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23-08-2024
SYDNEY: Google opens new tab and Australia’s national science agency said they will work together to develop software that automatically detects and fixes network vulnerabilities for operators of critical infrastructure, seeking to contend with a surge in cyberattacks.
The software for organizations such as hospitals, defence bodies and energy suppliers will be customized to be in line with Australia’s regulatory environment.
“Software supply chain vulnerabilities are a global issue, and Australia has led the way in legislative measures to control and combat the risks,” said Stefan Avgoustakis, head of security practice for Google Cloud in Australia and New Zealand.
The Australian government has been imposing tougher requirements on critical infrastructure operators to report and prevent cyberattacks after a spate of breaches in the past two years left the personal information of half the country’s 26 million population exposed.
The research partnership will pair up Google’s existing open source vulnerability database and storage cloud with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization’s (CSIRO) research methods, the parties said in a statement.
Google said the plan was part of a five-year commitment it made in 2021 to spend A$1 billion ($675 million) in Australia at a time when the country’s push for tougher regulation of global tech firms had cooled relations with the US firm.
Google also supplies cybersecurity services to the US as part of a $9 billion contract between the US Department of Defense and a number of large tech firms.
CSIRO’s project lead Ejaz Ahmed said locally developed cybersecurity software would “be better aligned with local regulations, promoting greater compliance and trustworthiness.”
The project’s findings will be made public to provide operators of critical infrastructure easy access to the information.
Earlier, Australia has announced it will give cyber health checks for small businesses, increase cyber law enforcement funding and introduce mandatory reporting of ransomware attacks under a security overhaul announced on Wednesday after a spate of attacks.
The federal government said it will also subject telecommunications firms to tougher cyber reporting rules which apply to critical infrastructure, seek migrants to build up the cyber security workforce and set limits on inter-agency data sharing to encourage people to report incidents.
The A$587 million ($382 million) plan shows the centre-left Labor government trying to get on the front foot after a year in which nearly half the country’s 26 million population had personal information stolen in just two data breaches at companies, while a cyber-attack at its biggest port operator this month brought supply chains to a standstill.
“We cannot continue as we have,” Cyber Security and Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil told reporters in Sydney.
“We can’t have a situation where we have data flying around the country, where we have critical infrastructure starting to fail, where we have small business and citizens who are continually telling us they feel vulnerable and unable to cope with the cyber threats themselves.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said national security typically meant “military assets in the traditional sense but increasingly, we’re talking about cyber … because of the economic impact that it can have.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
