Key takeaway
SMEs in Australia’s defence supply chain can’t treat cyber security as box-ticking, this episode shows how to build real security culture, scope Essential Eight controls smartly, and protect your IP without breaking your budget.
Hit Essential Eight, guard IP, and keep your Defence contracts – practical tactics for Aussie defence SMEs.
Small and mid-sized firms sit at the sharp end of Australia’s defence supply chain. They build smart kit, hold sensitive data and keep prime contractors moving – yet many still treat security as a box-ticking chore. In this episode of Intelligence Optimised, host Todd Crowley sits down with veteran security strategist Aaron Pollard to spell out what “good” now looks like.
Key talking points
✔️Why cyber security outranks physical guards and gates in 2025.
✔️The jump from Top 4 to Essential Eight maturity level 2 and what it costs.
✔️Using Defence Industry Development Strategy grants to fund your uplift.
✔️Mapping and marking intellectual property so it doesn’t walk out the door.
✔️Leveraging ASIO outreach and insider-threat training to turn staff into sensors.
✔️Scoping controls only to defence-facing networks to save cash.
✔️How workforce shortages and ASD’s Red Spice program are pushing salaries north.
📍Why it matters
Defence expects the same security baseline from a five-person CNC shop as it does from the primes – fail to meet it and your purchase orders disappear. Aaron breaks down the hidden levers SMEs can pull: narrow the system boundary, pick the right managed service provider, and use grant money only after a Defence-issued Maturity Action Plan. The result: compliance you can actually afford, and information assurance your customers will bank on.
Whether you manage a niche software team in Adelaide or a composites plant in Brisbane, this conversation hands you the playbook to cut risk, lift resilience and keep delivering capability across the Indo-Pacific.
Find deeper briefs and step-by-step guides inside Vaxa Bureau.
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