Stories by: Stephen Bell

International experts in Wellington for a conference on identity last week expressed admiration for the New Zealand government's igovt identity information management scheme and the policy behind it.

Spam volumes in Australia continue to be high, but the proportion of worldwide spam coming from Australia has dropped since the passing of the Spam Act in 2003, says the Australian government's Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts (DCITA).

A bank spokesman suggests interest in anti-fraud devices for ATMs might create a shortage and lead to delays in delivery.

Exaggeration, fears, gradual acceptance, trust and deal-making were identified as among the dynamics of a relationship between sacrifice of privacy and gaining technologically-assisted benefits, at an energetic panel session at last week's biometrics conference in Wellington.

Australia's federal government may look at adware and spyware as a follow-up to its legislative actions against spam. On the other hand, some caution should be attached to "promises" in the run-up to an election -- the event currently dominating all Australian news.

Who's to blame for the hold that spam, spyware and viruses have on the Internet?

An investment in a system that uses neural networking to detect potential fraud is paying off very quickly for Westpac Bank in New Zealand.

IT personnel are still too often ignorant of the need for preserving electronic evidence of wrongdoing, says specialist forensic investigator Chris Budge.

The man charged with protecting New Zealand’s critical infrastructure says the recent cyberterrorism threat made by an al-Qaeda associate is just the latest in a series since September 11 last year.