Aidan Tudehope (Macquarie Telecom)
Macquarie Telecom Group has become the first company to achieve Certified Strategic status by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) for both of its cloud and data centre services.
The Strategic designation is part of the DTA’s Whole-of-Government Hosting Certification Framework for protecting government systems.
This follows on from the certification of Macquarie’s data centre portfolio last year, which includes facilities in Canberra and Sydney.
Macquarie Government managing director Aidan Tudehope said the framework helps government "simplify and de-risk the decision-making process on cloud, data storage and data hosting".
The certification comes as the Australian government increases its focus on data security via policy initiatives including the National Data Security Action Plan, the REDSPICE project, the Hardening Government IT Initiative, the Privacy Legislation Amendment and wider plans to reform the nation’s cyber security and privacy regulation.
“The DTA is simplifying and de-risking the decision-making process on cloud, data storage and data hosting by providing agencies clear guidelines on the security credentials, capabilities and the ownership and controls present among cloud and data centre providers,” Tudehope said.
“It’s a vital mechanism to bolster our nation’s cyber security posture.”
Macquarie has claimed to have observed a sharp rise in attempted government cyber-attacks in recent months. Providing cyber security services to more than 40 percent of the federal government, Macquarie protects a threat surface of over seven billion digital interactions every day.
“The value of data and the attack surface area have both increased sharply, incentivising the rise in activity we’re seeing,” said Tudehope.
“We’re incredibly proud to have over 200 security-cleared staff who can work with sensitive government data. This puts us on the frontline protecting Australian government customers from unique threat patterns which are designed specifically to target them.”
The DTA Certified Strategic designation follows Macquarie recently becoming a member of the VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative, which helps customers identify and engage with trusted national and regional cloud service providers to meet their unique sovereign cloud requirements.
“Looking forward, as Australia continually assesses its cyber posture, data sovereignty – the jurisdictional control or legal authority that can be asserted over data due to its physical location – must remain a top priority,” Tudehope added.
“To secure Australian data, we need to know where it is, who can access it and who holds authority over it, plain and simple.”
