5 years ago
STAY SMART ONLINE WEEK
TIM WATTS MP
Today is the start of Stay Smart Online Week, the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s annual cyber security awareness raising week.
Unfortunately, it’s the third term Morrison Government that still hasn’t gotten the message on the importance of cyber security.
Inexcusably, at least 13 Commonwealth government websites are still being provided to Australians on insecure connections that leave them subject to attacks that redirected them to malicious sites or snoop on the data they send to the site.
The United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre makes it clear “all websites should use HTTPS, even if they don't include private content, sign-in pages, or credit card details”.
Australians using these websites on Chrome or Firefox internet browsers are currently warned that these Australian government websites are insecure.
On top of this, the Australian National Audit Office has found that just 29% of Commonwealth government departments are cyber resilient enough to have implemented the basic internal cyber security measures needed to prevent attacks.
The Morrison Government is failing in its duty to provide best practice leadership for everyone in the Australian cyber security ecosystem.
This is the second Stay Smart Online Week without a dedicated ministerial position responsible for cyber security.
Under this third term Government, Australia has had almost as many cyber security policies as energy policies – but there's been no one responsible for implementing them.
The result has been a leaderless and unaccountable cyber security policy that has failed Australians.
Rather than appointing a dedicated Minister for Cyber security, Scott Morrison has left responsibility in the hands of Peter Dutton, a Minister who treats cyber security as an afterthought to his incompetent mismanagement of the Home Affairs portfolio.
The Morrison Government must start taking cyber security seriously. The Prime Minister should start by reinstating a dedicated ministerial role for cyber security, as part of its cyber security strategy review.
Unfortunately, it’s the third term Morrison Government that still hasn’t gotten the message on the importance of cyber security.
Inexcusably, at least 13 Commonwealth government websites are still being provided to Australians on insecure connections that leave them subject to attacks that redirected them to malicious sites or snoop on the data they send to the site.
The United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre makes it clear “all websites should use HTTPS, even if they don't include private content, sign-in pages, or credit card details”.
Australians using these websites on Chrome or Firefox internet browsers are currently warned that these Australian government websites are insecure.
On top of this, the Australian National Audit Office has found that just 29% of Commonwealth government departments are cyber resilient enough to have implemented the basic internal cyber security measures needed to prevent attacks.
The Morrison Government is failing in its duty to provide best practice leadership for everyone in the Australian cyber security ecosystem.
This is the second Stay Smart Online Week without a dedicated ministerial position responsible for cyber security.
Under this third term Government, Australia has had almost as many cyber security policies as energy policies – but there's been no one responsible for implementing them.
The result has been a leaderless and unaccountable cyber security policy that has failed Australians.
Rather than appointing a dedicated Minister for Cyber security, Scott Morrison has left responsibility in the hands of Peter Dutton, a Minister who treats cyber security as an afterthought to his incompetent mismanagement of the Home Affairs portfolio.
The Morrison Government must start taking cyber security seriously. The Prime Minister should start by reinstating a dedicated ministerial role for cyber security, as part of its cyber security strategy review.