A new joint cyber security centre that promotes
collaboration across government, business and academia has launched
in Sydney on 21 March by the Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security,
Angus Taylor.
The new Sydney centre is part of the Australian Government's
A$47m Joint Cyber Security Centre (JCSC) program, which facilitates stronger
partnerships between 101 organisations across private and public sectors,
including defence industry, finance, transport, energy, health, mining, and
education.
As a JCSC partner organisations can access sensitive
information such as cyber threat intelligence and what businesses in their
industry, and across different sectors, are doing in response to cyber threats,
develop collaborative solutions to cyber security risks and issues affecting
your industry and contribute to a common understanding of the cyber security
environment.
Currently, there are JCSCs located in Brisbane,
Perth,
Melbourne
and Sydney, with the Adelaide centre due to open later in 2018.
The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) Australia – part
of the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC)
– is leading the JCSC initiative to establish cyber security centres in key
cities across Australia through the Government's 2016 Cyber
Security Strategy. The ACSC handles key operational elements of the
government’s cyber security capabilities to enable a more complete
understanding of sophisticated cyber threats, facilitate faster and more
effective responses to significant cyber incidents, and foster better
interaction between government and industry partners.
The JCSC governance arrangements consist of a three-tier
reporting structure to support the delivery of the JCSC program. Each
individual JCSC has a local management committee which oversees the delivery of
the national JCSC program at the local level. The local management committee
reports to the JCSC Council which is made up of the Chairs of local JCSC
Management Committees.
The JCSC national program is overseen by the CEO Level JCSC
National Advisory Board, which sets the strategic direction and national scope
of activities.
Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security Angus Taylor
said the Sydney JCSC will help improve Australia's cyber security systems
across industry, research and government.
Mr Taylor said, "This is an important step to enhance
Australia's defensive cyber capabilities. The JCSC is a critical hub for
business and government to improve their cyber security practices and share
information in a trusted environment.”
"Cyber security threats are always evolving, so we need
to ensure we have a range of strategies in place to protect our digital borders
and get on the offensive against cyber attacks," he added.
A number of cyber security exercises have been run across these
centres, particularly in the lead up to the Commonwealth Games.
The Sydney JCSC launch event included interactive
demonstrations where industry partners participate in responding to simulated
cyber security incidents and a "War Games Simulation" with government.
The event centred on a simulated cyber security incident at
a fictitious company. Participants used their knowledge, technical skills and
tools to investigate the incident, which contained many elements observed in
real incidents.
The cyber security experts worked together to solve complex
issues and get scores on the leader board, demonstrating how important a
combined, team effort is to tackle malicious cyber events.