University of New South Wales aims to provide options for future cyber militia

EVEN the tiny country of Estonia is leaving us in the dust when it comes to building a cyber militia. But one Aussie university wants to change that.

AUSTRALIAN students at the University of New South Wales will begin building skills and expertise for a soon-to-be-created Australian cyber militia.

The government has allocated $230 million for its cyber security strategy in the 2016 Budget but it has yet to pull the trigger on the creation of a cyber militia.

“Australia is at a historic point when it comes to cyber defence,” UNSW professor Greg Austin said. “We will have to build a cyber militia soon, and we need research and debate now on what that looks like”.

The university will offer a suite of new degree programs by the end of 2016 as a way to initiate “masters level education” in the field of cyber security and cyber militancy, which “as a country we haven’t come to terms with yet,” Prof Austin told news.com.au.

Last month the Australian Centre for Cyber Security at the university released a discussion paper which highlighted the shortcomings of our nation’s cyber security apparatus. The newly offered courses aim to play a part in redressing the current situation.

Prof Austin pointed to the cyber warfare units of the US, the UK and Israel as providing the blueprint for the creation of a similar military unit at home. Even the small European country of Estonia has emerged as a world leader in the field.

“You’ve got a country like Estonia that was attacked by Russian based hackers in 2007 which nearly brought the country to its knees for two weeks, and they set up a cyber defence league,” he said.

“So there is this movement among important countries world wide to set up cyber reserve forces and we don’t have an independent concept, or our own concept, of what that looks like.”

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has highlighted the need for greater cyber defences. Picture: AAP Image/Lukas Coch

In addition to emulating the US model, students will study the hacker armies of Iran and North Korea, as well as the tactics of Anonymous and Wikileaks.

Currently, Prof Austin believes Australia doesn’t have enough people trained in the various aspects of cyber defence.

“This project is part of our effort to inform the development of a national cyber security curriculum, which we don’t have, and stimulate debate about a National Cyber Security College, which we probably need urgently,” the university said.

Prof Austin believes a decision is still two to three years away.

In an uncharacteristic move, the US recently revealed details about the enhanced virtual warfare tactics the NSA’s Cyber Command had carried out against the Islamic State.

Prof Austin stressed such action was “vital” in combating extremist threats such as IS.

“It speaks to every form of combat operation we do, including against terrorists in the Middle East,” he said.