Speakers

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.

Ashley Bell is the Assistant Secretary for Cyber Policy and Programs in the Department of Home Affairs, responsible for the development of whole-of-economy cyber security policy, program and legislative measures. This includes leading the coordination and implementation of the Government’s 2023 2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. Ashley is responsible for overseeing the delivery of policy initiatives on secure-by-design technology, threat sharing and blocking, ransomware and supporting a more cyber secure Australia through work with industry, small business and the community.

Prior to his current role, Ashley was Assistant Secretary for Customs and Border Modernisation in the Australian Border Force (ABF), responsible for driving forward Australia’s trade reform agenda with a focus on improving efficiency for industry and enhancing the ABF’s effectiveness at the border. This included working closely with stakeholders in industry and across Government to co-design and implement a range of innovative policy and technology initiatives.

Ashley has spent his career in the Australian Public Service, working primarily in the Treasury and the Australian Taxation Office. In Treasury, Ashley worked across a range of policy areas including taxation (domestic and international), deregulation, small business, the not-for-profit sector, corporate regulation and the financial system. In 2016, Ashley was posted to New Delhi as Minister Counsellor (Economic) and the Senior Treasury Representative in the Australian High Commission. Ashley has also previously worked in the Australian National University, teaching undergraduate and post-graduate classes on corporations and insolvency law.

Ashley holds a Master of Laws from QUT and a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce from Griffith University. He is also a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over nearly 30 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles including PC & Tech Authority, TechRadar, and Atomic. Hollingworth is currently a Senior Journalist on Cyber Daily, covering everything from criminal trends in cyber security to government regulations and digital transformation.

Laura is the Head of the Advisory & Assurance for Fujitsu Australia. Laura was named in the 2025 CSO30 list of Australia’s top cyber security experts, was the Canberra Cyber Hubs inaugural “Change Maker” award winner and was AISA’s 2021 Cyber Professional of the Year. Laura is Harvard Business School Alumni, was a cofounder of the 25th fastest growing Technology company in Australia in 2023, which also won AWSA Best Place to Work in Security, and then sold her newly founded cyber business to Fujitsu Australia. Laura’s career to date has been focused on building enduring and diverse cyber security capability within Government and private sectors.

Liam began his career as a speech writer at New South Wales Parliament before working for world leading campaigns and research agencies in Sydney and Auckland. Throughout his career, Liam has managed and executed a range of international media and communications campaigns spanning politics, business, industrial relations and infrastructure. He’s since shifted his attention to researching and writing extensively on geopolitics and defence, specifically in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and a Master of Strategy and Security from UNSW Canberra, with a thesis on post-truth, postmodernism and disinformation operations.

Mamello is a computer science academic, interdisciplinary researcher, and information technology professional whose research focuses on collective intelligence, societal cyber resilience, human-centric cybersecurity, and critical data studies. He has over 20 years’ experience working with governments, industry, academia, and civil society organisations on digital transformation projects in Africa, Asia, and Australia. He previously served as the Senior Research Advisor and Principal Research Fellow at the United Nations University, the Director of the Telkom Centre of Excellence in ICT and Development at the University of Fort Hare, and a Visiting Researcher at the Australian Centre for Cyber Security at the University of New South Wales – Australian Defence Force Academy.

Mark has over 30 years’ experience in the IT industry with 20 of those at Microsoft in various roles across the globe. As the National Security Officer for Microsoft Australia & New Zealand, Mark is responsible for working with governments, industry regulators, customers and partners, to ensure that the Microsoft platforms are not only understood by policymakers but also adhere to their security, compliance and risk management requirements. Mark’s remit also includes being accountable for the Protected level assessments of Microsoft cloud platforms, and facilitating threat intelligence sharing relationships with government security agencies. Mark holds a Master of Cyber Security degree with high distinction from Edith Cowan University and is an Adjunct Fellow at Macquarie University.

Professor Olaf Maennel holds the Defence Science and Technology Group---University of Adelaide Joint Chair in Cyber Security.   He has been with the University of Adelaide since 2023 and previously held faculty positions at Loughborough University in England and Tallinn University of Technology in Estonia, where he led research at the Centre for Digital Forensics and Cybersecurity and established the Centre for Maritime Cybersecurity.   His research interests began with computer network security and have expanded over the years to include cyber defence technical exercises and critical infrastructure protection, with a focus on transport sector cyber security. He is also worried about our increasing reliance on AI systems, which makes us vulnerable not only to adversarial attacks (e.g., model poisoning attacks, adversarial concept drift) but also to targeted influence operations against human security operators.  He has been chairing numerous conferences, including ACM SIGCOMM  and the ACM Internet Measurement Conference. He has been active in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standardisation body, contributed to the European Commission as a vice-chair in several funding calls, and chaired a working group at the European Cyber Security Organisation. He has closely collaborated with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (NATO CCDCOE). At the University of Adelaide, he contributes to Australia’s cyber resilience through research and education.

A native of Brooklyn, New York, Scott earned his MBA from American Sentinel University in Information Technology, and a Masters Certificate in Information Security Management from Villanova University. He also has six General Information Assurance Certifications (GIAC).

Scott joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the New York Field Office in 1988 as a support employee. In 1994, he became a Special Agent and was assigned to the Syracuse, New York office where he worked domestic terrorism, white collar and hate crimes as well as being involved in computer crime investigations. In October 2003, Scott was promoted to Supervisory Special Agent in the Cyber Division, Cyber Crime Fraud Unit at FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C where he and was responsible for managing the FBI's Cyber Task Force Program and Intellectual Property Rights Program. In 2006 Scott was transferred to Nashville, TN where he managed the FBI's Memphis Division Computer Intrusion/Counterintelligence Squad, TN.

Over the past three decades, Scott responded to thousands of Cyber Crime incidents and provided hundreds of computer intrusion threat briefings with the goal of educating the community on emerging computer intrusion threats and how to prevent them from becoming the next victim of a data breach. Since retiring from the FBI in early 2018, Scott shares his knowledge by consulting with individuals, groups and businesses of all sizes.

Scott will scare you and make you laugh while providing you with several no-cost quick action plans designed to prevent you, your family and your organization from becoming the next victim of Cyber Crime.