AusCERT ditches annual e-crimes survey

The Australian Computer Emergency Response Team (AusCERT) will not be publishing its annual e-crimes survey this year because the federal government has given funding to the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) instead.

In a statement sent to ZDNet Australia today, an AusCERT spokesperson said the survey had been scrapped because funding from the Attorney General's office had been given to the AIC.

"It was decided that there was little benefit to be gained in producing two computer crime surveys in any one calendar year which focused on similar issues and sample populations.

"Therefore, for 2007, AusCERT has decided to devote its efforts elsewhere," the statement said.

The statement also confirmed that the government had chosen to fund the AIC survey.

"Previously, the Attorney-General's Department had been a regular previous sponsor of the survey. The Australian Institute of Criminology applied and was successful in receiving Australian government funding to conduct a survey," the statement said.

Last year, the AusCERT survey was paid for by the Attorney General's department. It included a four-fold increase in respondents and was conducted by market research firm ACNielsen.

Graham Ingram, general manager of AusCERT, in a phone interview with ZDNet Australia admitted that the survey would be missed but he denied that it was dead and buried.

"A lot of people wanted to see the survey continue but the same survey every year is not helpful. The survey had to change and we were thinking about how to make that change. [AIC] have a different focus and some new ideas.

"I am not saying that AusCERT will not do a future survey," Ingram said.

The news came just days after the budget, when the Attorney General allocated AU$12 million to GovCERT over the next four years.