Digital defender from Hawkesbury is a new team leader at WSU cyber security centre

Meet 20-year-old Bryce Marchant – originally from Bowen Mountain – who is a new generation digital defender and has just been appointed Team Leader at Western Sydney University’s recently launched Centre for Cybersecurity Aid and Community Engagement (Western CACE).

A student of WSU’s Bachelor of Cyber Security and Behaviour program, Mr Marchant has most recently worked on cyber security in London. He’s an ex-student of Grose View Public School.

“I really enjoy learning the inner workings of our digital landscape, which we now heavily rely on for so many aspects of our life,” he says.

“This passion coupled with the enjoyment of complex problem solving has led me to become very passionate about cyber security as a whole,” Mr Marchant said.

Cyber security team leader Bryce Marchant

Helping on the frontline as a Team Leader at Western CACE Operations Centre, Mr Marchant has trained in cybersecurity incident response alongside government, industry and certification partners, and recently assisted in the development of new materials and handbooks for the new Centre.

Western CACE is a new world-first centre dedicated to helping NSW small businesses respond to cybersecurity incidents and strengthen their cybercrime fighting capabilities has officially opened at Western Sydney University.

In a major boost for small businesses, particularly those in western Sydney, the Western Centre for Cybersecurity Aid & Community Engagement (Western CACE) is providing free services to help them respond to cybersecurity incidents like data breaches, ransomware, email compromise, phishing and payment fraud, and implement appropriate security controls.

Working collaboratively with businesses it is also helping them up-skill and prepare for future threats by harnessing the very latest skills, technology and cybercrime psychology through the Centre’s resources and training programs.

The Centre was set-up thanks to just over $745,000 in funding from the Federal Government.

“I work on major cyber security threats and attacks, helping people with both mitigation and response. Western Sydney University does an amazing job at setting up closed digital environments for cyber security students to go over scenarios,” says Mr Marchant.

Bryce Marchant at work at the new Western CACE centre

He warns that while we have all received phishing and scam emails at some point, some are easily recognisable, while in some cases it all comes down to coincidence.

“The person I was helping had just ordered some items off Amazon and a few minutes after placing that order, they were sent an email regarding their ‘recent amazon purchase’. Once they saw the amount they had apparently been billed, they were unsure what had happened, and thankfully before proceeding to call the number on the email, they sought some advice.

“I was able to determine the email was not from Amazon and explained how these type of scam emails work and how best to detect them. In this instance the outcome was good, but unfortunately these types of attacks are still widely used and very successful at times,” he said.

Like fashion, cyber threats are always changing with the trends.

Mr Marchant said during the recent COVID-19 pandemic there was a spike in email phishing attacks and scam emails.

“These emails were crafted around the pandemic and targeted people in need of assistance with either masks or test kits. It is always safe to assume that as you see new trends arising in society, the cyber threats and scammers will be quick to follow.

“Try to always keep that in mind when receiving messages and calls regarding new and upcoming trends,” he said.

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