Telstra today announced it will extend its world-class range of tailored security solutions for Government with the introduction of Sovereign SecureEdge and Cyber Detection and Response capabilities to help strengthen Australia’s cyber defences.
This comes as Telstra bolsters its commitment to providing expertise and specialist services to all levels of Government with the creation of a specialist Government team.
Telstra Enterprise’s Group Owner, Government, Nicole McMahon said Telstra had a long and productive history of partnering with Government and protecting Australians and their interests.
“COVID-19 has rapidly accelerated digital adoption, including more digital Government services. This creates huge opportunities for communities – particularly those in rural or remote locations – but can also present significant security challenges given the sophistication and rising number of cyber-attacks on Australian organisations, which now cost the economy more than $3 billion each year.”
Ms McMahon said the new capabilities would help secure the digitisation of Australia’s economy and meet the Federal Government’s commitment to providing access to all government services digitally by 2025.
“As we recover from the pandemic, reliance on digital services will remain critical, so it’s important that we secure and protect our digital environment, as disruptions due to cyber attacks could significantly impact the economy and its’ recovery,” she said.
“Telstra’s capability to protect, detect and respond to cyber threats, coupled with the unparalleled visibility of threats we have from operating the largest and most complex network in Australia, uniquely positions us to be able to act on cyber issues in real time.
“Our team of technology and cyber experts can provide Federal, State and Local Government with the secure, sovereign and intelligent networks and technology solutions to keep Australia safe.”
The Cyber Detection and Response capability is built on the same security operations centres that are trusted by organisations across Australia and integrates with Government systems, endpoints and cloud services to monitor the vast landscape of cyber threats using big data analytics from Telstra’s managed security service platform.
Sovereign SecureEdge helps customers to implement more stringent compliance measures, without the complexity and cost of having to build the functionality from scratch. Built using cloud architecture, the solution also helps to reduce latency and limitations that often come with more complex perimeter-based security solutions.
Telstra’s enhanced cyber security solutions are designed and built to Federal, State and Local Government requirements, including iRAP assessment measures (ISM protected).
The new Sovereign SecureEdge and Cyber Detection and Response capabilities build on a suite of secure services Telstra already provides Government – from private networks and flexible cloud management platforms to unified communications and mobility solutions that support remote work and collaboration, and IoT solutions that help to improve efficiency and customer experiences.
Beyond these tailored solutions for Government, Ms McMahon said Telstra was continuing to boost security at the network level to protect consumers and organisations from increasing cyber security threats.
“As part of our Cleaner Pipes initiatives we’re now blocking 13 million scam voice calls on average per month, and more than 100 million scam calls have been blocked since we started this work,” she said.
“We’re also ramping up efforts to filter and block scam SMS messages with new technology following a successful trial with Services Australia and are using Domain Name System (DNS) and other filtering techniques to reduce harm caused by scam websites.”
Telstra’s Sovereign SecureEdge and Cyber Detection and Response capabilities will be available for Government in the coming months.
