The Federal Budget has extended the operation of the Cyber Hubs pilot for a further six months until June 2023 and allocated an additional $31.3 million to the program.
The Cyber Hub program was first announced in 2020 with the intention to strengthen government information technology by focusing investment on a smaller footprint of networks. The program aims to:
- create a baseline of cybersecurity monitoring, detection, and protection across government IT systems in order to stop and mitigate cyber threats to government systems
- create a central system of coordinated cyber security to strengthen the Australian Government’s cyber protection
- increase the opportunities for focusing on investing in the Australian Government’s security, and
- provide support for the implementation of cybersecurity services for all government entities.
The program has been rolled out across several public sectors, including Defence, Home Affairs, Services Australia, and the Australian Taxation Office. It is anticipated that Home Affairs will receive the bulk of the funding ($8.6 million), followed by Services Australia ($8 million), Defence ($7.1 million), and the Australian Taxation Office ($5.6 million). The remaining amount will be spread across the whole-of-government and used to develop a Commonwealth incident response capability.
