Source: australiancybersecuritymagazine.com.au
Written: by Australian Cyber Security Magazine Staff Writer.
Australia’s cybersecurity minister Clare O’Neil says there has been a big shift in how seriously corporate Australia and boards take their responsibilities to protect their organization from cyberattacks.
“We’ve seen corporate Australia get a big wakeup call about their important responsibilities,” she told ABC radio during a September 19 interview. “I have seen a distinct shift in corporate Australia over the past year around how serious this problem is, and I’ve seen board directors who are earnestly and seriously addressing these responsibilities – they’re getting into the detail of the problem, and they are trying to help us protect the country.”
O’Neil’s comments came one day after she outlined her plan to make Australia a world-leading cybersecurity nation by 2030. At a September 18 cybersecurity conference in Sydney, the minister detailed a six-shield strategy, noting that Australia faced its most challenging geographic circumstances since WWII and that cyber would be integral to how it unfolds.
“Over the last year, Australia has faced unprecedented volumes of cyberattacks,” O’Neil told the ABC. “The Optus attack affected nine million Australians, and the Medibank attack occurred three weeks later. But these are only two of what are thousands and thousands of attacks we experience each year. This was a wake-up call to the country and to the government.”
The minister says that since the current government assumed power in May 2022, they have implemented ten significant cybersecurity reforms. The six cyber shields strategy announced this week aims to layer strong cyber protections around individuals and entities.
