 1TB portable SSD, Fire Stick 4K Max 2023 or Chromecast HD - $977/$1377/$98/$57/$37 from Officeworks
- Refurbished Starlink Refurbished Hardware Kit - $299 + $30 delivery from Starlink
- Dell S2721DS 27" 2560x1440 monitor - $262.34 from Dell
- Alienware AW3423DWF QD-OLED 3440x1440 curved gaming monitor - $1,428.90 from Dell
- 6% off various gift cards (Amazon, eBay, EB, Google Play, Harvey Norman, PlayStation, Spotify, Binge/Kayo, Roblox, Xbox & more), at the Gift Card Exchange

## Image Of The Day

Victoria Life Sciences Computation Initiative's IBM Blue Gene/Q at University of Melbourne, photo taken June 27, 2012. (IBM Research / Flickr)

## The End

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## Always Was, Always Will Be Aboriginal Land

The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong 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.