New CERT early 2010: McClelland

as posted here

Karen Dearne | September 24, 2009

THE new national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) will be operational early next year, federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland said.

It was originally planned for mid-2010. No further details of the new entity have been revealed.

"The work done by GovCERT, in my department, to assist critical infrastructure and key businesses to protect themselves will be strengthened under the new arrangements," he said.

"The new CERT will complement the work of the Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) to be established within the Defence Signals Directorate.

"CSOC will co-ordinate responses to cyber security incidents of national importance, and maintain a 24x7 watch on activities that might threaten our national security."

The federal government will pay for 30 private and public sector personnel to attend a US Homeland Security advanced workshop on securing control systems, such as the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems used by energy and water utilities to monitor and control the delivery of essential services.

The government is also pushing for consistent security standards across departmental systems and will cut the number of internet gateways used by agencies to improve the protection of public data.

"The government has a special responsibility to protect the information it is entrusted with," Mr McClelland told the E-Security for Government 2009 conference in Melbourne.

"The decentralised approach to ICT planning and procurement of the past has produced disjointed systems across levels of government, and focused primarily on the protection of information within individual agencies instead of how information can be securely and reliably shared between agencies.

"We must strive for consistent standards to facilitate more efficient cross-government communications, including the protection of citizens' personal information when they are transacting with agencies online," Mr McClelland said.

He said the government would look at options to reduce the number of internet gateways to maximise efficiency and reliability.

As reported earlier this month, the Department of Finance and Deregulation invited companies to attend a tender briefing for a contract to undertake a review of the government's estimated 100 internet gateways.

To support critical infrastructure businesses in the communications, finance and utilities sectors, the government had established information exchanges as a means of quickly sharing specific technical information in a trusted manner, he said.

as posted here