Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Barely five percent of New Zealand companies have taken out cyber insurance, despite a predicted rise in ransomware and other cyber issues, a leading New Zealand specialist underwriting agency says.
Ian Pollard, director of Delta Insurance, says the total potential for the New Zealand Cyber Insurance market in time may reach $500 million in premiums. Delta is New Zealand’s only locally owned and operated specialist underwriting agency specialising in areas such as cyber, technology, environmental and UAV insurance cover.
A Symantec report says New Zealand has the second highest number of ransomware attacks in the southern hemisphere (21st globally) and more than 50 percent of Delta Insurance’s cyber insurance claims all up have been related to ransomware
Pollard has nearly 20 years’ experience in cyber insurance and the company provides hacker theft coverage and provides a special cyber risk management approach. Latest estimates reveal that cybercrime costs US$3 trillion globally and between $nz250 million to $nz500 million in New Zealand.
The government allocated $22 million from its 2016 budget to set up its new Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) in April. The CERT, as a first port of call for a cyber-attack, is responsible for monitoring, tracking and advising individuals and businesses on cyber security incidents or attacks affecting New Zealand.
“Public-private sector partnership is essential to improving New Zealand’s cyber security architecture. Ransomware attacks have made up 40 percent of our insured cyber claims over the last 12 months.
“I predict the number of cyber insurers will double over the next two years (from eight to 16) and peak in 2018, making it the best time for New Zealand businesses to buy cyber insurance.
“The global cyber insurance market will increase tenfold within the next eight years from $US3.5 billion to potentially $US25 billion by 2025. The cost of cybercrime will also grow from $US3 trillion in 2015 to $US6 trillion in 2021. We contributed to the OECD report which investigated the issue.
“Sophisticated cyber insurers are conscientious around understanding accumulations for various cyber disaster scenarios and there are some potential risk scenarios that could have very severe and wide-ranging consequences.
“Examples of these include a major cloud provider outage, global malware or ransomware contagion similar to the recent Wannacry event and a global cyber terrorist incident. Any of these events could be truly global in nature and are perhaps the more concerning incidents being silent cyber scenarios exposing non-cyber insurance products to potential cyber-related losses.
“Ransomware attacks aren’t going away. New Zealand has had hundreds of ransomware attacks this year and we expect more.
“We’re passionate about cyber risk management and helping clients, especially small to medium business enterprises, and insurance brokers to understand the risks associated with cyber threats,” he says.
For further information contact Delta Insurance director Ian Pollard on 027 7008959 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.
| A Make Lemonade release || May 23, 2017 |||
This weekend the largest ever ransomware attack in the world has been hitting computer systems of private and public organisations in hundreds of countries, NZTech chief executive Graeme Muller says.
Spread via phishing emails where an email that appears to come from someone people know encourages them to open an attachment or click on a link, only to deposit a small piece of malicious code on your system. The bug looks for machines running unpatched versions of Microsoft Windows and then spreads across your network infecting other machines as it goes, Muller says.
“Called a ransomware as it locks people out of their files and demands a ransom before they can access them again. While the ransom is relatively small at around $NZ430 per computer, the criminals who are collecting the ransom will be making millions having successfully taken down large organisations such as the NHS (UK’s National Health Service), Telefonica and FedEx as well as thousands of smaller businesses.
“As a result, the recently launched New Zealand Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) is getting its first real test this weekend and have provided excellent advice for Kiwis.
“First, don’t open suspicious emails or emails from unknown people. Secondly, ensure that you keep your computer updates up to date. In this case ensure the Microsoft patch (MS17-010) released in March has been installed by running an update. Finally, you can also reduce the risk by blocking international emails for a few days until the wave passes.
“If you do get attacked the only option you have is to pay the ransom or throw away your computer. If you get attacked disconnect from any network you are on to prevent it attacking someone else. If you are running a computer with Microsoft XP or 2003 operating systems turn it off now as there are no patches available for these older systems.
“For organisations that require further support or more specified advice, we appeal Kiwis and NZ organisations log an incident on the CERT website at cert.govt.nz.
“Cyber-attacks by ransomware have increased by 50 percent in the past year, according to a study by Verizon and the total cost of cyber-attacks has been estimated to worth over $NZ400 billion a year now.”
This is a very low risk yet highly profitable form of crime but Muller says not to expect it to go away. In fact, it will only get worse until we learn how to be better at keeping our systems up to date and not responding to random emails, he says.
| A MakeLemonade release || May 14, 2017 |||
The engineering.com office is swarmed daily with new product news, gee-whiz technology, and each and every “paradigm shift.” In the midst of it all, I was surprised to get an invitation to the launch of AutoCAD 2018.
“AutoCAD—is that still around?” asked one of our editors.
It seems as though it never went away. Rumors of AutoCAD’s demise, helped by the rise of Inventor or Fusion 360 on the mechanical side and Revit on the BIM side, were ... well, just rumors.
“We still have millions of users,” assured Rob Maguire, director of Autodesk’s AutoCAD product line.
Maguire has gathered a handful of “influencers,” aka social media wonks, power users and select old media, to Autodesk’s San Francisco office to see that the patient is not only alive and well, but is being improved. (Read more about the product improvements in our previous report.)
The dozen or so of us gathered in Autodesk’s office. We wondered when we had last seen each other. It was definitely before we started being called “influencers.” We recount the days when an AutoCAD release was Autodesk’s biggest news—highly anticipated, occurring 18 months or 2 years, max. A major release was trumpeted months in advance by a PR staff, with a wave of information going out to the press and bloggers. The CAD world would wait with bated breath for our reports. That is what we liked to think. In the last couple of years, major releases of Autodesk software have not even warranted a press release. If we were lucky, we heard about it, someone at Autodesk wrote about it on a blog post.
Continue to the full article here | An engineering.com release || May 02, 2017 |||
CADPRO Systems can help you make your design & drafting work just a little bit easier? Download the AutoCAD Shortcuts Guide and keep it next to your workstation for easy access to proven time-saving design shortcuts.
The guide includes:
Who doesn’t like a good shortcut every now and then? Download the Shortcut here
Buy Autodesk Software OnlineFrom CADPRO SYSTEMS your New Zealand Reseller and get local support !
Call us at +64 9 302 4028 to learn more
Tetra Pak has teamed up with Microsoft to introduce management and diagnosis systems and tools to reduce machine downtime and boost productivity.TetraPak_Microsoft2
The carton packaging giant has started rolling out Microsoft HoloLens mixed reality headsets to Tetra Pak on-site service engineers – who are now able to work with the company’s global experts who specialise in production line problems.
A service engineer can show live video to the correct Tetra Pak expert, who guides the on-site work through Skype.
To help prevent or predict disruptions Tetra Pak is also employing Microsoft Azure Cloud technology that enable its cloud-connected machines to predict when equipment needs maintenance.
By connecting packaging lines to the cloud, Tetra Pak can collect operational data to help predict informed maintenance timing.
Johan Nilsson, Vice President Tetra Pak Services, said: “So if you’re a service engineer and you arrive at the customer, you can use a simple app to pull up the significant performance information from that customer.
“You are much more educated when you walk into the customer, and it becomes a much more informed and fact-based discussion between the service engineer and the customer.”
Nilsson added that the Microsoft HoloLens transforms the delivery of support and enables quick resolution of quality issues.
Caglayan Arkan, general manager of worldwide manufacturing at Microsoft, said: “We are excited to bring the transformative power of mixed reality and HoloLens to Tetra Pak customers to help them transform their business and enhance their service engineers’ capabilities.”
Nilsson told Packaging News both the Microsoft HoloLens and Azure Cloud technology is designed to help make packs look exactly the same.
“The better we can ensure packaging integrity, the better we can ensure food safety. This results in a more perfectly shaped pack.”
He said when creating 190bn packs consistently, these systems will help the quality and look and fit of the pack.
“For example, if you have vibration in the machines this may result in the pack being 1% out or 3% out. The better you keep that in shape and in the right condition, the better the packs are going to look and perform.”
He explained that initially the packs will look perfect, but all production lines require maintenance over time. With this Microsoft system, Tetra Pak can take action earlier so that it does not deteriorate as much and not reach a level that the pack is unacceptable to the consumer.
“So the consistency in packaging performance in terms of shape appearance and integrity will be better secured using this system.”
Tetra Pak is piloting the service in 2017 with 50 HoloLens devices, in the Greater Middle East, Europe, and the Americas, and plans to roll-out to more markets next year.Recommended Articles
| A Packaging News release || April 25,2017 |||
The latest release of Autodesk’s Advance Steel 2018 promises to both streamline the 3D modeling tool and improve interoperability with other Autodesk software, such as Revit, Navisworks and AutoCAD. This article will examine the software's new features, and explain how they impact the architects, structural engineers and construction workers who use it.
Figure 1 above – Advance Steel 2018 adds 130 parametric steel connections that may be transferred to the Revit model. Image courtesy of Autodesk.
Improved Level of Detail
The first big highlight is Advance Steel 2018's ability to offer “seamless consumption of LOD 350 Revit models.” LOD, short for “level of detail”, is defined by BIMForum as a measure of the amount of description attached to items in a Building Information Modeling (BIM) model - or example, at LOD 100, a light fixture might only have cost information, while at LOD 350, it would also include things like its geometric shape, in the form of a CAD model. The ability to read CAD models directly from Revit files should give engineers more accuracy in their designs, let them issue bills of material, and let them respond more quickly to architectural design changes.
Added Parametric Steel Connections
A second major update is the addition of over one hundred and thirty parametric steel connections. To sweeten the deal, these connections also transfer to the model in Revit to improve coordination between engineers and fabricators.
The new software also supports Revit families for custom sections, a feature long demanded by users, as well as the ability to transfer code checks for customized parameters.
Streamlined Installation
Advance Steel 2018 has also been integrated with the latest AutoCAD drafting platform, meaning users will only no longer need to license and install it separately.
Migration of Customization
Figure 2 -Advance Steel now has one interface to move settings from one version to another. Picture from Autodesk.
Another change concerns control of documentation and customized model information. You can now combine model views with cameras to simplify the making of general arrangement drawings, and blow up details of the model to add callouts in less steps.
Figure 3- Blow-up details and create callouts. Picture from Autodesk.
Better Overall Interoperability
Finally, this release of Advance Steel continues Autodesk’s integration of the product with their other AEC software. As construction and engineering continues to evolve toward automation, Autodesk has sought to create increasingly seamless BIM-to-fabrication workflows by integrating Advance Steel with their other engineering and construction tools, such as Revit and Navisworks Manage. However, Advance Steel is not actually an Autodesk original - it was created by French structural steel software vendor GRAITEC, which Autodesk acquired in 2013. As a result, Autodesk has had to spend years integrating it into their software family, rather than building it that way from the ground up.
The idea is to give project teams access to a transparent system that supports the entire lifecycle of steel projects, from design to detailing to fabrication.
Advance Steel is available as a quarterly, annual, or multi-year subscription through Autodesk. The Autodesk AEC Industry Collection is a software bundle that includes Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks Manage, and more. Advance Steel 2018 becomes available on April 1, 2017, while Autodesk Steel Connections for Revit 2018 drop April 14.
| An Engineering.com release || April 10, 2017 |||
New Zealand contact for Autodesk 2018 CAD is Lewis Worthing from WorthyCAM
Another year has gone by, and Autodesk has been working hard to bring you innovative CAD features to help you design the next aerodynamic bike, energy-efficient building, high-speed railway, or anything else you can dream up.
In this latest release of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT, you’re able to:
Check out the full AutoCAD 2018 Preview Guide to learn more about the new features, how to access them, and why we think you’ll love them.
If you’re on an AutoCAD or AutoCAD LT 2017 subscription license or maintenance plan, you’ll get all your updates as they become available, right in the Autodesk Desktop App. Just accept the update, and you’ll be up and running with the new features immediately. If you have any issues of updating your latest version, please do not feel hesitate to contact CADPRO Systems, our dedicated team is always there to help.
Subscribe Now: Take advantage of 25% OFF* by purchasing the latest release of AutoCAD and AutoCAD LT 2018.
Follow this link for more information CADPRO Systems
| A CADPRO Systems release | Wednesday 5 April 2017 |||
Ground floor opening for the state to back IT manufacturing lost. Progeni’s Perce Harpham explains what went wrong...
During the 1980s Australasia’s version of Silicon Valley was New Zealand’s Hutt Valley. Here, a coalition of public and private enterprises had anticipated the screen graphic presentation techniques that would later become standard fixtures. At the forefront of these developers was Progeni led by Perce Harpham (above). Progeni had developed its desk top computer for the global marketplace. It needed just one thing which was a local user base in education. But Apple, whose Steve Wozniak was a constant presence in the Hutt Valley of that era, was also knocking on the class-room door...........Five questions now for Perce Harpham....
As you look now at the immense scattering of public funds in the general direction of encouraging technological innovation, you must feel increasingly disappointed at the failure of the government to encourage your educational application desk top computer, leaving the field open to Apple among others?
The development of the Poly computer system was disappointing on many fronts. The idea for a special purpose computer was conceived by two gifted lecturers in Wellington Polytech. It was accepted by the Education Department. The Government's Development Finance Corporation was charged with doing the sort of job that NASA does with space travel - namely bringing together New Zealand resources to make it happen. Just for once it appeared that NZ was going to do something right in the technology field by taking a problem which we had here and developing a solution for the world market.
The Development Finance Corporation invited us to form a joint venture with them to do the job. The idea was that the Joint Venture would develop the systems software and the hardware, the Education Department would develop the courses and use them in NZ while the JV would make the computers and market them with the courses overseas. DFC said they had cast iron arrangements with Government to buy 1000 machines per year for five years if they met the practical requirements of the Department.
My company, Progeni, then provided highly capable professionals to develop the system including all sorts of innovations, some 30 companies supplied parts and manufactured circuit boards, and the specially designed the moulded cases and the like. Some 60 teachers gave up their Christmas holidays to develop demonstration courses for mathematics, music and all sorts of things where there was a need. We made some 70 machines which were trialled in class rooms. Massey University evaluated the results. They were highly successful and more than met the conditions set down by the Department. The Government then welshed on the deal.
Warren Cooper later told me that he and his colleagues in the cabinet had decided that, and here I quote, " there was no point in spending Government money so that teachers could do even less work".
We bought out DFCs interest in the Joint Venture and tried to carry on. A number of schools then raised money and bought machines. I have been told that another cabinet minister had an investment in the Apple agency in NZ. Apple then was allowed to dump, and I use the word in its formal legal sense, its computers in NZ at about one quarter of their retail price. They targeted precisely our market and destroyed it for us.
We went to China and sold a few machines then built a new model handling Chinese characters. We were on the verge of some major sales when the Tiananmen Square incidents occurred and all the bankers suddenly thought anything to do with China was valueless. Our bank, the Bank of New Zealand, then twice had to be rescued from bankruptcy by the Government. We were the collateral damage. Almost a year after the receivers were appointed we had a major order from the Agricultural Bank of China. It had been delayed by Tiananmen and the company had been destroyed. But I managed to deliver part of the order from stocks that had been stored in China and purchased back from the universities we had given them to. But we were already dead.
Had the Government honoured its commitments New Zealand would have been a world leader in computer-based learning.
To what extent did the death of your chief technology officer Jean Claude de Verrier in the same Chicago DC10 disaster that took the life of Roger Estridge, point man for IBM’s pc development, harm the future of the Progeni desk top development?
Jean Claude de Verrier's (pictured below) death was a huge blow. It did not affect the development of the Poly computers. But it set back our US venture dramatically. Nonetheless it was going well before the receivers sold it to the management for a pittance. It has gone on to prosper as Progeni Inc with headquarters in Dallas. All of the people we transferred to the US who have not retired are still with it. See its website.
After your bid to persuade the Department of Education here to buy the Progeni desk-top, you turned to China. Were you worried at the time and subsequently about (a) copying, and (b) getting paid?
I can only add that one is always vulnerable to copying and you rely on staying ahead of the game so that your new innovations make the copies obsolete. There was never a problem about getting paid. When we went into receivership it was claimed in the press that it was because we had not been paid from China. This was completely untrue.
You pioneered in New Zealand the independent software development house, handling major governmental contracts along the way. How do you view nowadays public systems development and implementation?
I view Government handling of their computer developments as an unmitigated disaster. We formed a Joint venture with a US company to deliver the software for the Wanganui Computer System. We delivered it on time at the quoted fixed price, exceeded the specification, made a profit and paid tax on it. It lasted for 30 years.
In the meantime the Government let a contract to replace our law enforcement system. No NZ owned company made it onto the short list. It was let to IBM. The delivery was supposed to take about two years. After five years and $100,000,000 it was abandoned.
Many millions were spent having an American company develop a health system with no NZ input and it was then abandoned. I remember talking to the project manager nine months after they started. He had only just found out that we did not have the equivalent of the US Sprint telephone system in NZ and was having to redesign the communication system.
More recently Customs went to tender with a contract which essentially specifically excluded NZ companies. Companies like Orion have had to make major sales overseas before gaining any sales in NZ for their hospital systems. The payroll system let to an Australian company was a disaster. The IRD system, over $1,000,000, is being developed by an overseas company.
We are supposedly going to develop a high technology economy. Yeah right!
It is said within the IT industry that pioneers end up with arrows in their back. Is there anything you might have done differently, especially in regard to your international development which many, even at the time, regarded as audacious?
I would not chase Government work unless I was satisfied that we had a level playing field uncontaminated by a cringing belief that our New Zealand capabilities are necessarily inferior.
I would first work on local and overseas companies as well as overseas governments and state governments. The latter, like the NZ Government, want to know if you have delivered similar systems elsewhere but will look at your proposal in an unbiased fashion and the experience of your proposed project team. If this includes people (possibly one or two consultants) who have had the experience you lack as a company but are satisfied that your management is competent then you are in with a chance.
| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | Monday 3 April 2017 |||
With a new year comes an inevitable update of your CAD package, and that always begs the question, should I keep my license or upgrade? Well, with Autodesk Inventor and the company’s new subscription-based plan, that decision has likely been made for you, and now it’s time to reap the benefits.
Inventor 2018 has been on the market since last week, and for those looking for the latest features in their CAD tools, here’s what you can expect from the latest version of Autodesk’s flagship mechanic design package.
MBE Tools Demanded, MBE Tools Delivered
Demand and model-based engineering (MBE) as a standard CAD paradigm is increasing throughout the design world. Not only are big-time movers and shakers like the DoD insisting that fluency with MBE be a prerequisite for any contractor, the ever-tightening integration between design, prototyping and manufacturing is making MBE coin of the realm.
To give users the tools they’ll need to meet this new design focus, Inventor comes equipped for model-based design (MBD) tools that make it easy to annotate models with tolerance information, critical dimensions and manufacturing notes so that a project can move from modeling to CMM and CAM in a flash. In addition, Inventor users can output 3D PDF files so that design information can be effectively communicated to manufacturers off-site.
Interoperability Expanded
Designers today have to deal with a number of variables when building a product. One of the most consistent of those variables is that a team will likely be interacting with a number of third-party vendors and, most likely, a few different CAD file formats.
In the past, having to juggle multiple file formats made collaboration with third-party products awkward and time consuming, but in Inventor 2018, the software supports a number of different file flavors and formats, making it easy to leverage the design work that’s already been done by others so that workflows are streamlined.
Customer-Driven Enhancements Round out 2018
Aside from MBD and interoperability enhancements, the Inventor engineering team has tapped its deep user base to implement over 50 Inventor Idea requests into 2018. Whether it’s improvements to such essential features as “Chamfer,” “Extrude” or “Hole” commands, Inventor’s refinement is reaching a level that’s difficult to match by other CAD programs. But modeling features aren’t the only aspects of the software that have seen improvements thanks to user input. In Inventor 2018, the “Measure” tool has been simplified and improved to make it easier to use, and bill of materials (BOM) and parts list sort orders have been made easier to organize based on user input commands.
For more information about Inventor 2018, visit CADPROSystems
| An engineering.com release - visit site for images & videos | March 28, 2017 |||
Energetic, enthusiastic, motivating, thought provoking, enjoyable – who’d have thought all these were comments from delegates attending a building-industry conference!
PrefabNZ is a hub for innovative construction. Whether you are looking to build a home, are working within the industry or are just interested in the latest building solutions – this is the place to be.
PrefabNZ CoLab 2017 – held at AUT on March 21st was sold out quickly, and it was not hard to see why. This year’s keynote speakers from around the globe delivered a spectacular array of knowledge and relevant content that held the audience of 170 delegates captive from start to finish. I didn’t see a single yawn.
Helena Lidelow (University of Lulea / Lindbäcks, Sweden) delivered the keynote and quickly gained the attention of her audience by delivering some stark industry facts regarding waste operations on building projects. Just 20% of the time is considered “Direct Work” compared with 35% “Pure Waste” and 45% “Indirect Work”. Talking with some delegates after the keynote, these facts had clearly done their work and the “off-site manufacture” message had firmly taken root! Helena’s presentation went on to compare prefab to the automotive industry and how different the two industries are – but to learn these lessons and understand the industry more, you’ll need to get yourself along to the next events. (http://www.prefabnz.com/Events)
This year, CADPRO Systems provided a 15-minute talk on how people see the world in different ways. Not everyone can read a drawing and yet we still present incredibly technical diagrams to clients and expect them to engage with a project. During the short talk, we introduced virtual reality (VR) and how it brings the only “full scale” immersive experience to potential clients and stakeholders – regardless of their technical ability. Our VR rig in the exhibition area was in constant use by delegates and exhibitors throughout the day. As usual, it was fascinating to see people become so quickly and emotionally connected to a simple model, and their understanding of the potential uses for the technology was inspiring.
| A CADPRO Systems release | Wednesday 22 March 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
|
|