A spokesman for Attorney-General Robert McClelland said transitional arrangements were under way, and capital works to accommodate the national CERT had begun.
In the May budget, Mr McClelland allocated $6.2 million to bring together AusCERT and the government's internal capability, GovCERT, in a single entity to operate within Defence's new Cyber Security Operations Centre.
"Contract negotiations between the department and the University of Queensland for the provision of some AusCERT services to the national CERT are under way, and are expected to be finalised soon," the spokesman said. "A letter of intent, providing a high-level description of the services and the conditions under which they will be provided, was agreed between the parties in June."
Meanwhile, an e-security policy framework which drew on the outcomes of the E-Security Review last year was being prepared, and would be released for discussion by the end of the year, the spokesman said.
The outcome may be disappointing for the UQ-based IT security unit, which has performed the role of national CERT for 15 years.
An independent organisation funded by members, AusCERT had sought further funding to expand its services.
Earlier this month, AusCERT general manager Graham Ingram told the Senate inquiry into the national broadband network that it appeared the government "wanted to take that responsibility from us".
AusCERT was a "fire brigade" that put out fires on behalf of its member organisations, including banks, businesses and government agencies.
"There is no one else in this country who does what we do," Mr Ingram said. "We work with law enforcement, with intelligence agencies and we work with industry."
The computer emergency response team slammed government and industry attitudes to cybercrime, and warned the NBN might become a "force-multiplier" that delivers criminal activity straight into people's homes.
"When the government's new fibre-to-the-premise network is built, the level of (criminal) interest in targeting Australian computers will significantly increase," Mr Ingram said.
"Criminals value speed just as much as we do."
The speed of the NBN would substantially leapfrog average speeds for most other countries with high levels of broadband penetration.
"This may have the unintended consequence of making Australia a preferred destination for criminals," he said.
"For this reason, the NBN should be assessed as a potential force-multiplier for existing cybercrime levels."
In a worrying trend, criminals were targeting individuals to obtain specific information.
"A company financial officer may well have on his computer details of mergers and acquisitions that would be very valuable in terms of share market manipulation," Mr Ingram said.
"If I had the current plans for the NBN, which are probably sitting on someone's computer in Canberra, I would have a significant advantage in positioning my company."
Cybercrime had moved well beyond stealing banking user IDs and passwords to identity theft and the wholesale marketing of personal information, including birth certificates, passport and utilities data, so that potentially a criminal could "actually become that person".
And while e-government and e-commerce were based on trust and public confidence, no one could be sure their platforms were secure, with an AusCERT study showing that one in five computers were infected with some kind of malware. "We are losing big-time. The reality is that people do not want to know."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Karen Dearne
Quelle/Source: Australian IT, 18.08.2009
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