Centrelink to keep tabs on portable media

Centrelink has revealed plans to clamp down on storage and other portable media devices being connected to computers on its network.

The agency has issued a tender for data loss prevention and endpoint protection software to cover 28,000 users and 42,000 "workstations" on its corporate network.

The total value of the contract was estimated to be worth between $5 million and $7.5 million.

Centrelink said there were "currently approximately 38,000 endpoint PCs on the Centrelink network".

They were installed with Windows XP SP2 but "development of a replacement set of core services for all [remote office] sites based on Microsoft... Windows 7 endpoints has commenced."

The agency specified a number of portable devices over which it wanted visibility when they were connected to corporate IT assets.

Centrelink said it wanted to be able to tell what files were on the device if it were lost, what content was in the files, whether the device was encrypted and if so, the encryption strength used.

"[We want] to control and monitor the use of portable storage devices within Centrelink, and to enforce their encryption where they are used to store Centrelink data," the agency said.

The software was also expected to provide similar data loss prevention for web and email, restrict unauthorised computers from connecting to the network, and protect its environment from the introduction of harmful code.