About us
SecTalks is one of the world’s largest non-profit Cyber Security communities, with chapters spanning multiple continents. We host free monthly events focused on technical security topics and practical security challenges. Our sessions are designed for a broad audience, from those just starting out through to experienced professionals.
#### What happens at SecTalks Gold Coast?
SecTalks Gold Coast is all about knowledge sharing, hands-on learning, and networking. We host an informal meetup where attendees can connect with others in the local community and hear presentations on information security topics.
We welcome discussion and learning across all areas of security, including:
Penetration Testing, Red Teaming, Social Engineering, Phishing, Exploit Development, Security Automation, DevSecOps, SecDevOps, Secure Development, Application Security, Security Architecture, Cloud Security, Security Operations, SIEM, Incident Response, Threat Hunting, Forensics, Network Security, Governance, Risk Management, Compliance, and more.
#### Who is the meetup for?
Anyone with an interest in information security is welcome, from beginners and students through to experienced practitioners.
SecTalks is a community-focused event, not a sales forum. It is not the place to attend with the intention of promoting products or services.
#### How does SecTalks Gold Coast operate?
SecTalks Gold Coast is run by volunteers, including Paula Sillars, Paul McCarty, Michael Skelton (@Codingo), and Ricki Burke (@CyberSecRicki), for the benefit of the local community. Our goal is to create a welcoming environment where people can share ideas, learn from one another, and build connections.
SecTalks Gold Coast operates under a strict Code of Conduct.
Upcoming events
2
SecTalks Gold Coast 3x6 - July 2026 - The Autonomous Software Factory
Cohort Innovation Space, 16 Nexus Way, Southport, QL, AUGold Coast SecTalks for July is Tuesday, 7th July, 2026, at COHORT Innovation Space.
The Autonomous Software Factory: Trusting Code No Human Wrote
What happens when a human writes a single paragraph of intent, and AI agents independently design, write, test, and merge the codebase without anyone ever reading the diff?
In this talk, we’ll look under the hood of a live research prototype built to answer that question. Operating on the core assumption that the AI agents are hostile, we will explore the strict defensive engineering required to deploy machine-generated code safely, dive into the architectural blind spots that still remain, and discuss the future of software engineering when code becomes a disposable, automated medium.
Lachlan Ashcroft is a Software Engineer and SRE with a background in Identity and Access Management and Fintech. His career has spanned the full tech stack, from product development to developer tooling, with a consistent focus on building secure, scalable, and resilient systems. Lachlan is a strong advocate for "Model-First Architecture," exploring how to evolve the software development lifecycle through AI-augmented development. He specializes in bridging the gap between engineering and security.
Drinks are provided by our sponsor, Solis, and pizza is provided by Cyber Audit Team. As usual, our venue is sponsored by COHORT.
GC SecTalks maintains a strict Code of Conduct.
50 attendeesSecTalks Gold Coast 3x7 - August 2026 - Exploring Malware Evolution Through ML
Cohort Innovation Space, 16 Nexus Way, Southport, QL, AUTitle: Exploring Malware Evolution Through Machine Learning presented by Terrell Jensen.
Abstract:
Traditional malware analysis often focuses on identifying what a sample is and which family it belongs to. This project explores a different question: can we use machine learning to better understand how malware evolves over time?From Terrell - "WedgeTail is my research project in which I have been investigating malware lineage and evolutionary intelligence by analysing features extracted from binaries, including API behaviour, strings, PE metadata, and opcode sequences. The goal is to explore whether machine learning techniques can identify relationships between samples, map possible lineage, and surface trends across malware ecosystems.
The talk would cover the technical approach behind the project, including feature extraction, embeddings, similarity analysis, and the challenges of applying ML to adversarial software. I’ll also discuss lessons learned, limitations, and where this type of approach could go in the future."
Drinks are provided by our sponsor, Solis, and pizza is provided by Cyber Audit Team. As usual, our venue is sponsored by COHORT.
GC SecTalks maintains a strict Code of Conduct.
14 attendees
Past events
43
Group links
Members
1,185
