### Issue 1748 - Monday 5th December, 2022

## In Today's Issue

- MyGov's app is out, doesn't do much right now, Medicare coming in March
- Finnish PM, Nokia and NBN announce FTTP network upgrade
- Android platform certificates from Samsung, LG, Mediatek leaked
- I wish I didn't know what the "Twitter Files" are
- Cheap Amazon Echo Dot, Echo Show 5, 60Ah Romross battery, Spotify Premium, JB Hi-Fi, Officeworks & EB Games gift cards

## The News

### MyGov's app is out, doesn't do much right now, Medicare coming in March

MyGov has an app. It was supposed to be released in December 2021, but the native front end for MyGov developed by Accenture, IBM, and Arq Group working with Deloitte is finally on the App Store and Play Store now. The app's main feature is simply a message inbox (which is quite handy), but can also display your international COVID-19 certificate, Centrelink concession cards and by March, Medicare cards. According to myGov, "items in the wallet have a QR code on them. Providers can scan this code to check the wallet item is genuine and valid". Tim McMahon did a bit of poking around and found that "when you share a QR code from the myGov Wallet with a service provider, you may be sharing sensitive information".

### Finnish PM, Nokia and NBN announce FTTP network upgrade

The Finnish Prime Minister is in Australia and one of her duties was to pose for photos and look interested as NBN and Nokia announced an upgrade to the FTTP network. NBN will use Nokia's Lightspan MF-14 6th-generation optical line terminal and Altiplano Access Controller ("a software-defined (SDN) and network function virtualization (NFV) tool used to drive greater automation and virtualization") enabling "mass delivery of 25G, 50G and 100G PON services". It wasn't mentioned in Nokia's press release, but these two articles from iTnews.com.au and the SMH say that the upgrade "will allow NBN Co to move from the wholesale residential gigabit speeds offered today to multi-gigabit residential speeds across the fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) network". I like the sound of that.

### Android platform certificates from Samsung, LG, Mediatek leaked

The Bleeping Computer is reporting that "platform certificates used by Android OEM device vendors to digitally sign core system applications have also been used to sign Android apps containing malware". The platform certificates belong to Samsung, LG, Mediatek and others. Apps downloaded via Google Play are safe because they scan for the leaked certificates (not that it's foolproof), but if you were sideloading apps, that app would appear like it came from Samsung/LG/Mediatek and was a system app that is allowed to have a God Mode level of privileges. According to AndroidPolice, some of the LG and Samsung certificates have been used by malware since 2016! Perhaps there will be a silver lining from this of being able to root/modify devices that couldn't have been done before? I'm not sure if the certificates are public or just being used by a random criminal.

## Something I Saw On The Internet

### I wish I didn't know what the "Twitter Files" are

During the 2020 US Presidential election Twitter decided to block users linking to a story by the New York Post about the contents of Hunter Biden's (son of Joe Biden) laptop. At the time it was justified as Twitter not wanting to encourage hacking, but the decision really upset some people as it was seen as Twitter censoring news unfavourable to left-leaning politicians, interfered with the election and wasn't fairly applied to other examples of similar information obtained via hacks. Now that Elon Musk owns Twitter and has access to all the emails and documentation surrounding that decision, he decided "to restore public trust" and leak stuff to journalist Matt Taibbi, who then made a huge Twitter thread of his findings. Taibbi's summary - "there's no evidence — that I've seen — of any government involvement in the laptop story", but Elon reckons "if this isn't a violation of the Constitution's First Amendment, what is?".

## Bargains

- Amazon Echo Dot (3rd Gen) or Echo Show 5 (2nd Gen) - $19/$59 from JB Hi-Fi
- Romoss 60000mAh Power Bank - $79.99 from Amazon
- 3 Months of Spotify Premium free for new subscribers
- 15% off Ultimate Gift Cards (JB, Officeworks, EB Games) at Coles starting Wednesday 7th Dec

## Image Of The Day

Prototype antennas for the Square Kilometre Array Telescope (SKA)-Low telescope being installed at the Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory (MRO) in Australia. (ICRAR)

## The End

📻 Birdbaths - Gerling

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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.