Cyber Security !

One of the biggest items of expenditure in our Federal budget goes to defence.  We need to constantly upgrade the ships in our navy and the planes in our air force to contain the armed forces of neighbouring countries who may wish to do us harm.  By world standards we have a very small army and to be effective it needs the best equipment and be at the focal point of the arms race.

It seems unlikely that Australia faces any immediate threat of an invasion.  We have alliances with friendly great powers that we would expect to come to our defence if we were attacked, and  generally there are no territorial disputes or old scores to settle with other countries, nor are we harbouring plans for conquests to add to our overseas territories.

Unfortunately there is a constant war in progress in the electronic field that is carried on out of sight. Most world countries - and even those we deem to be our friends - are constantly snooping and trying to penetrate the world of computer traffic to unveil both military and commercial secrets, and to be brutally honest - we reciprocate with our own cyber penetration methods.

We are warned that the next war may be fought in cyber space and it may start with a knockout punch that simply shuts down the communication and commerce of the target country.  Not only would this throw the defensive armed forces into chaos, the power grid, water reticulation and the banking system brought to a standstill would bring paralysis.

The wonderful world of computers and the information technology industry manage so much of the national infrastructure that the number one item of defence must be to guard it against cyber penetration.  We need to not only mount such a defence, but also have the capability to cripple an attacking enemy by delivering this same form of warfare to their infrastructure.

Little is known about the Australian Cyber Security Centre and the men and women who counter cyber intrusions, but it has been revealed that this country responds to at least a thousand serious incidents every year - and the numbers are growing.  An extra $230 million has been allocated to the Computer Emergency Response Team  ( CERT ) and it will be beefed up with a hundred extra operatives trained to meet this challenge.

This is not only "passive" defence.  We have developed the capability to launch viruses and malware to systems trying to penetrate our security and we are aware that in particular - China and Russia - have both recently enhanced their interest in Australia's infrastructure, and both have vast cyber espionage networks probing world communications.

We are also widening the scope of our cyber defences to include the Australian business world. Ten million dollars has been allocated to establishing liaison with the business community to help them upgrade their computer systems to keep out intruders.   So much of the communication network is input from component manufacturers that contribute vital parts.  Should such a manufacturer have loose security that enables malware to be embedded it's presence could compromise the entire system.

In today's world  - cyber defence holds equal part with guns, planes and ships !