Lost In Cyberia

Are you a small business owner wondering how to protect your business against scams and cyber attacks? In this episode of Lost in Cyberia , we are joined by Kimberley Roberts-Salee, Head of Marketing & Communications at Cyber Wardens. Australia's free, government-funded cybersecurity training program for small businesses. Kim brings a human take to a topic that can feel overwhelming. Comi...

If financial crime were a country, it would be the third biggest economy after the United States and China. Iain Russell, threat prevention director at Unphish, joins Annie-Mei and Anika to walk through the shift from awareness to disruption. He talks about how they're using open-source intelligence, pattern matching, and machine learning to take down fraudulent domains, rogue apps, and socia...

Why do people click on phishing links? Is it due to lack of awareness training? Is it lack of interest in securing their organisation? And what happens when AI agents, cognitive warfare, and weaponised ambiguity enter the picture? We chat with Dr. Matt Canham who is the director of the Cognitive Security Institute, former cybercrime investigator with the U.S. Department of Justice, and one of the...

The best thing about attending events around the world is the people you meet. Annie-Mei met Jadon at a DEFCON after-party in 2025, where Jadon was struggling to get the bartender's attention for a beer. Nothing bonds people like needing a cold beverage. Jadon is the founder of New York-based Maro, a tool he describes as a security buddy that helps employees actually follow policy. Maro is a...

When life gets overwhelming, more and more people are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support, and it's not hard to see why. Traditional therapy remains out of reach for many due to cost, stigma, and availability. But what happens when the tool you're leaning on was never designed to hold that weight? In this episode, we chat to Dr. Rachel Wood. She's a cyber psychology PhD and...

Policy. Diplomacy. Cyber. Three words guaranteed to clear a room (or so you'd think). But cyber diplomacy matters and we provide real-world examples like the 2007 cyber attacks on Estonia, the Medibank breach and Australia slapping sanctions on Russian hackers and the infamous Stuxnet worm.  In this episode we break down what cyber diplomacy is, why it matters and what Australia is actually d...

Imagine this, you're in your kitchen baking a cake and someone calls you from crypto.com saying they're from the security team and that there's been suspicious activity on your account. You are a crypto.com customer so this sounds pretty legitimate. But turns out it's not. It's just a scammer pretending to be from crypto.com.  This is what happened to Stephen. He received...

In this episode, we are joined by Sam Brazier-Hollins, Head of Technical Consulting at Fujitsu (also Annie-Mei's former manager). We got so into the convo straight away that we forgot to get Sam to actually introduce himself properly. But you can look him up on LinkedIn. We discuss Sam's recent work trip to New Zealand for the Digital Workplace Conference discussing Microsoft 365 securit...

Jasmine McCrudden joins us for a juicy episode spilling the tea on all things cyber recruitment.  Wanna know if you're doing enough to stand out on your CV? Not sure what hiring managers are looking for in the interview? Jasmine is here to help.  She provides some great insights including where all the cybersecurity professionals are in Australia, and the biggest mistakes people are making on...

We went to Canberra Cyber Hub HQ to chat with Dr. Vicki Gardiner (COO) and Madi Cook (Engagement Manager).  Vicki has had a lengthy career in STEM but is a chemistry girl at heart. Vicki is our first guest to not only have a PhD but to have her own Wikipedia page. Did we also mention she has an award named after her called the Vicki Gardiner Advocacy Award?  Madi has also had an interesting career...

We're joined by Kersti Eesmaa, a former Estonian diplomat and current advocate for cyber resilience in Australia. Kersti shares her journey from diplomacy to becoming an ambassador for Estonia in Australia, and her transition to a new life and career Down Under. She opens up about her unique voice, the result of a childhood health crisis, and how it has become her trademark in public speaking...

In this episode of Lost In Cyberia, we’re joined by Rue Maharaj. Rue shares his extensive background, detailing his journey from South Africa to Australia via New Zealand, and his transition from private sector IT roles to public sector cybersecurity.  Focusing on his current role in cybersecurity defence management at Melbourne Water, Rue highlights the critical importance of incident response an...

We are back in 2026 with our first guest of the year Louis Cremen (although this was recorded last year). Louis shares his interesting career journey from software development to becoming a leading cybersecurity educator. He talks about the challenges of centralising security testing for a whole country, the thrill of traveling and working internationally, and the importance of sovereign capabilit...

In the final episode of their first season, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika celebrate reaching 1,000 downloads with a not-so-suspicious balloon and recap the whirlwind year of 2025. The duo chats about their international listeners, weird podcast recommendations for pets, and their favourite episodes and guests. The conversation then takes a reflective turn as they answer each other’s questions about pe...

Why should you have to decide between listening to Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber on your phone? With the cloud you don't have to... but at what cost? This episode of Lost in Cyberia was recorded down in Melbourne while we were there for CyberCon. We recap what we've been up to the last few months while also debunking some of the funniest misconceptions about “the cloud.” Equal parts educa...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika welcome James Corera, Director of Cyber, Technology and Security Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). James shares insights on his extensive career in national security, his educational background, and his experiences in intelligence and foreign policy. The discussion covers the evolving nature of global threats,...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika welcome special guest Ray Goldman, a former miscreant turned Business Information Security Officer. Ray shares his journey into the InfoSec world, his involvement with the DC 814 hacker meetups, and his passion for pro wrestling. The discussion covers topics such as community building within cybersecurity, the importance of soft skills,...

In this episode of 'Lost in Cyberia,' hosts Annie-Mei and Anika are joined by Betta Leon Delsordo and Clarissa Bury, to discuss their journeys and expertise in cybersecurity.  Betta shares her path from self-taught coder to lead application penetration tester at OnDefend, with a focus on application security and AI hacking.  Clarissa, a strategic advisor with experience at CrowdStrike an...

Hosts Annie-Mei and Anika unpack social engineering or “human hacking”, with insights from books by Chris Hadnagy and Kevin Mitnick. They break down the attack lifecycle, common tactics (phishing, pretexting, tailgating, quid pro quo), and how AI is supercharging scams, then share practical defences: pause-and-verify, reduce digital footprints, and normalise double-checking at work and home. A cle...

Annie-Mei and Anika are joined by Wadzi Nenzou, who is the founder of 'Our Scam Stories'. Wadzi shares her mission of educating people about investment scams to help them build wealth without losing hard-earned money. With over 18 years of experience in financial services, Wadzi discusses the importance of sharing scam survivor stories to reduce stigma and educate the public. The convers...

Annie-Mei and Anika discuss their experiences of going to cybersecurity conferences. They talk about what you can expect and how not all conferences are the same. Anika explains her experience at BSides Canberra and doing the CTF challenge. Annie-Mei talks about her first time going to the biggest hacker conference in the world - DEFCON. Spoiler alert: it was awesome.  00:00 Introduction 01:08 Fir...

Annie-Mei and Anika are joined by cybersecurity professional Rodman Ramezanian. Rodman shares insights into his 14-year career, touching on his beginnings at Apple as an iOS specialist, his role in cybersecurity across various sectors, and his position as the Director of Events and Professional Development for ISACA Canberra. He also dives into the unexpectedly transferable skills from DJing to hi...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika explore the question of whether you need a cybersecurity degree to work in the field. With varied personal experiences, they provide insights into the current job market, entry-level challenges, and the importance of hands-on skills versus formal education. They discuss alternative pathways like bootcamps, networking, certifications, an...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika are joined by Veronika Kolek Netolická, the co-founder of Women4Cyber Czechia and current cyber attachée for the Indo-Pacific at the National Cyber and Information Security Agency. The discussion takes place at the Czech Embassy in Canberra, looking at  Veronika's extensive background in cybersecurity, her education, and her variou...

In this episode, Harriet and Annie-Mei have a chat over wine and ice-cream sundaes from a hotel room in Sydney before heading to a Gracie Abrams concert. They explore Harriet's journey as the founder of Mileva Security Labs, an AI security company that addresses security risks to AI systems. Harriet shares insights into the challenges of starting and running a business, especially as a young...