CENSUS

[Unicorn]

I wonder who was paid the cool half million for doing the "load testing" on the system. I think "stress testing" would have been much more appropriate under the circumstances.

Perhaps the IT guys at the TAB might be able to help them out, they never seem to have issues with the "stress scenarios" on cup day.

[Fulvio]

Perhaps the IT guys at the TAB might be able to help them out

BAD idea! Don't you remember the massive scam they allowed to happen on their pokies?

[Unicorn]

Had not heard of that one before Fulvio.
(My sympathies by the way).
I purely picked them as they'd have to be quite good at ensuring stress conditions were catered for during testing.

[trout]

My Biro never crashed once while I was filling out the paper form :angel:

[Unicorn]

:laugh2: ...... and you made them pay for the return postage!

[JeffH]

Malcolm Turnbull sought to assure Australians their census data was "safe" and had not been "compromised"

"Well he would say that, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies.

[Fulvio]

Had not heard of that one before

Back in the day, when the TAB was pretty much the only game in pokie town (and after the time when NSW had a monopoly and people used to head north by the busload to play), they built machines out of Amigas, and fed them the games from their central computer, since that's how they'd always run the tote business.

Well, some wiseguys worked out how it was all set up, and that the central computer was down for an hour for system maintenance.

Just before the appointed hour, a large group of people walked into TAB sites across the state. The leader played a machine, and told them what had come up over a phone hookup. The others then played their respective machines until the same screen came up.

Once they were synched, as soon as the maintenance started, the leader would play and report, and they would follow along with minimum bets. When the machine paid out, they would max their bets and win every time. At the end of the hour, everybody walked out with their winnings and disappeared.

I can't recall exactly what they took, but it was millions. Of course once the maintenance was finished, it didn't take long for alarms to go off, but by then it was far, far too late.

That was pretty much the end of the TAB's own centralised network brainfart. I wouldn't trust these guys to run a candy store, let alone a census. :angel:

[r9453]

Heh, while anyone is given a task with budget constraints, it will always take longer and cost more to get it right.

Was it the Abbott Government's first budget where they made large cuts to the ABS?

[JeffH]

Editorial in the Sydneu Morning Herald today...

[size=+2]ABS debacle puts the Prime Minister on notice[/size]
   The Herald urged people to fill in the census form fully and honestly. It noted the Australian Bureau of Statistics's assurances that its security systems were robust enough to keep our personal information safe. That appears not to have been so. Trust is broken.

   The Australian Statistician David Kalisch said on morning radio that the ABS website had been subject to malicious attack that prompted him to shut it down at 7.45pm on Tuesday. That meant about 4 million households that were attempting in good faith to fulfil their civic duty by submitting their forms could not do so.

   The government is trying to spin the debacle positively. The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has congratulated the ABS for its cautious approach, emphasising its website was not breached and no private information was compromised. The minister responsible, Michael McCormack, insisted it should not be called a hack or attack, but rather an attempt to frustrate the collection of data. This is as thin as spin gets. Census 2016 is a multi-faceted shambles with farreaching consequences, for the census, for the ABS and for the Turnbull government.

   According to cybersecurity experts, the attack on the system was of a type that is both simple and predictable, and it is surprising the ABS's systems were not resilient enough to deal with it.

   It beggars belief that Malcolm Turnbull's government, which wants to be distinguished by its smarts around innovation, digital media and the new economy, can oversee an IT fail of such huge proportions that by its very nature involves every single citizen. The new Turnbull administration has been cack-handed in managing this, one of its first, most important, and basic tasks of government.

   Let's consider what has been lost. A great collective tradition lies in tatters. For more than 100 years Australians have trusted the government statistical bureau with their personal information so governments can plan how to distribute funds most fairly and effectively, draw electoral boundaries fairly, understand how society is changing and where new or better policies are needed. The ABS has been a world leader, advising other governments about how to conduct censuses.

   We don't know how the households who could not lodge on the night, and now have until September 23 to do so, will respond. With justified cause for concern about the security of ABS data, many may by now be wary of providing detailed, accurate personal information or participating at all. Now that many people will be filling it out retrospectively, there is a question about veracity. It can no longer be an accurate snapshot of Australia on the given night

   The ABS, like all government agencies, has been under pressure to reduce costs and find ways of increasing its income. It has been run down, and required to do more with less. The government has shown little concern. The ABS has had three ministers in the past 12 months and the latest, McCormack, took on the responsibility just three weeks ago.

   After Brian Pink retired at the start of 2014, then-treasurer Joe Hockey and former prime minister Tony Abbott didn't bother replacing him for nearly a year. The ABS sought to save costs by cutting corners, for example, with its crucial monthly employment survey. But the price turned out to be high when the figures jumped around so much the survey's credibility was dented.

   In similar vein, it was proposed to save $200 million by skipping this year's census altogether and shifting to 10-year intervals instead of five. As Fairfax Media's Peter Martin has reported, when that plan was dropped because it was unlikely to get through the Senate, the bureau decided on the controversial course of keeping names and addresses supplied for the census so they could be linked – encrypted, of course – with other data to provide richer information. And for the first time most people would have to lodge census forms online, to save the bureau the cost of delivering or posting them.

   The ABS and government ministers insisted everything would be all right on the night. But planning and explanation of these changes has proved woefully inadequate. The census failure suggests a troubling level of incompetence and inattention to detail. It does not inspire confidence. The public's trust is hard won and easily squandered. Mr Turnbull and his government are on notice.

[Fulvio]

Editorial in the Sydneu Morning Herald today...

Ever since Mal showed his true colours and disappointed the 3/4 of us who thought he'd be a breath of fresh air, I was one of many, many people warning anyone who would listen that the Libs couldn't be trusted on any issue.

Sadly half the people never got the memo, and voted these losers back in. And now we all get to pay the price. Can we survive three years of epic fails? I guess we'll see, unless one of their people drops off the perch and gives us a chance to change horses early.

[trout]

I guess we'll see, unless one of their people drops off the perch and gives us a chance to change horses early.  

Don't go giving us any crazy ideas here Mate :angel:

[Fulvio]

change horses early.  

Don't go giving us any crazy ideas here Mate :angel:

What, like shooting lame horses maybe?

[Nevol]

Like this crazy idea hinted at by Trump.  It might be his 'final nail' scenario.
https://www.google.com.au/#q=trump+hints+at+clinton

[trout]

Like this crazy idea hinted at by Trump.  It might be his 'final nail' scenario.
https://www.google.com.au/#q=trump+hints+at+clinton

Trump is the US answer to Pauline Hanson.
Both of them only open their mouths to change feet :angel::laugh2:

[stevo1962]

The Australia Post Tracking site is down as well today