Robert Turney

Robert Turney is the Chief Information Security Officer of auDA, appointed in February 2025 as the organization's first person to hold the role.

Career path

Before joining auDA, Turney held cybersecurity roles at iSelect and Australia Post.

An auDA spokesperson said Turney "brings significant experience from a career in security, including senior leadership roles in the finance, government and logistics sectors."

auDA, which administers Australia's .au domain, created the CISO position for Turney's appointment; iTnews reported it was unable to confirm who had led cybersecurity at the organization before him.

Turney announced the appointment on LinkedIn, describing his new responsibility for protecting the .au domain space.

By May 2025, Turney was attending auDA's Technical Advisory Standing Committee meeting in his capacity as CISO, alongside the organization's CEO, directors and corporate communications staff.

Remit and public-facing work

auDA describes the .au Domain Name System as critical Australian infrastructure, comparable to water, electricity and telecommunications networks, underpinning e-commerce, education, government, health and banking access for Australians.

As CISO, Turney has appeared in an auDA video titled How auDA keeps .au secure, discussing the organization's approach to domain security.

auDA states that it maintains strict .au Licensing Rules and compliance activity, and operates four levels of protection against DNS abuse: validation checks during registration by domain name providers, post-registration validation checks by auDA, and daily checks against DNS abuse threat intelligence feeds.

The organization directs the public to the Federal Government's cyber security website for trusted information, and recommends contacting a web hosting provider or an IT professional for help implementing security measures.