Defence opens Canberra cyber security centre

The Department of Defence has opened a new cyber security operations centre in Canberra that will monitor for threats of cyber attack.

Linked gallery: Inside the Cyber Security Operations Centre

The centre, based within the Defence Signals Directorate (DSD), included representatives from that organisation alongside the Attorney-General's Department, ASIO and the Australian Federal Police.

Defence Minister John Faulkner said the DSD had brought in 51 existing staff to work at the centre.

"[That] will grow to about 130 over the next five years," Faulkner said.

Faulkner said the internet was both a tool and "battlefield itself" in the cyber security war.

He said that "cyber intrusions on government, critical infrastructure and other information networks [were] a real threat to Australia's national security and national interests".

"Already we have evidence of sophisticated cyber intrusions onto networks in Australia, both government and private," Faulkner said.

"Not all are successful, but some have been - on a range of networks."

The establishment of the centre is part of the Government's national cyber security initiative, which also includes the creation of a new national computer emergency response team (CERT).