Cyber Security NSW stares down $70m shortfall

Cyber Security NSW faces an estimated $70 million shortfall in funding in the four years to 2025-26.

The new NSW state government identified the state’s whole-of-government cyber security office as a “difficult to avoid pressure” for its first budget, which it will now deliver in September.

Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said the budget would be informed by a “comprehensive expenditure review” led by finance minister Courtney Houssos.

Ahead of the review’s findings, however, he warned of ““difficult to avoid pressures” on the budget, which he said “must be addressed”, and this included Cyber Security NSW’s forward funding.

The office’s funding is currently set to cease “from 2024-25”, a slide deck released yesterday shows.

“Extension would enable continued delivery of services in enhancing NSW customer resilience to cyber threats and support delivery of government cyber security services,” it stated.

Cyber Security NSW has existed in its current form since mid-2019.

Its remit covers government cyber security policy, incident response and cyber hygiene, and its physical presence includes a vulnerability management centre in Bathurst in regional NSW.

The office was given $60 million from the $2.1 billion digital restart fund (DRF) in August 2020 to quadruple in size, but encountered problems with the expansion.

It was also recently criticised for a hands-off approach to auditing cyber security self-assessments it received from state agencies.

Cyber Security NSW said in its most recent annual report that it would address the criticism with action taking effect from July 1.