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    Uniti banks AU$29m in net profit while Superloop reports AU$32m loss

    Image: Chris Duckett/ZDNet
    Uniti Group has reported a AU$102 million boost in revenue for the full year to June 30, with the figure coming in at AU$160 million. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) spiked from AU$16 million to AU$74 million, and reported net profit saw a 85% increase to AU$29 million. During November and December, Uniti picked up Telstra Velocity for AU$140 million, paid AU$9.25 million for Harbour ISP, and ended the saga to acquire Opticomm.Broken down by segment, wholesale and infrastructure contributed the lion’s share of revenue and earnings, accounting for AU$105 million in revenue, and AU$79 million in EBITDA. The company said this trend would continue as it now has a fibre-to-the-premise order book that increases to over 250,000 lines. Uniti said its total number of lines in service or contracted to be built was over 565,000. In its other segments, retail consumer and business reported AU$43.6 million in sales and AU$4.5 million in EBITDA, and its communications platform-as-a-service segment made just shy of AU$31 million in revenue, and AU$20 million in EBITDA. “We are immensely proud of the company Uniti has become in just two and a half years since listing, transforming from a loss-making fixed wireless business into a highly profitable, growing, ASX200 organisation,” managing director and CEO Michael Simmons said. “Today, Uniti is a ‘group of one’, an integrated digital infrastructure company, which is the definitive challenger in the residential FttP market, with a platform to further expand market share and presence in adjacent markets.” See also: Best internet provider in Australia 2021: Top ISPs

    Elsewhere on Tuesday, Superloop reported it increased revenue by 3.6% to AU$110.5 million, EBITDA increased by 35% to AU$18 million, and its net loss narrowed by AU$9 million to AU$32 million. The company said it saw revenue from wholesale and business customers increase by 22% and consumer broadband subscribers increase by 62% to 47,000, but these increases were offset by a drop in guest Wi-Fi services due to the pandemic. Excluding the retirement of its cloud managed services, the company said revenue would have increased 14%. Not included in this set of results was Superloop’s AU$110 million acquisition of Exetel, which did not close before the end of the fiscal year. Once Exetel is included, Superloop is expecting a 135% in revenue to AU$261 million, EBITDA to jump 89% to AU$34 million, and free cash flow to be AU$14 million compared to zero. Exetel will bring 110,000 extra customers to next year’s results and are already being migrated onto the Superloop network. “We demonstrated our ability to execute well, and it’s pleasing to see that translate to a marked increase in the utilisation of the Superloop network, and the outstanding network assets that we have,” managing director and CEO Paul Tyler said. “In addition to the continued focus on organic growth across all three customer segments, the robust balance sheet that we now have in place allows us the operational flexibility to contemplate further [merger and acquisition] options in the year ahead, should we identify opportunities that represent sufficient value.” Related Coverage More

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    SpaceX ships 100,000 Starlink terminals to customers as it awaits licensing approval

    A trail of a group of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites passing over Uruguay 
    Image: Getty Images
    Elon Musk has announced that his SpaceX Starlink project, which aims to deliver global broadband service through a satellite constellation, has shipped 100,000 terminals to customers.Shipping the terminals to customers brings the company a step closer to achieving its goal of delivering broadband connectivity to locations where access is unreliable or completely unavailable. Each Starlink Kit comes with a Starlink terminal, Wi-Fi router, power supply, cables, and mounting tripod. Under the project, beta services are currently operating in 11 different countries. SpaceX outlined as part of beta services that users can expect to see data speeds vary from 50Mbps to 150Mbps and latency from 20ms to 40ms in “most locations over the next several months” while the Starlink system continues to be enhanced. There will also be brief periods of no connectivity at all, the company added. Musk, however, noted licence approval to be able to provide telco services remained pending in “many more countries”. “Hoping to serve Earth soon,” he wrote in a tweet.The delivery of the terminals come as the SpaceX said it plans to go-live in September with its low-Earth orbit Starlink satellite broadband. In June, SpaceX president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell confirmed the company had already deployed 1,800 satellites into orbit.

    Elsewhere, Virgin Orbit is set to become a publicly-traded company on Nasdaq after entering into merger agreement with special purpose acquisition company NextGen. The company confirmed the deal would be valued at $3.2 billion and provide the combined company up to $483 million in cash, including up to $383 million of cash held in the trust of NextGen and a $100 million private investment in public equity (PIPE). The combined company will retain the Virgin Orbit name and trade under the ticker symbol VORB when it’s listed on the Nasdaq.Virgin Orbit said it expects to use the funds from the business combination and PIPE transaction to further scale its rocket manufacturing and growth in its space solutions business. “I’m very excited we are taking Virgin Orbit public, with the support of our partners at NextGen and our other wonderful investors. It’s another milestone for empowering all of those working today to build space technology that will positively change the world,” Virgin Orbit founder Richard Branson said.Subject to approval by NextGen’s shareholders, the proposed business combination is expected to be completed by Q4 2021. “The space economy is developing rapidly and Virgin Orbit is well positioned to benefit through its ability to competitively launch at any time, from any place on Earth, to any orbit and inclination,” NextGen co-founders George Mattson and Greg Summe said.”We look forward to leveraging our industry and financial experience, along with our public company leadership and governance experience to help Virgin Orbit deliver the next chapter of its exciting journey as a public company.”Related Coverage More

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    Most Brazilians access the web only via smartphones

    Brazil’s connected population relies mostly on smartphones to access the Internet as PC penetration remains low within financially vulnerable citizens, a new study has found. Some 58% of Brazilians only access the web through their phones, according to the TIC Domicílios study, carried out by the research arm of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. The research is one of the main indicators of the use of information and communication technologies among the Brazilian population and has been carried out since 2005.The study considers Brazil’s current base of 164 million Internet users, the equivalent to 87% of the population above 10 years old. This includes 12 million users who do not have full Internet access, and only use mobile applications such as WhatsApp under zero-rating offers, whereby operators provide access to previously determined content and applications to the user, without incurring in extra cost.

    Considering the country’s socioeconomic class system – which ranges from the elite (class A), the upper-middle class (class B), the lower middle class (class C), the working-class poor (class D) and the extremely poor and unemployed (class E) – the study noted that Brazilians from classes C, D and E don’t tend to have PCs at home and most use smartphones as their only means to carry out activities online. The research also noted a stark difference in PC ownership according to socioeconomic status: while computers are present in almost 100% of elite households, PCs can be found in only 13% of homes within classes D and E. The study has also found there has been a boost in activities such as Internet-based courses within the lower middle class population, but Class C Brazilians study online way less than the elite.According to the survey, there was an increase in uptake of digital channels for online public services in 2020, of about 40% in relation to the prior year, due to the restrictions of the the Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, there has been a boost in usage of digital channels to perform financial transactions – 43% in 2020 versus 33% in 2029. However, this increase was driven primarily by users based in urban areas, with more education and belonging to the top of the socioeconomic pyramid. Another study, also carried out by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, has found that more than 20 million households in the country, predominantly those within poorer segments of society, are digitally excluded. Separate research published earlier this year suggests that less than 20% of financially vulnerable Brazilians have been able to work remotely through the pandemic. More

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    Get paid to improve Linux and open-source security

    Linux and open-source software are much easier to secure than proprietary software. As open-source co-founder Eric S. Raymond pointed out with Linus’ law: “Given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow.” But it requires eyeballs looking for bugs in the first place to make it work. Jim Zemlin, the Linux Foundation (LF)’s executive director, said in the aftermath of the Heartbleed and Shellshock security fiascos: “In these cases, the eyeballs weren’t really looking.” To help remedy this, David A. Wheeler, the LF’s director of Open Source Supply Chain Security, recently revealed the LF or its related foundations and projects directly fund people to do security work. Here’s how it works.

    The funding comes from a variety of pro-Linux and open-source organizations. These include Google, Microsoft, the Open Source Security Foundation (OpenSSF), the LF Public Health foundation, and the LF itself. When a problem is found, a developer reaches out to the appropriate LF organization. Generally speaking, a contract that briefly describes what problem needs to be fixed and how it will be done, the funds required for it, and who will do the work is set up.  The proposal is then examined by the appropriate LF technical review point of contact (POC). This POC is often Wheeler himself. Once your project is approved, progress reports are made approximately once a month. These must include:A stable URL of a publicly accessible post (e.g., a blog or archived mailing list post) describing what you did that month.The post must briefly describe what has been accomplished using the funding since the last invoice. Include its date and hyperlinks to details. If git commits were involved, include hyperlinks to them. Make it easy for technical people to learn details (e.g., via hyperlinks).Also briefly describe why this work is important or link to such description(s), for someone who is not intimately familiar with it. Some readers may see your post out of context.Give credit, similar to National Public Radio. (e.g., “This work to was [partially] funded by the OpenSSF, Google, and The Linux Foundation.”) Thanking others is always polite. We also want people to consider funding OSS security as normal.Publicly provide an identifier (a personal name, pseudonym, or project name) of who’s doing the work. This simplifies referring to the work. You do not need to reveal your personal name(s) publicly, though you’re welcome to do so.This is a lightweight process. It shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes to write these reports. You may find it easier to write your post while you do the work. Funded work must be available under the appropriate open-source licenses. For example, bug fixes to Linux must be licensed under the Gnu General Public Licenses Version 2 (GPLv2).The POC will then review the post, and if it seems reasonable, approve the payment. Wheeler explained: “We understand that sometimes problems arise. We just want to see credible efforts. If there’s a serious roadblock, try to suggest ways to overcome it or provide partial/incremental benefits. We need to provide confidence to funders that we aren’t wasting their money.”

    So, what kind of projects are we walking about? Wheeler cites several examples. These include:Ariadne Conill, the Alpine Linux security team chair, is improving this important container Linux distro’s security. In particular, Conill has improved its vulnerability processing and made it reproducible. For example, this resulted in Alpine 3.14 being released with the lowest open vulnerability count in the final release in a long time. On Git, the vital distributed version control system, David Huseby has been working on modifying git to have a much more flexible cryptographic signing infrastructure. This will make it easier to verify the integrity of software source code.It’s not just Linux-related programs that get security help. Theo de Raadt, founder and leader of OpenBSD and OpenSSH, has received funding to secure OpenSSH’s plumbing. OpenSSH is an important suite of secure Secure Shell (ssh)networking utilities based on the protocol. De Raadt has also been funded to help secure Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), which protects internet routing protocols from attack. Besides fixing known problems, the LF and company are also looking for security troubles we don’t know about yet. That’s being done with security audits via the Open Source Technology Improvement Fund (OSTIF). These projects include two Linux kernel security audits. One for signing and key management policies and the other for vulnerability reporting and remediation. Subject matter experts perform the audit reports, while Wheeler ensures these reports are clear to non-experts while still being accurate.Looking ahead, OpenSSF is also working on improving overall open-source software security. These include free courses on how to develop secure software and the CII Best Practices badge project. Other projects improve OSS security, include sigstore, which is making cryptographic signatures much easier and improving software bill-of-materials (SBOMs).If you’d like to help pay for this kind of work, the LF wants to hear from you. You can contribute to the OpenSSF by just contacting the organization, Or, if you’d rather, you can create a grant directly with the Linux Foundation itself. If you have questions just email Wheeler at dwheeler@linuxfoundation.org. For smaller amounts — say, to fund a specific project — you can also use the LFX crowdfunding tools to fund or request funding.Having trouble with the business side of funding security coding and audits? You’re not alone. As Wheeler said: “Many people and organizations struggle to pay individual open-source software developers because of the need to handle taxes and oversight. If that’s your concern, talk to us. The LF has experience and processes to do all that, letting experts focus on getting the work done.”Related Stories: More

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    Palo Alto beats Q4 estimates with strength in large customer transactions

    Palo Alto Networks on Monday reported better-than-expected fourth quarter financial results, highlighting “notable strength in large customer transactions.”As many as 18 customers signed 8-figure transactions in Q4, the company said.
    Palo Alto Networks
    Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter was $161.9 million, or $1.60 per diluted share. Fourth quarter revenue grew 28% year-over-year to $1.2 billion. Analysts were expecting earnings of $1.43 per share on revenue of $1.17 billion.For the full fiscal year 2021, revenue grew 25% to $4.3 billion.”Our strong Q4 performance was the culmination of executing on our strategy throughout the year, including product innovation, platform integration, business model transformation and investments in our go-to-market organization,” chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora said in a statement. “In particular, we saw notable strength in large customer transactions with strategic commitments across our Strata, Prisma and Cortex platforms.”  
    Palo Alto Networks
    Fourth quarter billings grew 34% year-over-year to $1.9 billion. Fiscal year 2021 billings grew 27% to $5.5 billion.

    Deferred revenue grew 32% year-over-year to $5 billion, while remaining performance obligation (RPO) grew 36% to $5.9 billion. For Q1 2022, Palo Alto expects revenue in the range of $1.19 billion to $1.21 billion. Analysts are expecting revenue of $1.15 billion. For the fiscal year 2022, the company expects revenue in the range of $5.275 billion to $5.325 billion.

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    Microsoft Power Apps misconfiguration exposes 38 million data records

    Sensitive data including COVID-19 vaccination statuses, social security numbers and email addresses have been exposed due to weak default configurations for Microsoft Power Apps, according to Upguard. Upguard Research disclosed multiple data leaks exposing 38 million data records via Microsoft Power Apps portals configured to allow public access. The data leaks impacted American Airlines, Microsoft, J.B. Hunt and governments of Indiana, Maryland and New York City. Upguard first discovered the issue involving the ODdata API for a Power Apps portal on May 24 and submitted a vulnerability report to Microsoft June 24. According to Upguard, the primary issue is that all data types were public when some data like personal identifying information should have been private. Misconfiguration led to some private data being surfaced. Microsoft Power Apps are low-code tools to design apps and create public and private web sites. More

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    TP-Link Deco X60 Wi-Fi 6 review: Budget mesh Wi-Fi

    Wi-Fi 6 was finalized in 2019, and products have finally come to market. It is supposed to be faster, which you might notice if you have a Wi-Fi 6 file server. 

    Wi-Fi 6 ‘s major benefit is that it more gracefully supports many devices. At my house, there are 3 Roku TVs, 4 Macs, 4 iPads, 3 Apple Watches, 3 HomePods, 3 iPhones, and 2 Apple TVs, all fed by 150Mb/sec cable. Only two of those devices support Wi-Fi 6 today, but that number will at least triple over the next year. Then there are the devices, usually more iPhones and iPads, that friends bring over.Even though the single modem/router from the cable company offered what systems showed to be sufficient Wi-Fi signal strength throughout a 3000 sq. ft. home, installation of the TP-Link M4 mesh made a huge difference. Drop-outs, niggling delays, streaming stutters, and other annoying first-world problems pretty much ceased. So did the $10/month bill for the inadequate modem/router after I bought a compatible modem.Then I added the newer X60. It is compatible with the M4 – you can continue using M4 nodes for non-Wi-Fi 6 coverage, and life got a little better. Rebooting the cable modem and the M4 mesh was a monthly occurrence. Since adding the X60, we go for months without that bit of cruft clearance.I liked the TP-Link so much I began recommending it to friends. So now I’ve installed three mesh systems.

    What I’ve learned

    Amazon

    Installs take about half an hour, much of which is taken up with adding devices to the network. I have little patience with fiddly tech, and I found the install process straightforward. The biggest change since my first mesh is that TP-Link removed the irksome requirement for cellphone coverage to install their routers. Not a big city problem, but here in rural Arizona, cell coverage — like vaccinations — cannot be assumed. Since my friends are not techies, I’ve also sampled TP-Link’s remote management capabilities. The handiest is remote firmware updates, but a number of other features can be managed, such as beamforming, port forwarding, and DHCP settings. 

    The takeOne important thing has changed since I last reviewed the TP-Link mesh routers: the competitive landscape. The prices of competing mesh systems from Google, Amazon, and others have come down, and it appears that TP-Link has raised some of their prices. Still, you can get into a TP-Link mesh for less than than the others, but the gap isn’t as large as it was.If you want Wi-Fi 6, though, prices start at about $250 for a two or three node mesh. That’s better than most of the competition.

    But do you want Wi-Fi 6 NOW? Unless you’ve upgraded to Wi-Fi 6 systems, probably not. But, if, like me, more Wi-Fi 6 systems are in the offing, why wait? I make a practice of staying away from devices and services offered by firms that package my info and sell it. As near as I can tell, TP-Link doesn’t vacuum up user data for resale. So even though the pricing is a tad less competitive than it was, I still prefer the TP-Link business model.Looking for a cost-effective Wi-Fi 6 mesh? Consider the TP-Link Deco X20 or X60 systems. They’ve worked well for me.Comments welcome: What would you recommend?

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    Singapore, US pledge deeper collaboration in cybersecurity

    Singapore and the US have inked a series of Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) to widen their collaboration in cybersecurity across defence, financial, and research and development. Such initiatives will encompass further information sharing, joint exercises, training, and competency development. Three MOUs were signed Monday as part of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ three-day visit to the Asian nation this week. One of these involved an agreement between Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency (CSA) and the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to deepen cooperation in cybersecurity beyond data sharing and exchanges. The two government agencies would look to include new areas of cooperation in critical technologies as well as research and development, amongst others. 

    CSA’s chief executive David Koh noted that both countries shared “deep mutual interests” in enhancing cybersecurity cooperation, particularly as cybersecurity now was a key enabler with the two nations leveraging digitalisation to grow their respective economy and enhance their population’s lives.CISA Director Jen Easterly said: “Cyber threats don’t adhere to borders, which is why international collaboration is a key part of the Biden-Harris administration’s approach to cybersecurity. The MOU allows us to strengthen our existing partnership with Singapore, so that we can more effectively work together to collectively defend against the threats of today and secure against the risks of tomorrow.”In a second MOU inked between Singapore’s Ministry of Defence (Mindef) and the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) and the US Department of Defense, both countries would aim collaborate on various cyberspace initiatives. These would include efforts to establish “mutual understanding” and data-sharing as well as cooperation in “capacity-building”. Singapore’s Chief of Defence Force Lieutenant-General Melvyn Ong said: “This MOU on cyberspace cooperation between Singapore and US defence establishments is an important step in formalising our cyber cooperation, and a reflection of our continued commitment to expand our defence collaboration in more areas. We look forward to cooperating with the US in this complex cybersecurity landscape”.

    According to Mindef, both nations have had “extensive” defence engagements that included military-to-military exchanges, training, and defence technology collaboration. These encompassed previous agreements such as the 2005 Strategic Framework Agreement that recognised Singapore as a major security cooperation partner, and the 2015 Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, which widened defence cooperation across various security areas, including cyberdefence and biosecurity. A third MOU involved the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and US Treasury Department, and aimed to further drive initiatives in cybersecurity and strengthen bilateral institutional partnerships. Both financial agencies have been exchanging cyber threat information since 2018, they said in a joint statement Monday.The agreement encompassed collaboration in various areas, including information-sharing on cybersecurity regulations and incidents as well as threat intelligence, employee training to drive collaboration in cybersecurity, and competency-building initiatives such as cross-border cybersecurity exercises. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen noted that the cybersecurity cooperation agreement would enhance the cyber resilience of both countries’ financial systems.MAS Managing Director Ravi Menon said: “Given the growing complexity of cyber attacks and how interconnected the global financial system is, close cooperation is essential to ensure the cyber resilience of our financial systems. This MoU between the US Treasury and MAS will be particularly useful in the areas of cyber threat information-sharing and cross-border cybersecurity exercises.”RELATED COVERAGE More