Australian media reported in May 2025 that the leader of Australia’s Transport Workers Union (TWU) is prepared to “shut down Australian transport” in 2026 in pursuit of union claims.  

In this podcast Pentagram Advisory explores the possible consequences of the TWU threat in the context of the legal obligations that came into effect on 27 March 2025 that transport sector asset owners and operators now face under the Transport Security Amendment (Security of Australia’s Transport Sector) Act 2025 (TSA Act).

Especially with regard to personnel security obligations under the TSA Act, TWU members may behave as 'insider threats' that require mitigation.

The podcast explores the role of an insider threat program in helping to mitigate these possible threats and how this approach benefits all people and organisations involved .

This episode is titled: Insider Threat – Australian Government Recognises the Need for Insider Threat Programs.

This podcast will explore the Australian Government’s efforts in recent years to mitigate insider threat in both the government and private sectors.  

The key message is that there is a need for insider threat program and that need comes from recognising the potency of the insider threat to harm Australia’s national security, defence, economic wellbeing, and social coherence.  In terms of security threats, the two most potent threats are from people and cyber sources.  

We hope you enjoy this podcast and find it informative.

In this episode, we explore the landmark Transport Security Amendment (Security of Australia’s Transport Sector) Act 2025 — a generational shift in how Australia secures its aviation, maritime, and offshore sectors.

Join Timothy Slattery and Marina Shteinberg from Pentagram Advisory as they unpack what the TSA Act means for airports, ports, and offshore facilities. Discover how the new all-hazards approach moves beyond traditional physical security to address operational interference, insider threats, cyber risks, and personnel vulnerabilities — and why this evolution matters.

For aviation and maritime industry participants, the application of an all-hazards approach marks a clear evolution from a prescribed, compliance-based regime focused on granting access to secure zones, to a risk- and principles-based, outcomes-focused model that requires mitigation of a far broader range of risks — including cyber, personnel, and supply chain hazards.

We’ll walk through the key reforms, practical obligations, and strategic actions your organisation can take now to prepare for compliance and build operational resilience.

Whether you're a security leader, risk manager, regulator, or executive in the transport sector, this episode offers valuable insights and clear next steps for navigating Australia’s evolving threat landscape.

An insider threat incident at Canberra Hospital in May 2025, in which an employee targeted another employee ,reveals critical lessons for Critical Infrastructure Risk Management Program (CIRMP) compliance and personnel security under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018.

In this episode, the Pentagram Advisory team breaks down what directors of responsible entities need to know about their legal obligations when approving the Critical Infrastructure Risk Management Program (CIRMP) annual report.

We explore board duties under the SOCI Act and Corporations Act, the importance of ongoing oversight, and offer practical recommendations for management to support board decision-making.

Essential listening for directors and executives overseeing critical infrastructure in Australia.

Critical infrastructure is a fundamental enabler of Australia’s national security. Australian governments over decades have recognised the need to protect critical infrastructure from evolving threats as a component of national security, yet have offered policy guidance with little effective action to achieve protection.  

Government has put the onus for action onto the private sector to protect nationally critical assets and operations.   

In this podcast Pentagram will focus on one subset of the myriad elements required to ensure the safety of all Australians – critical infrastructure, discussing why protecting critical infrastructure is so important that it should be a national security priority.  

We will discuss the national-level threats that we need to protect critical infrastructure from.

Observing the absence of usual or the presence of unusual: a new lens on insider threat reporting

In an era dominated by surveillance tools and behavioural analytics, organisations still overlook their most powerful early warning system — people.

Reporting data is a critical indicator of whether your organisation’s security measures are both proportionate and effective.

It can also serve as an early warning sign of emerging risks.

Without this data, organisations are often operating in the dark — unable to respond to threats in a timely or informed manner. 

In this episode, based on the article "Observing the Absence of Usual or the Presence of Unusual,"  Marina Shteinberg, director and co-founder of Pentagram Advisory, explores the human side of insider threat detection: how observation, intuition, and language shape our willingness to report.

Marina delves into the psychology and psycholinguistics behind workplace reporting.

Why do people hesitate to speak up, even when they sense something is off?

How do words like “snitch” or “whistleblower” influence our moral choices?

Discover how organisations can harness the deeply human ability to sense change — often subtle, emotional, and unspoken — and foster cultures where reporting is not seen as betrayal, but as an act of care.

Because at its core, security begins with human connection, and our intuition — shaped over thousands of years of social interaction — remains one of the most reliable tools we have.

Written by Timothy Slattery

What happens when someone inside the system, entrusted with national secrets, begins to see another country as their true allegiance?

This is the dilemma posed by insider threats – trusted individuals who, whether by intent or negligence, cause harm to the organisations that rely on them.

In this powerful episode, Timothy Slattery, a former senior national security official with 37 years of experience across Australia’s army, intelligence, and law enforcement sectors, explores a real-life case of divided loyalties within the Australian Defence Force.

The story highlights how personal ideology can override professional obligations—even in the most trusted roles.

Drawing on two years of ASIO investigations, Tribunal findings, and lessons from critical infrastructure reforms, Tim unpacks why this case matters not just to government, but to all sectors responsible for protecting sensitive information, systems, and people.

🎙️ Narrated by Pentagram Advisory.

Essential listening for leaders, security professionals, and anyone committed to understanding and mitigating insider risk.

In this episode, we delve into one of Australia’s most pressing national security threats — foreign interference — and its direct implications for our critical infrastructure.

Drawing on insights from ASIO’s 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, this podcast unpacks how hostile foreign actors are increasingly targeting Australia’s essential systems, from energy and water to communications and transport.

These threats are not theoretical — they are active, covert, and evolving.

We explore:

• What foreign interference is — and how it differs from legitimate foreign influence.

• Why Australia’s critical infrastructure has become a high-value target.

• How foreign actors exploit insider access, supply chains, and partnerships.

• What boards, executives, and operators can do to mitigate the risk.

• The power of Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) in detecting foreign ties, coercive behaviours, and hidden risks.

Join Pentagram Advisory as we offer practical, proportionate strategies to help organisations move from awareness to action — and play a frontline role in protecting Australia’s sovereignty, resilience, and public trust.

🎧 Tune in now to learn how your organisation can build real-world defences against this growing national security threat.

In this episode, we dive into a real-world case of insider threat in Australia’s health sector — the data breach at Ambulance Victoria in March 2025, where a former staff member exploited their final day of system access to steal the personal and financial data of up to 3,000 employees.

But this is not an isolated incident.

We also examine the NSW Ambulance contractor convicted of selling employee data, explore the broader cultural issues that can give rise to insider threat behaviour — including bullying, fraud, and leadership failure — and ask what lessons critical infrastructure organisations must learn to prevent future harm.

Organisational culture and leadership play a pivotal role in either enabling or preventing insider threats. A toxic workplace can be both a driver of disgruntlement and a barrier to early detection.

Through the lens of recent events and grounded in behavioural insight, this episode unpacks what an insider threat really looks like — and why the most effective response starts not with technology, but with people.

🎧 Tune in as Pentagram Advisory offers practical, security-focused insights for boards, executives, and practitioners navigating today’s threat landscape.