Protecting Data in Higher Education: Benchmarking, Classification, and the Role of Secured Clouds?

Universities and higher education research institutions are having to confront a wide variety of cybersecurity threats, from motivated lone actors through to State-sponsored hacking groups. This in turn has led to universities having a greater role to play in the securing of their research data, which could contain intellectual property or sensitive information with a significant economic value. This webinar will examine the roles being taken by universities to protect these types of data, and the emergence of secured cloud environments as a mechanisms for ensuring appropriate and authorised access to research information.

Speakers:

• Dr Brendan Walker Munro, Southern Cross University

• Nikki Peever, Director of Cyber Security, Council of Australasian Universities Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT)

Dr Brendan Walker-Munro is a Senior Fellow with the Social Cyber Institute and a Senior Lecturer (Law) with the Faculty of Business, Law & the Arts at Southern Cross University. Brendan's research focus is on aspects of national security law, particularly on the implications of national security risks on higher education research and teaching. He is also interested in the national security impacts of the law on topics such as privacy, identity crime and digital security. 

Brendan has completed a number of appointments in investigation and law enforcement roles across diverse government agencies over fifteen years, including the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, Fair Work Building & Construction, the NSW and Queensland Offices of Liquor and Gaming, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Prior to joining Southern Cross, Brendan was a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's Law and the Future of War Research Group. Brendan is admitted to practise law in the Supreme Court of Queensland and also holds an appointment as a Member to both the Queensland Councillor Conduct Tribunal and the Disciplinary Panel of CPA Australia.

As Director of Cybersecurity at CAUDIT, Nikki Peever is responsible for the development and delivery of CAUDITs cybersecurity initiative for the Australasian higher education and research sector. This includes leading and delivering the Australasian Higher Education Cybersecurity Service (AHECS), which includes a broad range of activities and strategic thought leadership spanning procurement, advocacy, advice, training and awareness, threat intelligence, event management, operational support, and governance and compliance.

Nikki is a member of the Resilience Expert Advisory Group (REAG) which promotes organisational resilience in support of Australian critical infrastructure owners and operators by providing strategic advice, guidance, and tools to mature security and resilience approaches. The REAG advises the Trusted Information Sharing Network (TISN) and the Critical Infrastructure Advisory Council (CIAC) on practical ways to improve organisational resilience to support security and resilience uplift to achieve objectives in the 2023 Critical Infrastructure Resilience Strategy and Plan. Nikki is also a co-chair for the Higher Education, Innovation & Research Trusted Information Sharing Network (TISN), which includes being a representative to voice the sector’s achievements, emerging situations, and issues to the CIAC and in some cases to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Nikki has previously worked at Attorney Generals Department/Australian Government Solicitor as the Director of Field Operations, Compass Assurance as an Information Security Management System Assessor, and Queensland University of Technology as a Sessional Academic.