History of CIP
- Protecting the National Information Infrastructure
- Business–Government Task Force on Critical Infrastructure
- Critical Infrastructure Protection Summit
Protecting the National Information Infrastructure
In August 1999 the Australian Government released its policy on National Information Infrastructure (NII) protection. This was based on the report of an interdepartmental committee set up following a report by the Defence Signals Directorate in 1997. As much of the NII is privately owned, this policy recognised the need to build cooperative arrangements between the public and private sectors. Because of the borderless nature of cyberspace, it also recognised the need to build strong international linkages for NII protection.
The legislative program relating to cyber-security included the Cybercrime Act, which came into force in 2001 and the Security Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act in 2002.
Business-Government Task Force on Critical Infrastructure
In November 2001, the then Prime Minister announced the formation of the Business-Government Task Force on Critical Infrastructure. This announcement saw the Government broaden the scope of its interest in critical infrastructure protection to include all forms of critical infrastructure.
The Task Force met in March 2002, and brought together high-level representatives from the business community, state and territory governments and Australian Government agencies. In May 2002, the Task Force reported to the then Prime Minister and put forward six recommendations that were subsequently endorsed by the Australian Government. One of these recommendations was the setting up of a network to allow owners and operators of critical infrastructure to share information on security issues.
The TISN is the direct outcome of this recommendation.
- Copies of Task Force papers and presentations are available from the Attorney-General’s Department Critical Infrastructure Protection Branch.
Critical Infrastructure Protection Summit
The National Critical Infrastructure Protection Summit was held in Melbourne on 2 April 2003. It was well attended by Australian Government and state and territory government agencies, as well as owners and operators of nationally significant critical infrastructure. The former Attorney-General, the Hon Daryl Williams AM QC MP, opened the Summit and officially launched the TISN.
Some of the issues covered at this Summit included Australia's counter-terrorism arrangements, information sharing arrangements, opportunities for research and international collaboration on critical infrastructure protection, and the structure of the new information sharing network.
- Copies of papers and presentations made to the Summit are available from the Attorney-General’s Department Critical Infrastructure Protection Branch.
Useful references
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