The winner of the Department of Human Services’ Cyber War Games this year was a multi-disciplinary public-private team which included members from the Departments of Defence and Home Affairs.
Congratulating the winners, Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert said the composite team was made up of players from Ausgrid, IAG, Transgrid, Vodafone, and Woodside, as well as the two Government Departments.
‘This exercise is more than just a competition and aims to solidify relationships between cyber experts from Government and business that will be essential in the event of a real attack,” Mr Robert said.
“Australians can have confidence that, in the event of a major cyber-attack, the Government and private organisations can work together effectively to stop hackers in their tracks and protect our nation’s critical infrastructure.”
Mr Robert said five teams had been working together, harnessing the latest in technology and strategy to launch a cyber offensive on the fictional city of Shell Cove.
He said the teams took it in turns to attack the specially-designed ‘cyber range’ linked to a working replica Lego city.
“To reinforce the need to work together, the five separate teams learned they were really one large team working from different locations. Players then split into groups based on skills, and were able to make more progress as an organised unit,” Mr Robert said.
He said that after a three-day battle last week, teams were finally able to disrupt Shell Cove’s critical infrastructure and wreak havoc on the city’s transport, energy, emergency services and finance sectors.
“However, only one team could take out the top prize and the panel of expert adjudicators selected this year’s champion based on its team work, communication, planning, critical thinking and creativity,” the Minister said.
He said that over the course of this year’s games there were 46 players and judges and about 100 spectators.
