Michael Ferguson,Minister for Science and Technology
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is determined to protect our information and ICT systems from malicious cyber activity which is increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication and severity.
As part of our significant $135.4 million investment into Government ICT service delivery announced yesterday, the 2020-21 State Budget provides a funding boost of $4.9 million over four years for the Whole-of-Government Cyber Security Program, demonstrating our commitment to cyber security and ensuring the resilience of Government services in the face of increasing cyber threats.
The expanded program aims to reduce the impact of malicious actors and aid rapid remediation by detecting vulnerabilities in Tasmanian Government services at the earliest opportunity, further integrating our incident response capacity with national arrangements.
It will also supplement and assist Government departments to train staff to better recognise threats that may occur in their day-to-day work, as well as upskill cyber security professionals across Government.
The Tasmanian Government has acted promptly to boost our capacity by recruiting additional experts to the Whole-of-Government Cyber Security Team, which will be advertised this weekend.
Alongside our other investments in Government ICT announced in this State Budget, including $57 million for the Digital Transformation Priority Expenditure Program, $21.6 million for the Human Resources Information System upgrade in the Department of Health and $46 million for Project Unify in the Department of Police, Fire and Emergency Management, the Whole-of-Government Cyber Security Program will create opportunities for local businesses to provide cyber security services and grow even more local jobs in this crucial sector for our economy.
