Staff Writer
The NSW Government is laying the groundwork for the state and its capital, Sydney, to become a major cyber hub. On Thursday last week, the NSW Government rolled out its new 2021 Cyber Security Strategy. The new strategy combines and builds on two former strategies, the NSW Cyber Security Strategy and the 2018 NSW Cyber Security Industry Strategy. The aim is to provide a single guiding cybersecurity strategy for NSW.
“To realise our collective vision of becoming the cyber capital of the southern hemisphere, we need Government and industry working together – that’s what this strategy seeks to achieve,” said NSW Minister for Digital and Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello.
The new strategy is driven by concerns raised during industry consultations. Those concerns included a low level of cybersecurity maturity, an evolving threat landscape, the need for sovereign capability, and the expansion of the cybersecurity market.
Also highlighted is the need to keep driving digital innovation forward to generate jobs and economic development while maintaining an appropriate level of cyber risk mitigation across government, businesses, and households in NSW.
“It is important that the NSW Government maximises the State’s existing capabilities and develops the local cybersecurity industry into a globally competitive, innovative ecosystem that drives economic growth,” said Minister Dominello.
The new NSW cybersecurity strategy will house several existing programs, policies, and sub-strategies already in place. This includes Cyber Security NSW, the NSW Cyber Security Policy, the NSW Cyber Security Incident Emergency Management Sub Plan, DMARC, NSW Government TahSec, and the Mandatory Data Breach Scheme.
The goal of the 2021 NSW Cyber Security Strategy is to encourage growth in the cybersecurity industry while developing and maintaining strong cyber defences against attacks.
“Cybersecurity is the spine of a strong digital society,” said the Minister. In developing the new strategy and now in its execution, the NSW Government has four broad goals. First, the government wants to lead by example in best practice and cyber resilience. Second, the cyber workforce should expand through progressive and proactive measures. Third, to seek opportunities to grow cyber industry commercialisation. Finally, the NSW Government wants to provide practical support to reduce barriers to business growth.
The NSW Government announced its intention to launch a sector-wide cybersecurity strategy in 2020. That coincided with a cyber attack on Service NSW, a one-stop portal offering NSW residents access to a range of NSW Government services. In that attack, hackers stole 738GB of data containing the sensitive information of approximately 180,000 NSW residents.
In the wake of that incident, the NSW Government spent $240 million setting up a Cyber Security Vulnerability Management Centre in Bathurst to be operated by Cyber Security NSW.
But Victor Dominello says the new cybersecurity strategy is not just about NSW government agencies shoring up their own cyber defences. The strategy drills down to the household and individual level.
“Developing cybersecurity awareness of individuals is the fundamental building block,” the Minister said. The NSW Government argues good cyber practices at home will funnel upwards into the workplace and across the broader NSW economy.
