Sophie Cotsis: Berejiklian Government ignoring repeated warnings to defend against cyber attacks

Labor is urging the Berejiklian Government to safeguard Government departments and services against cyber attacks ahead of today’s parliamentary Inquiry into Cybersecurity.
 
Recent media reports indicated Cyber Security NSW is investigating another major attack on the Government.
 
The Shadow Minister for Better Public Services Sophie Cotsis said: “The Berejiklian Government has continued to ignore repeated warnings that it needs to take urgent action to protect departments and services against cyber attacks.”
 
“The Government cannot be trusted to defend the personal information of its citizens,” Ms Cotsis said.
 
“It has still done nothing in response to the NSW Auditor General’s warnings last year that the personal details of 4 million Service NSW customers’ remain at risk following a major breach.”
 
The data breach followed the Department of Customer Service disclosure in its Annual Report that the number of cyber security incidents reported to Cyber Security NSW increased 50 per cent on the previous year (page 36).
 
The report also found:
– 30 percent of agencies do not provide training to employees in relation to data protection and breach management
– 30 percent of agencies do not maintain a register of data breach incidents
– Those agencies which do maintain a register of data breach incidents often fail to record important information, with no agencies recording the estimated cost of any data breach which occurred
 
The Auditor General, for the third year in a row, has warned that the Government needed to prioritise improvements to cyber security as a matter of urgency.