Plus: Nothing says love like a top-of-the-line graphics card ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

October 10, 2025 | Read online
# Oracle mega-hack, the real Deloitte AI report scandal and the Sizzler Say Plus: Nothing says love like a top-of-the-line graphics card
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Edition 2436
"This is Jesse's computer monitor. He's pulled up a number of shots from scene 9 to make sure that they match and will cut together in the edit" (Flickr: rachelgarbercole)
# The News
### Oracle got mega-hacked and is being a bit weird about it
More than 100 companies have likely been the victims of a sophisticated hack of Oracle’s business products by notorious Russian-linked group CL0P, according to a team of Google’s security researchers (IT News). Google Threat Intelligence Grouphas put out a pretty interesting report on — I’ll be honest — a very snazzy operation involving a zero-day exploit of Oracle’s E-Business Suite (Google). The hack, which appears to go back to at least July, has allowed CL0P to get their hands on a lot of data which they’re now threatening to release in emails to the victims sent over the weekend. (CyberScoop).
The Sizzle: Oracle has been very shifty, or at least a bit dumb, about all of this. They initially linked the extortion attempts to a previous exploit but then deleted that explanation and disclosed this new exploit (TechCrunch). Yes, Oracle hasn’t had a great few months vis a vis cybersecurity. Also of note: CL0P has a track record of mass extortion via hacking tech providers who hold data from a lot of organisations (CyberScoop). While big cloud providers are generally going to have more resources for their cybersecurity, it does also make them a big, fat target for attackers.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### The real scandal in the Deloitte AI report
Everyone has been alternating laughing and despairing at Deloitte’s admission that it did indeed use AI in its government report that hallucinated references and quotes (AFR, $). I mean, we’re talking about the people with an AI Institute for Government that helps “government use AI ethically to deliver better services, improve operations, and facilitate economic growth.”
things that have aged poorly
But as two friends of the Sizzle Joseph Brookes of the excellent InnovationAus and campaigner Tom Studans have both pointed out that, despite the global attention and the almost painful levels of irony, no one seems to fucking care about the contents of the report itself.
From Brookes’ piece:
The Employment department still accepts the substance of Deloitte’s AI-error riddled report on Australia’s welfare compliance system, which could not assure it was operating effectively and was a punitive global outlier.
Joseph Brookes, InnovationAus (emphasis mine).
Apparently we still need consultants to tell us this, but it bears repeating: we have a broken welfare system that is unique globally for how much it punishes people for the crime of needing help. Don’t let some dumbass grad’s AI slip-up distract you from the fact that Australians should be ashamed this is still happening.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
### The Sizzle Say: Australia to follow EU, Claude Code tips and Diablo 4 frustration
As always, if you wanna get involved (or even be able to read what’s on Slack) you can join the Slack server and forum via these links.
In response to Apple and Google banning apps because of the Trump admin, holmesrg on the forum writes why he thinks we should try to follow the EU’s example. David in the Slack asked how people have found ways to use Claude Code to help with their coding. On painful tech, James emailed me with frustration about how hard it was simply to get into Diablo 4 because of the requirement to sign up for a Blizzard account even for playing solo: “It kept failing with a numerical error message with no real explanation or work-around. And there’s no option to reset or change the account console connection, because any changes would trigger a “90 day cooldown period” before you can try again. I have no idea what is wrong or what might be done to fix it. And the Blizzard support article for the error message just sends you to the forums, where you can read about others being unable to fix it.” Sounds like shit!
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
#### Leftovers
Australia:
How Australian teens are already planning to dodge the social media ban(Crikey, $) 4chan unlikely to be included in Australia’s under-16s social media ban, eSafety commissioner says (The Guardian) Telstra denies being hacked in cyber extortion bid (AFR, $) Crypto exchange Gemini launches Australian arm (Reuters) Audit on Revenue NSW found gaps in agency’s AI risk mitigation (Cyber Daily) GWM to bring electric SUV to Australia in 2026 (The Driven)
Rest of the world:
YouTube is going to give some banned creators a second chance (The Verge) Tesla hit with probe after crashes involving a self-driving feature that Musk has boasted about(AP News) Internet Archive Ordered to Block Books in Belgium After Talks With Publishers Fail (TorrentFreak) Amazon’s giant ads have ruined the Echo Show (The Verge) Apple and Google reluctantly comply with Texas age-verification law (Ars Technica) More workarounds appear to get around Microsoft's local account restrictions (NotebookCheck) The Browser Company’s Dia is now available on Mac, no invite needed (The Verge) The remarkable rise of eBird—the world's biggest citizen science project ( )
Discuss these links in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Oh, Also
### Nothing says love like a top-of-the-line graphics card
It used to be common for a bride’s family to gift a dowry as part of wedding celebrations. Something like a cow or, if you were wealthy, some land.
It appears the modern equivalent is gifting compute. From Reddit: “Recently in China, a girl gave her fiancé an RTX 5090 at their wedding. Context and translation are given in the comment.” (Video when you click through)
Recently in China, a girl gave her fiancé an RTX 5090 at their wedding. Context and translation are given in the comment. : r/pcmasterrace
www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/1o2h8pc/recently_in_china_a_girl_gave_her_fianc%C3%A9_an_rtx
The OP gave some more context to the videos in the comment section:
First, the girl kept her husband in suspense and asked him to solve a fairly complex calculation: 520×10 + 1,314 - 514 - 619 + 666 - 957. The result of this calculation is exactly 5090. When her husband worked out the answer, girls beside her took the 5090 out.
Zestyclose-Salad-290
So beautiful. I love love.
Discuss in the Sizzle Slack or forum.
# Bargains
Electronics & electrics
Boss BT-Dual Bluetooth Adaptor - $49.76 at Amazon UK via AU Creative Pebble X Plus 2.1 Speakers - $159.99 at Creative Labs via Amazon AU Samsung Galaxy Buds3 FE - $174.30 at Samsung Blueant X5i Bluetooth Party Box - $229 at Blueant Tapo RV30C Mop Robot Vacuum Cleaner (4200Pa, LiDAR Navigation) - $229 at Amazon AU Sony WH-1000xm4 Wireless Noise Cancelling Headphones (Black) - $262.26 at Sony eBay AU (Box Damaged) Tapo TP-Link Wire-Free Indoor/Outdoor Security Camera C425 (2-Pack) - $272.65 at Amazon AU Eureka E20 Plus Robot Vacuum and Mop - $499 at Eureka Au via Amazon AU JBL PartyBox Portable Stage 320 Party Speaker - $595 at Appliance Central (Down from $799) ECOVACS DEEBOT T30S Pro Robot Vacuum - $703.12 at Ecovacs Robotics via Amazon AU Roborock Qrevo C Robotic Vacuum Cleaner - $899 at JB Hi-Fi Nikon Z Fc Mirrorless Camera (Black) + Nikkor Z DX 16-50mm F/3.5-6.3 VR Lens Kit - $1280 at Amazon AU Roborock Qrevo Curv Robot Vacuum and Mop - $1499 at Roborock via Amazon AU
Computing
14% Cashback at Lenovo HP 620 FHD Webcam (Supports Windows Hello) - $19 at Officeworks ORICO 512GB External SSD w/ Cable, Portable Solid State Drive USB 3.2 Gen 1 Up to 460MB/s - $53.52 at ORICOGOAT via Amazon AU Logitech G G213 Prodigy Gaming Keyboard - $60.80 at Amazon AU Lenovo 27" QHD 100Hz 4ms Monitor N27Q - $147 at Officeworks Lenovo R27qe 27-Inch Gen 2 180hz QHD Gaming Monitor - $187.15 at Amazon AU Elgato Stream Deck + XLR - Audio Mixer & Controller, Black - $263.69 at Amazon AU TP-Link Archer BE550 Pro BE9700 Tri-Band Wi-Fi 7 Router - $362.73 at Amazon AU Seagate 26TB Expansion Desktop USB 3.0 External Hard Drive - $425.86 at B&H Photo Video AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU - $579.24 at Amazon US via AU XFX RX 9070 Swift OC 16GB Video Card + Alogic 0.3m CAT6 Network Cable - $780.95 at Mwave
Mobile
Motorola G55 5G Smartphone - Grey - $159 at Kmart AU Google Pixel 9a 128GB Obsidian - $637 at The Good Guys Xiaomi 15 512GB - $1099 at Xiaomi AU
# The End
😎 The Sizzle is written by Cam Wilson and emailed every weekday. It was created by Anthony “decryption” Agius.
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