Part of AustCyber’s national network of cybersecurity Innovation Nodes, with each Node set to task to work on "particular strengths" identified within local ecosystems, the Launceston-based hub will be assigned to drive a national strategy across smart cities, Internet of Things (IoT), and marine technology sectors.

These will be in addition to the Nodes’ nation-wide remit to foster and accelerate cyber capability development and innovation and nurture the next generation of cyber professionals.

The DST, the Australian Defence department’s primary research arm, acknowledged Dr Lambert as a “world-leading scientist in high-level information fusion”.

Dr Lambert has been instrumental in the formulation of the Cyber Influence and Data Analytics program, part of agency’s Cyber 2020 Vision strategy – a push to strengthen Australia’s cyber capabilities and to forge relationships between cyber and other defence capabilities.

The fourth release of the TDIF sees “a complete overhaul" of the Framework's documents and structure, DTA said in a statement. Off the back of feedback from its third release in April this year, the Agency said it had sought to simplify the accreditation process for TDIF 4.0, reducing the number of requirements from approximately 700 to less than 400.

The latest version also introduces two new Identity Proofing Levels, IP 1 PLUS and IP 2 PLUS, to support commercial entities in identity proofing, as well as a complete rewrite of the Fraud Control Requirements.

The $19.5 million SIF, announced as part of the Government’s 2019-2020 Budget, will kick start Australia’s burgeoning aerospace industries, offering eligible businesses and researchers funding to pursue and develop seven core activities proposed under the Fund.

Cavanagh has served as acting deputy of NZ’s chief digital transformation arm since October this year; she will now become deputy head of the to-be-renamed Digital Public Service.

The deputy role directly supports the DIA's chief digital officer – currently held by Paul James – in the delivery of the NZ Government’s digital strategy, as well as taking charge of IT assurance and capability across government.

“This work sets the direction to develop a modern public service which will meet the needs of New Zealanders in a changing world,” the DIA said in a statement.  

Appointed chief executive in August 2016, Kelsey was instrumental in bringing the nation-wide My Health Record scheme to life last year.

Among the first large-scale implementations of its kind in the world, the ADHA was set the mammoth task of digitising Australia’s byzantine health records keeping system, giving both citizens and health practitioners access to an online repository of patient health information – the My Health Record database.

Developed in partnership with tech giant Microsoft, the new digital service will capture real-time social, demographic and location data, using mobile devices with geolocation to track rough sleepers across the state.

Data collected through the program will be put into a central database to help guide specialist support services for the at-risk group. It is hoped the database will also help coordinate efforts between outreach programs and NGOs with the government’s own support programs.

Speaking at the FST Government Australia conference in Canberra last week, Estonia’s data chief, Ott Velsberg, said governments should not shy away from “practical” experiments with AI and machine learning (ML) technologies within the public sector, suggesting regulators should be invited in only “when the government finds a need”.

He pleaded with delegates to keep the regulators at bay, believing governments may tangle themselves in red tape too early in AI's development phase – before genuine use cases can be determined.

Going live in early 2020, the new Marketplace will supersede the existing Mobile and Telecommunications Services panels, in operation since 2013, with the DTA inviting applications from sellers to join the newly amalgamated Marketplace panel.

Featured speakers on the Cybersecurity panel:

Jamie Norton, Chief Information Security Officer, Australian Taxation Office
Mike Webb, Chief Information Officer, The Treasury
Scott MacLeod, First Assistant Director-General, Protect, Assure and Enable, Australian Signals Directorate

Moderated by Paul Cooper.

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Information access complaints also increased by a staggering 105 per cent from FY18, with applicants voicing concerns over inadequate decision-making processes, extended timeframes and a lack of available open-access information from state and local government agencies, among other entities.

The IPC takes complaints and requests covering public sector agencies, health service providers (both public and private) and large organisations dealing with health information. 

The legislation gives ATO the power to establish the long-anticipated Australian PEPPOL Authority, creating a national framework that enforces interoperability standards for electronic invoicing in Australia, based on the Pan European Public Procurement Online (PEPPOL) framework.

Last month, Australia and New Zealand jointly announced the adoption of a common trans-Tasman e-invoicing standard, developing localised invoice specifications based on PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0. 

The infamous banking trojan, ‘Emotet’, considered by the US Department of Homeland Security among the most costly and destructive malware in existence today, is reported to have struck “dozens” of local businesses and individual users as well as bringing critical government infrastructure to a standstill.

The ACSC believes the Emotet trojan was behind the recent ransomware attack on the Victorian state healthcare sector, which for almost two weeks crippled backend systems across the state.

Led by NZ’s government chief data steward, Liz MacPherson, the Charter establishes a basic “ethical” framework for government agencies when creating or using operational algorithms, committing agencies to a five-year timeline to improve transparency and accountability in their development of algorithms.

To be hosted at Melbourne’s RMIT University, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society will bring together researchers from eight Australian universities and 22 partner organisations across the globe, under the leadership of RMIT Professor Julian Thomas.

Federal Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, said the Centre will develop world-leading policy and practice, inform public debate, and train a new generation of researchers and practitioners.