In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft discuss local hacks and the rise of a whole new ransomware evolution. Clayton Utz’s Brenton Steenkamp and Debevoise & Plimpton’s Luke Dembosky also join in to talk about executive risk and governance.

• Hollingworth and Croft kick things off with a discussion of a fascinating example of data exposure involving a major Australian taxi company and catch up on the local threat landscape.
• The pair then talk about the continuing fallout of a very unserious Trump administration and how one of the most important officials serving the White House is using his personal email for important government business.
• Finally, Hollingworth welcomes two guests to the podcast. Luke Dembosky has been a US federal prosecutor, diplomat in Moscow, and Department of Justice deputy chief. Alongside Clayton Utz partner Brenton Steenkamp, the trio explore emerging executive risks and the challenges of the modern cyber security landscape

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, host David Hollingworth and journalist Daniel Croft talk about Apple backdoors, Facebook bans, the disastrous Signal chat that exposed the highest levels of the Trump administration as less than security-minded and how we report on exposed databases.

• Hollingworth and Croft get the ball rolling with a news wrap-up focusing on malware posing as Chinese chatbot DeepSeek, Papua New Guinea’s new trial Facebook ban, and behind-closed-door deliberations on the UK’s efforts to get a backdoor into Apple devices.
• After a short break, the pair get to the biggest story of the week – a leaked Signal chat between senior Trump administration officials that somehow had an American journalist added to the chat. Hollingworth and Croft talk about the security implications, the proper use of apps like Signal, and the alarming revelation that JD Vance may have been the smartest person in the room.
• To round things out for the week, Croft talks about a recent database exposure suffered by a popular Australian hardware chain, why reporting on data leaks and breaches can be a difficult thing to cover, and why not all data leaks are equal.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team.

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, Raj Samani, senior vice president and chief scientist at Rapid7, joins host Liam Garman to unpack how nation-state threats are actively targeting Australian organisations - and how we can proactively prepare for future attacks.

• They begin the podcast by looking at those groups that are most actively targeting Australian organisations and how their strategies are different from traditional cyber crime.
• Samani then unpacks some of the most common mistakes he sees from Australian organisations that are leaving them vulnerable to ransomware, before diving into the operating models of these threat actors, from negotiations to double extortion tactics.
• The pair then wrap up the podcast by looking at how companies can improve their post-breach response and resilience and the actionable steps they must take to stay ahead of emerging risks.

To listen to Samani’s previous appearance on the Cyber Uncut podcast, click here.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team.

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, 4walls founder and managing director Nik Devidas sat down with host Liam Garman to discuss the technological knowledge gap between company boards and strong cyber security and how 4walls is closing it.

• The podcast starts by outlining how boards can be overwhelmed with technical language and information when dealing with cyber security.
• The pair then discuss the concept of maintaining and updating an understanding of cyber security to keep up with an ever-evolving landscape.
• Speaking of a changing landscape, Devidas and Garman finish up by weighing up the impact of AI on the cyber security landscape and how organisations are adopting the technology without introducing protective controls.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, Aaron Bugal, field chief technology officer at Sophos, sits down with host Liam Garman to talk about the fight against ransomware, the growing threat to Australian businesses, and what can be done to tackle the problem.

• The podcast opens with a discussion of ransomware trends and how cyber criminals choose their targets based on vulnerability and opportunity.
• Bugal then expands on how AI is a tool both for malicious actors and cyber defenders and explains how Sophos is deploying AI to help businesses better protect themselves from an array of threats.
• Garman and Bugal wrap up the podcast with some practical advice for Australian businesses and how they can prepare to face a critical cyber incident.

Enjoy the podcast,

The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Major General (Ret'd) Dr Marcus Thompson, Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman unpack the risk of alliance abandonment in the face of moves from the White House and their implications for a changing Asia-Pacific region.

• The podcast begins with an analysis into how fears of alliance abandonment have led to renewed commitments to national security collaboration between European powers.
• They then unpack whether "deal making" is a strong enough consideration to overcome ideological and philosophical partnerships in the competition for global power.
• Dr Thompson, Tarrant and Garman wrap up the podcast looking at hedging and balancing strategies in the Indo-Pacific, and whether realpolitik will take centre stage as nations continuously manoeuvre their alliance structures.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, host David Hollingworth and journalist Daniel Croft talk about AI in Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), a horrible week for Aussie healthcare organisations, and unspeakable deepfake videos.

• Hollingworth and Croft begin by catching up on a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute on the possible dangers posed by Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers adopting DeepSeek for in-car AI.
• The pair then run down the latest news in Australian cyber crime, with three healthcare organisations – including the fertility clinic Genea – getting targeted by hackers, and discuss the implications of medical data going public and the very real dangers it poses to patients.
• Then, to round out the week, Hollingworth and Croft try not to cry while talking about a ludicrous AI-generated video illustrating Donald Trump’s holiday resort fantasy for Gaza and a horrifying deepfake of Trump and Elon Musk in an awkwardly intimate encounter.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, host David Hollingworth and journalist Daniel Croft discuss the week that was with DeepSeek versus South Korea, the latest ransomware news, and two malware campaigns spreading their payloads via video games.

• Hollingworth and Croft open with what is becoming a regular chat about the trials and travails of Chinese AI DeepSeek, which this week violated South Korean data privacy laws. The pair also discuss Elon Musk’s attempt to buy out OpenAI and his efforts to ban chat-up Signal on his X platform.
• Hollingworth then discusses how ransomware-as-a-service operations are driving a sharp increase in ransomware attacks. The pair then discuss some of the more alarming Australian hacks this week: the Australian National University and IVF clinic Genea.
• Finally, it’s time to talk video games, with game distribution platform Steam pulling a game that was spreading an info stealer, and a seemingly Russian campaign that was installing crypto-mining malware via torrented games.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, host Liam Garman welcomes Cyber Daily's David Hollingworth, a cyber security expert and Cyber Uncut podcast host, to unpack the latest in hacking and cyber security in the new era of grey-zone warfare and nation-state cyber attacks.

They begin the podcast examining real world examples of warfare-motivated hacking, threat actors for hire, the impact of cyber threats and incidents for nations around the world.

They then discuss the differences between "smash-and-grab" ransomware attacks with persistent and embedded state-sponsored cyber attacks.

The podcast wraps up examining the increasing speed, accuracy and impact of cyber attacks on industry and government infrastructure across international lines.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, host David Hollingworth talks about all the latest AI and cyber news with journalist Daniel Croft - more local ransomware attacks, more data breaches, and scams to watch out for.

• Hollingworth and Croft open once again with all the latest AI news, from more bans of the Chinese chatbot DeepSeek to Elon Musk and a whole bunch of venture capitalists wanting to buy OpenAI to Sam Altman's promise that AI will inevitably get cheaper over time.
• The pair then discuss the week of cyber attacks against Australian organisations. From medical imaging data of Aussies being posted to the dark web to a ransomware gang taking responsibility for hacking an Australian university, it's been a grim week in cyber crime.
• Finally, it's Valentine's Day, and scammers will be out in force, so Hollingworth runs through some common scams to watch out for. Croft then discusses a win for Australian investigators against a Russian hosting service facilitating hackers targeting local companies and individuals.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team