Victoria builds international cyber security links

Victoria’s government has revealed details of its efforts to bolster the state’s cyber security sector by building overseas links with researchers and governments.

The state government over the weekend announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with Virginia in the United States.

The MoU was signed by Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and Virginia’s governor, Terry McAuliffe.

More than 650 cyber security companies are located in the US state, which is the highest per capita in the US according to Virginia’s government. The state houses the US Army Cyber Command, the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cyber Security and Communications Integration Center, and DARPA.

The Victorian government said that the MoU “will allow the two states to work closely together and share research on combating cybercrime, protecting online privacy and safeguarding the digital economy.”

Earlier this month the state government announced two new cyber security MoUs with Israel’s Tel Aviv University. The university’s Blavatnik Interdisciplinary Cyber Research Center signed an MoU with Victoria’s Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC) to share resources. The OCSC brings together eight Victorian universities and private sector partners.

A separate MoU between the university and Swinburne University of Technology will see the two parties establish a joint ‘virtual’ research centre on data science that will have a focus on privacy, security and data analytics.

Last month, the Data61 Cyber Security and Innovation Hub formally launched in Melbourne.

The new hub in the Docklands’ Goods Shed will house an offshoot of Oxford University’s Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) and the OCSC.