Telstra faces up to Cyber Storm test

Working closely with government, enterprise customers and industry organisations, Telstra is ready to be put to the test by Cyber Storm III - an international cyber security exercise.

Run as a simulation, Cyber Storm III will also test how well critical cross-sector, intergovernment security and stakeholders respond to a large-scale online attack. Telstra is the only major Australian carrier taking part, with a number of Australian organisations also participating.

Telstra’s Executive Director Network & Information Technology Operations, Craig Hancock, said Telstra is looking to test the effectiveness of its current incident response methods as well as continue the development of strong working relationships with government and key industry organisations.

“Exercises like Cyber Storm III are a great opportunity to test the veracity of these network protection measures, in addition to communications and decision-making processes which underpin any technical response to a cyber event. By actively testing our response processes we can then evaluate and improve our effectiveness in managing and responding to cyber security incidents,” Hancock said.

“Our participation also allows us to develop our collaborative working relationships with industry and government stakeholders, and to tap into different aspects of security thinking. By doing this in a secure information-sharing environment, we all play a role in developing and strengthening the nation’s response to online threats.”

The integrity of Telstra’s networks is a key focus, with a number of security measures already in place to allow for the swift detection and resolution of any possible threats to Telstra’s and its customers' networks.

“Our customers rely on us to ensure our networks are resilient and capable of being securely managed and we already have a strong focus on network security.

“We have a single network security group dedicated to the security of our customers, our people and the internet in Australia. Our certified Security Operations Centre is the hub of security activity providing round-the-clock scrutiny across our core infrastructure and the customer networks it supports,” Hancock said.