The judges were in unison in delivering the award, the c (GCSB) is most instrumental in preparing New Zealand against cyber threats. Collaborating with two major cloud service providers, New Zealand’s top intelligence agency has been judged the best security project in the annual information security industry awards.
The body was awarded overall the Best Security Project or Security Awareness Initiative. With the private entities, GCSB was lauded for the development of its baseline security templates. According to the judges, GCSB’s baseline templates help with the most challenging part of security: translating the ‘what’ into the ‘how’.
GCSB’s “high leverage project” provided a timely solution for the continuous assurance of government security requirements. To a large degree, every sector of New Zealand, from private firms to citizens, benefited from its cybersecurity assistance.
GCSB’s Director-General, Andrew Hampton recognises the importance of the government working closely with private-sector providers. Specifically, he believes that it ensures information security is built into the development and deployment of systems across all phases of their lifecycle.
In recent years, we have seen malicious actors increasingly exploit vulnerabilities in supply chains. It is more important than ever that cyber security is seen as an end-to-end consideration.
– Andrew Hampton, Director General, Government Communications Security Bureau
Hampton pointed out that by working with the industry’s top cloud services, they were able to make it easier for government and private-sector customers to ensure the security of their cloud deployments. For their commitment, he gives his appreciation.
Moreover, he stressed how much the protocols they’ve set have helped Aoteroan businesses. Over 400 organisations have deployed cloud instances using the newly-released New Zealand Information Security Manual (NZISM) baseline security controls. As a result, these groups ensured their security resilience reflects the country’s national information security standards.
Again, Hampton is thankful for the contribution of the private sector. To a large degree, it shows the way forward for the New Zealand government. He disclosed that the work they had on security is an example of the great work that can be done when government teams engage with providers and public sector partners to increase cyber security resilience across the country.
The latest iteration of the NZIM or what is referred to as Version 3.5 was comprehensive in its approach in the sense that it dealt with just about every aspect of cybersecurity that an organisation would need. It was reported in detail in OpenGov Asia.
To note, the last time the government released an update before the latest was in 2014. That indeed is a mighty long time. However, the security protocols existed way before, in the 1990s. It shows how much New Zealand values digital adoption all these years.
As indicated by GCSB, there were instances of cyberthreats looming over the country, especially during the pandemic. For instance, unscrupulous individuals attacked the data of the health sector right when the country was battling the virus. It’s no surprise that Wellington has funded the sector against cyberthreats.