Australia AWS Cloud Deal; Town Pays Ransom

Australia AWS Cloud Deal; Town Pays Ransom

Each week we’ll bring you an overview of the latest news in cloud computing, cybersecurity and industrial IoT over the past seven days.

Australian Government-wide Cloud Deal Brokered with AWS

The Australian Federal Government has brokered a $39 million whole-of-government deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to improve agency access to secure cloud services.

The three-year volume sourcing agreement is aimed at cutting IT sourcing costs for AWS cloud services by leveraging demand across government. The mandatory agreement gives federal government agencies, regardless of size, a consistent way to buy AWS services.

Learn how AWS will improve government services for Australians.

Second US Town Pays up to Ransomware Hackers

A town in Florida has paid $500,000 to hackers after a ransomware attack. Officials in Lake City voted to pay hackers in Bitcoin after suffering downed computer systems for two weeks.

The town’s insurer was contacted by the hackers and negotiated ransom payment of 42 bitcoins, or roughly $500,000. Officials felt that paying the ransom was the most efficient way of regaining computer access.

Lake City is just one of many cities that were hit by cyberattacks in the last few weeks.

Smart Cities Spending to Reach $189 Billion in 2023

Global spending on smart cities initiatives will reach $189.5 billion in 2023, with the top priorities for initiatives cited as resilient energy and infrastructure projects, followed by data-driven public safety and intelligent transportation.

These priority areas will account for more than half of all smart cities spending throughout the 2019-2023 forecast.

Learn what aspects of smart city tech will drive this growth.

Hackers are Stealing Years of Call Records from Hacked Cell Networks

Security researchers say they uncovered a massive espionage campaign involving the theft of call records from hacked cell network providers to conduct targeted surveillance on individuals of interest.

The hackers have systematically broken into more than 10 cell networks around the world to date over the past seven years to obtain massive amounts of call records — including times and dates of calls, and their cell-based locations — on at least 20 individuals.

Learn more about this “massive-scale” cyberattack.

More information

FuseForward is an AWS Select Consulting Partner that moves, manages and maintains enterprise application workloads on the cloud. Our team of experts has over 25 years’ experience implementing enterprise asset management systems and cloud solutions across facilities, cities, transportation and utilities.

If you have a question regarding your cloud workloads, security or industrial IoT, we’re happy to help. Please contact us or drop us a line on the form below.


Contact us

With expertise across advanced analytics, data, IOT, AI & ML, cloud, intelligent systems, cybersecurity and much more, we can answer your questions and help design a solution.

Get in touch via chat during business hours or complete the form and we’ll get back to you shortly.