Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil says the national security threats confronting Australia, including cyberattacks and foreign interference, require a new partnership between government and business to keep Australians safe., which saw millions of customers’ personal information stolen, O’Neil indicated there were fresh reforms under consideration to shore up the nation’s cyber defences.
“If there is anything good to come out of these incidents, it is that the country needs to shake out of the slumber the country has been in regarding cyber threats and I see huge commitments across the country, from companies big and small, and certainly from within government for us, to make big step changes on how we deal with this problem.”
Statistics illustrate the sheer weight of cyber incidents. The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s latest threat analysis, released earlier this month, revealed aA research report by cybersecurity provider Check Point shows the Australia/New Zealand region has seen the largest rise in reported cyberattacks globally, up 72 per cent year-on-year. On average, organisations in the region reported 904 attacks a week.
The Albanese government inherited the $10 billion Project REDSPICE from the Morrison government to boost resources available to the Australian Signals Directorate but one of the main ways O’Neil will drive reform is through a revamped national cyber security strategy, to be finalised next year. O’Neil, regarded as a rising star within the Labor Party, entered parliament in 2013 and was aged care spokeswoman before the election.Her elevation to the home affairs portfolio came about in shock circumstances, when the shadow minister Kristina Keneally failed to win the lower house seat she contested.