Defence before the end of the Cold War, and I recall looking at reports of Soviet fishing vessels and their activities in the waters around Australia. Somewhat later in my career—after working in intelligence, central policy, a couple of universities and the private sector—I joined the Department of Finance heading the area responsible for the defence and national security budgets. I wasn’t an expert—I knew Defence, for example, but had no idea about
Dr Lesley Seebeck
how the Budget worked—and so I learnt to trust and
Honorary Professor at The Australian National University
a culture of trust and candour, and you can’t do that
Founder and CEO of Cyber21
without integrity and empathy.
work through the team. Further, it’s important to build
I joined the Bureau of Meteorology in 2014, where
T
as Chief Information Officer I lead the response to their security issues. That experience reinforced here’s a story about former British prime minister, Harold MacMillan: when
systems, and demonstrated how technology systems
asked what his biggest challenge was,
left to their own devices will evolve organically.
he is said to have responded, “Events,
One of the most important things I’ve learnt in my
dear boy, events.” That rings true in
cybersecurity. It is full of constant movement, noise and magic, or on a dark day, fear, uncertainty and doubt. And it’s easy to get lost in that noise. The biggest challenge is finding the space to think and act more strategically rather than responding continuously to events. That space is to be found at intersection of the social, the business and the technology. We—as a community, society, and those of us on the hook—are slowly building the conceptual tools to think about the problems at hand, help people understand the challenges and resolve the organising principles that help them shape effective responses. I think this will mean that cybersecurity—and security more generally—slowly become much more integrated with the general business and work of organisations, not seen as ‘that techie problem’ over on the side. I’m the founder and CEO of Cyber21, and Honorary Professor of Cybersecurity at the Australian National University, where until late 2020 I headed the Cyber Institute. When MacMillan was Britain’s PM one of his biggest challenges would have been the Cold War, and one my most memorable security experiences dates from those days. I joined the Department of
40
the importance of people, culture and organisation
WOMEN IN SECURITY MAGAZINE
career is to find good people to work for and with, and build a team that challenges you, in all the good ways. I don’t have any specific security credentials. My job has been to set parameters, understand and translate the big picture, set priorities, build capability and enable others to do the jobs they need to do, and to both challenge and support them. My first degree was in physics and my PhD in IT. So I have enough knowledge to understand concepts, ask good questions and learn, continuously learn. I have a masters in defence studies and an MBA. Those, and my work experience, round out my capabilities from an organisational and strategic/threat environment perspective. I think I did reasonably well, given the environment at the time. I probably could have paid more attention, and become more practiced and confident in coding, and kept up-to-date, for example. If offered the choice, I’d like to go back to maths. I don’t think maths is positioned, or taught, as well as it should be. It took me a long time before I realised how creative it could be. But the humanities are important, as well. I do worry that the drive to value STEM above and at the cost of the humanities is bad policy, and bad for good policy-making and security.
