Articles on technology leadership, cyber security, infrastructure, education technology, homelabs and the Townsville technology community.

Townsville computer stores — remembering the past and making the case for what comes next

Remembering Townsville's specialist computer stores and making the case for Computer Alliance, Umart or another major retailer to open locally.

Practical cyber security for small organisations

Practical cyber security priorities for small businesses, schools, charities, churches and community organisations in Townsville.

North Queensland Cyber Watch: a quiet auto-forwarding rule becomes a notifiable data breach

Townsville Catholic Education's 2026 data breach notification shows how ordinary email auto-forwarding rules can expose sensitive data — and the Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace controls that prevent it.

North Queensland Cyber Watch: ransomware halts a major Queensland sugar mill

A ransomware attack disrupted crushing at a major North Queensland sugar producer in June 2026 — a reminder that critical agricultural infrastructure is now a live target.

North Queensland Cyber Watch: Townsville schools caught in the global Canvas breach

A global attack on the Canvas learning platform reached Townsville schools in May 2026, exposing student and staff data and underscoring why third-party risk matters for education.

Home Lab Progress

An update on homelab backups, UPS protection, VM monitoring, helpdesk alerts and testing the Mailu Docker mail server.

Automating my Home Lab

Notes on documenting and automating a Linux homelab with Ansible, shell scripts, backups and reproducible server builds.