In this episode of the Defence Connect Podcast, senior journalist Robert Dougherty is joined by travellers and entrepreneurs Frank van der Linde and Kerry Leach.

The pair are the new owners of two decommissioned Royal Australian Navy minehunters - HMAS Norman and HMAS Hawkesbury.

The former military vessels have been towed more than 3,800 nautical miles from Newcastle, Australia, to Cebu, Philippines, as they prepare for a new lease on life as private superyachts.

The trio discuss:

• The origins of the two minehunter vessels, how the sale was completed and some complications along the way.
• The challenges of using former military equipment in the commercial industry and documenting their journey via the YouTube channel, Living the Oneironaut Life.
• The plans for the vessels and the construction efforts still to come.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

In this episode of the Defence Connect podcast, host Steve Kuper is joined by the Honourable Matt Keogh MP, Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans' Affairs, to discuss the latest developments shaping the Defence workforce. Minister for Defence Personnel and Veterans' Affairs Matt Keogh MP to discuss the latest developments shaping the Defence workforce.

The pair also discuss:

• The major milestones in the government's efforts to build the uniformed Defence workforce through 2024, including the release of the 2024 Defence Workforce Plan and Strategic Review of the Australian Defence Force Reserves.
• The key work done to overhaul Defence recruiting and ensure that the recruitment process is fit for the contemporary labour market and to the standards expected by Australian taxpayers.
• The life-long training and professional development opportunities available with a career in the Australian Defence Force, and the efforts being made to ensure that veterans have a seamless transition into the broader economy when they leave the ADF.

Enjoy the Podcast, The Defence Connect team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, hosts David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft take yet another look back at a year of cyber incidents and talk about how 2024 saw incidents rise by almost half again. The pair also look at a hacktivist group targeting Australian websites, the still ongoing UnitedHealth saga, a dangerous hacking that may be on the horizon, and the latest in ransomware attacks on Australian organisations.

• Hollingworth and Croft kick off the chat with Check Point Software Technologies' look back at the year that was, with 2024 seeing 44 per cent more cyber incidents than the previous year. The pair talk about how that matches their expectations, from nation-state actors to hacktivists and, of course, ransomware and cyber crime.
• Croft then goes into his own investigations into the RipperSec hacktivist group, while Hollingworth looks into vulnerabilities impacting a popular firewall device that has been extensively exploited in the past and could well be about to be hacked en masse again.
• Finally, Croft looks at the latest chapter in the UnitedHealth hack from last year and some rather disturbing allegations that the giant insurance company is not entirely being above board with its reporting. The pair then look back at the week that just passed and the nearly half-dozen ransomware attacks targeting organisations in the ANZ region. It's been a busy start to the year.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

How might the recent threat from US President-elect Donald Trump impact practitioners in this space?

In this recent crossover episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Jerome Doraisamy, editor of Lawyers Weekly, sat down with The Shipping Lawyer, Alison Cusack, to discuss the shipping law landscape in 2024 and what was learnt from that year, the recent threat from Donald Trump to take back control of the Panama Canal and the history of the canal (and lessons from the Suez Canal experience).

Cusack also discusses the frequency with which shipping lawyers have to adapt to geopolitical shifts and navigate client expectations. Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Defence Connect Spotlight podcast, Liam Catterson, business development manager Integrated Air and Missile Defence Lead, Rotary and Mission Systems at Lockheed Martin Australia, joins host Liam Garman to lift the hood on AIR 6500.

• The two Liams begin the podcast discussing how the Joint Air Battle Management System (JABMS), AIR 6500 Phase 1, will protect Australia's shores and what's been delivered on AIR 6500 to date.
• They then unpack how Australian industry capability fits into AIR 6500 and the benefits that it will offer the Australian Defence Force.
• The pair then turn to what next-generation technologies the JABMS will utilise to provide air and missile defence to the Australian Defence Force, and what the end game looks like.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, hosts David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft wonder if they can fill a podcast with just four days of news in the new year, and of course, they can. From a hacker with a habit of going after big political targets to some of the big numbers of the previous year to geopolitics and terrorist data breaches, 2025 has kicked off with a bang.

• Hollingworth starts things off with notorious hacker Natohub's latest exploits – leaking the recruitment data of around 42,000 recruitment forms belonging to the United Nations' International Civil Aviation Organization. It's far from the hacker's first rodeo, so Hollingworth and Croft go over some of past exploits as well.
• Croft talks up the curious case of the hacker who managed to breach the terrorist organisation ISIS. Meanwhile, Hollingworth goes over some cyber incident statistics from 2024, including the fact that Europe was the most hacked region on the planet, mostly driven by the war in Ukraine. The pair also discuss a Ukrainian success story following the total disruption of a Russian ISP by Ukrainian hackers.
• The pair round things up with a playful look at a recent case of the European Union fining itself over a GDPR violation, and some exciting news for the Cyber Daily website.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, hosts Phil Tarrant and Liam Garman are joined by Momentum Media's senior defence and national security analyst and government relations manager, Steve Kuper, to discuss the latest geopolitical developments. The trio discuss the key developments over the Christmas and New Year period that are setting the scene for a truly transformative midway point for the 2020s. They also discuss:

• Ongoing diplomatic efforts by the incoming Trump administration to resolve the Russia–Ukraine war and the situation on the ground.
• The Boxing Day revelation of apparent sixth-generation fighter aircraft by the People's Republic of China and Beijing's ambitious ship commissioning schedule for 2025, which will dramatically reshape the balance of power.
• The implications of the incoming Trump administration on the global geopolitical and economic environment.

Enjoy the podcast,The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Defence Connect ADSTAR series, Dr Carolyn Patteson, Chief Science Strategic Planning & Engagement within the Defence Science and Technology Group, and DSTG's Dr Mike Wilson sit down with host Liam Garman to discuss the unique opportunities that lie ahead for young Australians studying STEM.

Dr Patteson begins by unpacking her own employment history, and how a love of maths kick-started a career that spanned cyber security, cryptography and even modelling for traditional warfighting.

The podcast continues with Dr Wilson unpacking how Defence is engaging the next generation to encourage a career in STEM and showcase the exciting pathways that await them.

Enjoy the podcast, The Defence Connect team

In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret'd) Marcus Thompson and Liam Garman discuss the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.

• They begin the podcast debating whether the unfolding Israel–Hamas conflict will have the same level of strategic significance for Israel as the Yom Kippur War or the Six-Day War.
• Tarrant, Thompson and Garman then discuss how the conflict has altered the balance of power in the Middle East, severing Iran's crescent of influence by weakening Hamas and Hezbollah, coupled with the fall of Assad.
• They wrap up the podcast examining what nations, if any, might assume the role of a security benefactor in the Middle East with a weakened Iran, and emerging open-source intelligence (OSINT) collection vectors.

Enjoy the podcast, The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, hosts David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft take a look back at some of the biggest and most intriguing stories of the year, from CrowdStrike's outage and amazing response to the takedown of ransomware giant LockBit.

• Croft kicks off with the epic story of the Change Healthcare hack, which saw the data of about a third of the population of the United States compromised. But it wasn't just the scale of the hack; it was also the behind-the-scenes manoeuvering between greedy ransomware-as-a-service operators, hacker affiliates just wanting to get paid, and a company realising that it really does have to pay an exorbitant ransom.
• The pair then discuss the takedown of ransomware giant LockBit and the remarkably sassy response of the law enforcement agencies behind the operation, before looking back at another ransomware operation that turned out to be nothing but an extensive scam.
• Lastly, Croft and Hollingworth look back at July's CrowdStrike outage, both its wide-ranging impact and what turned out to be an excellent and comprehensive response from CrowdStrike itself, before turning the gaze forward to wonder what they might see in 2025.

Enjoy the podcast, The Cyber Uncut team