The South Australian Government announced the opening of a $4.38 million Global Security Intelligence Centre, a government-backed initiative spurred by investment from NEC Australia.

The Centre will create an estimated 50 highly-skilled jobs and form part of NEC’s global cybersecurity network, accompanying similar security-focused facilities based in Japan, Brazil, Singapore, USA and Austria.

SA’s Investment and Trade Minister, Martin Hamilton-Smith, said NEC’s investment will complement the Government’s suite of Smart City initiatives for Adelaide, helping “South Australia achieve global prominence” in the field of cyber security.

“With the massive growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), new cybersecurity measures are needed, and Adelaide’s place as a global smart city is the perfect place to develop this future security,” Hamilton-Smith said.

According to NEC Australia Chief Operating Officer, Mike Barber, the Centre “is built and operates to high security certifications and standards required by governments and enterprises for the management and support of their data and applications.”

Barber said the Centre is segregated into various ‘security zones’ rated by threat levels, with each zone required to undergo rigorous assessment to achieve valid certifications.

Despite our geographical isolation, Australia – due to our relative wealth and rapid adoption of new technologies – remains a ripe target for cybercrime, most recently evidenced by the impact of the global ransomware attack – a point not lost on Hamilton-Smith.

“Governments and businesses alike need innovative products and services to protect them from increasingly sophisticated threats to privacy and security as we saw earlier this month.”

According to a 2016 Lloyd’s-Cambridge study, cybercrime is now the seventh biggest global economic threat, expected to cost Australians $16 billion over the next decade.