The Human Factor: Cyber Deception, Decision-Making and Emerging Technologies with Dr Andrew Reeves

Cybersecurity is often framed as a technology problem. Andrew Reeves argues it is fundamentally a human one. Dr Miah Hammond-Errey sits down with Dr Andrew Reeves, Deputy Director of UNSW's Institute for Cyber, registered organisational psychologist and cybersecurity leader, to examine what psychology reveals about attack, defence and victimhood in cybersecurity. From the power of cyber deception, to why security awareness training can backfire, to what cognitive load means for the people defending our networks, this is a conversation about the human factors that determine whether cybersecurity actually works.Andrew and Miah discuss the collaborative research project between UNSW's Institute for Cyber and Strat Futures, mapping the cybersecurity implications of emerging technologies in Australia over the next two to five years. Andrew shares what the data is revealing about the convergence of AI, biotechnology and brain-computer interfaces, why the most critical developments will come from how technologies interact rather than any single breakthrough, and what the tension between sovereign capability and international collaboration means for Australian organisations. They also discuss cyber security lessons from the golden age of piracy, the psychology of leadership under fatigue, and what forest bathing has to do with making better decisions.