New federal budget set to bolster nation’s cyber resilience

Commonwealth Treasurer Jim Chalmers has tabled the Albanese government’s 2022-23 federal budget, reporting the federal government’s commitment to $31.3 million to extend the Australian Public Service cyber hubs pilot aimed at bolstering the nation’s cyber resilience, along with the $12.6 million investment to combat scams and online fraud to help protect Australians from cyber crime.

The recent spate of cyber attacks against Australian organisations has highlighted the realities of the threat landscape, according to Crispin Kerr, vice president, ANZ at Proofpoint, noting that the security breaches clearly demonstrated no organisation is immune to the devastating consequences of cyber criminal activity and data loss.

“While cyber risks continue to evolve, one important aspect remains constant — people play the biggest role in cyber security incidents and data breaches.

“As cyber criminals continue to refine their attack methods, leveraging highly effective social engineering threats to target people first and infrastructure last, prioritising cyber security awareness training is essential to protecting Australia on an individual, organisational and government level,” Kerr added.

“While this investment represents a positive step forward, we also encourage further collaboration between governments and enterprises to promote knowledge sharing to inform appropriate cyber regulation and ensure best practice.

“Placing the human element of security front and centre is paramount to the success of these investments and in protecting Australians as the threat landscape continues to evolve,” Kerr said.

The federal government’s investment in boosting national cyber security is timely due to October being cyber security awareness month. New research conducted by Genetec shows that cyber security remains a top concern for physical security professionals going into 2023.

Based on insights from over 3,700 physical security leaders from around the world, the report revealed that almost half (49 per cent) of the organisations surveyed had activated an improved cyber security strategy this year, and more than a third of all respondents (36 per cent) are looking to invest in cyber security-related tools to improve their physical security environment in the next 12 months.

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According to Mathieu Chevalier, principal security architect at Genetec, it is reassuring to see physical security professionals prioritising their organisation’s cyber security posture.

“As the threat landscape continues to evolve, leading with a defence in-depth strategy remains the best game plan that an organisation can have.

“Businesses will need to put in place cyber security best practices and choose technology partners who offer higher levels of automation to stay on top of potential threats.

“They will also need to scrutinise their entire supply chain and demand continuous verification, rather than just hardening networks and systems,” Chevalier said.

When asked about the challenges faced when managing employee and visitor safety, more than half of the organisations selected cyber security as their main challenge.

This was particularly evident for organisations with over 100,000 employees, with 62.3 per cent of them indicating that cyber security was their top challenge, compared to 52.1 per cent for companies with under 100,000 employees.

Out of the many capabilities related to cyber security and data protection deployed by physical security teams in the last year, cyber-hardening of physical security hardware and access control management were the most popular, with 40 per cent of respondents implementing new measures targeting those capabilities.

Genetec surveyed physical security professionals from 25 August to 21 September 2022. After a review of submissions, 3,711 respondents were included in the sample for analysis.

The initiatives announced, Adam Beavis, managing director at Stax, noted including vocational and university investment to create a pipeline of talent into the workforce and the focus on supporting skills for jobs in priority areas like the digital economy, and send a clear signal of the role of the technology industry in driving Australia’s long-term growth.

“I’m emboldened to see the government’s commitment to improving access to skilled talent as part of the October 2022 budget.

“It can be hard for smaller Aussie tech businesses to compete for graduates, so being able to access a stronger pipeline of this talent is important.

“I often talk about the value that could come from subsidised graduate programs, much like TAFE apprenticeships, where people starting out in tech can earn a good income while they learn on the job skills.”

Beavis is also an advocate for additional support to improve skilled migration.

“Improving visa processing times, increasing the permanent Migration Program and tackling housing supply challenges will make Australia a more attractive option to international talent.

“Similarly, the focus on creating a more equitable working environment for parents, and particularly women, means we can bring in and keep more greater minds and skilled workers within our businesses.

“Australia has a lot to share with the world and there’s so much innovation we can derive by fostering greater diversity of our workforce,” Beavis said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles asserts the 2022-23 budget delivers on the government’s election commitments and “reinforces Defence’s readiness and capability” to support Australia and “promote stability and prosperity”.

“The 2022-23 budget will strengthen our regional partnerships and build our shared resilience to meet future challenges, delivering the capability needed to keep Australians safe,” Deputy Prime Minister Marles said.

[Related: Company credential theft caused Medibank hack, investigation suggests]

Nastasha Tupas

Nastasha is a Journalist at Momentum Media, she reports extensively across veterans affairs, cyber security and geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific. She is a co-author of a book titled The Stories Women Journalists Tell, published by Penguin Random House. Previously, she was a Content Producer at Verizon Media, a Digital Producer for Yahoo! and Channel 7, a Digital Journalist at Sky News Australia, as well as a Website Manager and Digital Producer at SBS Australia. Nastasha started her career in media as a Video Producer and Digital News Presenter at News Corp Australia.