Australian Cyber Week is coming – here’s what you need to know

AustCyber’s annual Australian Cyber Week, is back next week with a series of events and activities running from October 25-29.

In keeping with the times, there’ll be a mix of virtual and in-person sessions focused on the Australian cyber security industry and local innovation.

Michelle Price, CEO of AustCyber, said Cyber Week helps to demystify the cyber security industry and connects everyone in the sector with other key players to help boost economic growth.

“Each day, Australian Cyber Week has a feature event to demonstrate our globally competitive cyber security ecosystem,” she said.

“The range of speakers is broad – from CEOs of large corporates and venture capital investors, to ethical hackers, school students with a keen interest in cyber, and those in minority groups working within the sector.”

Online events will be complemented by in-person events in South Australia and Western Australia, facilitated through AustCyber’s National Network of Cyber Security Innovation Nodes. When it comes to online, the organisation’s virtual conference platform will offer a 3D ‘circuit board city’ as the gateway to daily live events and knowledge library of past events, as well as a networking hub and exhibition hall. 

The full event schedule is available here.

Headline events

Among the key daily events, Monday, October 25 kicks off with a walk-through of a significant cyber-attack in a hypothetical situation  to draw out complexities and considerations for all the organisations involved. A similar scenario last year was one of the most popular events of the week, attracting international attention

With the workforce expected to grow by at least 7,000 over the next three years, experts from the ANU, University of Canberra, UNSW, Canberra Institute of Technology and industry will come together on October 26 to discuss career pathways, and upskilling and micro-credentialing a remote workforce.

Meanwhile, 10 of Australia’s most innovative companies will present pitches on October 27,  with viewers able to back them with virtual dollars and vote for their favourite product or solution. The Tasmania Cyber Security Innovation Node is also running the online Big Cyber Ideas Challenge.

On October 28, the headline event is a debate on the current state of procurement and policy as it relates to the emerging technology sectors within Australia.

The week ends on October 29 with ‘community day’.

Australian company OSINT Combine will facilitate an instructor-led full day of open source intelligence (OSINT) training for participants to learn open source fundamentals, searching essentials and cross platform social media network analysis. This will be useful training for the National Missing Persons Hackathon, which has been postponed until early 2022.

The week-long program will also see workshops hosted by DTEX Systems and Retrospect Labs, a clinic about cyber resilience for small businesses from Kangaroo Island, as well as panels on diversity and digital forensics.

There are also a series of moments to facilitate networking, including new online platform features that allow participants and panellists to communicate and exchange details.

In a new feature of the line-up, online cyber escape room sessions will allow participants to immerse themselves in an Australian cyber-attack scenario, as they solve problems to escape a hypothetical Special Operations Command Centre. 

For more information is available at cyberweek2021.austcyber.com

A five-day access pass is just $149 and you register and book tickets here.