Macquarie Welcomes Hosting Certification Framework

Macquarie Telecom Group (ASX: MAQ), has welcomed publication, by the Digital Transformation Agency, of the Whole of Government Hosting Strategy (Hosting Certification Framework), championed by Minister for Government Services, Stuart Robert.

Macquarie’s Government division head Aidan Tudehope

The Hosting Certification Framework will give government and industry clarity when considering data management decisions with respect to the Federal Government’s criteria for data sovereignty, privacy, supply chain risk and cyber security.

“The events of the past 13 months have shown us the importance of Australia’s critical sovereign data, and the infrastructure and hosting arrangements that store, protect and manage data,” said Aidan Tudehope, Managing Director, Macquarie Government.

“The DTA’s Hosting Certification Framework creates a new expectation for managed service providers and other cloud providers to onshore their data, regardless of any intermediaries, and partner with local data centre operators. This is essential both in terms of Australia’s cyber security posture, and to support our economic recovery through local sector uplift.

“It follows a consistent series of legislation and initiatives from Minister Stuart Robert and the Federal Government that are geared towards better protecting Australia’s national security interests in the wake of increased cyber threats, and greater emphasis required to safeguard our nation’s data.”

Macquarie also strongly welcomed the vetting of key personnel involved in managing and hosting Government data by an Australian Government Security Vetting Agency (AGSVA) approved vetting company, as detailed in the Hosting Certification Framework.

“We’ve placed a huge emphasis on training and accrediting our personnel who work with Government data, underscored by the fact we have over 150 NV1-cleared cyber engineers,” added Tudehope.

“This was prudent and appropriate. The vetting requirements now mandated by the Federal Government will see greater security oversight and robustness to the entire industry.”

The framework highlights that providers which use remote-in-support services will not be viable for the ‘Strategic’ and ‘Assured’ certifications, putting a block on companies off-shoring roles and data access through ‘follow-the-sun’ support services.

“Follow the sun has become a key threat in how Australia’s sensitive data is managed and secured,” added Tudehope. “Comprehensive 24x7x365 support can easily be provided within Australia, as local providers have demonstrated, also providing enormous and obvious security and jobs benefits.

“With this framework in place, Australia is building towards a sovereign ecosystem of cloud and ICT services that will better serve our increasingly digital economy in a safe and secure manner.”

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