A nationwide program of cyber resilience and response activities for the electricity industry and Government Agencies with an energy and cyber security role has been launched by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), part of the Australian Signals Directorate.
Announcing the move, head of ACSC, Alastair MacGibbon said the electricity industry provided an essential service and like other critical infrastructure sectors, was a target for malicious cyber criminals.
“We’re inviting participation from across the electricity industry — market and power system operators, generators, storage providers, transmission and distribution network service providers, and retailers — as well as Government,” Mr MacGibbon said.
He said ACSC was working closely with the Australian Energy Market Operator and other industry organisations across the electricity supply chain, as well as State and Territory Government Agencies.
He said ACSC was coordinating information exchange and training activities at its Joint Cyber Security Centres (JCSCs) in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Sydney throughout 2019.
“These activities will enable technical, operational, communications and business continuity professionals from Australian-based electricity organisations to share experiences, information and techniques to better prevent, detect, respond to and recover from cyber security incidents,” Mr MacGibbon said.
“Participating organisations will be expected to plan, coordinate, conduct and evaluate their involvement in the exercise and contribute exercise learnings to inform a national exercise report.”
He said ACSC would provide lead planners from participating organisations with exercise planning documentation, as well as exercise management training and information sessions at the JCSCs from March to July.
Registration to participate is open throughout 2019 with details available from [email protected].
