For over two decades, Adam Spencer has been one of Australia’s best and foremost event hosts, keynote speakers and facilitators. His attention to detail and ability to improvise are the hallmarks for which he has been regularly invited back to many events.

Adam has interviewed, among others, bestselling authors, astronauts and CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies; winners of Nobel Prizes, Academy Awards and AFL Grand Finals. He has shared the stage with every Australian Prime Minister since Whitlam but he is equally adept at bringing to life the everyday stories of ordinary people who deserve acknowledgement for their achievements.

Adam’s greatest strength is his versatility; there is virtually no topic he doesn’t enjoy getting his head around and presenting. That said, given his background in mathematics, Adam is particularly strong at presenting on science, technology, the digital world, medicine and health.

Adam’s 2013 TED Talk on massive prime numbers has received over 2 million views and was voted in as one of the 10 best ever TED talks on Mathematics. And after he interviewed the greatest chess player of all time, Garry Kasparov, they played a match. The result of that momentous event … is not important!

Ita Buttrose AC OBE is a truly exceptional Australian: a legendary media trailblazer, businesswoman, best-selling author, committed community and welfare contributor and former Australian of the Year.

In 2019 Ita became a Companion of the Order of Australia for her service to the community through leadership in the media, the arts, the health sector and as a role model.

Current work Ita is Chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Chair of the Australian Mental Health Prize Advisory Group. She balances her high profile role with charitable responsibilities include serving as National Ambassador of Dementia Australia following her term as National President from 2011-2014. She is also Emeritus Director of Arthritis Australia and Ambassador for Breast Cancer Network Australia.

An accomplished communicator with a wealth of experience across a broad range of industry sectors, Ita works behind-the-scenes and in the public eye for major corporates, small business, governments and charities.

In 2019 Ita was chosen as a Shero Barbie, one of a collection of 20 Barbie Dolls that globally recognise female role models and achievers.

Previous experience Media: Ita was the founding editor of Cleo, the youngest ever editor of The Australian Women’s Weekly, the first woman to ever edit a major metropolitan newspaper in Australia as Editor-in-Chief of the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs, and the first female director of News Ltd Australia.

She has hosted prime time shows on radio and television. She later started her own company, Capricorn Publishing, and created ITA Magazine, a magazine for the woman who wasn’t born yesterday.

In 2011, her earlier career was immortalised in the acclaimed ABC mini-series ‘Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo’.

Ita was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame in 2017.

Author: Ita has written 11 successful books, including her best-selling autobiography ‘A Passionate Life’.

Awards: In 2018, Ita was conferred with the University of New South Wales’ highest honour – an honorary doctorate in medicine in recognition of her eminent service to health, being an inspirational role model for aspiring women in business and making a difference in society. In 2015 she was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Wollongong, for her contribution to mental health and ageing. In 2014 Sydney’s Macquarie University conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters on Ita in recognition of her contribution to the arts. She was the Inaugural NSW Excellence in Women’s Leadership award winner. (2014).

She received an AO in 1988 for her services to the community especially in the field of public health education when she spearheaded Australia’s HIV/AIDS Education Program, an OBE for her services to journalism, and a Centenary Medal for business leadership.

Steve Wozniak’s Key Accomplishments Include…

A Silicon Valley icon and philanthropist for more than thirty years, Steve Wozniak has helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products the Apple I and II and influenced the popular Macintosh. In 1976, Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer Inc. with Wozniak’s Apple I personal computer. The following year, he introduced his Apple II personal computer, featuring a central processing unit, a keyboard, color graphics, and a floppy disk drive. The Apple II was integral in launching the personal computer industry.

In 1981, he went back to UC Berkeley and finished his degree in electrical engineering/computer science. For his achievements at Apple, Wozniak was awarded the National Medal of Technology by the President of the United States in 1985, the highest honor bestowed on America’s leading innovators.

In 2000, he was inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame and was awarded the prestigious Heinz Award for Technology, The Economy and Employment for single-handedly designing the first personal computer and for then redirecting his lifelong passion for mathematics and electronics toward lighting the fires of excitement for education in grade school students and their teachers.

Through the years, Wozniak has been involved in various business and philanthropic ventures, focusing primarily on computer capabilities in schools and stressing hands-on learning and encouraging creativity for students. Making significant investments of both his time and resources in education, he adopted the Los Gatos School District, providing students and teachers with hands-on teaching and donations of state-of-the-art technology equipment. He founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and was the founding sponsor of the Tech Museum, Silicon Valley Ballet and Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose.

Wozniak is a published author with the release of his New York Times best selling autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon by Norton Publishing. His television appearances include reality shows “Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List”, ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” and “The Big Bang Theory.” In 2014, he was awarded the Hoover Medal, a prestigious honor given for “outstanding extra-career services by engineers to humanity,” and was inducted into the IndustryWeek Manufacturing Hall of Fame.

Paula Januszkiewicz is a CEO and Founder of CQURE Inc. and CQURE Academy. She is also Enterprise Security MVP, honorable Microsoft Regional Director for CEE and a world class cybersecurity expert, consulting Customers all around the world. In 2017, she graduated from Harvard Business School.

Paula has 15 years of experience in the cybersecurity field, performing penetration tests, architecture consulting, trainings and seminars. She has performed hundreds of security projects, including those for governmental organisations and big enterprises, at the same time being a top speaker and a keynote speaker at many well-known conferences, including Microsoft Ignite (rated No 1 Speaker among 1100 speakers at a conference with 26000 attendees), RSA (in 2017 in San Francisco her session was one of the 5 hottest sessions), Black Hat, TechEd North America, TechEd Europe, TechEd Middle East, CyberCrime etc., where she is often rated as No 1 speaker. She also creates security awareness programs for various organisations, including awareness sessions for top management (telecoms, banks, government etc.). She is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others.

In private, she enjoys working with her research team, converting the results of her findings to authored leading-edge trainings and tools used in practice in projects. She wrote a book about Threat Management Gateway and she’s currently working on the next one… so stay tuned for more. Recently, Paula has become a member of the Technical Advisory Board at Royal Bank of Scotland – helping to keep its security at the highest level possible!

She has access to a source code of Windows, an honor granted to just few people around the world!

James started in the industry by building a Managed Security Operations Centre from the ground up for a number of utility companies within Australia. Now he is a Cyber Security Operations Lead managing a team for a state owned renewable energy company based in Tasmania.

Manoj A. Thomas is an Associate Professor of Business Information Systems at The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, Australia. His primary areas of research are emerging technologies and data science, and its application in domains such as public health, education, and e-commerce. Manoj has methodological expertise in mixed methods research, and technological expertise in decision support systems driven by large volume and high velocity data. He has longstanding experience in enterprise big data management, data maturity assessment, and knowledge management systems. He has engaged in research initiatives with US government agencies and international non-profit organisations. Manoj actively collaborates with companies and leading academic institutions in Europe and the United States.

John Blicq is the founder and director of Innovation Matters, a consultancy specialising in strategy development and innovation management.

John is also the author of “Digital Twins, The Next Human Revolution”

John has had multiple lives working across Western Europe and the Asia Pacific. He started as an entrepreneur during his time in business school. After successfully selling his start-up, he worked as a management consultant, before joining a Greentech start-up/scale-up building new businesses. John has also held senior leadership roles in a number of large financial services institutions, and lectured MBA students in France and Australia.

John is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and sits on the Board of Advisors for a start-up that specialises in digital reputation enablement.

Asaf Dori is a PhD candidate with the University of Sydney Business School. He is fundamentally interested in understanding the socio-technical factors that facilitate and/or hinder greater development of Cyber Security governance in organisations. With his doctoral studies he is focused on exploring the dynamics between a risk management approach and a strategic business enablement approach for the governance of Cyber Security. Asaf is a graduate of the master’s program (Research) in Business Information Management from the Rotterdam School of Management, the Erasmus University. Asaf has over 20 years of practical experience in technology management within industry gained in different global roles within the Energy, Finance, Information Technology, Higher Education and the Retail sectors.

Jason Brown is the National Security Director for Thales in Australia and New Zealand. He is responsible for international trade and security liaison with government, law enforcement and intelligence communities to develop cooperative arrangements to minimise risk to Thales and those in the community that it supports. He is also responsible to ensure compliance with international and Commonwealth requirements for trade control, national security and relevant federal and state laws. His further responsibility is to maintain the Thales Crisis Management arrangements including exercise program.
Before joining Thales in 2004 Jason had 27 years experience in Commonwealth Government with appointments including;
Assistant Secretary – Defence Imagery and the Geospatial Organisation,
Director General – Safety, Compensation and People Development,
Assistant Secretary – Defence Security,

He is currently;
• Chair of the Security Professionals Australasia.
• Chair of Australian Standards Committee (MB25) for Security and Resilience.
• Chair of the International Standards Committee for Risk Management (ISO TC262).
• Convenor Working Group 8 Supply Chain Security of ISO TC292 Security and Resilience
• Member of the Advisory Committee of the Institute of Strategic Risk Management.
• Deputy Chair of the Forum of Australian Security Executives (FASE)

Jason has a number of publications in the areas of client service, risk management, event management, intelligence management and security. He is internationally known speaker in the areas of risk, intelligence, security, innovation, export and arms control, scenario and strategic planning. He is a Fellow of the Security Institute, the Institute of Strategic Risk Management and Australian Risk Policy Institute, a member of ASIS International, the Risk Management Institute of Australasia, Australian Information Security Association and holds Security Professional Chartered status in the UK.
He was awarded the Australian Security Medal for Conspicuous Service in February 2011. In 2019 IFSEC International recognised him in the top 20 globally influential persons in Security and Fire Management.

Brian is the Director of Asia Pacific Global Compliance & Risk Services Consulting at SecureTrust, based in Sydney. He has over 33 years IT industry experience including roles as a Security Delivery Manager and Global Security and Transformation Lead for large worldwide information technology corporations. During his career he has been across a wide range of industries and roles, including global management experience across multiple cultures and business environments. Experienced in running global security programs, and some of the largest regional projects in Asia Pacific, Brian brings a mix of project management, security and compliance credentials together (CISM, CRISC,PMP, QSA, CDPSE, ISO27001 IA) to achieve the best results in delivering security solutions and compliance programs. He has been published by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and by MSSP Alert, presented at industry conferences and conducted webinars on topics like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Compliance Intelligence.

Tony Vizza has been involved in the information technology and information security fields for more than 25 years.

Tony completed a Bachelor of Science in Computing Science from the University of Technology, Sydney, Global Executive MBA from the University of Sydney which included study at Stanford University, The London School of Economics and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. He is currently studying for a Juris Doctor law degree at the University of New South Wales.

His information security credentials include CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional), CCSP (Certified Cloud Security Professional), CRISC (Certified in Risk and Information Systems Controls), CISM (Certified Information Security Manager) and he is a certified ISO/IEC 27001 Senior Lead Auditor.

Tony is a Cyber Security Ambassador for the NSW Government, member of the Board of Directors for the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) and has provided expert services to the Australian Government’s Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Law Society of NSW, the Australian Security Industry Association Limited (ASIAL) as well as numerous boards.

Catherine leads Cyber Security at EnergyAustralia maturing the cyber security practice and ensuring appropriate security programs, controls and processes are implemented. Additionally, Catherine has a broader role across the China Light and Power (CLP) Group as the Head of Cyber Risk Assurance and Advisory. This includes the management of risk assessment and technical assurance (red team) teams and the provision of cyber risk and assurance reporting metrics across the region.

Anu Kukar Cyber Ecosystem & GRC ExecutiveAnu has a strong interest in innovations in risk management and passionate about driving lifelong learning mindsets. She specialises in Risk, Governance and Compliance for cybersecurity and third-party/supply chain domains.She is an international recognised speaker having spoken at 40+ conferences and events in North America, Middle East, Europe and Asia- Pacific. She focuses on sharing practical and personal insights, with the aim of knowledge exchange two-ways. A diverse executive with 20 years of experience in both industry and consulting. She has worked across organisations in critical infrastructure (electricity, transport, health and telecommunications), FMCG, financial services, government and corporates. Anu was awarded the Winner of Westpac Banking Group CEO Employee of the Year (2012) , Finalist at 4 Westpac Banking Group CRO awards (2012 and 2013) and Finalist at Risk Management Institute of Australasia’s Risk Consultant of the year (2019). She has co-authored 5 publications globally and in Australia as follows: Global Artificial Intelligence governance and controls, Risk Reimagined – emerging technology risk, Grow your bottom line through supplier risk management and industry specifics.

John O’Driscoll is Victoria’s first Chief Information Security Officer (CISO). He was appointed to the role in October 2017, where he leads the state’s first Victorian Government Cyber Security Strategy to assess, monitor and respond to cyber security risks, as well as engaging with the government departments, interstate counterparts, Commonwealth and private sector experts to deliver a resilient and cohesive cyber security capability. John has over 35 years’ experience in information technology, with a focus on IT audit and cyber security in financial services and the public sector. He has a keen interest in growing and promoting cyber skills and has lectured in IT Risk and Security related topics at tertiary institutions including Swinburne, RMIT, Deakin and UTS universities. John is a Board member for the ISACA Melbourne Chapter, Melbourne JCSC (Joint Cyber Security Centre), and University of Melbourne Academic Centre for Cyber Security Excellence. John is a Fellow of the Australian Information Security Association, and a recipient of ISACA’s Tony Hayes Award which recognises outstanding leadership and commitment to the IT Governance profession within the Oceania Region.John is a proud father of 3 amazing children, and has a passion for aviation.For additional information refer to https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-o-driscoll/

Georgia is a GRC Cyber Security Consultant with Trustwave – an Optus Company. She has consulted across a number of industries, including banking, airline and federal government.
Georgia graduated Macquarie University with a Bachelor of Security Studies and complimented with study in New York and an internship Africa.
She was a member of the Overall Runners Up and Category Winning Team in the 2018 ASEAN – AUSTRAC’s Codeathon (Cyber Six), and a volunteer in the first Australian – TraceLabs National Missing Person’s Hackathon, returning as a judge in 2020.
She is certified as an ISO27001:2013 Provisional Implementer, having passed the ISACA CRISC Certification exam, and is an ambassador for the NSW Cyber Security Innovation Node.
Georgia was awarded AISA’s 2020 Cyber Security Rising Star of the year, and is passionate about making meaningful change in the cyber security industry. Having recently consulted and advised to a United Nation’s member working group on threats to International Peace and Security in the ICT field.

Andrew is an information security strategist with over 15 years’ experience delivering outcomes that have aligned risk strategies and technical controls for commercial, military, technology, telecommunications and federal government sectors. Roles have included; CISO for Telstra Defence, Sr Director Defensive Cyber Operations at Symantec/Blue Coat and 9 years in the RAAF. Currently, Andrew is Head of Cyber for Shelde and a Strategic Cyber Security Advisor to Royal Australian Air Force Head Quarters (Reservist).

Marcus is a consultant, researcher, and educator supporting organisational and national transformation projects. As director of The Institute for Working Futures pty. ltd. for over 30 years Marcus has successfully delivered more some 280 major consultancies undertaking strategic foresighting, building future-oriented workforce capabilities, and designing responsive learning systems. Marcus has an extensive list of books, journals, and publications. He has held senior academic appointments and retains honorary professorial appointments at University of Tasmania and at Macquarie University’s Centre for Workforce Futures. His research has led to a number of EdTech start-ups that have obtained commercial success and global awards. Marcus chairs and holds a number of appointments to national boards of private, academic and professional entities, including on the board of Engineering Education Australia.

He is a leader and advocate with hands on decades of experience in risk identification, analysis and mitigation, with particular strengths in Information Security, Cyber Security, Operational Risk and Business Continuity. Over the years he has held global and national leadership roles building secure and resilient organisations. He is known for implementing and executing successful strategies delivering robust security frameworks supporting operational excellence and uninterrupted performance. He is respected for an ability to suggest and implement controls that are cost effective and fit the culture. He holds various certifications including Certified Information Security Manager (CISM), from ISACA, Certified Practicing Risk Manager (CPRM), from Risk Management Institution of Australasia (RMIA) and is a Member of Business Continuity Institute (MBCI), UK.He has also published many articles for AISA, ISACA and BCI journals.Currently based in Melbourne, he can be reached at [email protected].

David Fairman is a highly-experienced professional and academic in the security and financial crime disciplines, working and consulting for several large financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies across APAC, North America, the UK, and EU. Currently, with Netskope as the CSO for APAC, he previously served in CSO/CISO roles for both the National Australia Bank and Royal Bank of Canada. He previously held leadership positions at JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Royal Bank of Scotland, and also served as an adjunct professor at New York University, University of Toronto, and is currently with Deakin University. Fairman is a passionate leader and actively involved in founding industry alliances and expert groups such as the Canadian Cyber Threat Exchange, The Security Advisor Alliance, and holds several board and advisory roles including Digital Shadows, ISTARI, ClearSky, and CyberStarts. David is also a Venture Partner at SixThirty, a venture capital firm.

Diego is an innovative and resourceful Incident Response and Threat Hunting Specialist. He participated in numerous IR engagements for Fortune 500 and worked as lead IR for major investigations involving Australian companies. He has real-world experience dealing with multiple intrusions and system compromises. Diego dedicated the last 2 years to help Organizations mature their incident response readiness by focusing on key areas like automation of cyber operations (SOC as a Code), endpoint telemetry, threat detection engineering, evidence collection and company wide procedures. Diego is also a seasoned threat hunter who likes to apply different types of data analytics to all his hunt projects. He is a researcher in the field of DFIR and enjoys developing tools in golang, python and powershell. In his spare time, he contributes code to data science projects in Australia like climate data parsing automation for environmental sciences.

For 20 years, David and his team at Insane Technologies have been working to protect and support their small to mid-sized business clients. In most recent years, David has been responding to cyber incidents for small to mid-sized businesses who have experienced a cyber attack, with a predominant focus on the cyber insurance industry.David is a CISSP, GCFE, GCFA and Certified Professional (Cyber Security) by the Australian Computer Society. David and his team believe in information sharing and empowering business owners and IT/IS professionals with the knowledge and tools to better protect themselves from cyber incidents, as well as to arm them with strategies that will help incident responders investigate an incident more effectively.

Dilip Samji is the Director of Cyber Security and Digital Forensics for DRC Australia. He holds a Master of Information Systems Security and a second Master in Cyber Security from Charles Sturt University. In addition, he is certified in the Digital Forensics from IACIS (USA). Dilip’s vast knowledge has been developed over 38 years in IT and his career has spanned in Africa, Europe, North America, Asia, South America and Australia. Dilip specializes in Data Recovery, Cyber Security and Digital Forensics, currently supervises a Digital Forensic investigations team, involving matters that range from bullying emails, IP theft, divorce, financial crime, disgruntled employee, disclosure of confidential information, cybercrime, assisting Lawyers and Barristers on both Civil and Criminal litigation as well testifying in the Sydney District , Local Court and ASIC – ASIC – Australian Securities and Investments Commission as an Expert Witness.

Narayana Madineni is a senior developer and Master Inventor for IBM Global Security Kit, an SSL and cryptography API used for creating secure connections by hundreds of IBM products. He has hands-on knowledge on STIX open standards.

Scott has served in a wide variety of roles across a career distinguished by the breadth and depth of his exposure to the cybersecurity threat landscape.His approach reflects extensive experience in the physical, personnel and logical security domains. The results he has achieved are underscored by using intelligence-based threat and risk management tools to address cybersecurity and associated critical infrastructure vulnerabilities.His personable approach and demeanour provide an ideal platform for collaboration and negotiation environments. A noted and entertaining speaker, he brings an Australian candid and can-do approach to describing this complex and continuously changing environment.Scott has a degree in Criminology from CSU and a Masters in Cybersecurity, Strategy and Diplomacy from UNSW. He is a member of multiple security, risk, intelligence, and cybersecurity-related organisations. This active membership provides an ideal platform for empowering outreach from a broad global community of like-minded cybersecurity practitioners.

I am a solution engineer at Attivo Networks, a software vendor with a mission to stop cyber attacks by hiding and denying access to networks, systems and data. I advise enterprises on how to use active defence techniques to disrupt and detect attacks. Previously I worked in similar roles for vendors in endpoint protection, security data analytics and cloud security. My focus is to enable defenders to respond to incidents faster by improving threat detection fidelity and context.

Melissa Wingard is a senior commercial technology lawyer, with over 15 years’ experience, assisting software, cybersecurity, and technology companies, across the Asia Pacific region, grow their business and meet strategic aims, whilst managing risk and regulatory compliance.She has extensive experience in relation to commercialising intellectual property particularly in exploiting software, drafting and advising on various contractual arrangements, competition law, information security, data protection and privacy.

Corch has been fascinated with hacking ever since he saw the movie War Games as child in the 80s, but the idea of making a career out in computer security never even occurred to him until he fell into it almost by accident after dropping out of university as the dotcom bubble burst. Now, over 20 years later, having worked as everything from a sysadmin, to a help desk analyst, to a cloud architect, he stands on his own as a successful independent cybersecurity consultant. On any given day he could be working with a small start up, a not-for-profit, a major telco, or a government department. He could be simulating a cyber-attack from a hostile nation state to identify problems with incident response, or he could just be teaching people in the research department not to use Joshua as their password.

Annelies Moens is Managing Director at Privcore. Her vision is to make privacy core business – a discipline integral to business and government. In recognition for her privacy expertise, she was selected as one of Australia’s Superstars of STEM for 2021-2022. Annelies is a widely recognised global data privacy expert and thought leader with 20 years’ experience.Annelies co-founded the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) in Australia and New Zealand and was its President in 2011-2012. She has been consulting in privacy since 2012. Annelies conducts privacy impact assessments and privacy health checks, data breach prevention, response and regulatory engagement and builds privacy programs for clients so they can increase trust and confidence.Her strong foundations in privacy were built at Australia’s federal privacy regulator over five years, where Annelies developed extensive assurance and complaint handling expertise and led audit and investigation teams. Her previous roles have also included Deputy Managing Director at IIS, External Relations Manager at AustLII, Group Manager and Chief Privacy Officer at the Copyright Agency Limited.Annelies holds an MBA (distinction) from Vlerick Business School, Belgium, Law (Hons), Arts and Science degrees with emphasis on computer science and artificial intelligence from The University of Queensland.

Victor Akkari is Chief Information Security Officer at Cochlear Limited, a world-leading medical device company that designs, manufactures and supplies implantable hearing solutions to over half a million people. With over 30 years’ experience in Information Technology, Risk Management and Information Security across the Financial Services, Online Payments, Healthcare and IT Consulting industries, Victor leads a global team of Information and Cyber security professionals who are charged with protecting Cochlear’s information assets and medical devices.

Amy Ormrod is an experienced Cyber Consulting Director having worked across diverse industries and sectors and now specialises in Federal Government, particularly, Defence and National Security. She has diverse experience leading cyber and business transformation delivery teams across the world with an interest in cyber threat intelligence and emulation, human decision-making, culture and behaviors involved in the strategic application of cyber-effects. Dr Dave Ormrod is Terra Schwartz’s Head of Cyber, with 24 years of international experience. Dave has experience in Defence, Government, Telecommunication and Academic sectors. Dave adopts a risk-based, intelligence-led and mission-focused approach, as a trusted partner for strategic cyber-security advice against various threats and across different ecosystems. Dave has a PhD in Computer Science, in addition to various post-graduate qualifications and certifications, including a Masters of Information Management, inclusion in the Australian Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA). Dave enjoys collecting Scotch Whisky and books between adventures.

Arjen is originally a C programmer, but has acquired extensive experience in many fields. In more recent decades he has worked in a variety of roles at MySQL, founded his own company Open Query, and is currently CISO at Catalyst IT Australia.Arjen founded the BlueHackers initiative (bluehackers.org) in 2009, and has since spoken on the topic of mental health at many conferences in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere, as well as arranging for free mental health services at a number of conferences.

Abbas Kudrati, a long-time cybersecurity practitioner and CISO, is Microsoft Asia’s Lead Chief Cybersecurity Advisor for the Security Solutions Area. In addition to his work at Microsoft, he serves as an executive advisor to Deakin University, LaTrobe University, HITRUST ASIA, EC Council ASIA, and several security and technology start-ups. He supports the broader security community through his work with ISACA Chapters and student mentorship.
He co-authored a book, “Threat Hunting in a multi cloud environment” and is currently working on his next book on the topic of “Zero Trust Journey Across the Digital Estate”.
He is also a part-time Professor with Deakin University and a regular speaker on Zero-Trust, Cybersecurity, Cloud Security, Governance, Risk, and Compliance.

Mike Thompson is CTO of HackHunter, which detects malicious WiFi and drones, alerts in real-time and locates the source precisely, to within a few centimetres.Previously Mike was CISO at an insurance company, ran the Security Consulting practice of SMS Consulting, and was security consultant to over 50 organisations including Telstra, NAB and the Privacy Commission.

I’m currently a technical program manager in the Security team and was previously in SRE, IT and business analysis. I have a tendency to model business activities in data, and then gain accountability for improving them in measurable, objective and automatable terms.

Joff Pearce is a results-driven Solutions Architect at SoftIron. Having held various Enterprise Architecture, Solution Architecture, and services leadership roles in large corporates and independent consultancies over the years, he is now heading up SoftIron’s APAC division.Previously, Joff was a solutions architect on a leading Australian bank’s Cyber Security Centre creation program. Projects included the implementation of a security-specific case management tool, malware sandbox environment, and an Enterprise Key Management Solution for database encryption services.Joff also worked with the Cyber Security response teams to determine their requirements and business use case for the required security products to enable the “detect, respond, hunting and research” security incident processes. Joff was also responsible for defining the solution for handling suspected malware and detonation within the sandbox on the cloud (SaaS) and on-premise and the mechanisms with which to address issues uncovered from vulnerability scanning.

Paul Nevin is the CTO of Cybermerc, a Canberra based IT security company specialising in training in cyber intelligence analysis. Through his career, Paul has focused on developing solutions within the national security and intelligence agencies, to combat the rising threat of cyber crime and cyber espionage.An inventor of intrusion detection technologies, Paul is passionate about teaching quality investigative techniques to a new generation of cyber intelligence analysts. Paul holds a range of qualifications including CISSP and a Masters in Cyber Security.Paul co-founded Cybermerc in 2016 with his brother, Matthew, bringing his experience as an expert and highly-regarded cyber security professional. Cybermerc is an Australian-owned cyber security company. Cybermerc’s services, training programmes and cyber security solutions are designed to forge collaborations across industry, government and academia, for collective defence of our Digital Borders.AUSHIELD has been successfully deployed across Federal and State Government, Defence, Energy, Law Enforcement, Education and Health sectors. Cybermerc has trained hundreds of students, elevating their cyber skills and defensive capabilities.

Tanvi Bali is the DevSecOps Lead for National Australia Bank, Australia. She possesses a passionate curiosity for learning new & emerging technologies and their related threats. As a security practitioner she leverages her decade of experience in IT Infrastructure, Software development and Application Security to help the business implement security measures and help them to better understand the risks and how to mitigate them, not just to demonstrate vulnerabilities. She is particularly interested in helping businesses understand and adopt Security By Design, Security at Speed and Security at Scale – “DevSecOps” Strategies in an optimal way!

Ashutosh Kapsé is the Head of Cybersecurity at IOOF Holdings Ltd, one of the largest non-banking financial services organisation in Australia.He is a recognized expert and thought leader in the security management field who has dedicated his career to helping organizations address security, risk and fraud issues.He has been working in the Information security, technology risk and compliance field in Australia for more than 25 years and has proven track record in being able to present and influence at Executive and Board levelHis expertise is validated through his certifications including CISM, CRISC, CISA, CCSK, IRAP and ISO27001 Lead auditor.He is a Board member and the Chair of the Risk and Compliance committee for SCCV (Largest not for profit Aged Care agency in Victoria). He is a Board member and Vice President of ISACA Melbourne chapter. Ashutosh is an accredited International trainer for the courses leading to CISM, CISA and CRISC certifications.Regularly presenting to the executives and boards as well as attending presentations by managers as a Board member, gives him a unique perspective on this subject.

Mickey Perre is a solutions engineer at Splunk. Mickey see’s himself as a traditional hacker that learns by doing.. and using a bit of elbow grease to get the job done right, he has a passion for both learning and teaching! Before Splunk, Mickey worked in various roles across Government, Legal, Gambling and Healthcare. Being on the receiving end of various talks throughout his career he follows 3 principles. Must be immediately actionable, valuable and vendor neutral!

Warren Simondson is managing director and founder of Ctrl-Alt-Del IT Consultancy, an Australian firm established in 2002. The company is known globally for its commitment to expertise and knowledge sharing throughout the community and the provision of its Freeware applications to extend the functionality and management of server based computing environments. Locally, the company is also well respected in the area of I.T. Forensics, for which Warren personally dedicates an ethos of truth and justice in the investigation of allegations of hacking and computer misuse. Warren has worked in the information technology field for over 25 years and is an evangelist for emerging technologies in mobility, IoT, server based computing, cloud and virtualisation. Warren holds various qualifications in post graduate study as well as industry based certifications in Citrix, Microsoft and VMware Technologies to name a few. He is an EC-Council CEH (Certified Ethical Hacker, CHFI (Computer Hacking Forensic Investigator) and a CEI (Certified EC-Council Instructor). He has spoken at many major conferences around the world and commits himself to community collaboration.

Lukasz is a highly proficient security consultant and is responsible for providing technical direction and leadership for one of the worlds largest security consultancies, specifically within the Asia Pacific region. He has provided security assurances services and consulted with some of the world largest banks and financial organisations, has worked with federal, state and local governments, presented at and organised a number security conferences, and helps mentor the next generation of security professionals.

Stephen has worked in digital identity, privacy and data protection for 25 years, holding R&D leadership and Principal Consultant roles with Baltimore Technologies, KPMG, PwC, SecureNet, Lockstep and Constellation Research. His research agenda includes the evolution and ecology of identity, data provenance, attributes exchange, cryptography-as-a-service, blockchain, and the emergence of data supply chains. He recently completed a three year R&D contract to develop a mobile attributes wallet for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (the only Australian so far to be awarded a DHS Cybersecurity grant). Stephen has been described as “one of the most original thinkers in digital identity today”.

Paresh Kerai is currently Technical Manager at Sapien Cyber, managing the technical aspects of software design of the technology and infrastructure.He is also a security researcher specialising in cyber security for control systems and network infrastructure, as well as computer forensics. He has over a decade of computer and networks security and industrial control systems experience, where he has consulted to various organisations, both in the private and government sector. He is passionate about threat intelligence, threat hunting computer and network forensics, wireless security, IoT devices, penetration testing and operation technology security.He has a strong information technology professional with currently pursuing Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) focused in Industrial Control Systems and SCADA Security from Edith Cowan University.

Dr Lennon Yao-chung Chang is a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences. He is a co-founder and vice-chairman of the Asia Pacific Association of Technology and Society. He is the Project Director of Strengthening Cyber capacity and Raising Cyber Awareness in the Indo-Pacific Region: Australia and Myanmar. He authored ‘Cybercrime in the Greater China Region: Regulatory Responses and Crime Prevention’ (Edward Elgar, 2012). Together with Myanmar National Cyber Security Centre and Kenerllix, he initiated and founded “CyberBayKin”, a cyber awareness campaign in Myanmar.Dr Chang is interested in researching crime and governance of cyberspace – cybercrime, cyber terrorism and cyber warfare. He is particularly interested in the regulation and governance of cyberspace in the Asia-Pacific region. His professional interest in Asia continues and he is currently researching on-line vigilantism in the indo-pacific region. He was also undertaking research into cybercrime and cyber-deviance in this region.Dr Chang was awarded his PhD by the Australian National University . He has a Master in Criminology and Bachelor in Law degrees from National Taipei University, Taiwan.

Peter is a Cyber Security specialist with over 20 years experience in a range of roles spanning multiple security domains. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and is experienced in engaging with large enterprises, telcos and government agencies throughout the Asia Pacific region. In addition to Security Intelligence, other focus areas over the past 10 years have included Network Forensics and Malware Analysis.If he’s not assisting customers to track down the bad guys, Peter is probably trekking somewhere in Australia’s wilderness areas. He believes in the power of volunteering to help the community and is a member of the specialist NSW SES Bush Search and Rescue Unit.

After getting her Honours degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Monash University, Tracy spent a decade within the IT industry working on various IT platforms that delivered entertainment digital content to many early mobile phones. After turning one of her side hobbies into a small business, she realised the size of the canyon that is separating the small business community and cybersecurity industry. She’s now doing research to try and actively bridge that gap.

Victoria Schiffer is an Agile Technology Leader in Cyber Security, and holds the GIAC Security Leadership (GSLC) certification. With a background and degrees in Computer Science, Commerce, Software Engineering and Professional Coaching she has been working in Technology & Leadership for over 15 years across Germany and Australia; since 2019 in Cyber Security. Victoria’s passion lies in fostering thriving Technology teams, helping people grow through mentoring, coaching and training sessions, breaking down complex problems into clear goals, innovative leadership, collaborating with the community, and continuous growth & learning.

Ganesha is a cyber security executive with over 15 years of experience in consulting and operations. As part of his role at CSL Limited he was responsible for identification, valuation and management of cyber risks associated with acquisitions and operations in Mainland China.This experience provided a strong understanding of the Chinese Cyber Security Law (CCSL), Multi Level Protection Scheme (MLPS) and the Regulation on Internet Security Supervision and Inspection by Public Security Organs.

Annette Peploe is passionate about people and holds a bachelor’s degree in Ministry. She is a Cyber Security Student as well as an Airport Chaplain and School Chaplain. Her mission, vision and calling are about inspiring positive change utilising her skills in technology to highlight and curtail the sex trafficking industry. As a Chaplain she utilizes her skills to educate the students in Schools about the importance of Cyber Safety. Annette is a prolific speaker. She encourages and advocates for people to use their Cybersecurity and Technolgy Skills as a tool in ending sex and human trafficking. Her focus in schools is to help students to be Cybersafe and be Mentally healthy.Annette’s previous resume includes: 15 years of telecommunication experience in Management, Key account management and New busines development. Her ethos is built around utilizing all your skill sets and to colour outside of the lines in order to bring about creative impactful change.

Sean Ofir is the CEO and managing direct or of SABASAI Sean has more than 20 years of local and international experience in helping organisations to solve the “human risk problem”

Sean developed a unique psychological methodology to approach high level stake holders and provide them with unique skills to approach the problem from the strategic angle and less from technology.

Dave Ormrod is Terra Schwartz’s Head of Cyber, with 24 years of international experience. Dave has experience in Defence, Government, Telecommunication and Academic sectors. Dave adopts a risk-based, intelligence-led and mission-focused approach, as a trusted partner for strategic cyber-security advice against various threats and across different ecosystems. Dave has a PhD in Computer Science, in addition to various post-graduate qualifications and certifications, including a Masters of Information Management, inclusion in the Australian Information Security Registered Assessors Program (IRAP), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and Certified Information Security Auditor (CISA). Dave enjoys collecting Scotch Whisky and books between adventures.

Dr. Roland Padilla is a Deputy Chief Security Officer with A9, an Australian-owned firm that delivers a range of security solutions across government and private sector. He has more than 20 years experience in the ICT domain working across various industries. For the last ten years, Roland has held various roles with the Australian Department of Defence as an Army member with the Royal Australian Corps of Signals, acting Assistant Director with the ICT Security Branch and resident Cyber Security Expert within Army Headquarters.

Roland specialises on security outcomes by providing strategic and organisational-wide oversight of protective security. Recently, he authored and led an approved publication of a Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management document focusing on the Australian-wide deployment of a land-based capability.

The Australian Computer Society recognised Roland as a leader in his profession and awarded him a senior Certified Professional in Cyber Security. The society further recognised him as a Fellow for demonstrating his industry leadership and distinguished contributions to the field of information technology with a focus on cloud computing security.

Roland holds a BSc in Physics, MIS (1st Class Honours), PhD(UMelb) in cloud computing, and MBA(ANU).

Glenn commenced his career with the Australian Defence Organisation in the mid-90’s. In Defence, Glenn conducted numerous cyber activities including penetration testing, systems engineering, risk assessment, threat analysis and reporting, and cyber operations. Glenn moved to the ATO in 2011 as the Agency’s Cyber Security Advisor. In the ATO, Glenn rebuilt the ATO’s GRC framework and cyber strategy to better match the ATO’s aggressive digitization agenda.After leaving government in 2014, Glenn ran Cyber Operations for Lockheed Martin’s Defence Centralised Processing project then moved to Cisco in 2016 to lead the Security & Trust Office for Australia and NewZealand. Glenn now works at FortiGuard Labs, heading up Threat Intelligence operations for Australia.FortiGuard Labs build the security intelligence that underpin advanced security technologies like AI, antivirus, intrusion prevention, and email & web security.Glenn works closely Fortinet front & back office teams, the Australian Cyber Organisations, CERTs, partners, and customers to build resilient defence systems via intelligence-led security fabrics.Glenn has degrees in Business (Management) and Science (ICT); and diplomas in Security Risk Management & Project Management. Glenn is married with two daughters and a son,and spends his free time on his farm near Canberra.

Tony Kitzelmann is the Australian Digital Health Agency’s Chief Information Security Officer and General Manager for the Agency’s Cyber Security Centre.

A strong believer that ‘cyber security is a team sport’, Tony is focused on promoting a sustainable, resilient and holistic approach to cyber security across the digital health ecosystem. Tony leads a team of dedicated cyber security professionals who work to embed security into the design of systems and services, undertake cyber security operations functions, and promote security awareness, education and engagement.

Tony’s experience in the digital health arena is complemented by his previous work in the private sector, most recently through his role as the Senior Cyber Security Executive and Chief Information Security Officer (APAC) at Lockheed Martin for five years from 2012. In this role, he was accountable for the strategic leadership and delivery of corporate cyber security functions within the ASIA Pacific region and provided functional leadership to the various business lines in the region.

Tony is always looking to further his knowledge and holds numerous industry and academic qualifications. He is currently studying a Masters in Cyber Security, Strategy and Diplomacy at UNSW.

Jacqueline Jayne (JJ) currently serves as Security Awareness Advocate for the APAC region for KnowBe4, the world’s largest security awareness and simulated phishing platform.

With over 20 years’ experience as a conduit between people and technology, she has mastered the art of communication and influence. Previously, she led a successful cybersecurity education and awareness program that changed behaviour and culture, aimed at helping users make better cybersecurity decisions. Cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility, and there is a gap in how to go about engaging hearts and minds across an entire organisation, regardless of its size.

Her insights on the human condition and how to engage at all levels in this space are invaluable as many people struggle to understand the cyberthreat landscape and equally, tech people struggle to understand engage the people to create change. Humans are innately curious which in this climate causes major issues.

Ralf is a serial cyber entrepreneur with a passion for software technology. He obtained a PhD in computer science from the University of Kiel, Germany, and went on to become a Principal Scientist with DATA61, Australia, and Adjunct Associate Professor with USNW. In 2010 Ralf co-founded Goanna Software, as static analysis application security company, which got acquired by Synopsys, one of Silicon Valley’s largest AppSec enterprises in 2015. After having spearheaded Synopsys’ global business development for automotive cyber security for 4 years, he founded LOGILICA in 2019, focussing on bringing independent advise and solutions to fast moving DevOps teams. Ralf is a frequent speaker and author on the global events circuit.

John has over 35 years’ experience in Information Technology and Research areas across a broad range of areas. John has extensive Public Sector, Defence and Intelligence experience including postings into Australian and US Intelligence agencies in integrated Military and Civilian teams.
John worked in the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) as a Senior Research Scientist leading teams undertaking cutting edge Image Analysis and Distributed Systems research.
Before joining AWS he had senior roles at Microsoft and IBM providing Architectural advice to Federal Government customers.
John is currently Head of Security Assurance for Australia and New Zealand at AWS in Canberra Australia. He is passionate about removing regulatory barriers of cloud adoption for customers. John has been working with Government customers at AWS for over 7 years, as the first employee for the ANZ Public Sector team.

Pouya is an accomplished security professional with over 20 years of experience in IT and cybersecurity. His technical background includes various areas of security including DevSecOps, Software, Network, Cloud and Identity Security. His vision and expertise has assisted more than half of the ASX 100 companies with their digital transformation journey, by bridging business requirements to market-leading, effective technology solutions. Pouya is Associate Director of the Cybersecurity program at St. Bonaventure University New York, and a Lead Industry Mentor for Cybersecurity courses at RMIT Online University.

Across 2020 Ajoy served as the interim CISO for the Australian Government owned company Healthdirect Australia. Already providing tele health and prototyping digital health solutions, Healthdirect had to rapidly establish, scale and sustain health emergency response services including the National Coronavirus Helpline, GP Video Consultation, Contact Tracing and others.Ajoy is an interim CISO and IRAP Assessor who also lectures in digital forensics the Australian Defence Force Academy/UNSW Canberra and the CBA-sponsored Secedu program at UNSW Sydney. He serves on the National Board of Amnesty International Australia, advocating for basic human rights for all, including digital rights and on the Advisory Body for the Defence Employer Partner Network (i.e. Defence Reserves Support), advising on the cyber reserve workforce.

Boaz Fischer is the CEO and Founder of CommsNet Group and several other businesses. Boaz helps organisations to develop strategies to help them identify, mitigate and disrupt insider threats. Boaz is the author of 4 books as well as over 100 articles relating to insider threats as well cybersecurity resiliency. Boaz is globally known speaker, haven spoken in Israel, US and Australia

An avid reader since childhood, Gyle loved reading mysteries and whodunits. She’s been in the tech industry since the early 2000, starting from doing Cisco networking and moving into consultancy and training. She completed a Graduate Certificate in Incident Response from the SANS Institute and a master’s degree in Cyber Security with a focus on Digital Forensics from UNSW Canberra. She now engages her passion for figuring out what happened based on the digital evidence as a senior security consultant for a DFIR team. During her spare time, she volunteers for different non-profit organizations and speaks at grassroots security conferences.

Over the past 25 years Andrew has led technology vision for a series of Australian start-up companies including Comindico and IP Systems who pioneered the global adoption of IP communications. These projects developed new industry models to convert technology vision into real world applications. In recent years Andrew has consulted to Australian enterprises and government agencies on the procurement and adoption of disruptive technologies. Since 2016 his focus has sharpened toward adoption of active cyber defence measures as the most prospective approach to tilt the balance of power in the cyber realm back in favour of the defender.

Vasant Chinnipilli is a security enthusiast, speaker and currently serves as a Security Architect, DevSecOps Practitioner/learner and working towards securing code in a Continuous Deployment world at mx51.His technical abilities span a very wide range of technologies across various domains of information security such as Cloud Security, Container Security, penetration testing, Incident Analysis, Threat Analysis for protecting networks, systems and information assets for diverse companies and organisations.He is Passionate about Information Security, Cloud and containerisation Technology, DevSecOps and Security automation.Always a Learner and currently ramping up my DevOps skills to bridge the gap between the security and DevOps teams.

Stephen Chey is a consultant and representative for IBM’s security services business. Stephen focuses on operational and workforce development issues for IBM’s enterprise customers in critical national infrastructure industries. Stephen volunteers in support of IBM’s free Open P-Tech and Skills Build digital training platforms and is an ambassador for the NSW Cybersecurity Innovation Node.

Ricki is the Director and founder of CyberSec People, one of Australia’s leading cyber security recruitment companies. He has helped place over 100 people into cyber security-related roles and supports some of the most innovative companies across Australia and New Zealand in growing their security teams. He is embedded in the security community, presented at information security conferences around the country, published in various information security magazines and the host of the Hacking into Security podcast. 

James is one of the world’s leading technical experts in AWS Cloud, as well as Linux and Open Source technology. He has lead technical teams across Europe, the US and Australia in the fields of Higher Education, Finance, Advertising, and Government; more recently he has lead the cloud-based design and deployment of the Advara Land Registry as a Service (LRaaS) for Landgate, the Western Australian Land Registry. As well as helping lead teams at Police, Transport, Education, and Health, he is also one of the (volunteer) Debian Linux developers, presents at various security and cloud conferences, and is passionate about IT, digital solutions and security. Holding 9 separate Amazon Web Services certifications, he has been appointed as one of the original AWS Partner Ambassadors – the leading group of Engineers across the Australian and New Zealand consulting partners. James is a Consulting Director at Modis in Australia, serves our customers as our National AWS Cloud Practice Lead and Cyber Security Lead, as well as being the global AWS Alliance Lead for Modis.

Dale Bowie is IBM Security’s worldwide product owner for QRadar Network Insights and Incident Forensics. He has a background in intrusion prevention systems and artificial intelligence and applies this to network security analytics.

Tracie Thompson is the CEO of HackHunter, a cyber security start-up ensuring WiFi is used for good. HackHunter helps organisations accurately detect, track and locate the source of unauthorised, and potentially malicious, WiFi in real-time.

Tracie has led HackHunter from idea through three accelerator programs (Startmate, CyRise and SBE Australia) to product launch, and is responsible for the commercialisation of the HackHunter technology.

Previously Tracie was co-owner and COO of a security consulting and software company with over 200 customers including Medibank, Centrelink, HostPlus, Village Roadshow and Allianz Insurance.

Tracie has over 15 years of experience in information security, cyber security and business management, including two successful business sales. She is also an industry and start-up mentor, championing women in tech.

Richard is a highly skilled and experienced IT security professional with over 20 years industry experience. He has a strong track record of working at the executive level in large enterprises, with resellers and integrators, and multinational security vendors.

Richard is comfortable discussing strategy with the C-suite, diving deep into the technology stack with engineers, or delivering a conference session to several hundred attendees.

When not educating people on why good password hygiene is so important, Richard can usually be found either on top of a motorcycle or behind a camera.

Daryl Sheppard has been in the security industry for over 10 years both in private enterprise and government. During that time he has performed a number of roles from penetration testing to governance risk and compliance. He is currently employed as a security engineer for a Defence contractor. Daryl is also PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania studying the human factors of cyber security.

Dr John Selby is an academic at Macquarie University in the Faculty of Business and Economics researching the spillover effects of new technologies on business. He teaches cybersecurity and privacy and is a member of the Optus-Macquarie Cybersecurity Hub. Dr Selby has been awarded multiple research grants, including: identity theft from mobile phone porting, analysing how company boards can build trust in the face of cybersecurity risks, and online browser privacy. Since 2000, Dr Selby has researched, written, trained and presented on many topics including: cyber-insurance, differences and tensions between cybersecurity and privacy, responding to data breaches and mitigating risks, privacy obligations locally and globally, data localisation laws globally, spam, biases in artificial intelligence (AI) and the governance risks of AI-based decisions. His audiences have included the UN Internet Governance Forum, the Asia Privacy Scholars Network, Australia-India Youth Dialogue, Australian Institute of Company Directors, Australian Internet Governance Forum, NSW Society for Computers & the Law, and many global Universities. He has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Oslo, Norway, the University of Zürich, Switzerland and was a Postel Research Fellow at the University of Southern California. He previously practiced as a lawyer at King & Wood Mallesons.

Rajiv Shah has worked in the cyber, intelligence and security business for over 20 years, over which time he has seen the internet evolve from an academic curiosity to today’s hyperconnected world.

He has held a broad range of senior leadership roles with major multinational companies and now leads his own consulting business, MDR Security, providing expert consulting advisory services to government and businesses to grow capacity and capability through building effective and mutually beneficial partnerships. He is also a regular speaker at industry conferences and contributor to industry publications.

Rajiv’s experience has spanned a broad range of business and technical domains, with roles that have included business analysis, technical architecture, program delivery, operational management, strategy, business transformation, client relationship management and more.

He has spent time working in the UK and the US, and since 2011 has been based in Canberra, Australia. Before joining the commercial world, Rajiv completed a PhD in quantum physics and retains a keen interest in mathematics and science.

Rodman Ramezanian has over 9 years’ experience in the Cyber Security industry, with the past 6 years spent with McAfee as an Enterprise Sales Engineer. Rodman looks after Australia’s Federal Government accounts based in Canberra, and specializes in the areas of Threat Intelligence, Data Protection, and Cloud Security. Rodman currently holds CISSP, CCSP, CISA, CDPSE, and Microsoft Azure industry certifications.

Murray Goldschmidt is the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Sense of Security, a founding member firm of CyberCX.

Murray is an industry-recognised information security expert providing advice across the spectrum, from the boardroom to the basement across the region’s elite corporate entities to government agencies.

Murray is frequently invited to present at conferences, workgroups and seminars and asked to provide expert comment for editorials and publications. He has presented on security topics at every leading conference locally, regionally and internationally.

His credentials include CISSP, IRAP and PCI QSA certifications and he is an active member of AISA, the AICD and RMIA. Murray has been instrumental in developing an expert and authoritative voice to the Australian media. A Cyber Security Thought Leader, Murray is frequently published as well as being a high-profile media commentator for both enterprise and consumer security trends, attacks and issues.

Emily Carr is the Managing Director of Parkour Consulting, a Strategy and Talent consultancy that provides a practical approach to strategy, culture, and people. Prior to launching Parkour Consulting, Emily worked at Macquarie Group for six years, where she was the global head of Strategy and People Enablement for the Financial Management Group. In the decade before joining Macquarie Group, Emily worked for companies such as Accenture and IBM as a consultant specialised in change management. She has worked in the Americas, Asia, ANZ, and EMEA across multiple industries, with a strong focus on pharmaceuticals and financial services.

Melissa specialises in information security culture programs. Her mission is to improve the security culture of her client organisations through effective education, change management and behaviour reinforcement. A ‘non techie’, Melissa’s CV includes ASX200 companies and household name corporations to prove she’s got what it takes to master the ‘human side’ of cyber security.

Brett is recognized for his extensive and in-depth knowledge of the security landscape and has over 28 years’ working in IT & security. He has experience working across industry sectors including finance, government, law enforcement, healthcare and education. He works with clients to help them operationalise intelligence and assist in building threat intelligence programs. As Lead Solutions Architect at Flashpoint, Brett applies intelligence across various use cases including, insider, cybersecurity, fraud, e-crime and counter-terrorism. Brett also enjoys travelling, mountain biking and currently, if not slowly learning to fly light aircraft. He is also working to complete a Master’s degree in Management with a major in Forensics.

Chathura is a CREST Certified Infrastructure Tester, a red teamer based in Melbourne, Australia. He is an Associate Director within Cyber Defense services in KPMG Australia; with more than 15 years of hands-on industry experience in cyber security. He has worked with clients across the State & Federal Government, Power & Energy, Mining, Telco and FSI sectors, specializing in objective based penetration testing, red teaming and cyber security training.https://www.linkedin.com/in/abeydeera/

Adrian is the Chief Technology Officer of SaaS Security Posture Manager Detexian; he has 18 years of IT and security experience primarily in IDAM and Cloud roles. The last 7 years of this experience have been spent in senior architecture positions, providing strategy and risk advisement services to senior and executive management. Adrian has consulted across a range of industries including some of the largest financial, utility and aviation companies in Australia and NZ. Adrian has spoken at regional conferences on topics such as security posture management and shifting security to the left to move from DevOps to DevSecOps.

Vanessa Teague is a cryptographer with a special interest in privacy and election security. She was part of the team (with Chris Culnane and others) that designed vVote, the first end-to-end verifiable election system to run at a state level anywhere in the world. Her security analysis of Internet voting systems in Australia and Switzerland has shown cryptographic weaknesses serious enough to allow for undetectable fraud, even in systems that were supposed to provide a cryptographic proof of correctness (joint work with Chris Culnane, Mark Eldridge, Aleks Essex, Sarah Jamie Lewis and Olivier Pereira). With Culnane and Rubinstein, she demonstrated the easy re-identifiability of ‘de-identified’ published records of Australian health and transport data. Her most recent achievement is the world’s first pilot Risk-Limiting Audit of a preferential election, for the city of San Francisco, having developed techniques which could be used immediately to improve election integrity in Australia too (joint work with Michelle Blom, Andrew Conway, Philip Stark and Peter Stuckey).

James is the Worldwide CTO and Garage Practice Lead for IBM Security Expert Labs. He is a thought leader in Identity and Access (IAM), Cloud Security, and Cybersecurity Solution.After completing an Honours Degree in Computer Science at the University of Queensland, James started his IT career as a software developer writing Unix device driver for a high-speed communication cards and devices. For the next 20 years, James has been designing, building and implementing IBM Security solutions across the globe, working extensively throughout Europe and Asia.

Heidi is an Australian professional currently specialising in cyber security risk management, incident management and operations. She has worked in IT project management, system administration, telecommunications and compliance, before making the switch to cyber security, where she has had the opportunity to experience both government and enterprise environments. She has a strong interest in offensive and deceptive security projects and has recently been delving into malware analysis and cyber threat intel. While also being a self-declared perpetual n00b, Heidi spends her time giving back to the community by volunteering at conferences across the globe, organising meet ups and CTFs, and running popular community projects to educate young and old on the joys of the infosec.

Dr Joanne Hall and Prof Asha Rao are engaged in redesigning the Master of Cybersecurity curriculum at RMIT. Dr Hall’s background is in mathematics and cryptography. Since Joining RMIT in 2017 she has focused both her teaching and research in cybersecurity. She enjoys bring industry guests into the classroom and sending student out into industry for internships.Prof Rao leads the mathematics discipline at RMIT. For many years she was the RMIT’s academic program leader for cybersecurity, and was instrumental in implementing the industry focus of the curriculum. Prof Rao is a Superstar of STEM, regular media commentator and contributor to the UN Centre for Drugs and Crime.

David has been involved in the security industry for the last 20 years. During this time he has found many high-impact and novel vulnerabilities, handled security response for dozens of open source projects, led a Chinese startup that failed miserably, and wrote the core aviation meteorology system for the southern hemisphere. For the last 7 years he has managed technical security teams, and is currently the manager of Commonwealth Bank’s penetration testing team.

Gareth Phillips is an experienced IT security professional with over 18 years in the offensive and defensive disciplines of cyber security. Having made a number of contributions to the industry over the years, which includes co-authoring two internationally published books and presenting a number of ethical hacking courses at BlackHat, Gareth is currently a Principal Security Consultant at SEEK and founder of Scapecom Security Solutions. Gareth is passionate about helping secure organisations, building robust pentest teams and developing unique solutions to improve the security for all organisations.

Tom is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and Master Architect with many years’ experience in a wide range of industry sectors. His experience covers most aspects of security, risk, strategy and information technology systems through senior roles in multiple industry sectors. He is active in defining solutions for data, application and cloud security.

Kylie is a Sociologist that specialises in technology (Cyber and Analytics). She has a strong interest in human behaviour in regards to technologies including users and cyber criminal behaviour and regularly advises federal government agencies on strengthening security based on her insights. Kylie has led technology teams across Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan and Korea to assist clients with innovation, data management, advanced analytics and security. She is a recognised thought leader in human behaviour and recently developed a tool that is used by government to advise on automation risks including security and social impacts. She was welcomed in 2019 by special invitation to submit her opinions in the recent Federal Government Cyber Security Plan. Kylie has published a range of academic papers and general articles on human behaviour and technology including predictive analytics in healthcare with a focus on risks such as data privacy and security. Kylie leads the Cyber, Data and Analytics federal government teams in her current role with a focus on risk advisory, cyber security frameworks, cyber technologies and platforms, identity and access management, cyber analytics and big data. Kylie is completing her second Masters degree with a focus on cyber.

Kelsey is an IT professional with more than 25 years experience, the last 5 of which have been focussed on Information Security, particularly in the Identity and Access Management Domain. Kelsey leads a globally distributed, remote first team, who deliver Identity as a product to more than 8000 technologists around the world. Kelsey’s goal is to reduce the friction which often results from trying to balance amenity and security, through making it easy to do the right thing in the first place.

CCS Cultural Cyber Security Executive Director – Brian Hay APM has a rare blend of cyber security skills and business attributes. Long considered a Thought Leader in the world of Cyber Security he learned his craft not from the technical demands of the industry but rather by focusing on the activities of organised crime and cyber criminals. He has served in both APAC and National security roles within the Cyber Security industry delivering operational and service excellence. A Detective Superintendent at Queensland Police, where he served 35 years working extensively in the area of financial, identity and cybercrime. Commander of the Queensland Police Fraud & Cyber Crime Group, Chair of the Australia New Zealand Police Advisory Agency’s eCrime Working Group, and driver of the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network, and member of the Federal Attorney-General’s National Cybercrime Working Group. Was the recipient from McAfee for efforts in combating cybercrime – “The International Award for Cyber Crime Fighter of the Year”. Brian is also the recipient of the Australian Police Medal, and in 2010 he was the recipient of the National AusCERT Award for Individual Excellence in Information Security. He has a Masters in Public Policy and Administration.

Michael is a former Intelligence Officer for the Australian Army which he served in for the last 12 years. Within that time he gained a specialisation in Psychological Operations which he employed on operations in the Middle East as a PSYOPS Section commander and Senior planner for a US led multinational taskforce conducting information operations across the entire CENTCOM area of responsibility.

Ian is currently the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for the Australian Parliament. This includes all cyber security related responsibilities for the Parliamentary Service, House of Representatives, Senate and the Parliamentary Budget Office. The parliamentary network extends to over 250 sites nationally and services over 5000 users. Ian has maintained the responsibility for cyber security within the parliament during in his previous roles of CTO and acting CIO before moving in the newly created dedicated cyber security executive role. Prior to moving back to Australia to work for the parliament, Ian worked in senior ICT leadership roles in the Middle East and Europe.

Edward Farrell is a security consultant with over five years’ experience in information security and ten years’ experience in the IT industry. As the director of Mercury ISS, one of Australia’s few remaining independent security firms, he has conducted or overseen the delivery 300 security assessment activities and incident responses in the past 5 years. His professional highlights include lecturing at the Australian Defence Force Academy, being rated in the top 200 bug bounty hunters in 2015 and running an awesome team of security professionals.

Chirag is an established cyber security leader with extensive experience building and managing information security, risk management, compliance and awareness programs in multiple countries across various industries. He is the author of the bestselling book – 7 Rules to Influence Behaviour and Win at Cyber Security Awareness, which has been purchased in several countries around the world.

Chirag’s ambitious goal is to enable human progress through trust in technology, He his passionate about creating a safe world online for commerce, communication and entertainment. This vision has led him to become a sought-after speaker on a wide range of topics including cyber threat landscape, emerging technologies, cloud computing and security awareness. He has presented at numerous leading conferences and forums. In his current role as Head of Security and Technology Risk Governance at a large Australian organization, he leads the cyber and technology risk functions along with training and awareness.

Chirag’s academic qualifications include a Master’s degree in Telecommunications Management and Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering. He holds multiple certifications including Certified Information Security Manager, Certified Information Systems Auditor and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control.

With 21 years under his belt, Ashwin is an experienced and qualified CISO responsible for running the delivery aspect of the Unisys security business within the APAC region. He is also responsible for leading and delivering security engagements to C level executives within the region ensuring the successful delivery of client security programs. Ashwin is able to bring strategic business value right through to technology level consultancy and implementation. Areas of expertise include IT security and risk management, IS Strategic Planning, IT Disaster Recovery, and enterprise level architecture across all aspects of security. Ashwin is also an accomplished public speaker and writer having featured in many security events and publications.