‘Hacking for Cash’ is a new ASPI podcast series exploring state sponsored campaigns of cyber espionage for commercial gain. Throughout the series we talk to experts who were close to the negotiations that led to a 2015 agreement between the United States and China to refrain from supporting and engaging in ‘hacking for cash’, as well as a G20 leaders’ commitment to stamp out cyber-enabled intellectual property (IP) theft.

The series features conversations with cybersecurity experts on state-sponsored hackers and how they operate, and with industry leaders about risk and resilience. We also talk with IP experts about how the US and China protect trade secrets, and with national cybersecurity and counter-intelligence agencies about how companies and universities can protect their crown jewels.

This week, Dr Gatra Priyandita speaks with Nadia Taggart, Chief Information Security Officer at Western Sydney University and Anna Aquilina, Chief Information Security Officer at the University of Technology Sydney. They discuss the issue of knowledge and research security and the risks of malign foreign interference and cyber espionage. They also explore the biggest threats and risks to universities, and how we can assure that critical and sensitive research data is protected from illegal access and theft.

Mentioned in this episode:

ASPI’s Critical Technologies Tracker: https://techtracker.aspi.org.au/

Music: "Lounge It" by Maarten Schellekens, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk