ASD gives Dimension Data protected-level cloud certification
Global IT firm Dimension Data has received accreditation from the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), allowing it to store highly classified government information up to "protected" level on its Protected Government Cloud platform.
Protected-level certification for cloud services is currently the highest security level approved by the ASD on its Certified Cloud Services List (CCSL), and the NTT-owned company is the only foreign vendor extended the honour.
ASD handed out protected-level classification to Sliced Tech and Vault Systems in March last year, with the local duo the first allowed to store highly classified government information in their respective cloud platforms.
Macquarie Government, part of the Macquarie Telecom Group, received its protected-level accreditation in September.
"The Australian government is keenly aware of the risks of cyber breaches and the need to secure its data and communications at the highest level," said Dimension Data Australia GM for Cloud Services David Hanrahan.
"We undertook the process to obtain a protected certification for our government cloud service to ensure we had a full suite of services for federal agencies to leverage."
In addition to the four protected-level platforms, the CCSL also specifies 11 cloud services that can be used by the Australian government for unclassified dissemination limiting marker (DLM) use from Amazon Web Services, Education Services Australia, IBM, Macquarie Government, Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow, Sliced Tech, and Vault Systems, which still allows for the storing of sensitive government data, but at a less protected level.
Microsoft in June was given the tick of approval for an additional 36 services from Microsoft Azure and a total of 10 from Office 365 for unclassified DLM use.
For the 2017 financial year, the local arm of Dimension Data suffered a loss to the tune of AU$16.47 million, an improvement however on the AU$106 million loss reported for FY16.
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