AustCyber announces return of Australian Cyber Week 2021

AustCyber has announced the return of the annual Australian Cyber Week, a week-long series of events and activities, to be held from 25–29 October 2021. The event combines virtual and in-person sessions to generate awareness about the Australian cybersecurity industry and showcase local innovation. It will also support increased understanding of cybersecurity by debating topical issues, risks and solutions, and facilitate national and global networking. AustCyber will utilise its virtual conference platform as the cornerstone infrastructure to deliver Australian Cyber Week, which features 100% Australian technology. The 3D ‘circuit board city’ will provide daily live events and a knowledge library of past events, as well as a networking hub and exhibition hall showcasing booths which feature sovereign products and services.

Online events will be complemented by in-person events in South Australia and Western Australia, facilitated through AustCyber’s National Network of Cyber Security Innovation Nodes. Michelle Price, CEO of AustCyber, said Cyber Week helps to demystify the cybersecurity industry and connects Australian cyber capabilities with key domestic and international stakeholders who contribute to the growth of the sector. Price added that Cyber Week 2021 is one of AustCyber’s flagship activities under its mission to grow a globally competitive Australian cybersecurity sector.

“Each day, Australian Cyber Week has a feature event to demonstrate our globally competitive cybersecurity ecosystem. The range of speakers is broad — from CEOs of large corporates and venture capital investors, to ethical hackers, school students with a keen interest in cyber and those in minority groups working within the sector,” Price said.

To underscore the importance of digital trust in keeping digital activity secure and resilient, during an event on 25 October, guest speakers will walk through a significant cyber attack on Australia through a hypothetical situation that seeks to draw out complexities and considerations for all organisations. Experts from the ANU, University of Canberra, UNSW, Canberra Institute of Technology and industry will come together on 26 October to discuss career pathways, and upskilling and micro-credentialing a remote workforce.

Ten innovative Australian companies will present pitches to the audience during an event on 27 October, with attendees able to invest fake dollars and vote for their favourite product or solution. The Tasmania Cyber Security Innovation Node will also run the online Big Cyber Ideas Challenge. On 28 October, the key event will be a debate on the current state of procurement and policy as it relates to the emerging technology sectors within Australia. The host will ask questions of guests, with two teams — affirmative and negative — battling to highlight the opportunities, challenges and required actions to uplift procurement across the nation.

On 29 October, dubbed ‘community day’, Australian company OSINT Combine will facilitate an instructor-led day of open source intelligence (OSINT) training for participants to learn open source fundamentals, searching essentials and cross-platform social media network analysis. This will be useful training for the National Missing Persons Hackathon, which has been postponed until early 2022. The week-long program will also see workshops hosted by DTEX Systems and Retrospect Labs, a clinic about cyber resilience for small businesses from Kangaroo Island, as well as panels on diversity and digital forensics. In a new feature of the line-up, online cyber escape room sessions will allow participants to immerse themselves in an Australian cyber attack scenario, as they solve problems to escape a hypothetical Special Operations Command Centre.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Anton Gvozdikov