Threat Intelligence Platform set to shield WA Government agencies from cyber attacks

The Premier’s department is developing a ‘threat intelligence platform’ to shield agencies from the rising risk of cyber attacks — both foreign and homegrown. The Threat Intelligence Platform will be tasked with helping State Government departments stay aware of “vulnerabilities and exploits” used by cyber criminals and foreign countries to help improve “intelligence, and incident response capabilities”. A State Government spokesperson confirmed it would operate within the WA Security Operations Centre , which is “equally concerned about both foreign and domestic threats”, as well as those generated by human hackers and AI. “The implementation of a TIP is part of a broader approach by the WA Government to manage the cyber security risk to its operations and information,” the spokesperson said. Curtin University Associate Professor and cyber security expert Mihai Lazarescu said Government agencies faced threats from foreign nations as well as criminal operators that could deploy significant resources to obtain data they could then sell on the dark web. The professor warned attacks on Government agencies could have consequences that ranged stopping people from paying a bill to preventing them from accessing X-ray results. Professor Lazarescu said foreign nations posed a threat, with China able to deploy “brute force” and Russia employing more sophisticated and “creative” strategies. “You also have North Korea and most people don’t realise the capabilities that places like Iran have these days,” he said. “If there is a country that has a large and educated population, they can definitely be a cyber adversary. “Hackers are able to deploy malware that is basically dormant and gathers information. It also has the capability to take services offline. “If you have the money for that type of malware, by the time the system gets fixed, you already have access to lots of information.” Professor Lazarescu said cyber security was costly and all agencies were susceptible to attacks. “Everything is a target. Even if it is an old service and there is no mission-critical data, hackers can zombify the machine and then do Bitcoin mining,” he said. “It‘s a good thing that they are establishing this platform. But there has to be an understanding that the resources need to be spent if they don’t want to find out the hard way.” Dr Jin Hong, from UWA’s Department of Computer Science, said while the technology to protect agencies was available, organisations were slow to adapt. “Tech changes fast, and the threat landscape follows closely,” Dr Hong said. “I believe foreign powers have always been a big concern for public sector agencies, it’s just that they are becoming more visible. “This is a step forward, at least people are now aware the problem exists, which means they can be addressed more promptly.” Dr Hong said to defend against AI attacks, agencies would have to fight fire with fire. “If the government agencies don’t adopt AI to fight against AI-enabled cyberattacks, then it will be much more difficult to deal with them,” he said. Dr Hong agreed all government agencies were vulnerable because all possessed data that attackers wanted. “Attackers are looking for the weakest entry point. So the agencies that are more likely to be attacked are the ones not up to date with security policies,” he said. Agencies with many staff having access to the system and those that provide numerous functions are also particularly vulnerable. The tender for the threat platform closes Tuesday.