CENS Invitation-Only Roundtable – “Australia’s Cyber and Critical Technology Engagement Strategy One Year On: A Roundtable Conversation with Ambassador Tobias Feakin”
Abstract
In April 2021, Australia launched its International Cyber and Critical Technology Engagement Strategy (ICCTES). In June 2021, His Excellency Dr Tobias Feakin, Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs & Critical Technology, joined with Mr David Koh, Singapore’s Commissioner of Cybersecurity and the Chief Executive of the Cyber Security Agency in conversation over the scope of the ICCTES, its motivating factors, and how Singapore and Australia could continue their collaborative relationship in the connected domains of cybersecurity and technology security.
This upcoming in-person event provides the opportunity to hear again from Ambassador Feakin about impacts and changes in the wake of the ICCTES launch and Australia’s current cybersecurity and critical technology priorities. There will be broader discussion around cyber policy and trends, critical infrastructure, and technology security issues against a global backdrop of ongoing kinetic conflict, sharpened Great Power contestation, looming national agendas for digital and technological sovereignty, and crucially, the need for states to find ways to reach beyond differences and cooperate in these contexts.
Speaker
Dr Tobias Feakin is Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology. He commenced as Ambassador for Cyber Affairs in January 2017, before having his mandate expanded to reflect the central role that technology issues have in geopolitics.
He leads Australia’s Whole of Government international engagement to advance and protect Australia’s national security, foreign policy, economic and trade, and development interests in cyberspace and critical technology.
Ambassador Feakin was a member of the Independent Panel of Experts that supported the Australian Cyber Security Review to produce Australia’s 2016 Cyber Security Strategy. Following that, he led the creation of Australia’s International Cyber Engagement Strategy.
Prior to his Ambassadorial appointment, Dr Feakin was the Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute from 2012 to 2016 where he established the Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre. Prior to this he was Director for National Security and Resilience at the Royal United Services Institute in London from 2006-2012.
Ambassador Feakin is a Senior Fellow with the Royal United Services Institute and a member of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace’s FinCyber Advisory Group which focuses on developing an International Strategy for Cybersecurity and the Global Financial System.
Ambassador Feakin holds an Honours Degree in Security Studies and a Doctorate of Philosophy in International Politics and Security Studies, both from the University of Bradford.
