CONTESTED GROUND: The fragility of Australia's energy ecosystem, with AVM (Ret'd) John Blackburn AO

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast miniseries following the outbreak of the latest conflict in the Middle East, hosts Steve Kuper and Major General (Ret'd) Dr Marcus Thompson are joined by Air Vice-Marshal (Ret'd) John Blackburn AO to discuss the implications of the Iran conflict on Australia's energy system. The trio begin by discussing the Australian government's rhetoric around the nation's liquid fuel supplies, its access to the global energy markets and the immediate ramifications of the ongoing throttling of oil flows out of the Middle East. As part of this, they unpack the state of Australia's liquid fuel stockpiles, the challenges governments face in moving to "calm" the Australian public and prevent a run on the nation's limited crude oil reserves. They also discuss the decline in the nation's refining capacity, our dependence on foreign refined fuel imports from south-east Asia and the implications for national security and resilience. Finally, they unpack the policy and regulatory challenges and opportunities that face Australia's policymakers and the immediate steps we can take to build national resilience. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

This week on Cyber Uncut, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft unpack the week's cyber and AI news and entertain some very special guests in the studio to break down how insider threats work and how CISOs can defend against them. The pair kick off the podcast discussion by breaking down Meta's move to buy agentic AI chat platform Moltbook and how its developers have now become senior Meta AI staff, before moving on to have a look at how Pornhub has responded to eSafety's new age verification measures. Hollingworth then welcomes three fantastic guests to the podcast: Brenton Steenkamp, lead partner, heading up law firm Clayton Utz's cyber security practice; Andreas Ostenfeldt, director in Clayton Utz's risk advisory practice; and their guest, Lou Bladel, the global director of insider threat at Uber and a former FBI agent. Cyber Uncut's guests go into detail covering how insider threats work, what motivates insiders to go bad, and how CISOs can outline the challenge to their boards. Hollingworth also asks Bladel to outline his thoughts on cyber threats emerging from the fighting in Iran, before a quick chat about the risks that agentic AI can pose. Hollingworth and Croft then close out the podcast looking at the UK government voting down a move to introduce Australian-style social media age verification laws – for now. Enjoy, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground Podcast, hosts Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret'd) Dr Marcus Thompson, and Steve Kuper discuss the immediate aftermath of the US–Israeli strikes against Iran and the ramifications for Australia. The trio lays the foundation for a mini-series of focused podcast conversations over the coming weeks to address the impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East on Australia and the Australian public. These topics will include engaging conversations with a range of experts across the following: The impact on social cohesion and the rise of foreign interference in Australia's diaspora communities. Australia's declining industrial sovereignty and the impact of contested, frayed and interrupted supply chains. The economic impacts of the conflict in the Middle East and Australia's cost-of-living crisis and the fuel security challenges Australia faces. The impact on Australia's key economic pillars and the connective tissue of logistic supply chains. Cyber security, disinformation and proxy activity in Australia. Migration and the challenges facing Australia's diaspora communities. Questions relating to Australia's geographic isolation and the psychology behind our "Tyranny of Distance" and the impact on Australia's security posture. Questions relating to what kind of "Middle Power" Australia wants to be. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

This week on Cyber Uncut, Liam Garman and Daniel Croft unpack the week's cyber and AI news, while David Hollingworth reports from Zero Trust World 2026 in Florida! Garman and Croft kick off the podcast with news of ChatGPT shedding a raft of users since it announced it would sign up with the Pentagon after rival AI giant Anthropic backed down over fears its AI would be used without adequate guardrails. The pair then unpack the Commonwealth Bank's self-reported $1 billion fraud case involving illegitimate home loans after two whistleblowers accused a lender and a mortgage broker of forging income statements within the bank's private banking division. The two also cover how a hacktivist group named the "Department of Peace" allegedly breached the DHS Office of Industry Partnerships and released details on ICE and DHS contracts with over 6,000 entities, including Anduril, Microsoft, Oracle, and Palantir. Finally, we then cut to David Hollingworth on the floor of Zero Trust World 2026, where he caught up with ThreatLocker's CEO, Danny Jenkins, unpacking the cyber security implications of the fighting in Iran, after Garman and Croft outline the threats to the world's financial systems as the conflict continues in the region. Enjoy, The Cyber Uncut team

This week on Cyber Uncut, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft unpack the week's cyber and AI news and entertain a special guest to boot! The pair kick off the podcast discussing Qantas facing a backlash over a series of job cuts that may be informed by the company embracing AI, while WiseTech's announcement of 2,000 job cuts definitely is driven by AI uptake. The pair also talk about CrowdStrike's latest research, which shows hackers are embracing AI as much as everyone else. Hollingworth then unpacks a hacking spree targeting Australian small and medium-sized businesses by the Qilin ransomware operation, as well as a hack that has taken a major Aussie poultry producer offline. The pair also discuss the implications of an Australian man charged for selling cyber secrets to a broker linked to Russia. Hollingworth introduces this week's guest, ProofPoint CEO Sumit Dhawan, before the pair have a chat about agentic AI threats and how CISOs can educate their boards, and then they have a look at a more lighthearted – somewhat – sex toy data breach. Enjoy, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground Podcast, hosts Steve Kuper and Liam Garman speak with Agsecure's Andrew Henderson as they unpack the recently released US food security strategy. The trio unpack the details underpinning the pivot in American thinking resulting in the development of the food security strategy. They also discuss the key priorities and focus areas identified in the food security strategy, ranging from concerns around biosecurity, foreign ownership of agricultural land through to supply chain bottlenecks and constraints for key inputs. The trio also unpack the lessons for Australia as we begin our own national conversation about our food security and the challenges we face despite exporting 70 per cent of our annual agricultural produce. Enjoy the Podcast The Contested Ground team

In this episode of The CISO Brief, Liam Garman and Daniel Croft unpack the massive youX fintech data breach affecting hundreds of thousands of Australians, a Docusign scam targeting personal and myGov credentials, and new insights into how Australian businesses are adopting AI. The hosts break down the UX hack, why it's not just the quantity of data that matters, but also the sensitive financial ecosystem it sits in, and how threat actors can exploit it for fraud and phishing. Next, they cover a Docusign impersonation scam, explaining the "borrowed trust" technique and how scammers leverage familiar brands and urgency to trick victims into giving up personal data. Finally, Garman and Croft review Deloitte's 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise report, revealing that Australian companies are lagging in full-scale AI adoption but are prioritising responsible, measured implementation over rushing in. Enjoy the show, The Cyber Daily team

This week on Cyber Uncut, David Hollingworth and Bethany Alvaro talk about how Australia is lagging in AI adoption, the grey areas of facial recognition and surveillance, the alarming youX data breach, and Hollingworth's visit to Montreal to chat about physical security with Genetec. The pair kick off with news from Deloitte regarding an alarming slowdown in AI adoption across Australian enterprises, while Bethany picks apart her concerns over surveillance technologies and why facial recognition may well have a place in Australian stores. This is followed by Hollingworth talking about a recent trip to Montreal, where he was a guest of physical security firm Genetec. He got to see its impressive technology in action and sat down with the company's principal security architect and manager, Mathieu Chevalier, on the intersection of physical and cyber security. Plus, the pair go into the details of a data breach impacting hundreds of thousands of Australians after a hacker penetrated the network of Aussie fintech outfit youX, and what the breach means for the company's customers. Enjoy, The Cyber Uncut team

This week on Cyber Uncut, Liam Garman and Daniel Croft discuss the 209 jobs being culled by Telstra and Accenture, CBA's new "Australia-first" AI plan, Roblox and child safety risk, and how to spot romance scams this Valentine's Day. The pair kick off by outlining what a Valentine's romance scam might look like and some tips on how to spot and stop one. The pair then discuss AI, firstly outlining how a joint-venture between Telstra and Accenture has brought the AI job loss number up by another 209, with only some to be replaced by overseas staff. Finally, Garman and Croft discuss the latest ruling regarding Bunnings' facial recognition technology and give their opinion on having facial recognition technology in stores. Enjoy, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of The CISO Brief, the Cyber Daily team outlines how Anthropic's latest update to Claude caused major stock market drops, real estate scams and their impacts, and how a new tool in Australia means cyber insurance can be processed in five minutes. Hosts Liam Garman and Daniel Croft discuss the impact of Anthropic's Claude Cowork plugins and how they have led to doubt in traditional software-as-a-service options. The two then cover real estate scams, what they look like, how to identify one and how to prevent them from taking your money. Finally, the two talk about Zurich Australia's new AI tool that can process cyber insurance applications in under five minutes. Enjoy the show, The Cyber Daily team