By Staff Writer.
Australia’s highly touted 2020 Cyber Security Strategy is set for an overhaul as the new Labor Government settles into office. On Friday, reports emerged that the AU$1.7 billion ten-year strategy would pivot towards building greater sovereign cyber-capabilities and workforce skills.
Countering cyber-threats was a key priority of the previous Morrison Government but their efforts were frequently criticised as tardy, lacking agility, and over-egging future cyber-capabilities such as appropriately skilled workforce numbers.
In addition to the Cyber Security Strategy, the former Australian Government rolled out the Ransomware Action Plan in October 2021 and provided $9.9 billion in the March 2022 budget for the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASCS) to hire more staff.
But new Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil wants the 2020 Strategy reworked. Besides building up those sovereign capabilities and cyber workforce skills, the Minister wants to improve links with Australia’s Quad partners and reduce Australia’s reliance on China for critical technologies.
“It will be grounded in sovereign capability, with a plan for the future workforce and growth of the cyber security sector, including Australian cyber-SMEs,” Ms O’Neil told The Australian on Friday.
“It will build resiliency, with real engagement and industry alliances to deal with cyber shocks in an assured, not anxious way.”
Aside from dealing with rising numbers of cyber-attacks, there are growing concerns that projected cyber-workforce numbers will not be met and many of those employed in the industry will not be appropriately skilled.
This concern is exacerbated by the low-unemployment numbers in Australia and government agencies such as the ASD losing cyber-workers to better-paid jobs in the private sector, rather than expanding their ranks of skilled and experienced cyber-workers.
The news the 2020 Strategy would get an overhaul was broadly welcomed, with senior cyber-industry figures saying it was a chance to fix the shortcomings of the well-intentioned but flawed strategy.
“We welcome a revised plan that focuses on the innovation and economic benefits of growing the cybersecurity sector. Securing information sharing will be a vital part of economic development in the next ten years,” says Daniel Lai, CEO of ASX-listed information security provider archTIS.
“By nurturing the cybersecurity sector now, Australia can take a more active role in a massive restructuring of how we do business in the years to come. To make this happen, we’ll need both the funding and the manpower to properly address the challenge of securing the future.”
But Shadow Minister for Cyber Security and former Chair of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Senator James Paterson, called on the new Labor Government to fully explain what changes they proposed making.
“If the Albanese government really is tearing up the 2020 cyber security strategy, they should urgently clarify which programs they are axing, which powers they are repealing and which funding they are cutting,” Senator Paterson posted on social media.
“Are they pausing implementation of critical infrastructure reforms? How long will the new strategy take? And what should industry do in the meantime while they go back to the drawing board? The cyber realm has never been more contested. The last thing we need is uncertainty.”
With a cyber-crime reported every eight minutes last financial year in Australia, any revised cyber-strategy is likely to incorporate several Labor election policies, including toughening penalties against bad actors and securing better protections for Australian individuals and entities against malicious cyber-activity.
