The Department of Home Affairs has revealed the new national cybersecurity office is being stood up by the federal government to help coordinate its cyber security efforts and respond to incidents due to no additional funding.
In response to recent data breaches that affected companies such as Optus and Medibank, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared last month that the government would establish a National Office for Cyber Security, which would be overseen by a new cyber security coordinator.
After reviewing a discussion paper created by the expert advisory board, which contributed to the updated cybersecurity strategy, it was concluded that the government was inadequately prepared to handle security breaches. As a result, the decision was made to take action.
In February, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil announced the launch of the office as a new hub for coordinating cyber incident responses, as well as other operations.
Further information about the national office has surfaced, revealing that the government did not grant any extra funding to Home Affairs to establish the office.
When the announcement was made, Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil refrained from specifying the number of employees that would be hired for the office. She stated that it was still being determined and that the office would be staffed as required.
It is uncertain whether the government intends to supply extra funding in the upcoming federal Budget next month, and if it does, the funding will not be available until after the office’s official launch on May 1.
According to a Senate Estimates question in February, the office will initially have five full-time equivalent (FTE) personnel from Home Affairs, with support from a minimum of 50 FTE staff and potentially more in the event of a “significant incident.”
Department officials say the national cyber security coordinator and the national office for cyber security will regularly engage with ASD
Minister O’Neil recently stated that Australia must become a “hard target” and be able to “recover rapidly when struck” in order to achieve its goal of becoming the “most secure” country in the world by 2030.
According to O’Neil the rollout of a national cyber exercise series for critical infrastructure assets covered by the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act would be led by the new national cyber coordinator within Home Affairs’ Cyber and Infrastructure Security Group.
The exercises would be the equivalent of Australia hitting the “gym” as it wakes from its “cyber slumber”, allowing companies to “build muscle memory in how to deal with a cyber-attack – and importantly cover the types of incidents we have not yet experienced on a national scale” she said
