Read Time:2 Minute, 10 Second
Companies and institutions considered the “crown jewels” of the Australian economy are set to get a significant boost in their Cyber security efforts. The move comes amid heightened concerns about the threat of nation-state hackers and other sophisticated cyber criminals and follows several high-profile attacks.
Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil has classified 82 critical infrastructure assets using national security laws passed by the Coalition for the Protection of Essential Services. These “jewel assets” include energy, utilities, communication networks, banking institutions, healthcare and education services.
The “jewel assets” are managed by 38 distinct organisations, and their names cannot be published under regulations. The group is particularly vulnerable to malicious cyber threats and interference, given the world’s deteriorating threat climate following the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What we are seeing is a rapidly deteriorating international security environment, in which state actors, in particular, are increasingly seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in our critical infrastructure,” Minister O’Neil said.
The bolstered security is in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Taiwan and China’s increasing military aggression, which adds to an already critical cyber security situation. In Australia, cyber-attacks are monitored by national security and intelligence agencies. They report that an average of one cyber incident occurs every eight minutes, while critical infrastructure threats happen every 32 minutes.
“We are committed to working with the private sector and our international partners to ensure that our critical infrastructure is as secure as possible,” added O’Neil.
The government’s move comes after a string of high-profile cyber attacks in recent years, including the 2016 Census hack, which exposed the personal data of nearly 10 million Australians.
More recently, sophisticated cybercriminals have targeted some major Australian businesses, including Telstra, the Commonwealth Bank and Qantas.
The government is also working on new legislation that would make it compulsory for companies to report serious data breaches, following similar laws in the United Kingdom and Europe.
“We are working on a mandatory data breach notification regime, which would require companies to notify the government and affected individuals of serious data breaches,” Minister O’Neil articulated.
“This is an area where Australia lags behind many of our international partners, and it is something that we are looking to rectify as soon as possible.”
In the meantime, the government is urging companies and organisations to take steps to protect themselves from cyber attacks, including by patching their systems and using multi-factor authentication.
“There is no silver bullet when it comes to Cyber security, but there are several basic steps that all organisations can and should take to reduce their risk,” Minister Clare O’Neil conveyed.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
