Macquarie Telecom Group has announced that its Cloud services have been ‘Certified Strategic’ by the Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) under its Hosting Certification Framework.

The certification makes Macquarie the first company to have all its data centres and cloud services Certified Strategic, a key feature of the DTA’s Whole-of-Government Hosting Certification Framework. It follows the certification of Macquarie’s Data Centre portfolio last year, which includes facilities in Canberra and Sydney.

The certification comes as the Australian government increases its focus on data security via policy initiatives including the National Data Security Action Plan, the REDSPICE project, the Hardening Government IT Initiative, the Privacy Legislation Amendment, and wider plans to reform the nation’s cyber security and privacy regulations.

Aidan Tudehope, Managing Director Macquarie Government, says stringent certification processes like the DTA’s Hosting Certification Framework help take the guesswork out of Government agencies safeguarding data.

Aidan says, “As cyber attacks continue to grow in frequency and sophistication, Australia’s cyber security industry is scaling up to meet the challenge of protecting us.

“The DTA is simplifying and de-risking the decision making process on cloud, data storage and data hosting by providing agencies clear guidelines on the security credentials, capabilities, and the ownership and controls present among cloud and data centre providers. It’s a vital mechanism to bolster our nation’s cyber security posture.”

Macquarie has observed a sharp rise in attempted government cyber attacks in recent months. Providing cyber security services to over 40% of the Federal Government, Macquarie protects a threat surface of over seven billion digital interactions every day.

“The value of data and the attack surface area have both increased sharply, incentivising the rise in activity we’re seeing,” adds Aidan. “We’re incredibly proud to have over 200 security-cleared staff who can work with sensitive government data. This puts us on the frontline of protecting Australian government customers from unique threat patterns which are designed specifically to target them.”

The DTA Certified Strategic designation follows Macquarie recently becoming a member of the VMware Sovereign Cloud initiative, which helps customers identify and engage with trusted national and regional cloud service providers to meet their unique sovereign cloud requirements.

“Looking forward, as Australia continually assesses its cyber posture, data sovereignty – the jurisdictional control or legal authority that can be asserted over data due to its physical location – must remain a top priority,” says Aidan. “To secure Australian data, we need to know where it is, who can access it, and who holds authority over it, plain and simple.”

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