Topic 1: The Year in Review – Cyber security skills challenge

Continued escalation of breaches, increase in the IoT attacks, reintroduction of the mandatory data breach legislation etc. are all significant highlights in the year. This all is having a profound impact on cyber security resources i.e. the people – the necessary component to all facets of cyber security.

While there has been much debate on the “shortage” there has been little coming forth on how this presents an opportunity to address the situation. It starts with accepting the situation and recognising that such a challenge is not easily resolved in the short term.

Instead, the focus should be on the long game and developing today’s cyber security people to be tomorrow’s practitioners and leaders.

This session will look at such things as: 

• Is today's cyber analyst tomorrow’s cyber analyst?
• What is the evolution of the skills sets required to operate in a fast pace digital industry?
• What is the development path of the cyber security professional?
• How do you address the cyber security leadership problem?
• What do you think are the priority areas for focus?
• Does this require a break from the traditional mindset on how cyber security professionals should think? Can you teach someone to think critically?

Speaker 1: Chris Brookes

Chris is the Assistant Secretary ICT Security and Defence IT Security Advisor. Prior to this role, Chris has had a variety of roles in Cyber and Information Security in Defence, Industry and broader Australian Government. This includes the Executive Director Cyber Security within the Cyber Security branch at ASD, Technical Director ICT Security in the ICT Security Branch at the Chief Information Officer Group and Director Technical Assessments within the Cyber Security Branch at ASD. Chris is a graduate of the Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies at the Australian Defence College and holds a number of qualifications and industry certifications such as Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).

Speaker 2: Narelle Divine

Narelle Devine is the National Manager of Cyber Security and Chief Information Security Officer for the Department of Human Services (DHS). In this role she is responsible for the protection of some of the largest government systems including myGov, Centrelink and Medicare. Before assuming this role, Narelle was Director Navy Cyber Warfare for the Royal Australian Navy and Deputy Director Cyber (Maritime) for Director General Strategic Capability Coordination Branch in Vice Chief of Defence Force Group. During her Naval career of 23 years, Narelle qualified as a Principal Warfare Officer and has spent over 15 years in dedicated Communications, Electronic Warfare and Cyber roles bringing a unique perspective on cyber operations to DHS

Speaker 3: Michael Tabisz

Michael Tabisz is the Security Manager for Treasury.

Speaker 4: Matt Wilcox

Matt Wilcox is the Founder of Fifth Domain – a Cyber security training start up based in Canberra. He has almost a decade of experience in cyber security, working in Federal Government, top-tier consulting firms and academia.

Speaker 5: Jodie Siganto, PhD, CISSP

Jodie graduated as a lawyer and after eight years in private practice became in-house counsel for computer companies Tandem, Unisys Asia and Dell Financial Services. In 2000, she co-founded Bridge Point Communications (specialists in data networking and security) where she worked in security management consultancy. Dr Siganto has led IT Security Training Australia, a local training organisation, since 2010 and been an active member of AISA, leading the AISA Policy Committee. Completing a PhD at QUT in 2015, Dr Siganto has been an active researcher into information security issues, contributing to a range of projects including the Cyber Security Cartographies study with colleagues from Royal Holloway University of London. In 2016, Dr Siganto was appointed as the Director, AISA Cyber Security Academy where she is responsible for delivering value to the AISA membership and the community through ensuring Australian public and private organisations are well served by a skilled and knowledgeable cyber security workforce.

Additional Information: Xmas celebrations will be held next door at Akiba after the meeting 

Many thanks to our sponsors

AISA thanks Checkpoint for sponsoring this meeting




AISA also thanks ACTewAGL for sponsoring the venue for this meeting