Stewart Stacey has a very detailed CV. Instead of completing year 12, he took a scholarship with the Department of Defence, spending several years with the government in “pseudo IT guy” positions, including at ATSIC, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Commission before abolition.
Then Stacey opened the first internet cafes for Darwin and founded his own internet business, Territory Internet Services. At the same time, he consulted with the Northern Territories government, working at various entities as a “drop-in IT boss.”
He was then assigned to direct Darwin’s construction of the United Nations (UN) network identified by Stacey as a reasonably vast network of five separate buildings. The project started after the East Timorese voted for independence in 1999 and the Indonesian-aligned militia’s eventual response. Stacey went to Dili while Australian forces were still on the field to work specifically with NGOs, such as the World Health Organisation, the World Food Program, and the UN.
After more security contracts, including with the Royal Australian Air Force, securing Darwin’s Apple Store as a customer for a new IT company, and returning from the United States for a job at a gym as an IT boss, Stacey did a mining stint, where he was responsible for constructing an AU$6 million optical fiber network for the electricity generator of the territory in the NT.
He told ZDNet that this involved constructing two data centers as well.
Stacey agreed in 2017 that it was time to launch Binary Defense.
He said his background not only made him capable of all things IT” but also allowed him to run the technology’s organizational and company side. To him, however, beginning Binary Protection was about a lot more.
“Through dealing with the Northern Territory government, and all of my suppliers, all the key contracts that I had, I never once came across another Indigenous person, not once,” he said.
Moving out on his own allows Stacey.
The Binary Security value proposition acknowledges an organization that offers the same service as established cybersecurity firms. Still, using Binary Protection is, by implication, an intervention in and encouragement of indigenous engagement in high-tech fields.
Though Stacey’s expansion ambitions have been put on hold by the COVID-19 pandemic, he plans to take on six interns a year to move forward, aiming to close the indigenous divide and fix the lagging participation rates of women in technology.
He is also building a defense operations center in Darwin, with plans for one in Sydney and an attached training center. The centers will concentrate on training intelligence experts and provide Local citizens with essential IT expertise to transition into the industry.
“I hope that’s going to act like a beacon to draw people in,” he said.
Binary Defense, one of the relatively few indigenous-owned and indigenous-operated companies engaged in cybersecurity, has government, corporation, and small business customers.
Despite his CV, a startup in an area in Australia is not associated with creativity, but as an Indigenous one, Stewart always faced struggles.
