Alistair Fairweather calls himself a “Cape Town transplantee”, which means he's a new to Joburg type who gave up that mountain for a career as the digital platforms manager at the Mail & Guardian online. This means he was manning stations when the Mail & Guardian was hacked and a virus affected users who visited the site.
“Yeah, ouch. That sucked. Essentially, some Russian (yes, really) phishing scammers chanced upon a vulnerability in our online CMS (content management system), and crow-barred their way into the server. From there they started publishing code on our site aimed at stealing credulous user's bank details. We know it was a drive-by attack because they were targeting US banks, so this was random rather than targeted,” says Fairweather.
Anyone who has ever been the victim of a malicious attack knows that what follows a hack is lots of coffee, high anxiety and very little sleep. “We've completely retooled our server architecture and put a lot more security in place. The most important thing we've learned is that you can't fly under the radar.”
Fairweather says now that the likes of Google have become a lot better at blocking spam and phishing sites, the spammers have taken to hijacking sites with relatively large amounts of traffic in order to have somewhere to send their phishing victims. “This has made the phishers a lot better at sniffing out cracks in security, as they did with us.”
The big lessons from the Mail & Guardian attack? “The things I learned from the ordeal are that firewalls are a must, even though they make life more inconvenient; never, ever have your CMS/admin on your front-end servers - it's a hack waiting to happen; employing a security firm at R10 000 a day is a lot cheaper than getting hacked.” Fairweather says this type of attack is not only very prevalent but rife, and advises other sites to secure their servers now or they could easily be next.
Unbundling the local loop can only be good for Telkom - I don't know why they can't see this.
Alistair Fairweather, digital platforms manager, Mail & Guardian online
Here's Fairweather's thoughts on social media and revolution, technology, trends, who is hot on Twitter, and the one gadget he just can't live without.
ITWeb: What role did social media played in Egypt's revolution?
Fairweather: A huge one. Again this is the case of a tool being used for something that it excels at, rather than a medium. Social media is a huge telegraph system to which everyone is permanently connected. That means it is sometimes more broken telephone than technical messiah, but the aggregate is what counts. Without social media as a rallying force, the revolutions would have been slower, weaker and more easily quashed. There's a reason governments immediately try to shut down the Internet - they understand its dangerous power.
ITWeb: What technology excites you right now and why?
Fairweather: Github - it's really taking OSS to a new level. Aardvark - social search of the cleverest and most addictive kind. Android tablets - a whole world opening up there. Boxee - amazing, free, auto-magical media centre.
ITWeb: What's the one thing you can't live without?
Fairweather: My iPhone.
ITWeb: If you were made minister of technology, what changes you would make?
Fairweather:
* Unbundle the local loop
* Start laying fibre on the last mile
* Slash interconnect fees
* Establish huge tax incentives for technology start-ups
* Get a laptop into every schoolteacher's hands
ITWeb: Why doesn't SA have a 'Silicon Valley'?
Fairweather: That's a big ask. England and Japan don't have one either - no matter what they say. That kind of concentration effect is incredibly rare. Some things that we could do to make it more likely are:
* Scrap red tape for small businesses of all kinds
* Tax incentivise them
* Get as many kids onto computers as early as possible
* Encourage a VC culture by changing tax, contract and regulatory law
* Make the Internet 75% cheaper - right now
ITWeb: If you were made CEO of Telkom, what would you do?
Fairweather: Pretty much the same as above. Unbundling the local loop can only be good for Telkom - I don't know why they can't see this.
ITWeb: Will ICASA ever become effective?
Fairweather: Eish. Maybe. They need proper teeth, and a free hand to fine people without getting slapped down.
ITWeb: Who is the most influential news man in the world on technology and why?
Fairweather: Yikes. Hard question. Mike Arrington I suppose - as much as I dislike him. Few people understand Silicon Valley like him. And fewer have the contacts. He's a boor and a jerk, but he's good at his job.
ITWeb: What are your favourite news and technology sites and why?
Fairweather:
* Techmeme - the best tech news aggregator out there - period
* The Economist - best paper in the world - easily
* New York Times - another great paper
* The Guardian - such excellent writing, such a worthy organisation
ITWeb: Who are the most influential South Africans on Twitter right now?
Fairweather:
* khayadlanga - obviously
* garethcliff - alas
* MyNews24
* MailandGuardian (heh heh)
Follow Fairweather on Twitter: @afairweather
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