Lost In Cyberia

Content note: this episode discusses technology-facilitated abuse and may not be suitable for all listeners.

In this episode, we're joined by Emerald Sage who is the founder and CEO of the Digital Resilience Project, a not-for-profit supporting people experiencing technology-facilitated abuse through trauma-informed digital safety services.

With over 20 years in open source intelligence (OSINT), including more than a decade working within Australia's government security and intelligence community, Emerald is now using her skills to give back through the Digital Resilience Project.

We break down what OSINT actually is, why it's become a democratising...

What is it actually like to be a cybercriminal?

Well, you're about to find out. We spoke to Sammy Chuks, a cybersecurity leader, vCISO, and founder of Hck4G.

Sammy grew up in Lagos in Nigeria. A country where youth unemployment sits close to 80% and the paths available to young people is limited. 

He became the neighbourhood's go-to computer repair guy, but inadvertently became the IT support for local cybercriminals, learning the mechanics of business email compromise, romance scams, and money laundering.

But at one point he asked himself, 'What am I...

Are you a small business owner wondering how to protect your business against scams and cyber attacks?

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, we are joined by Kimberley Roberts-Salee, Head of Marketing & Communications at Cyber Wardens. Australia's free, government-funded cybersecurity training program for small businesses.

Kim brings a human take to a topic that can feel overwhelming. Coming from a small business marketing background, she's proof that you don't need to be an IT expert to protect yourself online.

We cover:

If financial crime were a country, it would be the third biggest economy after the United States and China.

Iain Russell, threat prevention director at Unphish, joins Annie-Mei and Anika to walk through the shift from awareness to disruption. He talks about how they're using open-source intelligence, pattern matching, and machine learning to take down fraudulent domains, rogue apps, and social media impersonation before any damage is done. Because relying on consumers to spot every threat is just not feasible.

The conversation goes deep on how AI and cheap dark web toolkits have industrialised fraud...

Why do people click on phishing links? Is it due to lack of awareness training? Is it lack of interest in securing their organisation? And what happens when AI agents, cognitive warfare, and weaponised ambiguity enter the picture?

We chat with Dr. Matt Canham who is the director of the Cognitive Security Institute, former cybercrime investigator with the U.S. Department of Justice, and one of the leading voices in behavioural cybersecurity.

Dr. Canham shares his research on 'repeat clickers'. This is the small percentage of users (around 3–5%) responsible for nearly half of all simulated ph...

The best thing about attending events around the world is the people you meet. Annie-Mei met Jadon at a DEFCON after-party in 2025, where Jadon was struggling to get the bartender's attention for a beer. Nothing bonds people like needing a cold beverage. Jadon is the founder of New York-based Maro, a tool he describes as a security buddy that helps employees actually follow policy. Maro is a cute flame character that intervenes in real time when someone's about to paste sensitive data into an unapproved AI tool or fall for a social engineering attack.

Jadon took an...

When life gets overwhelming, more and more people are turning to AI chatbots for emotional support, and it's not hard to see why. Traditional therapy remains out of reach for many due to cost, stigma, and availability. But what happens when the tool you're leaning on was never designed to hold that weight?

In this episode, we chat to Dr. Rachel Wood. She's a cyber psychology PhD and founder of the AI Mental Health Collective. Dr. Wood helps us untangle the growing relationship between artificial intelligence and our emotional lives. She explains the difference between the general-purpose...

Policy. Diplomacy. Cyber. Three words guaranteed to clear a room (or so you'd think).

But cyber diplomacy matters and we provide real-world examples like the 2007 cyber attacks on Estonia, the Medibank breach and Australia slapping sanctions on Russian hackers and the infamous Stuxnet worm. 

In this episode we break down what cyber diplomacy is, why it matters and what Australia is actually doing to strengthen ties across the Indo-Pacific (with a healthy dose of Mean Girls references and Harry Potter nostalgia thrown in).

(P.S. Anika called it 3 Days in Mariupol - it's 20 D...

Imagine this, you're in your kitchen baking a cake and someone calls you from crypto.com saying they're from the security team and that there's been suspicious activity on your account. You are a crypto.com customer so this sounds pretty legitimate. But turns out it's not. It's just a scammer pretending to be from crypto.com. 

This is what happened to Stephen. He received a call from a US number. The caller directed him to a convincing lookalike site (a hyphenated domain), pressured him with urgency, and prompted him to enter his app PIN and a 2F...

In this episode, we are joined by Sam Brazier-Hollins, Head of Technical Consulting at Fujitsu (also Annie-Mei's former manager). We got so into the convo straight away that we forgot to get Sam to actually introduce himself properly. But you can look him up on LinkedIn.

We discuss Sam's recent work trip to New Zealand for the Digital Workplace Conference discussing Microsoft 365 security and AI adoption alongside change management. Sam also reflects on balancing cybersecurity work with having a three-month-old daughter.

Not sure what data you should be sharing with AI? This episode covers everything...

Jasmine McCrudden joins us for a juicy episode spilling the tea on all things cyber recruitment. 

Wanna know if you're doing enough to stand out on your CV? Not sure what hiring managers are looking for in the interview? Jasmine is here to help. 

She provides some great insights including where all the cybersecurity professionals are in Australia, and the biggest mistakes people are making on their CVs and during interviews.

Plus how much does LinkedIn matter for your personal brand? And is AI helping or hindering your chances of getting a job?

We went to Canberra Cyber Hub HQ to chat with Dr. Vicki Gardiner (COO) and Madi Cook (Engagement Manager). 

Vicki has had a lengthy career in STEM but is a chemistry girl at heart. Vicki is our first guest to not only have a PhD but to have her own Wikipedia page. Did we also mention she has an award named after her called the Vicki Gardiner Advocacy Award? 

Madi has also had an interesting career that started in the travel industry only to be disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. She then pivoted into recruitment an...

We're joined by Kersti Eesmaa, a former Estonian diplomat and current advocate for cyber resilience in Australia. Kersti shares her journey from diplomacy to becoming an ambassador for Estonia in Australia, and her transition to a new life and career Down Under. She opens up about her unique voice, the result of a childhood health crisis, and how it has become her trademark in public speaking.

The discussion covers the concept of cyber reserves in Estonia and Australia's potential for adopting a similar model. Kersti highlights the importance of community service in cyber security, the challenges, and...

In this episode of Lost In Cyberia, we’re joined by Rue Maharaj. Rue shares his extensive background, detailing his journey from South Africa to Australia via New Zealand, and his transition from private sector IT roles to public sector cybersecurity. 

Focusing on his current role in cybersecurity defence management at Melbourne Water, Rue highlights the critical importance of incident response and psychological resilience in cybersecurity. The discussion dives deep into various profiles of cyber attackers, cybersecurity awareness, and the essential role of human psychology in both defending against and responding to cyber threats.

 Rue also...

We are back in 2026 with our first guest of the year Louis Cremen (although this was recorded last year). Louis shares his interesting career journey from software development to becoming a leading cybersecurity educator. He talks about the challenges of centralising security testing for a whole country, the thrill of traveling and working internationally, and the importance of sovereign capabilities in AI and quantum computing for Australia. 

Louis shares his teaching experience, including the power of using Spider-Man references and Annie-Mei shares hers too of using animal noises to explain English words. Louis emphasises the importance of s...

In the final episode of their first season, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika celebrate reaching 1,000 downloads with a not-so-suspicious balloon and recap the whirlwind year of 2025. The duo chats about their international listeners, weird podcast recommendations for pets, and their favourite episodes and guests. The conversation then takes a reflective turn as they answer each other’s questions about personal growth, setting boundaries, and their experiences in the podcasting and content creation world. Along the way, they share plenty of laughs, anecdotal stories, and think about the year ahead. Instead of New Years Resolutions, they choose three words they want 2026 to...

Why should you have to decide between listening to Miley Cyrus or Justin Bieber on your phone? With the cloud you don't have to... but at what cost?

This episode of Lost in Cyberia was recorded down in Melbourne while we were there for CyberCon. We recap what we've been up to the last few months while also debunking some of the funniest misconceptions about “the cloud.”

Equal parts educational and entertaining, this episode is a perfect blend of pop culture banter and tech nostalgia. 

¿Por qué no los dos?

iCloud breach...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika welcome James Corera, Director of Cyber, Technology and Security Program at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). James shares insights on his extensive career in national security, his educational background, and his experiences in intelligence and foreign policy. The discussion covers the evolving nature of global threats, ASPI's role in providing diverse policy perspectives, and the complexity of cybersecurity challenges. The conversation also explores the importance of diversity in national security, the impact of constant connectivity on younger generations, and the need for constructive debate and empathy in...

In this episode of Lost in Cyberia, hosts Annie-Mei and Anika welcome special guest Ray Goldman, a former miscreant turned Business Information Security Officer. Ray shares his journey into the InfoSec world, his involvement with the DC 814 hacker meetups, and his passion for pro wrestling. The discussion covers topics such as community building within cybersecurity, the importance of soft skills, mentorship, and the psychology behind both cybersecurity and pro wrestling. Ray also provides insights into the hiring process, the impact of youth on cybercrime, and the benefits of having diverse teams. The conversation dives into pro wrestling’s influence on...

In this episode of 'Lost in Cyberia,' hosts Annie-Mei and Anika are joined by Betta Leon Delsordo and Clarissa Bury, to discuss their journeys and expertise in cybersecurity. 

Betta shares her path from self-taught coder to lead application penetration tester at OnDefend, with a focus on application security and AI hacking. 

Clarissa, a strategic advisor with experience at CrowdStrike and Rapid7, talks about the importance of tabletop exercises and proactive security measures. 

Both guests highlight their involvement in the cybersecurity community, emphasising mentorship, public speaking, and the significance of creating an inclusive env...

Hosts Annie-Mei and Anika unpack social engineering or “human hacking”, with insights from books by Chris Hadnagy and Kevin Mitnick. They break down the attack lifecycle, common tactics (phishing, pretexting, tailgating, quid pro quo), and how AI is supercharging scams, then share practical defences: pause-and-verify, reduce digital footprints, and normalise double-checking at work and home. A clear, actionable guide to spotting and resisting manipulation online and off. 

Practical takeaways