Victoria has become the first Australian state to launch a dedicated cyber security strategy.
Speaking of its intention behind the strategy, the Victorian government’s press release states:
“The time for an agency-by-agency (only) approach has passed. We need to address these risks strategically, and where it makes sense, holistically”
“While our approach to date has worked to some extent, Victorian auditor-general reports and departmental in-house testing regularly uncover vulnerabilities that must be addressed”.
Special Minister of State, Gavin Jennings unveiled a 23-point strategy and three-year roll out program, at the Australian Information Industry Association in Melbourne today.
The strategy will focus on five pivotal areas to raise the Victorian government’s cyber security capability.
Combined together, the strategy will transform the State away from individual-agency-approach to combating cyber security with a whole-of-government view.
Mr Jennings states:
“Traditional cyber security approaches have focussed on prevention controls and compliance standards. These have an important place, but it is evident that an expanded focus is needed on cyber security incident monitoring, detection, response, and recovery capabilities”.
Annual cyber security health checks for the state will be conducted annually from June 2018.
The Victorian government will also foster and strengthen private sector partnerships by developing whole-of-government subscriptions plans for internet security and information security by September.
A procurement panel will also be established to access cyber security services within the private sector by June 2018.
Victoria also intends to improve its cyber security stance within its thriving start-up industry, by piloting a SME security operational model by April next year.
Read PDF outlining the full strategy in depth, here.
