The second annual cyber security summit covered a great deal more ground than the first. Yet it was more interesting for what it did not cover.

Back in 2004, a little-known Canadian-based security software consulting company, Titus received an email request from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for an email classification product. They wanted a customised tab for inserting the classification level in Microsoft Outlook, recalls Tim Upton, Titus’ president and founder.

Differing views on the indigenous electronic warfare (EW) sector were evident at the biennial convention of the Australian Chapter of the Association of Old Crows – Defence thought the sector was growing and many industry participants did not, although there was common ground on the threats and opportunities presented by cyber.

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC ), a US-based technology company with over 41,000 employees worldwide, is bringing innovative cyber security technologies and initiatives to help Australia solve its most challenging technical problems by working together to build a comprehensive defence against cyber security attacks.

The future shape, size and sophistication of Australia’s electronic warfare (EW) industry will all be explored in a forthcoming DMO report on what’s required for the EW domain to meet the requirements of a Priority Industry Capability (PIC). Recommendations from the report will be influential in determining how the domain develops.

Allegedly, communications and computers are there to make our lives easier and for most of us, adding IT security is something that makes our lives just that little bit more complicated. However solutions from M5 Network Security are making security a little less complicated.

These are troubled times judging by recent reports of the how ill-prepared our allies are to engage in cyber wars.

The World Wide Web and the networking technology, the internet which underpins it, represent a disruptive technology in that it changed the world and it operates.

NZ’s national cyber security policy was released in June 2011. No less than 13 pages of it, including a paragraph on ‘hactivism’ and the hactivist.

Australian Governments, industry sectors recognise cyber-space as an essential and non-negotiable enabler of national power, economic prosperity and social amenity.

Defence took a big step forward to revamp its computer applications and access to its networks with the announcement of a major five-year contract with IBM in December 2011.

More than two years into the reform process, ICT continues to represent a material risk to the timely achievement of the Strategic Reform Program (SRP) investment and savings targets set in support of the longer?term objectives of the Defence White Paper.

The Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, Warren Snowdon, announced that the Government has given first pass approval to Defence's Centralised Processing Project to begin.

Lockheed Martin has confirmed it will open its NexGen Cyber Innovation and Technology Centre in Canberra, at a gathering of leading IT technology providers operating in Australia.

As part of the 26th Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations a range of new and emerging security challenges, including the importance of closer collaboration on cyber security issues were discussed.

Australia and the US are determined to broaden their security cooperation efforts to counter threats and challenges of the future, Defense Secretary Leon E Panetta said September 15.