With cyber security a growing issue world-wide, Flinders has taken on a key role in helping businesses collaborate, plan and respond to incidents that threaten the delivery of essential services.
As part of the Australian Government’s Cyber Security Strategy, Joint Cyber Security Centres (JCSCs) are being progressively rolled-out across the nation to bring together business, academia and government agencies to co-design effective cyber security initiatives.
The centres offer a trusted environment for partners to share sensitive information on existing and emerging cyber issues and provide access to practical tools and expert advice from the Australian Cyber Security Centre, state government and policing representatives. They help organisations understand the cyber threat landscape, prepare for incidents and be equipped to respond quickly and effectively.
With communication, collaboration and agility the focus, JCSCs have been successful in attracting a large number of partners, having already rolled-out in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
The Adelaide Centre will open later this year in the CBD. To help progress preparations for its launch, Flinders University – which recently signed on as a partner – hosted JCSC staff at Tonsley during the planning phase of the centre. The team at Flinders’ New Venture Institute generously donated the space to accommodate the JCSC staff and made sure they felt welcome.
Flinders’ Chief Information Security Officer, Aaron Finnis, is on the interim steering committee for the Adelaide centre and is helping to design and facilitate the activities and processes that will underpin its operations.
He says the concept behind providing a Tonsley base for the project team was to link students and University research activities with the Adelaide JCSC and strengthen the partnership.
“This will provide a solid foundation for ongoing collaboration between industry and the University in the growing cyber security industry, and in the short-term allow us to link students with other JCSC partners during their studies and beyond” Mr Finnis explains.
Recently, the University was featured in IT news for the successful transformation of its identity management in 2017 under its cyber security program. This project saw student user ID activations double in its first day of implementation (from 712 to 1,530) and around 2,600 less requests for support received over 2017 – despite rising enrolments.