CyberWest Director, Cecily Rawlinson is part of a business delegation with representatives from 13 WA organisations participating in a trade delegation to India this week. 

Opportunities for collaboration across Western Australian and Indian innovation ecosystems will be front and centre today, as Innovation and the Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson will give a keynote speech at Umagine Chennai 2023 as part of the visit. Minister Dawson will highlight how the McGowan Government is supporting Western Australians to embrace partnerships with international innovators like those in India. Over three days, more than 10,000 delegates are expected to attend Umagine Chennai 2023. The event includes over 250 speakers across 130 plus sessions, and an exhibition featuring more than 150 exhibitors.
The organisations participating in the business delegation include the WA Data Science and Innovation Hub, CyberWest, DNA Zoo Australia, Innovation Central Perth, WeVolt, Red Piranha, Space Angel, LatConnect 60, QL Space, Hola Health, Has Holdings, Adarsh Australia and TATA Consultancy Services.
Several collaborative relationships are expected to be formalised during the five-day mission, including the exchange of a letter of strategic intent between WA and Tamil Nadu, which was signed virtually on 20 March 2023 to strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two States. The letter of strategic intent follows the opening of the Invest and Trade WA office in Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, which was first announced by Deputy Premier Roger Cook in July 2022.

During the visit, Minister Dawson will showcase the Chennai office. WA is the first Australian State to establish a presence in Tamil Nadu, the second largest economy in India. The Minister will also promote activities and initiatives supported by the McGowan Government, including Perth Landing Pad, The Challenge, Health Fellowships, the Premier's Scholarship and the CyberWest Summit. The mission will be supported by the Invest and Trade WA India-Gulf offices, led by the Investment and Trade Commissioner, Nashid Chowdhury.

Visit Invest and Trade WA's India Market Outlook 2022-23 for more information on trade and investment opportunities: https://www.wa.gov.au/system/files/2023-03/India_Market_Outlook_2022-23.pdf
Read Minister Dawson's Statement.

Edith Cowan University (ECU) is proud to announce the official launch of the WA Cyber Security Innovation Hub, to be known as CyberWest, as the state's newly revamped, locally driven cyber security centre. 
 
Established in 2018 as part of the AustCyber Industry Growth Network, CyberWest will now be supported by the State Government through the New Industry Fund and hosted by Edith Cowan University with a remit to grow and support the state’s cyber security capability.  
 
“The initial four years we spent as part of AustCyber were an excellent foundation on which to build the hub and its capability and we’re grateful to the AustCyber network for their support over this time,” CyberWest Director Cecily Rawlinson said.
 
“We’re now entering an exciting new phase of growth but will of course continue to work collaboratively with other states and federal cyber agencies so we can best support the cyber sector.”
 
The team is co-located with the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre, the ECU Security Research Institute, ECU Securing Digital Futures theme leader, and ECU Defence Research at ECU’s Joondalup campus. 
 
“We’re pleased to continue being hosted by ECU as it is a natural fit for CyberWest. They produce 20% of Australia’s cyber graduates and we are part of a cluster of organisations that provide a centre of cyber capability, capacity, and leadership for the state,” Ms Rawlinson said. 
 
CyberWest’s priorities for 2023 include supporting growth and commercial opportunities for the cyber security sector, building capability in the next generation of cyber professionals, and improving cyber security awareness and preparedness in all WA businesses.  
 
In May, the second annual CyberWest Summit will be held in Perth. Recognising that cyber security is more than an ‘IT problem’ the Summit is the ‘cyber conference for non cyber professionals’ and is designed for leaders across all business functions.
 
The program will provide clear and actionable cyber education to professionals outside of the security sector through a variety of presentations, workshops, and hands-on activities as well as connecting organisations to world leading cyber security providers. There will be a focus on three content streams; Critical Infrastructure, Secure Government, and Cyber Skills, the summit will also have an emphasis on diversity and education pathways. 
 
Western Australia’s Minister for Innovation Stephen Dawson MLC has praised CyberWest for its commitment to growth and innovation in the Western Australian cyber sector.  
 
"The launch of CyberWest marks a new era of growth and collaboration for Western Australia's cyber hub," Minister Dawson said.
 
"We are confident that this new locally driven and expertly led hub will bring about exciting developments and opportunities for the Western Australian cyber sector." 
 
Join the 2023 CyberWest Summit to be a part of this exciting new phase of growth for Western Australia's cyber sector by registering your interest here.  
 
 

The Hub is excited to host a Cyber Security Space at the WA Mining Conference 12 to 13 October 2022.  We are proud to be joined by local cyber experts Red Piranha, Wardn, ES2 and Sapien Cyber as well as our partner, the City of Joondalup. 

From autonomous vehicles & IOT through to core IT systems - technology is in all levels of the mining industry. A cyber-attack on a mining SME could endanger the entire company and impact their supply chain as well as have impacts on Australia's critical infrastructure systems. We will be attending the conference to highlight to the mining sector that effective cybersecurity is essential to ensure operations run smoothly.  

You can find us at the expo at Booth E136. On Day 1 will also be holding a panel discussion I've been hacked, what's next? at 10am on the Expo Stage. We will run attendees through a cyber breach scenario in a mining company to explore the impacts both on the company and their supply chain and consider ways to mitigate those risks. Then see Director Cecily Rawlinson present "Cybersecurity: Managing Digital Risk in the Resources Sector" at 3.40pm on the main stage. 

The cyber community can receive a 30% discount on tickets by using code EX30PROMO
Tickets are available from waminingexpo.com.au

AustCyber, the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network, in partnership with Austrade, led a delegation of cyber security companies to the 2022 RSA Conference in San Francisco.
Regarded as the world’s leading forum for cyber security professionals, AustCyber delegates tapped into the full potential of the international export market, building relationships with investors and industry leaders to expand Australia’s cyber security presence. Firms including threat hunting and networking monitoring tool Hyprfire, email and document classification and protection experts Janusnet, and DevSecOps visibility platform SecureStack, formed part of the AustCyber contingent participating in the Australia House event in partnership with Austrade.

Each participant engaged in comprehensive, cutting-edge educational sessions presented by leading industry experts covering critical security issues and emerging concepts facing organisations worldwide. Over fifteen hours of education sessions touched on topics including hackers and threats, risk management & governance, identity, and securing the remote workforce.
“The new concept of cyber security has implications beyond Australia, with a large proportion of our value chains dependent on the digital security of other countries,” said AustCyber CEO Michael Bromley. “This reinforces the importance of the RSA Conference Australia House event in facilitating the expansion of our export market through increased access to partners, allies and international enterprise customers.”
“By participating in workshops, networking events and reverse pitches, our leading cyber security companies will receive strategic advice from entrepreneurs who have successfully penetrated the US market whilst showcasing the ongoing business potential between the US and Australia.”
The RSA Conference was a significant opportunity for Australian companies looking to expand into the US and UK markets and capture a higher share of the US$147 billion global industry. Building relationships and securing investment will allow local cyber security companies to establish themselves in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), reinforcing Australia’s reputation as a trusted partner and centre of research excellence.
Hyprfire CEO Tim Jones said at the 2022 RSA Conference, "The Australia House program was a great experience and an amazing preparation for the RSA conference. We learnt a lot of useful information from the EIR, the expert panel and the VCs! Having AustCyber help us connect to new export markets and connect us to the cyber ecosystem at RSA is a huge boost for Hyprfire."
Director at the West Australian AustCyber Innovation Hub, Cecily Rawlinson said “It is excellent to be here, representing the National Node Network, co-funded by our state and territory governments. Our role at AustCyber is to support our cyber communities, both locally in Perth and across Australia as they export and access international markets so I am delighted to be here supporting some amazing WA home-grown cybers such as Hyprfire and BankVault.”

WA AustCyber Innovation Hub is a proud sponsor of the 2022 Curtin Ignition Program.

The intensive, one-week training program running from Sunday 4 September to Friday 9 September, is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs, academics and corporate innovators to both trial and prepare business ideas for the commercial market. 

The Hub is sponsoring one fully funded place this year for a cyber business idea. See how last year's participants benefitted from the program below, and get your application in. 
​
Scholarship applications opened 26 May and close 15 July.   

Criteria for scholarships along with how to apply can be found at https://study.curtin.edu.au/professional-development/executive-education/ignition/ ​

​​The Hon Kim Beazley, Governor or Western Australia was invited to tour the new Cyber Security Operations (CSO) Centre at Edith Cowan University (ECU) Joondalup Campus. Professor Craig Valli, Director, ECU Security Research Institute, Associate Professor Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security) and Professor Andrew Woodward, Executive Dean, School of Science guided the Governor through the Southern Hemisphere’s largest CSO Centre within a university. This state of the art CSO opened on 4th February 2020.

Key Points:

• In the new environment of COVID-19 and distributed workforces the nature, type and volume of cyber attacks have increased. Cyber criminals and malign state actors are using the crisis to exploit vulnerable government and business supply chains with intent to disrupt or cripple.
• As a critical sovereign industry the defence sector is increasingly vulnerable in this setting and will need to be adaptive and resilient in order to limit an adverse impact to its supply chain and operations. 
• By seeking advice from established and trusted institutions and implementing credible cyber countermeasures defence industry can mitigate the impact of current and emerging cyber threats.

Defence industry in Western Australia contains more than 200 SMEs that manufacture products and offer services to markets in Australia and overseas. As well as every other critical service provider, defence industry is also currently in the process of assessing its response capabilities due to the fast-moving macro environment created by the COVID-19 pandemic. What is becoming increasingly relevant is the way fortification of essential industries and their critical supply chains is being considered. Securitisation of business information, intellectual property, personnel and business systems needs to be priority at this time of global strategic transition. 
Cyber ChallengesIn a rapidly evolving environment of establishing new short-term goal setting, companies and government agencies are required to establish and agree to new objectives and key result tools.  A scattered and offsite workforce now has the same vulnerabilities of an unsecured third-party supply chain that is not subject to the same standards and compliance measures of a company that houses employees in one location. We have not even begun to test the robustness of governance, risk and compliance issues when a work-from-home employee or supplier is compromised.  
The rapid adoption of work-from-home technologies over the past few months has exponentially increased the use of online communication platforms such as Zoom, Google Hangouts, Skype and Microsoft Teams. Like any internet-enabled service, the scope of exploitation becomes substantially wider and porous for cyber criminals and malign state actors. Cyber criminals have always worked from home, and now companies and employees alike have rapidly moved into the cyber criminal’s domain of comfort and preference. 
One example of a practical collaboration with the security of critical infrastructure is between the WA AustCyber Innovation Hub, Edith Cowan University Security Research Institute and two major critical infrastructure providers. This ‘Honeypot Research’ has allocated ECU research students to work with the power companies to build prototypes of certain control systems in their operating technology environment that mimic actual systems. Researchers can then study the threat signatures, attack methods and sophistication in order to gather cyber threat intelligence. This learning will translate directly to the way critical infrastructure providers such as energy , water and defence companies think about their cyber defence and vulnerabilities. 
Implications for Defence IndustryDefence industry contractors need to understand the inherent weakness in monitoring and defending systems when they rely on a diversified workforce who are now managing some of those operations from home. Architectural weaknesses inherent in this include unsecured data transmissions, sub-optimal security policy and process enforcement, unsecured personal devices and tools: and a lack of normal workplace controls. In the event of an attack, it is also now much harder to assemble decision-makers in one location to work together to come up with an agreed solution. The distributed workforce model also gives the attacker a time advantage. 
The WA AustCyber Innovation Hub has strong linkages with private sector cyber companies, industry associations and government agencies across the state to ensure the message of cyber awareness is spread and amplified. The Australian Cyber Security Centre offers COVID-19 Threat Updates is also a reliable source of information throughout the pandemic for SMEs.
AustCyber recognises that Defence provides many opportunities for sovereign cyber security companies. This year, AustCyber is involved with the MilCis 2020 conference and expo to be held in Canberra in November in support of Team Defence Australia for missions and cyber-focussed delegations to strategic global markets. Support will also continue for the Centre for Defence Industry Capability in their Global Supply Chain Program.
The WA AustCyber Hub has also partnered with ECU since 2018 to relaunch the Cyber Check Me program to assist small businesses and not-for-profits with their basic cybersecurity safeguards. Foundation partners include the Cities of Joondalup and Wanneroo and North Metropolitan TAFE. Advice is provided in line with the Essential 8 Cyber Mitigation Strategies which provides easily understood cyber hygiene practices.
A small cyber army of predominantly second year computer science students with a major in cybersecurity and Advanced Diploma students from North Metropolitan TAFE deliver the program through pop-ups at industry events (pre-COVID) with a migration now to online consultations with businesses. 
Practising Cyber HygieneFurther, here are some simple steps that defence industry SMEs could take to protect their business from cybercrime:

• Baseline cyber hygiene should emphasise:
  • strong passwords for all devices and for your home WIFI,
  • having a reliable VPN technology installed to secure remote connections,
  • checking the software you use is patched with the latest versions and updates.
• Be aware that cyber-attacks are rising in the COVID-19 era and ensure that emails and texts are from reputable sources before you choose to respond or act.
• Be aware of Multi-Factor Authentication and set up if you are able.
• Make sure that key staff members can be reached instantly if a critical decision needs to be made if there is an incident or breach. 
• Consider what you would do in the event of an incident and who you would call for assistance.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has created a new environment that almost solely relies on trusted digital interactions. Business continuity now firmly lies within the context of a risk posture and framework. The nature, type and volume of cyber attacks has increased and will continue to increase into the foreseeable future. Cyber attacks will rely on users becoming fatigued with controls, permissions and safeguards. Therefore the defence industry must  be aware of the sources of truth they access to remedy any cyber challenges they face. AustCyber and organisations like it offer up-to-date free advice and links to Australian organisations and technologies that can navigate businesses through this transition time.