Cyber Uncut

David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft tackle the week's stories that matter, from predictions of dire disruption to the banking industry, Iranian cyber warfare, North Korean hackers in our code, and Americans and Aussies partnering up to combat North Korean hackers.
Artificial intelligence, says JP Morgan's boss, is going to change banking forever, while at the same time, Atlassian is laying off staff in order to fund its AI developments. There's no doubt AI is the fox in the henhouse right now, and Hollingworth and Croft take a hard look at where things really stand.
Then it's on to cyber security, with pro-Iran hackers targeting critical infrastructure and North Korean hackers getting inside the code every developer relies upon. These are two massive challenges for network defenders, and every CISO needs to understand the stakes at play.
Finally, sticking with North Korea, there is some good news – Australia and the United States are now working together to fight back against the scourge of fake IT workers infiltrating our workplaces to fund weapons research and steal intellectual property.
Just another week in cyber security.
Enjoy,
The Cyber Uncut Team

This week on The CISO Brief, the Cyber Daily team discusses the evolving nature of the scam environment and how it's costing Australians massively, before outlining how foreign actors may be infiltrating your business.
Hosts Liam Garman and Daniel Croft discuss a recent close call with a scammer that almost secured $100,000 from an unknowing Australian property buyer.
The two then cover how scams are evolving in general, with scammers imitating hold music and bypassing multifactor authentication by a middleman calling.
Finally, the two discuss North Korean actors posing as potential hires for Australian businesses to gain access to networks for espionage.
Enjoy the show,
The Cyber Daily team

On this not-to-be-missed podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft look at the AI best of times and worst of times for the UK's Lloyds Bank, see what LockBit's up to in the ransomware space, and have a look at Australia's new draft Children's Online Privacy Code.
Good news for Lloyds – the UK's biggest bank is deploying AI to bolster its data engineering. It's a smart move that makes sense of the technology, however...
Bad news for Lloyds – the UK's biggest bank may have just exposed a mountain of customer data due to an AI glitch.
The pair also break down how the LockBit ransomware group has evolved and why an Australian toy store may be the perfect target, before having a look at the impact of scams on the Aussie and how terrorist groups are taking advantage of our generosity.
Finally, it's good news, as the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) is looking at rewriting the rules to protect our kids' data online.
Enjoy,
The Cyber Uncut team

Australia has long prided itself on being the "Lucky Country", celebrating a culture of "she'll be right" now that a national culture of apathy is biting at home as the world continues to burn.
As the war in the Middle East continues to rage by the day, Australia and Australians are beginning to feel the very real ramifications in our daily lives.
All of this comes as Australia's political leaders and policymakers continue to point fingers at one another for the respective failures over the past three decades that have all combined to leave Australia dangerously exposed to the shocks of the new multipolar world.
But these aren't the only challenges that are serving to leave Australia in a volatile, unpredictable position, as social cohesion, industrial and economic resilience and demographics combine to create a powder keg for both the public and its policymakers.
Host Steve Kuper is joined by Ben Dullroy of Beaten Zone Venture Partners and Bravo Delta Advisory as they break down the combination of global and domestic factors shaping the nation's resilience, stability and security.
This conversation comes at a time when the public and private debate continues about who has failed the nation, were the ultimate costs of neoliberal hyperglobalisation worth it and can we pivot quickly enough to secure our economic, political and strategic interests?
Enjoy the podcast,
The Contested Ground team

Changes are coming to the Australian digital landscape, and in this week's episode of the CISO Brief, Liam Garman and David Hollingworth explore the essential details of what every CISO needs to know.
The Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SOCI Act) entails how critical infrastructure should be operated and protected, and the government has proposed some vital changes, including giving ministers the power to ban certain hardware and software vendors.
AI budgets come under the microscope next, with banking and the financial sector looking to match AI uptake, while managing essential legacy systems remains a particular challenge. Here's what you need to know.
Finally, Garman and Hollingworth discuss remote workers and whether they're a cyber security risk or a productivity force multiplier. As many countries respond to the current fuel crisis with new work-from-home mandates, CISO Brief has some essential advice for network defenders with distributed workforces.
Enjoy the show,
The Cyber Daily team