The week that was (TWTW) takes a look back at the week’s most prominent tech stories from around the world.
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In the week that was November 25th – December 2nd 2017:
- NBN stops rolling out HFC
- Security flaw enables root access in macOS High Sierra
- Bitcoin breaks US$10,000
Intro
Hey everyone, Raj Deut here for Reckoner with a look back at the tech news in the week that was November 26th to December 2nd, 2017.
Stories
NBN CEO Bill Morrow announced on Monday that the rollout of it’s HFC network is being put on hold due to the high level of connectivity issues being experienced by it’s already connected customers.
370,000 homes are connected to the NBN via the formally Telstra owned HFC network, with a further 50,000 in the process of their final connection. Those in the HFC footprint yet to be connected are likely to now see a further six to nine month delay while NBN looks to resolve the issues.
The delay also causes some cash flow problems for Telsra. Paid on a per connection basis as customers move to the now NBN run HFC network the delay will shift close to A$700m into the next financial year.
Apple found itself with the shoe squarely on the other foot this week with a huge and extremely simple security flaw in the newly released macOS High Sierra was uncovered this week.
Discovered by Turkish software developer Lemi Orhan Ergin the bug allowed anyone to log in with root access by simply pressing the enter key repeatedly when prompted for a password.
Quite possibly the largest security flaw in any release of an operating system ever the bug also allowed potential attackers to log into computers remotely as root should you have screen sharing or remote login enabled.
Apple has since released a security patch to fix the issue and asks that it be installed immediately to protect your computer from any malicious attacks.
And finally Bitcoin, the original crypto-currency, hit an all time high breaking through the US$10,000 barrier this week. Increasing its digital value over TEN TIMES from January 1st this year the currency continues to sky rocket in value with no one really understanding why or how.
With many mainstream media outlets picking up on the digital currency’s extreme growth over the past few months. Ma & Pa investors appear to be now looking to a new and highly volatile market to get rich quick.
Financial analysts and digital currency experts continue to insist that investments in any of the cryptocurrency markets should be done with extreme caution.
Outro
That’s it for another week, I hope you enjoyed it. If you did then please hit that Like, Love, Applause or Thumbs up button on your platform of choice and help spread the word.
Coming up this week on the website is Reckoner’s 2017 Holiday Gift guide. Each day one of the team will be releasing their ideas so be sure to check that out.
Thanks for tuning in, have a great week and bye for now.