Stories by Julian Bajkowski and Michael Crawford

Blue chips reel from Siebel takeover

Australia's biggest companies are today reeling from shock overnight news that billions of dollars collectively invested into their Siebel CRM platforms now face an uncertain future after a lightening raid by Larry Ellison's Oracle Corporation snared the ailing CRM vendor for $US5.85 billion.

IT whistleblowers gagged and bound

IT managers and professionals are finding it nearly impossible to stay on the right side of the law and keep their jobs.

Labor cools enthusiasm for Hotmail leaks

Less than three hours after launching a new Hotmail address to expose government waste, the Australian Labor Party has warned public servants to never use their work computers or e-mail addresses to send information to it.

Technologist snatches Australia's top bank job

In a cultural watershed at Australia's largest retail finance institution, the board of the Commonwealth Bank has replaced card-carrying IT critic David Murray with technology evangelist and former CIO, Ralph Norris.

Are your staff safe from vendors?

With pressure to rack up ever more sales and beef up their supply of IT talent, vendors are cherrypicking staff from their client base.

Users breathe easy as PeopleSoft war of attrition ends

Australian PeopleSoft and JD Edwards users today breathed a collective sigh of relief on news that Oracle Corporation has finally succeeded in its hostile takeover of PeopleSoft.

IT brawl erupts over South Australian employment law changes

A cloud of uncertainty and a war of words have engulfed IT contractors, employers and casual employees because of proposed employment law changes to go before the South Australian Parliament tonight.

HIC calls for 20 million user ID management system

The Australian Health Insurance Commission (HIC), the government agency responsible for Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, is shopping for a whole-of-enterprise identity management solution to give 20 million consumers and health care providers access to secure electronic transactions.

Highly sensitive laptops go missing

Employees of private and government organizations working with highly sensitive information are still failing to adequately secure laptops containing highly sensitive information, with a spate of recent robberies prompting a stiff warning from a former Australian intelligence chief.

Defacement spree hits government sites

The IT security of Australian Web-hosting providers has come under serious question, with more than 30 state and local government Web sites defaced in the last six months – including the homepages of two locally hosted foreign diplomatic missions and the highly sensitive NSW Casino Control Board.

Security chief slams patchwork hell

Competing computer security vendors racing against each other to find and publish new software vulnerabilities are pushing users to the brink. They need to grow up and start getting responsible about the way they release information into the community, AusCERT director Graeme Ingram has warned.