Hardening Government IT (HGIT) Initiative

The Australian Government will strengthen defences of its networks by centralising their management and operation, including considering secure hubs.

Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy 2020

In August 2020, the government released Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy 2020 (the Strategy), which invests $1.67 billion in cyber security. The Strategy sharpens Australia’s focus on protecting government networks from the growing threat of malicious cyber activity.

The Strategy outlines a large number of initiatives to improve cyber security across government, business and the community. The HGIT Initiative has been established under the Strategy to strengthen the defence of government networks.  

This includes the development of the Cyber Hubs model to centralise the management and operations of government agencies’ cyber monitoring, detection, and response capabilities.

Hardening Government IT (HGIT) initiative

The Australian Government’s vision is to create a secure online world for Australians, their businesses and the essential services on which we all depend.

Under the HGIT initiative of the Strategy, cyber security resilience is the focus as we transition to a digital society. We want Australian citizens to have confidence that their data is safe and the systems they depend on are secure.

The DTA leads the coordination of the whole-of-government HGIT initiative in collaboration with partner agencies including the:

• Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for cyber security policy co-coordination
• Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre, which provides cyber security technical advice
• Attorney-General’s Department, as the owner of the Protective Security Policy Framework and privacy policy.

Cyber Hubs Pilot

As part of the HGIT initiative, a Cyber Hubs Pilot (Pilot) commenced in July 2021 and will be completed by 30 June 2023. The Department of Home Affairs, the Department of Defence, Services Australia and the Australian Taxation Office are pilot Cyber Hub provider agencies. They are each responsible for the design and implementation of their Cyber Hub. Pilot Cyber Hubs are testing services and an operating model necessary to improve the cyber security defences of agencies.

The findings from the pilot will inform the design of a future whole-of-government Cyber Hubs operating model, subject to government consideration.

The DTA leads the Cyber Hubs pilot in collaboration with Cyber Hub agencies and partner agencies.