Telstra is extending its offerings to federal, state and local government with new tailored cyber security and compliance products.

The Cyber Detection and Response capability integrates with government systems and cloud services to monitor cyber threats via big data analytics from Telstra’s managed security service platform, while Sovereign SecureEdge helps deliver cloud security, particularly in the context of a distributed workforce.

“In the past workers mostly worked in a central office but now things are moving to the cloud,” Telstra enterprise group owner, government, Nicole McMahon told Government News.

“The heavy traffic that comes from public cloud is now a threat, but by increasing security you can apply controls to ensure that the same security policies are enforced at all times, and control who is accessing the data within the cloud.”

The products were created by a new specialist government team set up within Telstra in response to increased threats sparked by the Covid-driven digitisation of government services.

Telstra enterprise group owner, government, Nicole McMahon says while COVID-19 has accelerated the government’s digital capabilities this has also created significant security challenges.

“As we recover from the pandemic, reliance on digital services will remain critical, so it’s important that we secure and protect our digital environment, as disruptions due to cyber attacks could significantly impact the economy and its’ recovery,” she said.

“For us its about evolving as the landscape’s changing.”

The new products build on existing services already provided to government, including private networks, cloud management platforms and mobility and IoT solutions. They are sovereign-designed and built to meet regulatory requirements, including Information Security Registered Assessor Program (iRAP) assessment measures, Ms McMahon says.

Ms McMahon says Telstra has a long history of partnering with government and the new capabilities will help digitise the economy  and achieve federal government goals of providing access to all services digitally by 2025.

Telstra is also trialing new technology to filter and block scam SMS messages and will be extending this based on a recent successful trial with Services Australia.

The new capabilities will be available for government customers in coming months, with announcements about more products expected down the track.

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