### Issue 1610 - Thursday 19th May, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- Severe security issues with VMware software & F5 BIG-IP devices have opened up
- Tesla no longer on the S&P 500 Environmental, Social and Governance Index
- Two new Apple certifications, Apple Device Support and Apple Deployment and Management
- ACCC & iTnews reveal that around 43,000 premises are currently on gigabit NBN
- Cheap Aussie Broadband NBN, Death Stranding for PS5, Samsung S21 FE 5G, Jaycar warehouse clearance, Viofo dashcam, Sydney based Ryzen VPS

## The News

### Severe security issues with VMware software & F5 BIG-IP devices have opened up

If your job is babysitting computers you probably already know this, but there's been two large security vulnerabilities going around the last few days with severity ratings of 9.8. First up is CVE-2022-1388, impacting F5's popular BIG-IP network devices and allows anyone with access to the admin page (unfortunately commonly left open on the public internet for remote access) to log-in as an admin. Today, a raft of VMware management software got pinged with CVE-2022-22954 & CVE-2022-22960 that when chained together allow remote code execution as root. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency reckons "advanced persistent threat actors" (i.e: state sponsored hackers, China, Russia etc) are taking advantage of it right now, possibly on your precious servers!

### Tesla no longer on the S&P 500 Environmental, Social and Governance Index

Tesla didn't make the cut in the S&P 500 Environmental, Social and Governance Index's annual re-balance, after which, Elon Musk called it "a scam" and "weaponized by phony social justice warriors". Tesla was removed due to lack of governance, lack of a low carbon strategy, poor handling of NHTSA's Autopilot investigation and the severe racism and poor working conditions in its Fremont factory. Elon argues that the fact oil and gas company ExxonMobil is on the list shows that the list is meaningless and he might be right, but damn dude, Exxon has a better climate plan than Tesla. The woke lefties at the renown snowflake factory Standards and Poors are out to get you Elon, yeah mate, sure, mmhmm.

### Two new Apple certifications, Apple Device Support and Apple Deployment and Management

Apple has "updated professional training and certifications for IT support and management", creating two new official Apple certifications - Apple Device Support and Apple Deployment and Management. It'll give you a piece of paper to show prospective employers you know how to support Macs, iPhones and iPads and use a mobile device management (MDM) system. There's online learning materials that are free to work through, with an exam that costs money to sit in order to get the certification. I'm sure places will pop up selling training for it if you don't want to self-study. If this thing interests you, you might also want to look into JAMF certification - a very popular MDM (and more) for Apple devices.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### ACCC & iTnews reveal that around 43,000 premises are currently on gigabit NBN

Fresh information from the ACCC collated by iTnews has given us the clearest picture of how many people pay for speeds above 100mbit on the NBN. The answer is, not many. As of the end of March 2022 there are 43,000 premises on "Home Ultrafast" (i.e: 1000/50) and 161,000 on 250mbit. The vast majority are on 50mbit (approx 4.8m) and 100mbit (1.3m). Though I wonder how many more people on 250mbit would bump up to 1000mbit if their connection was actually capable of it. Not many HFC premises can do it, and none of the FTTN/FTTC premises are capable either. Also there's the fact it costs $150 a month. Most people, even if they would like and use gigabit speeds, can't justify the cost.

## Bargains

- $20/m off Aussie Broadband NBN plans 100mbit and above for 6 months for new customers
- Death Standing: Director's Cut for PS5 - $39 at Target
- Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G 128GB with bonus $200 Harvey Norman gift card - $798 from Harvey Norman
- Jaycar Warehouse Clearance Sale in Rydalmere, NSW might have some cheap stuff
- VIOFO A129 Pro Duo 4K dashcam - $259.25 from Amazon
- Ryzen 3900X KVM VPS (2CPU/4GB RAM/35GB NVMe/2TB BW) in Sydney - $8/m from Quantum Core

## The End

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