The ACT Government’s ICT security systems defended Territory websites from more than 646,999 cyber attacks in 2009-10.

Chief Minister and Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Jon Stanhope, said the unsuccessful cyber attacks demonstrated the “robust security procedures and tactics” in place.

Mr Stanhope said reports on website attacks were assessed in accordance with the industry standard Common Vulnerability Scoring System which rated the severity of attacks as high, medium or low. Of the 646,999 cyber attacks threatening ACT websites, approximately 78,000 were rated as high, 565,000 were rated as medium and 3,700 were rated as low.

The ACT Government, through its information communication technology (ICT) service provider, InTACT, has implemented a layered defence against cyber attacks on 98 ACT Government-hosted websites," Mr Stanhope said.

"InTACT continually improves its ICT infrastructure gateway by deploying well managed firewalls, intruder prevention systems and geographically dispersed websites.

“The vulnerability levels of the public-facing websites are continually being reviewed by both automated and manual testing.”

Mr Stanhope said InTACT assessed the vulnerability of all new Government websites, prior to allowing them to go live, and conducted periodic audits across websites using an internal ethical hacker.

He said the ACT Government worked closely with the Federal Government, through the Defence Signals Directorate, and AusCERT to ensure ICT security systems were prepared for serious cyber attacks.

"These relationships, allied with our own robust security measures, mean that we are well placed to deliver vigorous monitoring and testing of websites and to ensure we continue to meet cyber attacks head on,” Mr Stanhope said.