Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
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It seems there is more happening and more in the way of cyber issues being reported. Spin central and its mates have also been active to what seems from the poll to universal condemnation.
Also Vale Paul Shetler – the source of my favourite quote on the #myHealthRecord!
Have a fun browse.
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App collates coronavirus statistics
An app has been launched that brings together coronavirus statistics from across the world.
The web-based app is not an official source of coronavirus data. However its creators say they take statistics from 22 Health and news sources and presents them graphically.
Sources include the World Health Organisation, National Health Commission of China, health commissions in Hubei province, Guangdong, Hunan, Chongqing, Jingxia, Shanghai and Shaanxi, and sources in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and France, and the BBC.
It’s the work of French developers Kevin Basset and Maxime Michel who run a remote meeting tool called Scriby. They are based in Taiwan.
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Facebook removes posts as coronavirus misinformation spreads on social media
Targets conspiracy theories and false claims.
Facebook said it will take down misinformation about China's fast-spreading coronavirus, in a rare departure from its usual approach to dubious health content that is presenting a fresh challenge for social media companies.
The coronavirus outbreak has stoked a wave of anti-China sentiment around the globe. Hoaxes have spread widely online, promoted by conspiracy theorists and exacerbated by a dearth of information from the cordoned-off zone around China's central city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began.
Nearly 12,000 people have been infected in China, according to local health authorities, and more than 130 cases reported in at least 25 other countries and regions.
Facebook said in a blog post that it would remove content about the virus "with false claims or conspiracy theories that have been flagged by leading global health organizations [sic] and local health authorities," saying such content would violate its ban on misinformation leading to "physical harm."
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Sunday, 02 February 2020 02:39
Criminals use coronavirus fears to launch ‘theft malware’ says analyst
Criminals are taking advantage of the coronavirus outbreak according to analyst firm GlobalData which has revealed the spread of new malware by criminals raising fears about the disease.
GlobalData’s comments come as the firm noted that “the presence of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed in the UK for the first time as the UK’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, confirmed that two people from the same family had tested positive for coronavirus”.
GlobalData technical editor Lucy Ingham said: “Perhaps a more sinister threat than coronavirus itself is a malware that is already being spread in other parts of the world, by heartless criminals using fear surrounding the disease.
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Health Minister denies he saw note banning IT upgrades in sitting weeks
By Lucy Stone and Stuart Layt
February 6, 2020 — 1.55pm
Health Minister Steven Miles has rubbished fresh claims his office ordered a ban on software upgrades to key hospital systems during parliamentary sitting weeks to avoid scrutiny.
A draft briefing note from October last year, published under Right to Information, states Mr Miles and Queensland Health Director-General John Wakefield had directed planned upgrades to health software systems be scheduled outside parliamentary sitting weeks.
It followed months of scrutiny over the performance of the department's $1.2 billion integrated electronic medical record and a series of outages that left hospitals operating on back-up systems.
On October 30 last year Mr Miles denied a leaked email that detailing the priority placed on avoiding upgrades during parliamentary sitting weeks had come from his office.
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RACGP pulls out of pharmacy prescribing trial role over ‘fundamental flaws’
The RACGP will not take part in Queensland’s controversial pharmacy prescribing trial advisory group, citing issues with monitoring and the risk of misdiagnosis.
03 Feb 2020
RACGP representatives attended the first meeting of a steering group for Queensland’s Urinary Tract Infection Pharmacy Pilot in late 2019.
But the meeting did not address all of the college’s concerns, leading to its decision to pull out of the trial.
Flaws with monitoring the ‘most serious potential complications’, such as misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis and the potential for increased antibiotic resistance, are cited as reasons for the withdrawal in a letter sent to the head of the trial by RACGP Queensland Chair Dr Bruce Willett and council member Dr Paul Bryan.
‘As overseas experience has demonstrated, pharmacist-initiated antibiotics reduce neither health system costs nor GP workloads,’ they write.
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But the meeting did not address all of the college’s concerns, leading to its decision to pull out of the trial.
Flaws with monitoring the ‘most serious potential complications’, such as misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis and the potential for increased antibiotic resistance, are cited as reasons for the withdrawal in a letter sent to the head of the trial by RACGP Queensland Chair Dr Bruce Willett and council member Dr Paul Bryan.
‘As overseas experience has demonstrated, pharmacist-initiated antibiotics reduce neither health system costs nor GP workloads,’ they write.
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Sigma ready to support Amazon pharmacy rollout
The company says its wholesale network is ideal for the US giant
4th February 2020
Sigma Healthcare is ready to work with Amazon, with its CEO Mark Hooper warning it is dangerous to assume the global retail giant will not have an impact on Australian pharmacy.
However, it will be harder for Amazon to gain a foothold in the highly regulated Australian market than in the US, where corporate ownership of pharmacies is allowed, he says.
Sigma’s wholesale network would be ideal for Amazon, which applied to trademark Amazon Pharmacy in January, Mr Hooper told The Australian.
“In any industry where you have disrupters coming in, you ignore them at your own peril,” he said.
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Doctors on Demand partners with pharmacies for regional telehealth clinics
Benchmark Awards 2020 finalist.
Online medical service Doctors on Demand has found a way to overcome some of the difficulties with remote healthcare delivery by partnering with pharmacies to deliver more holistic services.
In a country as sparsely populated as Australia it’s no surprise a growing number of people are turning to telehealth services to access healthcare, but Doctors on Demand CEO Kirsty Garrett said that only solves part of the problem.
“Traditionally, most telehealth services in regional areas have been used for specialist services run out of hospitals or health centres, connecting patients with experts in metropolitan areas,” Garrett told iTnews.
“Additionally, they tend to be quite expensive.”
While Doctors on Demand has spent the last four years seeking to overcome that challenge through online consultations with doctors, one of the biggest issues is with what happens after an appointment.
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Govt refuses to reveal secret process for giving patients' Medicare data to police
Privacy advocates say bureaucrats don't even ask for a court warrant
3rd February 2020
Privacy advocates are calling for police access to patients’ PBS and MBS claims to be subject to court orders, rather than being decided in secret by government officials.
Last year, it emerged that the Department of Human Services had granted 2600 requests from law-enforcement agencies over a 12-month period for MBS and PBS data of individual patients.
None of the requests were assessed by the courts and none of the patients were told the information had been released to the police.
Department officials, in determining whether to grant police access, are using a set of internal guidelines originally drawn up in 2003.
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Sunday, 02 February 2020 11:51
Death of Paul Shetler
High profile digital government advocate Paul Shetler has died. He was just 59 years old.
Shetler died of a heart attack in Sydney on 31 January. Born in Cleveland, Ohio and educated in New York, he came to Australia in 2015 at the invitation of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to set up and head Australia’s Digital Transformation Office (DTO). He had previously been head of government digital services in the UK and Chief Digital Office at the UK Ministry of Justice, where he achieved prominence for his successful delivery of a range of digital services.
Before joining the UK Government in 2014 he worked with a number of digital startups. He was previously worldwide CTO for banking at Oracle after heading product development at interbank clearing house SWIFT. He also briefly headed Microsoft’s financial services industry practice.
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Digital reformer Paul Shetler dies, aged 59
Transformation trailblazer remembered for his passion and commitment to public good.
Paul Shetler, the outspoken and charismatic former head of the Digital Transformation Office has died after suffering a heart attack last week, aged 59.
Renown as a digital change agent in government and civil rights activist, Shelter arrived in Australia after being recruited in 2015 by former Communications Minister and later Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to spearhead the federal government’s digital change program that aimed to catapult the bureaucracy into the online age.
Lured across from the UK’s Government Digital Service, Shetler’s direct and forthright manner matched by a loathing of doublespeak won him many supporters amid entrenched institutional resistance.
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Thursday, 06 February 2020 10:18
ACCC formalises Consumer Data Right rules for banking
The ACCC has formally released the Competition and Consumer (Consumer Data Right) Rules, which it says is is a “key development” in progressing the Consumer Data Right in banking.
In addition to legally requiring the four major banks to share product reference data with accredited data recipients, the rules also give legislative force to consumer data sharing obligations in banking that become mandatory from 1 July 2020.
Product reference data includes information such as interest rates, fees and charges, and eligibility criteria for banking products like credit cards and mortgages.
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Media Release - New program to ensure nurses and midwives are at the forefront of digital health
03 February, 2020: A new professional development program has been launched to identify the necessary digital health capabilities for nurses and midwives to further improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care that they deliver.
The 2020 focus on nursing and midwifery in the digital age coincides with the World Health Organization’s International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
2020 is also 200 years since Florence Nightingale was born. Nightingale is widely regarded as the founder of modern nursing and the first nurse to document and analyse patient data, building the foundation for nursing informatics.
Nurses and midwives across Australia will now be consulted on the specific digital health skills they need, what is practical and relevant for them and how a draft digital health capability framework could be used in hospitals and health services as a professional development guide for nursing and midwifery in the digital world.
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Monday, 03 February 2020 12:50
Health Informatics Society, Digital Health Agency launch nurses, midwives professional development program
Australia’s Health Informatics Society (HISA) and the Digital Health Agency have joined forces to launch a new professional development program to identify the necessary digital health capabilities for nurses and midwives to further improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care that they deliver.
Under the program nurses and midwives across Australia will now be consulted on the specific digital health skills they need, what is practical and relevant for them and how a draft digital health capability framework could be used in hospitals and health services as a professional development guide for nursing and midwifery in the digital world.
The professional development program is being undertaken by HISA in collaboration with the Australian Digital Health Agency as part of the National Digital Health Strategy’s commitment to building health workforce capability in digital health.
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Australia launches new program to equip nurses and midwives with digital health skills
The professional development program is being undertaken by HISA in collaboration with the ADHA.
By Dean Koh
February 03, 2020 04:44 AM
The Australian Digital Health Agency (AHDA) today announced the launch of a new professional development program to identify the necessary digital health capabilities for nurses and midwives to further improve the quality, safety and efficiency of care.
Nurses and midwives across Australia will now be consulted on the specific digital health skills they need, what is practical and relevant for them and how a draft digital health capability framework could be used in hospitals and health services as a professional development guide for nursing and midwifery in the digital world.
Consultation will start on 3 of February 2020 and will run for six weeks. Nurses and midwives are encouraged to provide their feedback by completing a survey or attending feedback sessions through information available on the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) website.
The professional development program is being undertaken by HISA in collaboration with the ADHA as part of the National Digital Health Strategy’s commitment to building health workforce capability in digital health.
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Digital health program launched for nurses and midwives
Tuesday, 04 February, 2020
A professional development program has been launched to identify the digital health skills nurses and midwives need to further improve the quality, safety and efficiency of the care they deliver.
Run by the Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) — in collaboration with the Australian Digital Health Agency as part of the National Digital Health Strategy’s commitment to building health workforce capability in digital health — nurses and midwives across Australia will be consulted on the specific digital health skills they need, what is practical and relevant for them, and how a draft digital health capability framework could be used in hospitals and health services as a professional development guide for nursing and midwifery in the digital world.
The six-week consultation is being conducted in collaboration with the Australian College of Nursing, the Australian College of Midwives, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council, the Digital Health Cooperative Research Centre (DHCRC) and Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officers representing federal and state government jurisdictions, along with other key stakeholders from across the nursing and midwifery sectors.
HISA CEO Dr Louise Schaper said, “In the emerging field of digital health, nurses and midwives are at the forefront, combining knowledge, data and technology to produce best possible outcomes for patients.
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Media Release - More Victorian patients and clinicians now have instant and secure access to pathology test results
04 February, 2019: More patients across Victoria are benefiting from convenient and secure access to their pathology reports with Melbourne Pathology the latest to start sending reports to My Health Record.
Victorian-based general practitioner, Dr Nathan Pinskier, says the whole process is seamless, from ordering a lab test for a patient to the results of that test being uploaded to My Health Record.
“When I need a patient to have a pathology test, I simply send an electronic request and the patient attends the lab with a paper copy. Since the lab already has the electronic request, there’s no human data entry, which greatly reduces the risk of patients receiving the wrong test. Once there’s a report, I receive a copy through my secure messaging software and my patient receives a copy in their My Health Record, where it can’t be lost and where future healthcare providers can review it to inform their own clinical decision-making."
“As a GP who is also the Medical Director of the after-hours DoctorDoctor service, I can tell you My Health Record is extremely valuable when seeing patients in the middle of the night when their regular doctor is asleep. Having quick access to a patient’s medication profile and recent test results can really help an after-hours doctor make a well-informed decision, particularly when that patient is in need of urgent care,” Dr Pinksier said.
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Feds reveal national blockchain roadmap
Covering industry, govt and qualification development.
The federal government has laid out its plans to capitalise on the growing blockchain industry with the release of a National Blockchain Roadmap on Friday.
Citing a report from Gartner which predicts global blockchain use to generate over US$3 trillion by 2030, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said the new report outlines how the country can reap the benefits of the technology over the next five years.
The roadmap outlines three key areas in which Australia should focus its attention when it comes to blockchain investment and development, including:
- Regulations and standards,
- Skills, capability and innovation,
- International investment and collaboration.
The government has already covered three areas in one with a $350,000 contribution to Standards Australia to lead the development of international blockchain standards through the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
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Friday, 07 February 2020 13:00
Australian Government unveils national blockchain strategy
The Australian Government has released a national strategy for blockchain technology aptly titled the National Blockchain Roadmap.
The Government says seizing the economic opportunities for Australia from blockchain technologies is at the heart of its new national roadmap, which is another important step on the way to helping improve the nation’s productivity.
Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said: “The Morrison Government has worked collaboratively with industry and researchers on this roadmap, which outlines what we can do together over the next five years to deliver benefits for our nation from blockchain technologies”.
“This report follows my recent launch of the artificial intelligence roadmap and the AI summit in Canberra and further demonstrates concrete actions this Government is taking towards our goal for Australia to be a leading digital economy by 2030.”
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Friday, 07 February 2020 12:11
Blockchain Roadmap step towards advance of blockchain innovation, says industry body
Blockchain Australia has welcomed the release of a national Blockchain Roadmap, which it says is a critical step in the advancement of blockchain innovation in Australia.
The roadmap has been released by the National Blockchain Roadmap Advisory Committee of the Australian Government Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and Blockchain Australia CEO Nicholas Giurietto said, “this is a critical step in advancing blockchain innovation in Australia. We are delighted to have contributed to the development of the Roadmap through our participation in the Advisory Committee”.
“The Roadmap identifies the enormous potential economic benefit of the strategic deployment of blockchain technology in Australia – particularly in the areas of supply chain, educational qualifications and credentials and identity. It provides a pathway for Australia to ensure that it gets our share of the $3 Trillion dollars of business benefit that will be generated globally by 2030,” Giurietto said.
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Algorithms still need people, for now
The good news is that computer algorithms don’t understand context or nuance so computers still need people to provide benefits, according to RMIT Chancellor Ziggy Switkowski, in a recent Australian Unity event speech.
Switkowski provided useful context to the innovation debate by noting “most people already interact with machines in the workplace, but humans still run the show”.
Just how long that lasts remains to be seen but right now “working in tandem, smarter machines and better skilled humans will likely drive swifter and more compelling innovations”.
Algorithms, he noted, are just computer programs making decisions based on rules which humans either provided, or they learned.
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UniSA's AI coach independently improves health outcomes
Benchmark Awards 2020 finalist.
Everyone undertaking who embarked upon a health kick at the start of the new year will know that it’s harder to meet diet and exercise goals alone, and that a good health coach can be hard to find and expensive to keep.
That’s why researchers at the University of South Australia turned to virtual assistant technology to see if the technology could successfully deliver a healthcare program.
It took 12 weeks to train the virtual coach, Paola, using OutThought’s platform underpinned by IBM Wtason Virtual Assistant technology to enable Paola to understand 70 topics and over 2000 phrases and nuances related to the health program devised by the researchers based on the a mix of exercise and the Mediterranean diet.
Paola was then tested during a 12 week study with 31 participants who were able to design tailored programs together with the virtual coach through natural language, rather than just a typical question and answer process.
Participants wore fitness trackers during the trial, through which Paola could analyse their activity and offer encouragement through a variety of digital channels.
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InterSystems Wins Two 2020 Best in KLAS Awards
KLAS Research recognises TrakCare and HealthShare Unified Care Record for superior customer satisfaction in electronic medical record systems and interoperability platforms
Sydney, Australia, February 5, 2020 – InterSystems, a global leader in information technology platforms for health, business, and government applications, today announced that KLAS Research has named InterSystems TrakCare® unified healthcare information system as the 2020 Best in KLAS award winner in the Asia/Oceania Region for Global Acute Care EMR, and InterSystems HealthShare® Unified Care Record as the Category Leader for Interoperability Platforms.
The “2020 Best in KLAS Global Software Services” report is based on satisfaction ratings gathered in 2019 by healthcare providers in two segments: Acute Care Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and the Interoperability Platforms category. It recognises the software organisations that have excelled in helping healthcare professionals deliver better patient care.
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5 February 2020
Canberra expands access to free CGM technology
People with type 1 diabetes who are over the age of 21 and have a valid concession card will soon have access to free continuous glucose monitoring systems, Health Minister Greg Hunt announced this week.
The Freestyle Libre Flash devices will be subsidised from 1 March this year under a $300 million government plan to allow an additional 58, 000 patients with the condition to access the continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) initiative provided under the National Diabetes Services Scheme.
Previously, patients had to meet a set of high-risk or high-need clinical criteria in order to be eligible for subsidised CGM systems.
Diabetes Australia describes the devices as “life-changing” and welcomed the move to give more patients access to the scheme.
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My Health Record via Medical Objects Explorer Online Platform - Video resources available
5/02/2020
Medical-Objects Explorer Online is a web-based application that can receive and send clinical correspondence from your personal desktop, laptop or tablet. Explorer Online now allows access to view the national My Health Record, making it easier and faster to view patient records and information.
To view the video resources click here or for further information please visit the Medical Objects website.
If your organisation would like support registering for My Health Record, please contact Gold Coast Primary Health Network at: myhealthrecord@gcphn.com.au
Medical-Objects Explorer Online is a web-based application that can receive and send clinical correspondence from your personal desktop, laptop or tablet. Explorer Online now allows access to view the national My Health Record, making it easier and faster to view patient records and information.
To view the video resources click here or for further information please visit the Medical Objects website.
If your organisation would like support registering for My Health Record, please contact Gold Coast Primary Health Network at: myhealthrecord@gcphn.com.au
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Victoria to use AI to detect heart attacks on emergency calls
Call operators to have AI help in detecting cardiac arrest.
Triple zero call operators could soon have artificial intelligence (AI) alert them to callers who suffer from a heart attack.
The Victorian government announced on Sunday it was kicking in AU$1.36 million towards the Artificial Intelligence in Cardiac Arrest project, which will be developed by Monash University and Ambulance Victoria.
"The AI technology runs in the background of incoming emergency calls and picks up key words, language, and sound patterns of the caller that are likely to indicate the patient is having a cardiac arrest," the government said.
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‘One-stop-shop’ for clinical documents and tasks improves results sign-off
Wednesday, 5 February 2020
eHealthNews.nz editor Rebecca McBeth
Counties Manukau and Waitematā District Health Boards have a mandatory clinician inbox homepage in their clinical portal to improve sign-off of results and other tasks.
Lara Hopley, WDHB clinical advisor for digital innovation and Brian Yow, CMH health informatics and medical administration fellow, presented on the Northern Region’s Clinical Portal operating model at the HiNZ Conference 2019 in Hamilton last November.
The regional team of DHB, health Alliance and vendors, deliver fortnightly sprints to enhance the portal and assesses potential changes using an agile prioritising matrix, looking at things such as clinical benefit, patient safety and operational efficiency.
The team created a mandatory homepage with a ‘one-stop-shop’ for outstanding tasks, which is the first thing clinicians see when they log-in.
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Toll Group tight-lipped on alleged ransomware attack
May have infected over 1000 servers.
Toll Group is staying tight-lipped on what appears to be a large-scale ransomware attack that has infected a sizable part of its IT infrastructure.
The logistics giant first reported that it was suffering from the effects of a “cyber security incident” on Friday last week.
That continued into this week with pickup and tracking systems, including its MyToll portal, offline.
A support line for MyToll reached by iTnews on Monday afternoon said it was “closed” and to email instead.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/toll-held-to-ransom-as-cyber-attack-stalls-deliveries-20200204-p53xmc
Toll held to ransom as cyber attack stalls deliveries
Feb 4, 2020 — 3.38pm
Logistics giant Toll Group has confirmed it has fallen victim to a ransomware cyber attack that has forced it to shut down online systems and manually process parcels since late last week.
Customers of the Japan Post-owned Australian operation have been growing increasingly irate at a lack of information about the lengthy disruption to its operations, which the company said began on Friday.
The company earlier said that it had shut down systems across multiple sites and business units and it was working with global cyber security experts to try to resolve the issue and bring systems back online securely.
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Toll Group confirms "targeted" ransomware attack
Does not say what attackers were after.
Toll Group has confirmed it is the victim of a “targeted ransomware attack” that led it to “immediately isolate and disable” IT systems to stop the malware from spreading.
The logistics giant finally posted confirmation of the attack type and customer-facing impact late on Tuesday, having refused to comment to iTnews a day earlier.
iTnews reported that as many as 1000 servers in Toll’s data centre had been infected, and that staff had been advised not to turn on machines or try to connect them to the corporate network.
“As soon as it came to light, we moved quickly to disable the relevant systems and initiate a detailed investigation to understand the cause and put in place measures to deal with it,” Toll said.
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Toll refuses to pay hackers' ransom, works to restore crippled systems
Feb 5, 2020 — 4.38pm
Logistics company Toll Group will not pay a ransom to unlock its crippled systems and said it was gradually restoring operations to normal after identifying that cyber criminals came after it with a new form of malware.
The company on Wednesday updated its frustrated customers about delays in deliveries caused by the ransomware cyber attack, which struck last Friday and led the company to take most of its internal and customer-facing systems offline.
Toll Group is still working to get its systems back up online after identifying the malware infecting their systems.
It said Toll was hit by a new variant of ransomware called Mailto, which is also known in security circles by the name Kazkavkovkiz.
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ACSC gets to grips with Mailto threat after Toll Group infection
Releases hash of ransomware "from this incident".
The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has released a SHA-256 hash of the Mailto ransomware that infected Toll Group, but says there is “limited information” on the initial intrusion vector and how the malware moved once inside the company's network.
The centre issued its first advisory on the infection late Thursday, after Toll said yesterday it had asked for the ACSC’s assistance.
ACSC said it was unaware whether the attack on Toll Group was “indicative of a broader campaign” using the Mailto ransomware.
“Currently, the ACSC has limited information about the initial intrusion vector for Mailto infections,” it said.
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Toll 'humbled' as cyber attack struggle continues
Feb 7, 2020 — 3.44pm
Toll Group managing director Thomas Knudsen has described the "humbling" efforts of his staff to keep the company going this week and battle its way through a significant ransomware cyber attack, that has forced its systems offline since last Friday, saying it is making good progress in its recovery, and hoped to be working normally within the next few days.
In a statement to The Australian Financial Review Mr Knudsen, who was a senior executive at Danish logistics giant Maersk when it was hit by a significant ransomware attack in 2017, said the company had isolated the problem and was gradually bringing its systems back up online.
Toll managing director Thomas Knudsen has addressed the challenges of dealing with the ransomware attack publicly for the first time.
Earlier in the week, Toll disclosed that it had been compromised by a relatively new variant of the ‘Mailto’ or ‘Kazakavkovkiz’ ransomware, and that it was not going to pay the ransom demanded by hackers to unlock its files.
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Dutch uni paid hackers $A326,000 ransom
· Reuters
The University of Maastricht says it paid hackers a ransom of 30 bitcoin - at the time worth 200,000 euros ($A326,481) - to unblock its computer systems, including email and computers, after an attack that unfolded on December 24.
Ransomware attacks have become commonplace, with insurers raising cyber security premiums by as much as 25 per cent after hacker targets in 2019 included companies, hospitals and airports.
University Vice President Nick Bos said the university had decided to pay the ransom after considering the alternatives, which would have included rebuilding its entire IT network from scratch.
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NBN Co has over 6000 'metro' premises in Sky Muster footprint
Will figure rise as mid-2020 build deadline approaches?
NBN Co has revealed over 6000 premises across six major metropolitan areas are now considered to fall within the Sky Muster satellite footprint.
The company produced the new figures in response to an initially-misconstrued freedom of information request [pdf], which disclosed the number of active Sky Muster connections in metro areas, rather than the total number of premises "mapped" for a satellite NBN connection.
There has long been interest in the number of metropolitan fringe premises that NBN Co is putting into the Sky Muster footprint because the cost to serve them with other access technologies is considered too high.
Back in March 2017, a dump of NBN rollout data by electorate showed 4013 premises in “urban” electorates had been allocated Sky Muster.
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NBN Co to create a satellite-based 'disaster service'
Following its response to bushfire crisis.
NBN Co is set to use its response to Australia’s bushfire crisis to create a formal product offering that can offer affected areas “interim” internet services delivered via the Sky Muster satellites.
The company said it had “been approached to develop and make available to its customers an interim service” that can be stood up during “disaster events”.
It defines a disaster event as “a sudden, calamitous event that seriously disrupts the functioning of a community or society and causes human, material, and economic or environmental losses that exceed the community's or society's ability to cope using its own resources.”
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NBN’s new approach is a big step forward
Kevin Russell
In an industry where major reforms usually occur over years or even decades, a lot happened in a period of just 48 hours last week.
Two major announcements from NBN Co have totally reshaped the market environment of the Australian telecommunications industry — for the better.
First, NBN Co has proposed a solution to make efficient use of existing competitive infrastructure, rather than wastefully overbuilding it.
Second, NBN Co will re-establish itself within its wholesale-only mandate, immediately ceasing the practice of entering direct contracts with enterprise customers.
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Enjoy!
David.
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