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Home Affairs Minister Claire O’Neil’s office recently published a discussion paper recommending revamping the existing Security of Critical Infrastructure Act, which she branded ‘bloody useless.’ One point on the paper is that the Australian government may step in and take over should the IT department’s management of the incident be revised.
O’Neil’s ministry worked with former Telstra boss Andy Penn, former Air Force chief Mel Hupfeld, and head of Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre Rachel Falk to develop the discussion paper and the proposals it contains.
Richard Chirgwin, a veteran tech journalist for IT News, noted that “the strategy discussion paper proposes expanding the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act (SoCI) to cover customer data and systems. This could mean a lot more companies must answer to SoCI, including those standing up customer data platforms (CDPs) and other systems used in marketing.”
On top of that, according to AFR senior correspondent Jacob Greber, the discussion paper also includes the potential expansion of the agency to step in, coming from the experiences last year with Optus and Medibank. The paper recommends that the ministry take over the response if critical infrastructure like energy assets fall to cyber attacks. The proposal is seen as controversial and dramatic.
O’Neil noted that “Australia has a patchwork of policies, laws, and frameworks that are not keeping up with the challenges presented by the digital age. Voluntary measures and poorly executed plans will not get Australia where we need to be to thrive in the contested environment of 2030.”
However, many security experts are against this recommendation. Managing director of software company Firestory Rob James is one of those in opposition. The former Vodafone, TPG, and Qantas tech boss says that there are already a lot of groups and experts that help during any cyber crisis, and there is no need for another group, like the government, to be involved.
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