CERT Australia begins expansion program

Australia’s national Computer Emergency Response Team – CERT Australia – is seeking a significant boost to its headcount as the government moves to implement the elements of its national cyber security strategy.

CERT Australia last week launched a recruitment campaign to fill a wide range of roles across the organisation. The CERT is seeking a number of technical advisors, including senior technical advisors; advisors on cyber crime policy and program implementation, strategic engagement, and for the organisation’s readiness program; and technical officers.

In addition, the organisation is seeking someone to plan, manage and co-ordinate its partnerships program and lead its readiness program, including its cyber exercise program, as well as advisors to help build its domestic and international partnerships such as its CERT-to-CERT collaboration work.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in April formally launched the government’s national cyber security strategy, which outlines 33 cyber security initiatives worth $231.1 million, including funding for 100 new specialist jobs.

“CERT Australia will lead delivery of five initiatives under the national cyber security strategy,” a spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Department told Computerworld Australia. “The government has committed $82.4 million over four years to support these initiatives.”

The spokesperson said that “the current recruitment campaign is to fill a range of vacancies for ongoing CERT Australia positions as well as new roles identified under the strategy” to enable the delivery of joint cyber threat sharing centres and an online threat sharing portal; an expanded cyber exercise program that will include non-government partners; sustained national cyber security awareness raising; national voluntary good practice guidance for cyber security; as well as a general increase in the capability and capacity of CERT Australia.

CERT Australia is part of the Attorney-General’s Department and has offices in Canberra and Brisbane. It is also a member of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, alongside ASIO, the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Signals Directorate, the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (the ACIC launched last month after a merger of the Australian Crime Commission and CrimTrac).

The government’s cyber security strategy document committed it to “increasing the capacity of [CERT Australia] to scale up their work with Australian businesses, in particular those providing critical services.”

“The additional capacity will also improve CERT Australia’s technical capability to support businesses and to partner internationally to prevent and shut down malicious cyber activity,” the strategy document states.

Last month the Australian Signals Directorate launched its own recruitment campaign, with the government seeking to boost its defensive and defensive cyber capabilities. Along with the increase in CERT Australia’s capacity, strengthening the ASD was a key priority in the cyber security strategy.