Sri Lankan Girl Guides Find Power in Ham Radio

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Girl Guides in Sri Lanka recently got some guidance from the Radio Society of Sri Lanka, which helped them get on the air.

The International Girl Guide Camp that concluded on the 23rd of August left a lasting mark on two thousand Girl Guides from Sri Lanka's nine provinces and showcased the power of amateur radio for them all. The Radio Society of Sri Lanka was there in Ceylon to conduct demonstrations and to help the girls' hands-on experience with radio.

Society volunteers ensured there would be radio capability by setting up for HF, VHF and Echolink communications. The radio society considered it a milestone for the camp with the Sri Lanka Girl Guides Association getting on the air with an amateur radio club licence of its own through the help of society secretary Victor 4S7VK. The Girl Guides were calling QRZ as 4S7GGA.

New ACMA Licensing Fees

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The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), the communications and media regulator of Australia, has enacted new licensing-related fees as of September 1st. The new fees will be required when reconfirming or reassigning a special event or contest callsign. These special callsigns may be held up to 12 months before being renewed. Individual operator callsigns do not require a renewal fee.

The new fee structure includes:

  • Reassigning a special event call sign: $34.00

  • Reassigning a VK0 and VK9 call sign: $34.00

  • Reassigning a contest call sign: $15.00

  • Transferring a call sign to another amateur operator: $15.00

WIA - https://www.wia.org.au/

ARRL IT Security Incident - Report to Members

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ARRL IT Security Incident - Report to Members

Sometime in early May 2024, ARRL’s systems network was compromised by threat actors (TAs) using information they had purchased on the dark web. The TAs accessed headquarters on-site systems and most cloud-based systems. They used a wide variety of payloads affecting everything from desktops and laptops to Windows-based and Linux-based servers. Despite the wide variety of target configurations, the TAs seemed to have a payload that would host and execute encryption or deletion of network-based IT assets, as well as launch demands for a ransom payment, for every system.

This serious incident was an act of organized crime. The highly coordinated and executed attack took place during the early morning hours of May 15. That morning, as staff arrived, it was immediately apparent that ARRL had become the victim of an extensive and sophisticated ransomware attack. The FBI categorized the attack as “unique” as they had not seen this level of sophistication among the many other attacks, they have experience with. Within 3 hours a crisis management team had been constructed of ARRL management, an outside vendor with extensive resources and experience in the ransomware recovery space, attorneys experienced with managing the legal aspects of the attack including interfacing with the authorities, and our insurance carrier. The authorities were contacted immediately as was the ARRL President.

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