ARN

Macquarie Telecom joins Federal Government Certified Cloud Services List

Becomes first Australian company added to Signals Directorate CCSL
Macquarie Telecom CEO, David Tudehope

Macquarie Telecom CEO, David Tudehope

Macquarie Telecom is the first Australian company to be added to the list of providers that have met the Government’s security standards to provide Cloud service to the Government.

The Certified Cloud Services List (CCSL) identifies companies approved by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD).

Macquarie Telecom co-founder and managing director, Aidan Tudehope, described the process as “detailed and thorough” and said the company was proud to be recognised in such a way.

The ASD certification follows Macquarie Telecom’s appointment to the recently announced Cloud Services Panel established by the Department of Finance.

Macquarie Telecom joins Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft on the Government's list of approved Cloud service providers.

The panel and ASD Cloud List support Federal Government agencies outsourcing ICT arrangements to the Cloud.

Federal Government policy now mandates a “Cloud first” approach to any new ICT projects including equipment refreshes.

ASD head of cyber and information security and coordinator of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, major general, Stephen Day, said the rigorous and detailed certification process overseen by ASD for Cloud service providers would give public sector users confidence in making the transition to new technologies and services.

“We are pleased to be working in partnership with industry to ensure that there are a range of providers who can independently demonstrate that they meet the security needs of government in the cloud space,” he said.

Security of government data, including citizen data, is a key policy issue for the public sector.

Government data classification levels and requirements increase complexity for agency decision makers.

Tudehope said the company's analysis found governments were increasingly looking for a range of Cloud computing services for different data classification use cases.

“This certification confirms to agencies that Macquarie Telecom’s cloud infrastructure is suitable for sensitive government data at the ‘Unclassified – DLM’ level," he said.

“ASD has highlighted to government a range of risks to be considered when moving to the cloud.

"CCSL certification will give agencies a more informed basis to determine which provider is the best fit for their security needs when choosing from the new Cloud Services Panel.

“Macquarie Telecom has worked hard to develop a high standard of specialist security capabilities specifically for the government sector.

"We have invested heavily in a purpose-built government datacentre in Canberra and to create a suite of products, including our GovZone secure Cloud.

We are delighted to see this product among the first Cloud services providers independently certified by ASD as complying with the new Cloud security requirements of the ISM.”