In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Major General (Ret’d) Dr Marcus Thompson, inaugural head of the ADF’s Information Warfare Division, Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman unpack the importance of long-range strike as a deterrent and how Australia is uplifting its cyber and information warfare capabilities.

• MAJGEN (Ret’d) Thompson begins unpacking the benefits of establishing the ADF’s Cyber Command, drawing together the cyber capabilities of each of the services and enhancing the integrated force’s warfighting effects.
• They then examine Iran’s cyber operations against the Republican Party in the US, and whether Australia and the US should consider expanding ANZUS.
• The trio then discuss the acquisition of the B21 to provide redundancy as Australia procures nuclear-powered submarines and the need to develop clear doctrine across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Contested Ground podcast, where hosts Major General (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson, Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman unpack how nations vie for influence below the threshold of armed conflict.

• In this episode, the hosts unpack how foreign actors sought to stoke tensions during the recent English riots and how social media echo chambers have caused a deep division in society.
• The hosts then look closer to home and how the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) recently raised Australia’s terror threat level, analysing a range of factors that have contributed to this, including how communities responded to the 7 October attacks in Israel.
• They wrap up the podcast debating whether the government and police should monitor speech online, and to what extent.

Enjoy the podcast,
The Contested Ground team

• The pair begin the podcast by analysing what the new-era ransomware and wiper attacks look like and how they can stop a business – even in critical industries – from delivering for their clients.
• Blake then unpacks the challenges behind incident containment before diving into Cohesity’s recent research, which showed alarming statistics on the number of Australian businesses that have paid ransoms.
• The pair wrap up the podcast by discussing how businesses must leverage backups in order to ensure business continuity, as Blake explains why backups are a CISO’s secret weapon in the war against malicious actors.

Enjoy the podcast,
The Cyber Uncut team