An Industry Roundtable event recently held at Engineering House brought together senior representatives from across the Defence Sector to discuss the important topics of Cyber Security and Digital Warfare.
Held on 9 May, the Cyber Security and Digital Warfare Roundtable allowed participants to hear different perspectives and work towards ideas and opportunities to strengthen Australia’s cyber security.
Keynote addresses were delivered by Colonel Robert Watson, Information Warfare Division, and Air Commodore James Hood RAAF, to an audience of twenty senior Defence Sector engineering / technology businesses, Commonwealth Government representatives, academics and the newly appointed ACT Chief Engineer Adrian Piani.
Open discussion was had about the threat of cyber-attacks against the nation’s infrastructure and military networks, including Australia's ability to respond to a major cyber-attack on critical systems such as banks, telecommunication or utility companies.
Also open for discussion was the ‘capacity, capability, competence and currency in the Defence Engineering workforce, now and in the future', as outlined in the Defence Industry Skilling & STEM Strategy.
The event was chaired by Greg Ewing, General Manager of Canberra and Sydney, who said Engineers Australia was pleased to welcome the defence sector senior representatives to consider this complex issue.
“Cyber security and digital warfare is a wicked problem in our increasingly connected society”, said Mr Ewing.
“Two senior military personnel set the context, before participants engaged in robust conversation on the capacity, capability and competence of the workforce engaged, and the technology and engineering required to meet current and future challenges.”
Following the discussion, attendees joined the inaugural Engineering Executive Cocktail Function to celebrate Canberra’s newest EngExecs receiving their certificates.
Image: Canberra's newest EngExecs receiving their certificates following the Industry Roundtable discussion