Protecht’s Mike Franklin on the importance of creating a strong company cyber security culture and prioritising critical assets

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Phil Tarrant and Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson explore Australia’s readiness to meet its military needs and examine the country’s role amid a rapidly changing global landscape. They kick things off with a discussion on Commonwealth funding, before exploring the AUKUS agreement and whether its long-term success is at risk, especially in the context of political volatility in the US. Turning their attention to the Middle East, they unpack recent strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Israel’s evolving strategy, and what it all means for Western unity. The episode wraps up with a reflection on Australia’s waning strategic influence and how generational change in Washington could challenge the long-standing Australia–US alliance. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, host Liam Garman is joined by Mike Franklin, Australian cyber security lead at Protecht, to discuss the current cyber security landscape, the importance of top-down cyber security culture, and the impact of AI on cyber security. Garman and Franklin begin with a discussion on the current cyber security landscape, such as the importance of risk management and the evolving techniques used by malicious actors. The pair also discuss the importance of differentiating IT risk, such as product availability and other operational issues, and cyber risk. Franklin then highlights the importance of understanding and prioritising an organisation’s critical assets and the need for a strong top-down cyber security culture. Finally, Franklin discusses the impact of AI on cyber security and how the role of the technology is quickly evolving from both a defence and an offence perspective. Enjoy the episode, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft are joined by Australian Aviation’s Jake Nelson to talk about the Qantas data breach before our usual suspects talk up the latest AI news, followed by some alarming local hacks. AI is the topic for Hollingworth and Croft as the pair start with a chat about News Corp’s new drive to integrate AI into journalists’ workflows and the media giant’s decision to train AI on the content produced by its writers. Plus, US Senator Bernie Sanders has a fantastic idea about what to do with all the time saved by AI – give it back to the workers! The pair then discuss a pair of successful investigations that have led to the hackers being arrested – one in France that appears to have put the final nail into BreachForums’ coffin as both ShinyHunters and IntelBroker are now behind bars, and another here in Australia, as the infamous Western Sydney University hacker was revealed to be an ex-student. Now arrested herself, she started out looking to cheat the university’s parking fees, but quickly went straight to the dark side. Hollingworth and Croft finish up with some updates on the Australian government’s social media age assurance trials and whether or not YouTube should be part of the ban, and return to an old friend, War Thunder, as another angry gamer has posted restricted material to prove a point. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft talk about good and bad AI use cases, dramatic hacker arrests in Australia and France, printer vulnerabilities, and why War Thunder is a national security risk. AI is the topic for Hollingworth and Croft as the pair start with a chat about News Corp’s new drive to integrate AI into journalists’ workflows and the media giant’s decision to train AI on the content produced by its writers. Plus, US Senator Bernie Sanders has a fantastic idea about what to do with all the time saved by AI – give it back to the workers! The pair then discuss a pair of successful investigations that have led to the hackers being arrested – one in France that appears to have put the final nail into BreachForums’ coffin as both ShinyHunters and IntelBroker are now behind bars, and another here in Australia, as the infamous Western Sydney University hacker was revealed to be an ex-student. Now arrested herself, she started out looking to cheat the university’s parking fees, but quickly went straight to the dark side. Hollingworth and Croft finish up with some updates on the Australian government’s social media age assurance trials and whether or not YouTube should be part of the ban, and return to an old friend, War Thunder, as another angry gamer has posted restricted material to prove a point. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft discuss military AI, cyber warfare in the Middle East, the week in cyber security, and why the Pope is coming out swinging against AI. Hollingworth and Croft kick things off with AI news, including AI tech bros earning a military commission in the efforts to build battlefield AI and creators in the UK being told their art can, in fact, be used to train AI models. The pair then discuss the uptick in cyber activity due to the current conflict between Israel and Iran, as hacktivists on both sides take up digital arms. The discussion then moves on to the takedown of a prominent darknet drug market, and some of the big Australian hacks of the week. Hollingworth and Croft wind up with some good news, including the Pope siding with workers and creatives against the rise of AI, and some good AI news as USNW researchers work to develop a chatbot for hospital emergency departments. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft talk about furry hacking collectives, a spree of ransomware attacks targeting Australian healthcare organisations, and good news for farmers. Hollingworth and Croft start their chat by catching up on a defacement campaign targeting a website administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services. AI-generated images of furries suddenly appeared overnight on the site, with the identity of the hackers – and whether or not they’re furries themselves – currently unknown. The pair then get more serious as they discuss the rapid rise of a new ransomware operation and its attacks on Australian healthcare providers. Global only started operating in June but already has three Aussie victims. Hollingworth and Croft discuss who the hackers might be and what their plans are for the future. Finally, the pair talk about some good news, with free new cyber security education resources being made available to Aussie farmers and the ACMA’s push to make telcos more supportive of the victims of domestic violence. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft are joined by special guest Robert Dougherty of Defence Connect to talk about a Ukrainian hacking operation, ransomware attacks on Australian companies surge after a quiet spot, and a popular hacking forum returns. Hollingworth and Croft kick things off with Dougherty as they discuss an offer from Ukraine to assist the Australian Defence Force with integrating AI into combat operations, the uses of AI on the battlefield, and a daring Ukrainian cyber operation that targeted one of Russia’s most important builders of military aircraft. Cyber Daily’s two journalists then catch up on a busy week for Australian companies trying – and failing – to protect themselves from ransomware attacks. As it turns out, the quiet period talked about in the last episode was just a blip. The hacks, sadly, are back, and they continue to be disruptive, as Fire Rescue Victoria is continuing to learn following a 2022 cyber attack. Finally, the pair wrap up the podcast with news of BreachForum’s resurrection, and a welcome move from two IT security giants to clean up the realm of threat actor attribution. Names matter! Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson and Liam Garman unpack the latest from Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in India-Pakistan, and how diaspora groups are expanding conflict beyond country borders. They begin the podcast discussing Australian schoolteacher Oscar Jenkins, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison by Russia. The trio then discuss the India-Pakistan conflict, and how it has drawn in regional powers and diaspora groups.  They wrap up unpacking a European-Australian defence pact, and whether it will be sufficient to support Australian stability in the Indo-Pacific. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft talk about Meta moving to use user data to train its AI, cyber attacks on local legal firms and boards, and new regulations requiring mandatory reporting of ransomware payments. Hollingworth and Croft kick things off with the news that a German data watchdog has been unable to stop Meta from using user data to train its new AI model. As they say, if the product is free, the product is you – and your Facebook posts. The pair then discuss the latest cyber attacks targeting Australian organisations, with both a Queensland law firm and the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia falling victim to ransomware attacks, as well as The Salvation Army getting listed on a darknet leak site. Hollingworth and Croft also discuss how attacks seem to have slowed down in the last month. Is it a trend or just a blip? Finally, the two wrap up the podcast with a discussion on a new Australian law coming into effect requiring organisations to report paying a ransom and its possible impact on the ransomware economy. Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, host Liam Garman is joined by Thomas Fikentscher, CyberArk’s head of ANZ operations, to explore the company’s international business, cyber security trends, the importance of privileged access, and the importance of taking cyber security seriously. Garman and Fikentscher begin with a discussion on CyberArk’s international operations and recent trends regarding how businesses are looking at their networks and what’s essential to keep their operations running smoothly. The pair then discuss the importance of understanding and implementing privileged access to data and how that can keep critical infrastructure secure. Fikentscher talks about the recent blackouts in Spain and the challenges of introducing AI agents into workflows. Fikentscher discusses why modern privileged access management (PAM) must extend beyond traditional admin controls as organisations scale across cloud and AI environments. He explains it now needs to secure both human and machine identities, manage ephemeral access and integrate seamlessly into DevOps workflows. Finally, he emphasises the importance of a ‘security by design’ approach - embedding security into the architecture of systems and processes from the start to strengthen resilience and compliance, but also to help prevent security lapses that can disrupt business operations and impact bottom lines.   Enjoy the episode, The Cyber Uncut team