072/06
31 July 2006

New advice on managing IT security

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, Senator Helen Coonan, has welcomed the release of two new reports on IT security governance and denial of service (DoS) attacks.

“Corporate leaders are facing major challenges around IT security as their use of converging technologies increases,” Senator Coonan said.

“ This rapidly changing environment means IT security must be part of any business’s mainstream corporate governance. It must be viewed as a business decision and not simply an IT decision.

“These new reports provide business executives with essential information about effective risk mitigation measures and business management strategies to address IT security issues.”

The reports, Leading Practices and Guidelines for Enterprise Security Governance and Managing DoS Attacks were developed by the Information Technology Security Expert Advisory Group, a part of the Attorney General’s-led Trusted Information Sharing Network.

DoS attacks prevent legitimate access to a computer or to information services such as e-mail, web sites or online accounts.

“They are a serious issue as a concerted attack could lead to major disruption of services, particularly in sectors such as financial services which exchange large volumes of data,” Minister Coonan said.

Although primarily developed for critical infrastructure sectors, the advice is also of relevance to large organisations in business and government.

In addition to the two main reports, executive summaries have been produced for Chief Executive Officers and Chief Information Officers. These versions include strategies and practical tools to assist senior executives and information officers in addressing IT security issues.

The reports are available at www.tisn.gov.au and www.dcita.gov.au/communications_and_technology.