In this episode of the Contested Ground podcast, Phil Tarrant, Major General (Ret’d) Marcus Thompson and Liam Garman discuss the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.

• They begin the podcast debating whether the unfolding Israel–Hamas conflict will have the same level of strategic significance for Israel as the Yom Kippur War or the Six-Day War.
• Tarrant, Thompson and Garman then discuss how the conflict has altered the balance of power in the Middle East, severing Iran’s crescent of influence by weakening Hamas and Hezbollah, coupled with the fall of Assad.
• They wrap up the podcast examining what nations, if any, might assume the role of a security benefactor in the Middle East with a weakened Iran, and emerging open-source intelligence (OSINT) collection vectors.

Enjoy the podcast,
The Contested Ground team

In this episode of the Cyber Uncut podcast, hosts David Hollingworth and Daniel Croft take a look back at some of the biggest and most intriguing stories of the year, from CrowdStrike’s outage and amazing response to the takedown of ransomware giant LockBit.

• Croft kicks off with the epic story of the Change Healthcare hack, which saw the data of about a third of the population of the United States compromised. But it wasn’t just the scale of the hack; it was also the behind-the-scenes manoeuvering between greedy ransomware-as-a-service operators, hacker affiliates just wanting to get paid, and a company realising that it really does have to pay an exorbitant ransom.
• The pair then discuss the takedown of ransomware giant LockBit and the remarkably sassy response of the law enforcement agencies behind the operation, before looking back at another ransomware operation that turned out to be nothing but an extensive scam.
• Lastly, Croft and Hollingworth look back at July’s CrowdStrike outage, both its wide-ranging impact and what turned out to be an excellent and comprehensive response from CrowdStrike itself, before turning the gaze forward to wonder what they might see in 2025.

Enjoy the podcast,
The Cyber Uncut team

Understanding the dynamics of regional areas in Australia can offer lucrative opportunities for investors.

In this episode of the Defence Property Podcast, co-hosts Liam Garman and Discover Buyers Agency’s Kane Dury sit down with Morgan Oliver, director and sales agent of JMO Property Group, to unpack the ins and outs of property investment in the town of Gatton.

Gatton, in regional Queensland, is poised for economic growth with major infrastructure projects underway, such as a medium-security prison and a high-speed rail, creating thousands of stable government jobs, which the trio highlight as appealing for property investors.

The group also discusses how investors in the defence sector can focus on regional areas to grow their portfolio by buying property at each posting, leveraging grants like Home Purchase Assistance Scheme (HPAS) and Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme (DHOAS) to gain financial benefits, and then rent-vest to foster cash flow and long-term portfolio growth.