The Australian Government released a Defence White Paper 2013 (May 2013). This highlights the risk of cyber attacks on defence, government and commercial information networks (Pages 20 and 21): http://www.defence.gov.au/WhitePaper2013/docs/WP_2013_web.pdf
The paper claims that the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) has "allowed the development of a comprehensive understanding of the cyber threat environment and coordinated responses to malicious cyber events that target government networks". However, this addresses only government networks, not essential services provided by the private sector and on which government and defence depend. The paper envisages participation of key industry and private sector partners, but no further details are provided. In September 2011 the Australian Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) issued a discussion paper “Connecting with Confidence, Optimising Australia’s Digital Future”, with the aim of releasing a cyber security policy white paper in mid 2012: http://web.archive.org/web/20120106034224/http://cyberwhitepaper.dpmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/connecting_with_confidence_public_discussion_paper.pdf The Australian Computer Society assisted PM&C with consultations, including arranging a meeting in Canberra, 18 October 2011. The ACS released a Submission for the Australian Cyber Policy White Paper:http://www.acs.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/2659/ACSCyberDiscussionPaperSubmission.pdf But in a speech October 2011, the Prime Minister said that she thought the Cyber White Paper should be broadened to a "digital White Paper" ("Closing Remarks to the Digital Economy Forum", Speech, Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, 5 October 2012): http://www.pm.gov.au/press-office/closing-remarks-digital-economy-forum No Cyber White Paper has been released. As a result Australia's national infrastructure remains vulnerable to cyber attack. The Australian government needs to revive the cyber security white paper process. -- Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia http://www.tomw.net.au Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/ _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
