An agenda for Australia’s lead cyber negotiator

Australia’s place on a U.N. cyber-security body offers a unique opportunity to help shape the international agenda.

The ADF must invest in new technology

The Federal government has invested in new planes, ships and fighting vehicles to strengthen Australia’s armed forces but it should also embrace experimentation and investment in autonomous and semi-autonomous systems for land, air, sea and undersea operations.

Australia remains vulnerable to a catastrophic cyber attack

Scott Morrison has taken credit for ‘stopping the boats’, but his government has failed to do anything meaningful to bolster cyber security and Labor isn’t offering anything better.

How the Chinese military exploits Western universities and tech firms

The willingness of Western universities and tech firms to work with Chinese experts without checking their links with the PLA could advance China’s military capability to our strategic disadvantage.

Reducing Australia’s vulnerability to foreign interference

Russia and China have used a range of overt and underhand means to influence the results of democratic nations’ elections in recent years and Australia must step up its measures to guard against such interference.

Will India’s anti-satellite weapon test spark an arms race in space?

India’s successful test of an anti-satellite weapon in low-earth orbit demonstrated its ability to counter the Chinese threat, but better ways must be found to prevent a damaging arms race in orbit.

Online data – What can we do to protect it?

It’s a battle to protect your personal data online, but you can improve your odds against the hackers and scammers by following these simple, but often overlooked, safeguards.

Owning it

After the Christchurch terror attack, there will inevitably be reflection upon the social and political factors that led to the shootings. There needs to be scrutiny of both the online hate speech which contributes to radicalisation and the intelligence failings which allowed such an attack to occur.

Southeast Asia’s looming drug crisis threatens regional security

The regional drug crisis provides an opportunity for Australia to work with ASEAN authorities to strengthen border controls and disrupt illicit drug supply chains.

The internet is now an arena for conflict, and we’re all caught up in it

Most people think the internet operates as a kind of global public square. In reality, it’s become a divided arena where conflict between nation states plays out.

All planned out

The Defence Department faces the choice of either sticking with the certainty of insufficient funding or undertaking the whole planning process once again and hoping the next ‘certain’ figure will be more meaningful.

In fighting online interference, the first line of defence is the mind

The internet and social media give authoritarian nations a lever to pull in democracy’s debates through intermediaries who guide opinions in their interest or undermine the legitimacy of democracy itself.