A senior University of Wollongong professor is heading to the US this year to conduct research on the impact of cyber attacks on companies in NATO countries and Australia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
UOW Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Innovation, Enterprise and External Relations) and Professor of Economics, Alex Frino will make the trip after winning his second Fulbright Award.
The Fulbright Commission has awarded Professor Frino a Senior Scholar Fulbright Award 2022 to travel to the US and lead high-level research into the major global issue.
Prof Frino was previously hosted by Georgetown University in Washington DC via the Fulbright Program in 2005.
He will travel to the US later this year and in 2023 to work with researchers in the Cyber Security Department at Florida Polytechnic University.
This will extend work he is currently engaged in, in collaboration with researchers from the Centre for Economic Policy and Analysis in Washington DC.
Prof Frino said he was surprised and delighted to be awarded a rare second Fulbright Scholarship.
"My first Fulbright experience in 2005 was a career highlight, giving me the opportunity to work with world-class scholars and researchers and develop a network of collaborators around the world that I have continued to work with in the years since," he said.
"I feel greatly honoured to be given another chance so late in my career to participate in this wonderful collaborative research program - especially on a subject of such global importance as cyber security.
"I look forward to working with some outstanding US scholars to press hard on solutions to this problem - and building a bridge between Australia and the USA."
Cyber attacks on corporations have stolen military secrets, erased over $100 billion in shareholder value, lost the personal information of 150 million people, and led to the shutdown of critical infrastructure.
Prof Frino said the importance of cyber security was highlighted recently when NATO announced that a cyber attack could trigger Article 5 - in short, a cyber attack on one NATO country could lead the entire alliance to respond with an array of measures, including going to war.
"Cyber security will require global collaboration, not just between the US and Australia, but between all NATO countries," he said.
"Cyber criminals attack the weakest link and by doing so can penetrate the IT systems of other countries. As we saw in June last year, a technical error at a US internet technology company, Akamai, led to outages at the Reserve Bank of Australia, several Australian commercial banks, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and a number of US airlines."
Australian Fulbright Commission executive director Professor James Arvanitakis described Prof Frino's second Fulbright Scholarship as unique at this stage of his career.
Eleven UOW staff members and a number of alumni have been named Fulbright Scholars in the past.
In 2021, UOW and the Australian-American Fulbright Commission announced a new partnership that will see US scholars spending up to four months at UOW, conducting research in areas of importance to UOW.
To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Sign up for breaking news emails below ...
Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
