If, like this writer, you’ve had time on your hands, felt mischievous and decided to take on scammers with a meandering conversation to slow them down, you’re going to love what a Sydney startup is doing with Australia’s biggest bank. Sydney cyber-intelligence startup Apate.ai has teamed up with the CommBank to create AI-powered “victim bots”… Read more »
A former Western Sydney University student has been arrested and charged with allegedly hacking the institution over several years after initially seeking to exploit systems to get discounted parking. The 27-year-old woman was arrested at a property in the Western Sydney suburb of Kingswood on Wednesday, where she was charged with 20 offences including accessing… Read more »
Australia’s competition regulator says the dominance of the country’s three major cloud computing providers — Microsoft, Google, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) — means such companies could be incentivised to engage in anti-competitive behaviour, potentially increasing risks to consumers and the wider market. The major cloud providers — often called ‘hyperscalers’ due to their capacity… Read more »
Serial cybersecurity entrepreneur Michael Watts is back with new startup, kicking off a proactive cloud security platform, Circumvent, with US$6 million (A$9.2m) Seed round from Paladin Capital Group. Watts was previously founder and CEO of Cloud Conformity, which Paladin backed in 2018 with a US$3.1 million Series A. The following year the startup was acquired… Read more »
In its most recent battle with authorities in Australia, X (formerly Twitter) has launched legal action in the Federal Court, seeking an exemption from a new safety standard aimed at preventing the spread of harmful material online. The standard in question is known as the Relevant Electronic Services Standard. It came into effect in December… Read more »
You’re about to recycle your laptop or your phone, so you delete all your photos and personal files. Maybe you even reset the device to factory settings. You probably think your sensitive data is now safe. But there is more to be done: hackers may still be able to retrieve passwords, documents or bank details,… Read more »
Australia has banned the use of Kaspersky Lab products across government, mandating the popular antivirus suite be removed from federal government systems. Since 2017, Russia-based cybersecurity vendor Kaspersky Lab has faced a slew of international bans over perceived risks to national security – namely that the Kremlin could hold sway over the organisation and its… Read more »
DeepSeek, the hedge fund-backed Chinese version of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, has been prohibited on Australian government-issued systems and devices following a risk assessment by the Department of Home Affairs. Department secretary Stephanie Foster issued a Protective Security Policy Framework direction on Tuesday saying “the use of DeepSeek products, applications and web services poses an unacceptable level… Read more »
The National Reconstruction Fund Corporation (NRFC) has gone into Christmas shopping mode, investing nearly $50 million in two days in two tech companies, today announcing $22.5 million for 12-year-old sovereign cloud data security company Vault Cloud. The equity investment comes just 24 hours after leading a $50 million raise for Adelaide IoT and satellite maker… Read more »
There were plenty of important topics covered at the recent Startup Daily and AWS Unicorn Day in Melbourne from venture capital to impact startups to scaling to a billion-dollar business. One particular session on compliance demonstrated how paying attention to the small details can help founders close the biggest deals. When Oscar Watson-Smith, sales engineer… Read more »
Social media companies are being “contemptuous” to the Australian people and have done “nothing” to help protect their users from scams and crimes, according to former government cyber security tsar Alastair MacGibbon. MacGibbon, who after a 15-year career with the Australian Federal Police served as special adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security and… Read more »
Australia’s new digital ID system promises to transform the way we live. All of our key documents, such as driver’s licences and Medicare cards, will be in a single digital wallet, making it easier for us to access a range of services. The federal government is still developing the system, with a pilot expected to… Read more »
Australia is struggling to find technology workers with the right cyber security and artificial intelligence skills but could tap 1.1 million “near tech” workers with similar capabilities to reskill and support the workforce, the 10th annual ACS Australia’s Digital Pulse report has found. Demand for cyber security skills has increased by 80% in Australia since… Read more »
Despite Australia’s everlasting cyber security skills shortage, graduates and industry newcomers are struggling to get a foot in the door. AustCyber’s latest Sector Competitiveness Plan showed some 125,791 people were employed in the Australian cyber security workforce in 2022, with 51,309 of those workers in roles with a “dedicated focus” on cyber security. Meanwhile, it’s estimated 85,000… Read more »
Most startups – no matter what industry they operate in – must endure a common balancing act. On the one hand, they need to rapidly scale and secure a solid footing in the market. On the other, they need to protect themselves against numerous cyber threats that could derail those growth ambitions in an instant.… Read more »
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