The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), the successor to the Cyber Security Operations Centre, is the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Like other Westminster-style systems of government, the Australian Government i ...

lead agency for

cyber security Computer security, cybersecurity (cyber security), or information technology security (IT security) is the protection of computer systems and networks from attack by malicious actors that may result in unauthorized information disclosure, the ...

. The ACSC is part of the

Australian Signals Directorate Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), formerly the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD) is the federal statutory agency in the Australian Government responsible for foreign signals intelligence, support to military operations, cyber warfare, and ...

and based at the

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO ) is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated vio ...

headquarters in

Brindabella Business Park Canberra Airport is an international airport situated in the District of Majura, Australian Capital Territory serving Australia's capital city, Canberra, as well as the nearby city of Queanbeyan and regional areas of the Australian Capital ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

. The Centre is overseen by the Cyber Security Operations Board, and is the joint responsibility of the

Minister for Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

History

The Australian Cyber Security Centre was established in 2014, replacing the Cyber Security Operations Centre, also housed by the Australian Signals Directorate. In line with the recommendations of the 2017 Independent Review of the Australian Intelligence Community led by

Michael L'Estrange Michael Gerard L'Estrange (born 12 October 1952 in North Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian academic and former public servant. He is the former Head of the National Security College at the Australian National University, in Canberra. L ...

and Stephen Merchant, Prime Minister

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Turnbull grad ...

announced that the role of the Australian Cyber Security Centre would be strengthened and that the Prime Minister's Special Adviser on Cyber Security, Alastair MacGibbon, would assume the responsibilities as the Head of the Centre within the Australian Signals Directorate, which was established as a statutory agency.

Role and responsibilities

The role of the Australian Cyber Security Centre is to: *lead the Australian Government’s operational response to cyber security incidents *organise national cyber security operations and resources *encourage and receive reporting of cyber attack and cyber security incidents *raise awareness of the level of cyber threats to Australia *study and investigate cyber threats The ACSC integrates the national security cyber capabilities across the

cyber security mission, cyber security experts from the Digital Transformation Agency, the

Defence Intelligence Organisation The Defence Intelligence Organisation (DIO) is an Australian government military intelligence agency responsible for strategic intelligence and technical intelligence assessments, advising defence and government decision-making on national se ...

strategic intelligence analysts, the

Computer Emergency Response Team A computer emergency response team (CERT) is an expert group that handles computer security incidents. Alternative names for such groups include computer emergency readiness team and computer security incident response team (CSIRT). A more modern ...

, the Cyber Security Policy Division of the

Department of Home Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

cyber and telecommunications specialists,

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government with the unique role of investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. Th ...

cyber crime investigators, and

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission The Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) is a law enforcement agency established by the Australian federal government on 1 July 2016, following the merger of the Australian Crime Commission (ACC) and CrimTrac. It has specialist ...

cyber crime threat intelligence specialists.
Australian Cyber Security Centre The Centre is also a hub for collaboration and information sharing with the private sector and critical infrastructure providers, state and territory governments, academia and international partners.

Governance

The Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre is a concurrent Deputy Director-General of the

. The Special Adviser to the Prime Minister on Cyber Security within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia), Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet previously served concurrently as the Head of the Centre. The Special Adviser then became the National Cyber Coordinator within the

.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet Cyber Security Strategy

References

External links

Australian Cyber Security Centre official website
{{Australian intelligence agencies Cryptography organizations Signals intelligence agencies Australian intelligence agencies Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Defence Strategic Policy and Intelligence Group Organisations based in Canberra 2014 establishments in Australia Computer security organizations

History

Role and responsibilities

Governance

See also

References

External links