A new Defence Trailblazer project will see technology giant Cisco and the University of Adelaide join forces to develop state-of-the-art technologies for secure military platforms.

The project is led by Associate Professor Hung Nguyen from the University of Adelaide. Professor Nguyen is also the Information Warfare and Advanced Cyber co-lead for the Defence Trailblazer, stationed at the Australian Cyber Collaboration Centre (Aus3C) in Lot Fourteen.

“My research will apply new advanced algorithms and mathematical models to solve problems in platform security,” said Professor Nguyen.

“We focus on developing provable cyber defensive solutions. This means building and configuring systems that are secure by design and training trustworthy AI agents to help defend networked systems.”

Director of Education and Strategic Industries for Cisco Australia & New Zealand Reg Johnson is pleased to provide their global expertise in cybersecurity.

“Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration program will enable us to work with defence primes and Australian SMEs to develop real sovereign capability,” he said.

The project will assess the cyber resilience of the Health, Usage and Maintenance Systems (HUMS) on military platforms by characterising its vulnerabilities, denoting deployable solutions and providing recommendations for more robust systems.

Defence Trailblazer is a four-year program designed to accelerate defence-led innovation projects and strengthen defence capabilities. The program connects the University of Adelaide and UNSW with over 40 industry partners.

Defence Trailblazer Executive Director Dr Sanjay Mazumdar said that this partnership marked their first information warfare and advanced cyber technologies project.

“The project aims to accelerate the translation and commercialisation of cyber technologies to safeguard our nation and remain connected to deliver secure, resilient and scalable ICT.”