Protests in Cuba, ransomware on the rise, rethinking Australia’s foreign influence laws

Earlier this month, Cuban citizens took to the streets across the country to protest against deteriorating living conditions amidst the country’s economic and coronavirus crisis. ASPI’s David Engel was previously Australian Ambassador to Mexico and non-resident ambassador to Cuba. He speaks with Professor Adrian Hearn about the protests and their political significance, the impact of social media and the government response. In the wake of the targeted attacks on Microsoft Exchange servers, Australia’s own cyber security vulnerabilities are increasingly being highlighted. Fergus Hanson is joined by the Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre’s CEO Rachael Falk and Anne-Louise Brown for a discussion on the Microsoft Exchange hack, as well as the growing frequency of ransomware crimes in Australia, and how the Australian Government can help better protect communities and businesses. Peter Jennings speaks to Daniel Ward about his new ASPI report, ‘Losing our agnosticism: How to make Australia’s foreign influence laws work’. They consider why Australia pursued country agnosticism for foreign influence legislation and potential solutions to adequately address foreign influence concerns. Mentioned in this episode: ‘Exfiltrate, encrypt, extort: The global rise of ransomware and Australia’s policy options’ by Rachael Falk & Anne-Louise Brown: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/exfiltrate-encrypt-extort ‘Losing our agnosticism. How to make Australia’s foreign influence laws work’ by Daniel Ward: https://bit.ly/36SxVDR Guests (in order of appearance): David Engel: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/david-engel Professor Adrian Hearn: https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/profile/460793-adrian-hearn Fergus Hanson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/fergus-hanson Rachael Falk: https://cybersecuritycrc.org.au/rachael-falk Anne-Louise Brown: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/anne-louise-brown Peter Jennings: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/peter-jennings Daniel Ward: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/daniel-ward