Govt to pay $37m over laptop snafu; Aussie ransomware attacks quadruple; Facebook at Work launch looms

The Victorian Education Department will be required to repay a total of $37 million to teachers who were forced to lease laptops, according to the ABC.

Sky News explained that since 2009, the Victorian government deducted fees from public school teachers’ wages for the use of workplace-issued laptops, under salary packaging arrangements.

The Australian Education Union (AEU) reportedly sued the department in 2013 over the deductions, saying it was unreasonable that teachers had to pay for resources that were necessary for them to do their job.

According to Sky, in November the Federal Court ruled these deductions were unlawful, and last week the Victorian Government was ordered to pay back a total of $37 million to 46,000 teachers.

Sky reported that teachers and principals who had money deducted for laptop use will be repaid by Christmas Eve — with 5% interest — while former teachers will be reimbursed by the end of March 2016.

According to the ABC, most teachers can expect to receive several hundred dollars.

“Laptop computers are essential equipment for teachers and principals,” the ABC quoted the AEU’s Victorian branch president, Meredith Peace, as saying. “Expecting teachers and principals to pay out of their own pockets for a computer that they use to write school reports, communicate with parents and other teachers, and plan lessons is absolutely unfair.”

Ransomware quadruples

Ransomware attacks on Australian businesses appear to be surging, with four times as many businesses reporting ransomware incidents in a 2015 survey than in a 2013 survey.

The figures come from the Cyber Security Survey: Major Australian Businesses report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre.

The ACSC is an Australian Government initiative that “aims to ensure that Australian networks are amongst the hardest in the world to compromise”, according to the report.

The 2015 survey was completed by 149 respondents, drawn from more than 12 industry sectors. 67% of respondents were from large organisations (defined as having 200 or more employees), 23% from medium-sized orgs (21–199 employees) and 10% from small orgs (<20).

“The findings demonstrate that cybersecurity incidents are still common and recurrent for Australian businesses. Half of the respondents reported experiencing at least one cyber incident that compromised the confidentiality, integrity or availability of a network’s data or systems in the last year,” the report said.

“Encouragingly, organisations are applying cybersecurity measures, including policies and standards as well as a range of technologies and mitigation strategies — with clear improvements,” it went on.

“However, organisations are still being targeted by a broad range of threats — particularly those designed to elicit money.”

The report said that the percent of respondents that reported experiencing a ransomware incident in the current 2015 survey (72% of respondents) was four times the percentage that reported experiencing one in the 2013 CERT Australia Cyber Crime & Security Survey (17% of respondents).

Facebook at Work launch looms

‘Facebook at Work’ — a professional version of Facebook aimed at businesses — is expected to launch and be made publicly available in the coming months, according to a Reuters report.

The workplace-oriented service is reportedly very similar to the regular consumer version of the social networking site, featuring a scrolling news feed, likes and chat.

“I would say 95% of what we developed for Facebook is also adopted for Facebook at Work,” Julien Codorniou, director of global platform partnerships at Facebook, told Reuters.

The company is reportedly developing products that will be exclusive to Facebook at Work, like security tools.

CIO interviewed Codorniou on the topic of Facebook at Work.

“The fundamental bet behind Facebook at Work is that a more connected workplace becomes a more productive workplace,” CIO quoted Codorniou as saying. “When you connect people, you create a more open, more transparent workplace, and ultimately a more productive workplace.”

According to CIO, Codorniou said Facebook at Work will be free at launch, but that the company will eventually charge for additional support, analytics and integration with other enterprise collaboration tools.

Reuters quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying the company plans to charge “a few dollars per month per user” for premium services like analytics and customer support.

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