CONTESTED GROUND: Irregular operations in Afghanistan and grey zone warfare in the APAC region, with MAJGEN (Ret’d) Gus McLachlan

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Joe Hockey, former Australian ambassador to the United States, joins hosts Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson and Steve Kuper to discuss the continued importance of the Australia–US relationship. The trio begin by discussing the fallout of the latest presidential debate between contenders, former president Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, touching on the implications for the bilateral relationship. They also discuss the role of grey zone warfare and information warfare efforts in the upcoming election and how they may shape the outcome. Finally, they discuss the importance of the partnership in helping Australia reindustrialise and build a truly sovereign defence industrial base, with a pathway forward to establishing an integrated Australian prime. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Andrew Hastie MP, shadow minister for defence and shadow minister for defence industry, joins hosts Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman to discuss how Australia must develop sovereign capability amid growing geopolitical uncertainty. The trio begin the podcast discussing how Australia needs to support Defence SMEs to deliver sovereign capability amid rising political uncertainty before looking into additional uses of Australia’s special forces capabilities. The shadow minister then discusses how decision makers must clearly articulate the grey zone and kinetic risks that Australia faces, and outlines what some of his key objectives would be in government. The podcast wraps up discussing Ukraine’s continued fight for freedom. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of Cyber Uncut, host David Hollingworth is joined by Daniel Croft to unpack the week in cyber security. From hacks abroad and closer to home, the changing tactics of the once prolific LockBit ransomware gang, to new Australian laws introduced to protect our privacy and stop the spread of misinformation, the pair cover a lot of ground and try to find a bright spot in the Australian Federal Police (AFP) looking to mentor neurodivergent into a career in cyber security. Croft talks about a disclosure by the third-largest cyber security firm in the world, Fortinet, with the company revealing that a malicious actor accessed a third-party repository, while closer to home, the RansomHub gang posts a trove of customer data stolen from a New Zealand accounting firm. The pair also discuss sneaky new “data duplication” tactics being used by LockBit, where it takes an old leak and threatens victims a second time. Then Hollingworth and Croft discuss new government regulations boosting the powers of the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) while pondering the scope of coming to grips with the social media giants before closing a brighter note, praising the AFP for its neurodivergent mentoring program. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Major General (Ret’d) Gus McLachlan, former Commander Forces Command, joins hosts Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson and Liam Garman to unpack modern asymmetrical warfare: from the Taliban in Afghanistan to Chinese Coast Guard vessels in the Philippine Sea, and even how social media is spurring political divisions. The podcast begins by analysing what grey zone warfare looks like in the modern geopolitical environment, from resource competition to militarisation of civilian capabilities to compel an adversary beneath the threshold of armed conflict. The trio then discuss lessons from the Taliban in Afghanistan, including the utilisation of information to seize control of the narrative. They then examine the need to seize freedom of manoeuvre in the online domain, and the risks of forfeiting social media. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of Cyber Uncut, Shaq Johnson – ANZ bank’s head of customer protection – joins hosts David Hollingworth and Liam Garman to break down the current scam landscape in Australia, from what the scammers are doing to the real, personal impacts of falling victim to a scam. As Hollingworth says in the podcast, 164,111 scams have been reported to the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Scamwatch already this year, so while scams are slowing down, it’s still a significant challenge. Our discussion with Johnson opens with what some of the most reported scams are and how they work. Johnson then goes into the challenges that ANZ and other banks face, from tracing accounts linked to money mules and offshore organised scam organisations to whether scam victims should be reimbursed once they’ve fallen victim and sent money to a scammer. Finally, Johnson explains the unique challenges of being a first responder to scam victims and outlines the approach ANZ takes to support its employees on the coalface of the fight against scammers. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson, inaugural head of the ADF’s Information Warfare Division, Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman unpack the importance of long-range strike as a deterrent and how Australia is uplifting its cyber and information warfare capabilities. MAJGEN (Ret’d) Thompson begins unpacking the benefits of establishing the ADF’s Cyber Command, drawing together the cyber capabilities of each of the services and enhancing the integrated force’s warfighting effects. They then examine Iran’s cyber operations against the Republican Party in the US, and whether Australia and the US should consider expanding ANZUS. The trio then discuss the acquisition of the B21 to provide redundancy as Australia procures nuclear-powered submarines and the need to develop clear doctrine across the electromagnetic spectrum. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Contested Ground podcast, where hosts Major General (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson, Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman unpack how nations vie for influence below the threshold of armed conflict. In this episode, the hosts unpack how foreign actors sought to stoke tensions during the recent English riots and how social media echo chambers have caused a deep division in society. The hosts then look closer to home and how the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) recently raised Australia’s terror threat level, analysing a range of factors that have contributed to this, including how communities responded to the 7 October attacks in Israel. They wrap up the podcast debating whether the government and police should monitor speech online, and to what extent. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of Cyber Uncut, James Blake, head of global cyber resiliency strategy at Cohesity, joins host Liam Garman to discuss how businesses can respond to destructive ransomware and wiper attacks – and why chief information security officers (CISOs) should perceive backups as a secret weapon in the fight against malicious actors.  The pair begin the podcast by analysing what the new-era ransomware and wiper attacks look like and how they can stop a business – even in critical industries – from delivering for their clients. Blake then unpacks the challenges behind incident containment before diving into Cohesity’s recent research, which showed alarming statistics on the number of Australian businesses that have paid ransoms. The pair wrap up the podcast by discussing how businesses must leverage backups in order to ensure business continuity, as Blake explains why backups are a CISO’s secret weapon in the war against malicious actors.  Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, Peter Maloney, CEO and managing director of AUCloud, joins host Liam Garman to examine the 71 per cent year-on-year increase in cyber attacks against healthcare systems and the risks that this will pose for regular Australians. The pair begin the podcast by unpacking key findings from the 2024 Cyber Security Healthcare Report and the key factors that contribute to this alarming trend. Maloney then provides insight into the Monash Health and MediSecure data breaches and what steps that healthcare providers must take to prevent future breaches. They wrap up the podcast by looking at the ethical implications of healthcare data breaches, while Maloney details the must-need strategies and technologies to ameliorate this risk. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Daily podcast, Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson, and Liam Garman unpack how society must come to terms with the growing magnitude of IT mishaps and recent changes to Australia’s cyber security leadership.  The podcast begins by analysing the CrowdStrike IT outage and how IT mishaps will increasingly threaten society as we know it – discussing alternatives, including supplier diversification for business and government redundancies.  They then discuss the appointment of Minister Tony Burke as Australia’s new cyber security minister and whether his responsibilities – including the portfolios of home affairs, immigration, arts and cyber security, will give cyber enough time around the cabinet table.  They wrap up by looking at how local government continues to be a weak link in Australia’s cyber security chain.  Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team