Within this context, the Australian Government’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre (CISC) is raising awareness of Critical Infrastructure Security Month (CISM) in November.

CISM is a nationwide effort to raise awareness and reaffirm a shared commitment to keeping Australia’s critical infrastructure secure and resilient.

All Australians rely on critical infrastructure from healthcare, water and education to chemical, transportation, food distribution, and energy entities.

Critical infrastructure providers face a wide range of disruptions, which can have serious implications for business, governments and the community, affecting the security of resources, supply and service continuity.

Keeping Australia’s critical infrastructure secure is important to our national security and economic prosperity.

Critical Infrastructure Risk Review

CISC recently released its first edition of the Critical Infrastructure Annual Risk Review, which provides a summary of security risks relating to Australia’s critical infrastructure over the last 12 months. These include:

• Australia is likely to see an increase in the frequency and severity of natural hazards, and a future punctuated by more complex, cascading or compounding disasters.
• Foreign involvement is permeating into all areas of the delivery of critical infrastructure.
• Australia’s critical infrastructure sectors are a deeply interconnected system of systems; significant disruption in one sector will affect other sectors.
• Increasing digitalisation and implementation of new technologies are adding new entry points for cyber threats.
• Risk levels are very likely to increase during periods of heightened geopolitical tensions.
• Supply chain resiliency is a multi-faceted strategy of proactive defence and efficient response to disruption.

CISM

The theme for CISM 2023 is ‘Partnering to lower risk and secure our shared prosperity’.

CISM offers owners and operators in the critical infrastructure supply chain the chance to reflect on the steps they’ve taken to secure their systems, assets, and networks, as well as to collaborate within and between different sectors to strengthen security.

The official CISM Toolkit for 2023​ provides easy access to the tools the Australian Government ​​provides to uplift the resilience and security of Australian critical infrastructure.

This month’s initiatives include outreach events, new episodes from the latest podcast series ‘Critical Conversations’, town halls, fireside chats, new guidance material and more.

For small and medium businesses, an online session hosted by CISC will help you learn more about how to improve cyber resilience to help secure critical infrastructure.

The two-hour webinar, titled Securing services and supply chains for critical infrastructure - Victoria/Tasmania, will help businesses that work in supply chains that support critical infrastructure through a focus on cybersecurity and all-hazards risk management.

Participants will leave with the information, tools, and resources they need to secure their services, and enhance their understanding of the cyber threats we all face.

The webinar will be held on Thursday 30 November 2023 from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm.

More information and registration for the free session can be found on the event page with more information on Critical Infrastructure Security Month 2023 via the Cyber and Infrastructure Security Centre.

Victorian Chamber

The Victorian Chamber supports CISC’s security and risk-management efforts to ensure the resilience of Australia’s critical infrastructure.

Glenn Goodwin, Victorian Chamber Executive Director ICT said: “Critical Infrastructure supports businesses every day, and only in its absence do we recognise its importance.

“Critical Infrastructure Security Month is a great time to think about the shared responsibility, especially for small and medium businesses who form a crucial part of critical infrastructure supply chain and would impact these major services if they aren’t resilient.”

The Chamber recently consulted extensively with small, medium and family businesses, telcos, social media platforms, health providers, education institutions, banks and other critical infrastructure to devise our Cyber Security and Scams Policy Position, which contains 24 ‘game-changers’ to help the Australian Government’s plan to become the most cyber secure nation.