A $US250,000 grant from the global William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has paved the way for the Jeff Bleich Centre (JBC) for the US Alliance in Digital Technology, Security and Governance at Flinders University to launch a pilot program to build social cyber capability in South Australia’s public sector.
Rapid technological change unleashes invisible harms to society that can impact on prosperity, trust in public sector institutions and our democratic values. Therefore, it has become an imperative to ensure that public servants know how to build a safe, sustainable and responsible digital future for all citizens.
Social cybersecurity differs from cybersecurity. While cybersecurity focuses on machines, and how computers and databases can be compromised, social cybersecurity focuses on humans and society and how the digital environment can be manipulated to compromise society. Where cybersecurity experts are expected to understand the technology, computer science and engineering, social cybersecurity experts are expected to understand social communication and community building, statistics, social networks and machine learning.
Led by chief investigator and JBC director Professor Don DeBats, senior researchers Dr Maryanne Kelton and Dr Zachary Rogers, and project manager Ms Tammy Joachin, the Flinders University social cyber education program will be offered to State Government leaders and policy officers early next year.
This follows an investigation into public sector employees’ knowledge, beliefs, concerns about, and preparedness for, such digital-era risks and threats to democracy.
The project aligns with the JBC goal to work with US and other experts to build global security in the Indo-Pacific by working with government and other institutions to inform public policy that is prepared for the disruptive impact of the cyber revolution, the project partners say.
The Hewlett Foundation website says Australia, as one of five members of the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence alliance, is a key US partner in determining “norms and structures for governing cyberspace”. Hewlett Foundation Cyber Initiative grants aim to identify and manage the rapidly growing intersection between people and digital technologies.
”With these projects, we are empowering public servants, and then taking our university students along on the journey by sharing with them research findings that help to shape robust policy solutions to a central challenge of our time,” says Flinders University Professor DeBats, from his US office.
The JBC was established in 2019 by former US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich and is the only social sciences research and education centre in Australia with a focus on social cybersecurity.
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