The Government of Western Australia (WA) has partnered with IDCARE, a not-for-profit national identity and cyber support service spanning Australia and New Zealand, to improve cybersecurity protection for residents of its remote communities and to support victims of data breaches.

Under the terms of the deal, IDCARE will work in partnership with the WA Government and provide a 24/7 incident response capability and specialist case management service to communities impacted by cybersecurity incidents.

Further to that, the WA Government and IDCARE will also deliver their Cyber Resilience Outreach Clinics (CROCs) program across regional WA, commencing this year.

CROCs, which will be operated by IDCARE, will offer a collection of mobile pop-up clinics for remote communities across the state, with the goal of providing a physical presence and fostering “an enduring resilience” against cybercrimes, scams, and identity theft.

“This partnership reinforces our commitment to improving cybersecurity in WA, and to protect our community from malicious cyber activity at every opportunity,” said Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson.

“Importantly, IDCARE’s focus will be on harm minimisation and support for victims, and the organisation is positioned to respond to any data breach regardless of the cause.

“The McGowan Government is excited to collaborate with IDCARE on our shared journey to raise awareness about current scams, cyberthreats and online-enabled crime affecting remote communities.”