Avoid a “Staycation in the Defence Supply Chain”:
Lock Down Your Data
5th December 2025
Recent events have exposed a sobering truth: when a weak link in a defence supply chain goes unprotected, the consequences can ripple across major national programs. A recent wave of cyber attacks on defence industry suppliers reportedly exposed sensitive information including material related to multi billion dollar procurement programs including the Hunter Class and Land 400 subcontractor supply chains.
In one case, a contractor’s systems were infiltrated for months via an outdated VPN, giving attackers time to roam laterally, harvest project files, metadata, and even personnel records, ultimately having a “staycation in the defence supply chain.”
Though some of the data was described as “non sensitive,” experts warned that even seemingly innocuous files can carry strategic value, revealing project relationships, contract history, design context, or organisational networks that adversaries might exploit to target higher value infrastructure.
Why Defence Supply Chains Are Under Attack
- Hackers are increasingly targeting smaller suppliers, which often have less mature cyber defences, rather than big primes. As one security commentator observed, attackers “actively seek the weakest link in a chain rather than the most prominent organisation.”
- Once inside, the attackers quietly extract large volumes of data over months, including engineering files, project documents, proposals, and other files that may appear harmless but provide context and insight into broader capability or procurement programs.
- Supply chain exposure isn’t just about losing one firm’s data: a compromise at a subcontractor can undermine entire programs if adversaries leverage the leaked insight to escalate into more critical networks.
This isn’t just a theoretical risk, it’s a real and growing threat, especially in a global security environment where state backed or sophisticated threat actors may be scanning for such vulnerabilities.
A Defence‑Ready Response: GuardWare + Goal Group
Defence subcontractors operate in a high-risk environment. For this reason, addressing these risks requires more than basic cyber hygiene or standard IT security. Supply chain firms need a tailored, multi layered approach that satisfies both cyber security standards and defence industry compliance and regulatory obligations. That’s where the combined strengths of GuardWare and Goal Group become critical.
GuardWare: Built for Defence Supply Chains
- GuardWare delivers a suite of cyber security products engineered to protect sensitive data. From CAD drawings, design documents, source code, to large archives, not just typical office files. This ensures firms working on technical, engineering, or classified adjacent projects can protect the full range of data relevant to defence supply.
- Its flagship product, GuardWare PROTECT, offers persistent, transparent, file based encryption. That means data remains protected at rest, in transit, and critically, even when in use or being edited.
- For broader visibility and oversight, GuardWare INSIGHT provides 24/7 monitoring, auditing and alerting on data access, movement, and potential anomalous behaviour.
- This combination ensures both persistent data protection and real time alerting which is vital if an adversary tries to do what the attackers did in recent incidents: lurk inside for months, quietly exfiltrate data, then disappear.
Goal Group: Bringing Expertise Across Export Control & Defence Security
- Goal Group specialises in providing export control compliance, strategic trade, and security consulting services to defence industry clients (from SMEs through primes and major suppliers).
- Goal’s services include export compliance health assessments, process development, compliance training (e.g. for ITAR, EAR, Australian export controls), and guidance on securing membership under the Defence Industry Security Program (DISP).
- Goal Group’s security consulting also covers implementation of governance, personnel security, ICT/cyber security, and risk management.
The Combined Approach: Cybersecurity + Compliance + Supply‑Chain Resilience
By combining the technical protections of GuardWare with the regulatory, governance and risk management expertise of Goal Group, organisations in the defence supply chain can build a highly mitigated and resilient environment, one that meets:
- Cyber security standards (monitoring, encryption, detection, audit trail)
- Defence industry security requirements (personnel controls, DISP accreditation, governance, asset/data control)
- Export control and strategic trade compliance (documentation, export/import certificates, technology flow controls)
This layered approach turns a supply chain participant from a potential “weak link” into a trusted, secure node which gives both primes and government customers confidence that their data and technologies are handled responsibly.
The Bigger Picture: The Australian Defence‑Industrial Environment is Under Active Threat
The risk to supply chain organisations isn’t hypothetical its systemic and growing. In its 2025 Annual Threat Assessment, ASIO warned that foreign espionage and foreign interference are already at “extreme levels” in Australia’s security environment, and those threats are expected to intensify over the coming years.
Key take aways for defence industry players:
- Australia’s defence industry is a top target. ASIO highlighted that foreign intelligence services are relentlessly seeking information about Australian military capabilities, including aviation, maritime, and projects linked to the AUKUS submarine initiative.
- Supply chain participants, not just major primes, are being targeted. Distributors, subcontractors, SMEs, and contractors working on niche or peripheral roles can be attractive entry points: weaker cyber posture, lower awareness, and less institutional support. ASIO’s warning underscores that even smaller organisations form part of the “collection surface.”
- Espionage is costly and pervasive. In the 2023–24 financial year alone, espionage is estimated to have cost Australia around A$ 12.5 billion. That includes loss through intellectual property theft, compromise of sensitive projects, and the economic burden of responding to cyber incidents. The cost to businesses, especially those in the defence supply chain where reputation and trust matters more than anything else, can be existential.
In short: the broader Australian environment has shifted. What might once have been considered acceptable risk is now a glaring vulnerability. Defence industry participants must assume they are under threat.
Benefits of a Combined Technical + Compliance Approach
Given the elevated, evolving threat environment, a one dimensional approach won’t cut it. This is where the combined strength of technical data protection (via GuardWare) and expert advisory/compliance oversight (via Goal Group) becomes not just advantageous but essential.
- Technical defences alone (e.g. encryption, monitoring) are critical to protect sensitive files, CAD drawings, source code, and design data from cyber espionage or data exfiltration.
- Compliance, governance and export control advisory alone helps firms satisfy increasingly complex domestic and international obligations such as export/import licensing, secure handling of controlled technology, personnel and governance controls, and documentation for audit readiness.
Together, they create a robust, layered defence posture:
- GuardWare gives measurable, data centric protection and audit logs.
- Goal Group provides the qualitative oversight of policies, procedures, staff training, compliance readiness, export control certification management.
- This dual lens of technical + compliance is particularly powerful when facing audits, regulatory scrutiny, or supply chain security requirements. It delivers both the hard metrics (encryption status, access logs, data movement records) and the narrative evidence (governance processes, compliance records, risk mitigation strategies).
In today’s Australian environment where foreign intelligence services focus on defence supply chains, espionage costs are measured in billions, and supply chain vulnerabilities are considered high risk, a combined approach is arguably the only sensible way to mitigate exposure and protect sensitive defence data and capability.
Final Thought
Don’t let your company become victim to the next “staycation in the defence supply chain.”
With the right mix of technology and expertise like GuardWare’s defence‑grade data protection and Goal Group’s export‑control, security, and risk‑management services you can stay ahead of threats, show compliance, and contribute to a secure, sovereign defence supply ecosystem.
Author: Amy McDonnell – General Manager Security, Trade and Industry Consultant