Macquarie Telecom reports it has surpassed 200 government-cleared security staff, double the number Macquarie had only a year ago, with plans to continue to grow that number, as it continues to invest in local skills and capability to protect Australia’s sensitive government and citizen data.
The clearances are Australian Government security accreditations governed by the Department of Defence. They require rigorous background assessments of individuals, security training, and certification in order to receive them, and permit access to classified information and resources up to and including the SECRET level.
The milestone comes as Australia continues to battle the war on cyberattacks on two fronts – skills shortages and rising cybercrime. AustCyber, the Australian Cyber Security Growth Network, predicted in its 2021 Annual Report that Australia will need over 10,000 additional cyber security specialists by 2025 in order to mitigate threats and protect our sovereign data. The prediction comes as Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) data shows about one cybercrime is reported every 10 minutes.
Macquarie Government managing director Aidan Tudehope says the impact of cyberattacks against government are far more serious than those against private enterprises, due to the nature of the data in play.
“Attack attempts on government data and departments are far more frequent than what we see in enterprise settings,” said Tudehope. “Government holds the nation’s data crown jewels. It belongs to all of us, every single person in Australia in some way or another. Our government is entrusted to secure that data on behalf of every Australian.
“On the other hand, as individual citizens, we make the choice to share – or not – our personal data with private enterprises. These decisions are ours to make. With government data the decisions on where and how sovereign data is stored and protected is the responsibility of government. This also highlights the importance of the supply chain that is engaged to assist government with the storage and protection of that data,” Tudehope said.
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