Dr. Sharif Abuadbba is the Team Leader of Distributed Systems Security and a Senior Research Scientist at CSIRO’s Data61, Australia. With over 14 years of experience, he has led major national and international cybersecurity projects with organisations like the Cyber Security CRC and Department of Home Affairs. His innovative work includes the award-winning Smartshield project (NSW iAwards 2022) and TAPE (2024 finalist), both leveraging AI for cyber defence.
Sharif tackles critical challenges such as deepfakes, misinformation, AI-driven cyber threats, and the security of emerging technologies like AI, 6G, and digital twins. He has co-authored 70+ publications in top-tier venues (IEEE S&P, NDSS, Usenix Security) and serves as an Associate Editor for IEEE TIFS. He supervises PhD students at leading Australian universities and has secured significant research funding.
As PhD graduate from RMIT 2017, he received the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Research Excellence. His startup, EyeCura, won the 2018 Eureka Innovation Award, and its cybersecurity products serve over 10,000 users. Sharif has contributed to many U.S. patents and is a member of Standards Australia’s Cybersecurity and technical contributor to AU AI Safety standards. Recognised with the CSIRO Julius Career Award (2022), he also won the 2024 Australia AI Innovator-Cybersecurity Lead Award.
Victor is an Information Technology and Risk Management professional with over 30 years of experience across the Financial Services, Payments, Healthcare, and Consulting industries with a passion for creating and implementing enterprise-wide business & technology solutions.
Alexey, a Director at Accenture, brings over 15 years of expertise in cybersecurity strategy, risk management, quantum risk, and cryptography. He currently holds the position of APAC Quantum Security Lead and Director of Cyber Strategy at AN/Z.
Prior to Accenture, Alexey honed his expertise at EY, contributing to the Global Innovation Quantum Technology Lab and leading Global Quantum Security efforts. Before EY, Alexey served as a County Information Security Officer at Deutsche Bank's Moscow Branch.
Alexey is a vocal advocate for best practices and proactive risk management in cyber strategy and quantum security. His thought leadership includes authoring articles, contributing to international reports, producing educational videos, and speaking at industry conferences.
James is Director of ASPI’s Cyber, Technology and Security (CTS) program.
In this role, James leads ASPI’s largest team to develop original, rigorous and data-driven research and policy recommendations to address emerging security challenges. CTS spans cyber and critical infrastructure security, critical and emerging technologies, national resilience and social cohesion, and hybrid threats. This includes disinformation, economic coercion and other ‘grey zone’ activities. CTS works with partners from governments, academia and civil society, and industry spanning the Indo-Pacific and globally.
James is a senior national security practitioner with nearly two decades experience in foreign policy and intelligence. He has provided influential advice to government at the highest levels, driving policy responses to evolving global threats and those impacting Australia’s place in the world. This included serving as Intelligence Liaison Officer to Australia’s Foreign Minister and representing Australia abroad through diplomatic postings to Indonesia and Malaysia, where he worked closely with international partners to further stability and resilience against shared threats. James has also led teams central to Australia’s intelligence policy and coordination effort; international partnerships; protective security; enterprise capability; governance and oversight; and enterprise risk.
His strategic insights and ability to build connections have been instrumental in shaping policies and responses to transnational and emerging security threats. James is well-regarded for bridging intelligence collection and analysis with policy implementation. His vision is grounded in collaboration across public and private sectors along with integration of advanced technologies to bolster national preparedness and response capabilities.
James holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in International Relations from Monash University. He specialised in terrorism studies.
Tom is a seasoned digital and technology leader with extensive experience in project and line management across digital and Microsoft platforms. With a track record of success in both startup and enterprise environments, he excels in leading teams to deliver complex IT-enabled change projects while effectively engaging stakeholders.
From defending highly sensitive military systems in international war zones to mitigating cyber risk in corporate environments; I've dedicated my career to protecting information and data against the actions of cyber threats, adversaries and malicious actors.
Andreas has worked in the cyber industry across Latin America, North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Oceania. During this time, he has supported both local and global organisations in preparing for and responding to major cyber incidents spanning a wide variety of threats such as ransomware, sabotage, commercial espionage, data breaches and more. He specialises in Cyber Crisis management and Incident response and has done so exclusively for the past 12 years. His extensive experience in managing and collaborating on cyber incidents across the world has equipped him with deep insights into how these events impact organisations and what common factors between them, lead to a more successful response and organisational resilience.
Chris Wright is the Chief Executive Officer of AUCyber, leading the company’s strategic vision and overseeing its operations. Prior to joining AUCyber, Chris was the CTO and CISO of ASX-listed technology firm 5G Networks and the founder of Security Shift.
He has held several leadership positions across technology businesses, with expertise in cyber security, IT infrastructure, and product management.
If you're interested in speaking at the event, please contact Jack via email.
