Australia's cyber threat sharing centres add 35 partners

Australia’s joint cyber security centres have named 35 more public and private sector partners, from retailers Coles and Kmart to universities and mining companies.

The joint cyber security centres (JCSCs) act as public-private cyber threat sharing centres, and were promised as part of the government’s 2016 cyber security strategy.

They are designed to co-locate government, business, and academic cyber security experts to share data and advice IT security threats, assisted by an information-sharing portal.

So far, centres have been stood up in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth, with an Adelaide-based JCSC to “open in the first half of 2018”.

Cyber minister Angus Taylor today has previously said that 101 organisations were participating in the threat sharing centres nationally, although only around 65 had been publicly listed to date.

Overnight, another 35 were added to the partner list, appearing to fill the gap between Taylor’s quoted numbers and those that were publicly known.

The newly-named partners include significant numbers from the energy and resources sectors, including Ausgrid, Horizon Power, Iluka Resources, Mineral Resources, Pilbara Ports, Powercor, QGC, SA Power Networks and Tasnetworks.

Universities including Curtin, Deakin and Flinders have also joined, alongside retailers Coles and Kmart.

Other major new participants named included Cuscal, Lockheed Martin, NEC, Port of Melbourne, Sydney Airport, Queensland Airports, the Queensland government, and Transport for NSW.

The full list of JCSC partners can be found here.

Update, 1.53pm: Another partner - NBN Co - was added to the list.