SCI UPDATES 2024
ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Project Launch: Australia India Joint Technology Assessment for Peace and Stability
On 29 November, at 4.30pm AEDST, the Australian National University and InKlude Labs hosted a launch event for an ambitious new project in Australia India relations, funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, under the Australia India Cyber and Critical Technologies Partnership. The launch was supported by the Social Cyber Institute which contributed to development of the project. All six Australian participants are associated with the Institute. Read our Project Scope briefing note here. See the video of our project launch at this link.
New Discussion Paper: Australia’s Cyber Surge
The new Institute discussion paper from Greg Austin is at this link. The press release with a summary of key points is here. In March 2022, Australia announced the biggest expansion and upgrade of its cyber capabilities for national security and intelligence at any time since creation of its national-level signals intelligence organisation in 1947. In political terms, there were likely three main geopolitical motivations or drivers for the Australian cyber surge: containing foreign interference in Australia, the need to deliver new levels of cyber operations as part of the AUKUS reorientation and strategic uplift, and the government’s exaggerated view of deteriorating strategic circumstances in the Indo-Pacific.
Submission to Parliamentary Committee on New Cyber Legislation
On 25 October, Dr Brendan Walker-Munro made a formal submission on behalf of several of us in SCI to the Parliamentary Joint Committee of Intelligence and Security Review of the Cyber Security Legislative Package 2024. It was a great effort by Brendan with the final committee Advisory Report referring to the SCI submission several times. Copy of the submission can be found here.
Conversation: New ASD Chief Inherits Urgent Mission
On 28 August, Greg Austin published a brief commentary in The Conversation on the appointment of Abigail Bradshaw as the new Director General of the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD). More information here.
Inaugural Internship Appointed
On 22 August, Zara Yap joined us as an intern for 12 weeks to support the Social Cyber Institute and the Social Cyber Academy. More information here.
Academy launches signature Executive Program
On 1 August, the Social Cyber Academy launched its signature Executive Program, Total Cyberspace Defence, scheduled for Thursday 7 November. More information here.
International Webinar: information warfare
On 25 July, Professor Dan Svantesson of Bond University and Professor Mathieu O'Neil of Canberra University led a webinar on Australia's readiness to defeat information warfare. Watch video recording here. Svantesson presentation here. O'Neil presentation here.
Study tour to USA
SCI Associate Fellow @Jack Goldsmith undertook an International Visitor Leadership Program study tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State focused on building a workforce for critical and emerging technologies. He visited Washington, DC, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Phoenix to learn about workforce development approaches across semiconductors, electric vehicles, advanced manufacturing, cyber security, and more. Read his article on the visit in the Lowy Interpreter.
New article on Australian Privacy Law
Dan Jerker B Svantesson co-authored with ANU's Jorge Conde an article on 'The five generations of facial recognition usage and the Australian privacy law in International Data Privacy Law, 2024, ipae007
SCI at UKAIS 2025
Three SCI Fellows will lead on a panel for the next annual conference of the UK Academy of Information Sciences, scheduled for Newcastle-on-Tyne in April 2025. The conference theme will be "Impact of AI on Teaching, Research, and Scholarship". https://ukais.org/ukais-conference/ukais-2025/. The SCI colleagues, Professor Katina Michael (ASU), Professor Glenn Withers (ANU) and Professor Greg Austin (UTS), will convene Track 11 on privacy, trust and responsibility.
Media Hits on China’s Cyber Espionage
Professor Greg Austin was interviewed for a news report on SBS and a background report on ABC on China’s APT40 hacking group and the Australian and allied security advisory on its activities.
Research Security in AUS Universities
SCI Senior Fellow, Dr Brendan Walker-Munro and two co-authors (David Mount and Ruby Ioannou, both of the University of Queensland) publish a commentary, 'Are we training our potential adversaries', in Issue 1 of Cyber Today, the magazine of the Australian Information Security Association in its first issue of 2024.,
SCI Director at NATO CyCon in Tallinn
SCI Research Director, Greg Austin, an adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, was an invited panelist for the closing day of the annual CyCon hosted by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence in Tallin from 29-31 May. He also served as commentator and moderator in a workshop on the day before the conference, discussing creation of a new cyber operational element for NATO under the Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
Victims of Hacking May Reach One Billion
SCI Distinguished Fellow Katina Michael, a Professor at Arizona State University, told AFP in an interview on a massive hack of global events agency, TicketMaster, that the number of victims of hacking could reach one billion. Brief reports of the interview were carried in globally prominent news outlets, such as France 24.
Securing Australia's Quantum Technology
In a commentary for the Lowy Institute on 7 May, SCI Senior Fellow, Dr Brendan Walker-Munro of Southern Cross University, calls for 'bold and innovative steps' to be taken by key stakeholders (Government, academia, industry and the intelligence services) to provide adequate security for Australia's rapidly evolving quantum capabilities and basic research.
In the Conversation on 23 April 2024, SCI Senior Fellow, Dan Swantesson, analyses the standoff between Twitter (X) and the Australian government over a take-down order for video of a terrorist attack in the country.
He argues that 'global content take-down orders can harm the internet if adopted widely'.
New Fellows Announced
On 23 April, SCI announced the commitment of seven researchers to its inaugural Fellows program to extend the influence of social science approaches to security in cyberspace. See our Fellows Fellows page here.
Webinar on Japan and Australia
Video here: On 5 March, we hosted a webinar on Cyber Policy responses by Japan and Australia to the Russia/Ukraine War. The webinar featured a presentation by Mihoko Matsubara drawing on her book, ‘ウクライナのサイバー戦争’[Ukraine’s Cyber War] which was published in Japanese in August 2023. Ms Matsubara is Chief Cyber Strategist with NTT in Tokyo. The second presentation on Australian policy was from Professor Greg Austin, co-author of the recent IISS report, ‘Impact of the Russia–Ukraine War on National Cyber Planning: A Survey of Ten Countries’, and adjunct Professor at the Australia China Institute at the University of Technology Sydney. Greg is a co-founder of the Social Cyber Institute. The webinar addressed how the two governments have adjusted their national policies in response to cyber operations by Russia, Ukraine and their allies in their war now underway for two years. The discussion also analysed future options and challenges.
Comment on ASIO Threat Assessment
On 4 March, Greg Austin posted an short commentary tin he The Conversation, saying that ASIO was to be commended for its successes and transparency but that some elements of the latest threat assessment appeared confusing. Read here.
Fellows Program
With effect from 1 March 2024, the Social Institute (SCI) has introduced a Fellows’ program to create opportunities for specialists in the field to gain additional recognition for their work, to develop their skills, and to contribute to our work for mutual benefit and public interest. Further details can be found here.
Call for Papers
On 1 March 2024, the Institute issued an open call for proposals for research papers or policy briefs in the field of social cyber security for publication in our online working paper series. Further details can be found here.
Commentary on China's Military Buildup
In Australian Outlook on 19 February, Professor Greg Austin challenged claims by the Australian government that China's military buildup has been the largest and most ambitious of any country since 1945. He offered comparisons with the Soviet buildup from 1962 to 1985 and the US buildup from 1949 to 1972. Read it here.