Defence & Security Podcast Network

AI is pushing financial institutions to modernise, but the answer is not to replace everything. Banks should focus on the technology, data, and processes that directly support business outcomes. AI is putting modernisation back on the executive agenda as legacy systems increasingly limit banks' ability to adopt AI, access data in real time, and respond to regulatory and resilience demands. Atos ex...

Cyber threats are becoming increasingly sophisticated, AI enabled and difficult to attribute, creating growing risks for Australia's defence networks, critical infrastructure and broader economy, according to Glenn Maiden, chief security officer and director of threat intelligence for Australia and New Zealand at Fortinet. The cyber threat landscape is increasingly blurring the lines between state...

AI is pushing financial institutions to modernise, but the answer is not to replace everything. Banks should focus on the technology, data, and processes that directly support business outcomes. AI is putting modernisation back on the executive agenda as legacy systems increasingly limit banks' ability to adopt AI, access data in real time, and respond to regulatory and resilience demands. Atos ex...

Daniel Croft and David Hollingworth break down the essential AI and security news of the week, from sovereign capability to cyber crime, and fighting property scams. Hollingworth and Croft open the podcast with a breakdown of why Australian banks are standing up a new partnership program to promote the growth and adoption of local AI innovators – and explain why it's an important step in Australia...

Quantum technology could become a major force multiplier for Australia's future defence capabilities, according to Kendy Hau, head of defence at Fujitsu Australia, and Mahesh Krishnan, chief technology officer for Australia and New Zealand at Fujitsu Australia. Quantum technology spans three key areas: quantum sensing, quantum communications, and quantum computing, each at different stages of matu...

How can digital engineering help Australia deliver faster, more capable, guided weapons programs? In this special episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, news editor Robert Dougherty is joined by Dan Christie, chief technology officer and CEO of Australian Missile Corporation (AMC), and Pierre Marchadier, vice president of value engagement industry consultant at Dassault Systèmes. The pair discuss...

A dramatic political shift in Western Australia has put the major parties on notice and raised a much bigger question: what happens to Australia's national resilience when voters stop trusting the institutions that govern them? Hosts Phillip Tarrant and Major General (Ret'd) Dr Marcus Thompson examine the rise of populism in Australia and why growing political polarisation, cost-of-living pressure...

Australia's commercial logistics network could become one of its greatest defence advantages, according to Steve Roughsedge, senior vice-president of Theatre Supply Chain within the government and defence division of Toll Group. The shift from peacetime efficiency to resilience is already reshaping how the Australian Defence Force thinks about logistics. Australia's vast distances, limited transpo...

Join David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft for this week's round-up of cyber security and artificial intelligence news! The pair kick things off with the startling revelation that young Australians are turning to AI for their financial advice, as cost-of-living pressures bite. Can AI help get your finances in line? The jury is very definitely out. Then it's on to the impact of cyber crime on Austral...

Recent public backlash over the suspected involvement of Pine Gap in the ongoing conflict with Iran has once again raised concerns about Australia's sovereignty, its status as an "imperial" province or valued partner and the future of Pine Gap and other US bases in the country. The 300-person gathering at Pine Gap in Alice Springs signals a periodic spike rather than a structural acceleration of A...

Port Wakefield is not a replica of Camden. This distinction matters enormously. James Heading, director and general manager for missiles and fire control at Lockheed Martin Australia, has spent 18 months driving that message home to critics who dismiss the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System operation as mere assembly. The risk reduction activity that concluded with successful live-fire testing e...

Microsoft 365 is the backbone of many Australian businesses – but are organisations doing enough to secure the platform itself? Tune in to David Hollingworth and CoreView's vice president of APAC sales, Andrew McAllister, as they tackle the risks and what businesses can do to build genuine resilience. Microsoft 365 may be ubiquitous, but that doesn't mean it is secure by default. Hollingworth and...

How can Australia strengthen the protection of critical defence infrastructure while navigating the modern drone-heavy environment? In this episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, Stephen Kuper and Robert Dougherty unpack a series of developments across Australia's defence and national security landscape, including drone incursions over RAAF Base Williamtown, the expansion of Australia's first-per...

An adversary's numerical advantage is something Australia faces across all domains, but the cyber domain is one area where Australia can offset that advantage, building true asymmetric capabilities. The cyber battlespace has undergone a step change with the arrival of frontier AI models. What took penetration testers two years to accomplish, Tom Scully from Palo Alto Networks completed in three we...

Australia's 2026 Defence Industry Development Strategy (DIDS) signals a significant shift in how Defence acquires capability, moving beyond traditional procurement models towards earlier collaboration with industry and a greater focus on innovation, software and continuous capability development. The 2026 Defence Industry Development Strategy marks a doctrinal shift in how Australia approaches def...

Malicious browser extensions, AI-powered phishing, and the evolution of Australia's Essential Eight are all putting renewed focus on proactive cyber defence. Hear ThreatLocker's lead cyber security engineer, Kieran Human, explain why organisations need to get the basics right before attackers get the chance to exploit them. Malicious browser extensions are giving attackers another route into corpo...

Someone has to take the plunge and shoulder the burden. A pioneer forging the path for the future generations of women in the Australian Defence Force, no matter the consequences. Royal Australian Navy Captain (Ret'd) Mona Shindy shares her unique journey serving in the Royal Australian Navy as a warship weapons engineer, becoming one of the first three women to serve on an Australian warship, bei...

How can the UK and Australia deepen defence industry cooperation while balancing high-end capabilities with Ukrainian-style affordable mass? In this episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, senior journalist Robert Dougherty is joined by UK Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry Luke Pollard during his current visit to Australia. Minister Pollard is undertaking a broader tour of the country's...

In this episode of Cyber Uncut, Cyber Daily's Liam Garman is joined by Alex Nehmy, who explains why securing critical infrastructure requires a different approach to traditional IT security. Discover why operational technology has become one of the highest-value targets for sophisticated threat actors, how attacks on OT differ from conventional data breaches, and why visibility into industrial env...

Defence's chief data officer and AI strategist explain how autonomy reshapes decision making while keeping commanders accountable for outcomes   The Australian Defence Force's approach to artificial intelligence and autonomous systems is not a rush towards unmanned warfare, it is a disciplined pivot toward decision-aid systems that augment human judgement rather than replace it. Speaking ahead of...

Dr Ross Babbage warns that without urgent economic reform and industrial recalibration, Australia risks becoming a client state of Beijing. Returning to the Defence Connect Podcast, strategic analyst Dr Ross Babbage delivers an unsparing diagnosis: Australia is drifting towards a future of strategic weakness, economic vulnerability and de facto dependence on Beijing – unless the nation urgently re...

Australia's next strategic edge will be built beneath the waves, combining autonomous systems, artificial intelligence and AUKUS cooperation to reshape the underwater battlespace. In a special Defence Connect Podcast episode recorded for the ADSTAR 2026 summit, Admiral Stephen Hughes, on the eve of his retirement, and Chief of Air and Maritime Dr Ninh Duong outline how the succession of Defence St...

In this week's podcast, Cyber Daily's Daniel Croft and David Hollingworth argue for sovereign Australian AI, catch up with the Origin Energy data breach, uncover a Court Services Victoria hack, and ponder the efficacy of taking a foreign chat platform to court over terror content. Should Aussie banks have access to Australian Taxation Office data to stop fraud? That's how the podcast kicks off, al...

How can Australia strengthen its future defence workforce while building sovereign industrial capability across shipbuilding, sustainment and advanced military technology? In this episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, Stephen Kuper, Robert Dougherty and Bethany Alvaro unpack a series of developments across Australia's defence and industrial landscape, including new pathways into higher education...

In this week's podcast, Cyber Daily's Daniel Croft and David Hollingworth cover what happens when AI goes wild, one of Australia's biggest energy providers discloses a data breach, and Premier Jacinta Allan goes after big tech. The podcast kicks off with a massive data breach impacting AI music-generating platform Suno, and the implications of OpenAI admitting it was one of its AI agents responsib...