The new Privacy Act comes into effect today (1st of December 2020) so it’s a great time to make sure you understand your new obligations. Being on top of these changes allows you to remain compliant and do the right thing by the people you hold data on. So we’d like to remind you about some tools and resources we’ve found useful.
The Blog
Our Journey to becoming PCI QSA Registered
Lame names for Cybercriminals
Sometimes I think my cybersecurity colleagues believe they are living in a spy novel. I mean, we are all guilty of trying to make our day jobs sound more interesting or trying to make them sound more ‘sexy’, but this industry in particular takes the cake. Even the name “cybersecurity” is like “oooh, I work in a William Gibson novel!” Though we can’t fault someone trying to make their job sound better than “security guard at an online shopping mall”.
Are the latest cyber attacks just fuelling the new buzz on security?
Stop, drop, and roll, is everything on fire?
Now that the media hysteria has abated on the topic of DDoS, it seems timely for us to provide some commentary on this long standing topic from the perspective of security professionals.
The recent Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks on NZX, Stuff, RNZ, and many more have had the media bombarding us with updates and semi-new information aimed to keep us, the general public informed. Reading some articles on RNZ, Stuff, and NZHerald provide similar information on the attack.
There is no denying that the threat of sophisticated cyber-attacks are real, and while raising awareness about what is currently happening is a good thing, doing so without care may not be helpful.
Welcome back Ahmed ElAshmawy
Today we are extremely delighted to welcome back Ahmed ElAshmawy who will be (re) joining the Axenic team! Ahmed will be returning to our team as our Consulting Practice Lead.
The security that dare not speak its name
There is a debate at work about what to call what we do. Actually, it’s not really a debate, more sort of a code of silence, or an agreement not to mention the subject in polite company lest it offends. When the subject comes up there is a sort of shuffling of feet, nervous laughter, “ahem”s and a subject quickly changed. But in Axenic’s spirit of transparency let’s get this out in the open: is what we do information security or cybersecurity? Certain people (I’m not naming names but they have numbered among our more beardy team members) have had such strong views that even using the word “cyber” at work is like a red rag to a bull. Actually, while I’m being honest, I have to admit that even though I am amongst the least hirsute of our team, I had strong leanings that way.

