Rudd hiring security CIO

Kevin Rudd's department has advertised for a top-level security-focused chief information officer to oversee the technology aspects of its national security strategy.

PM Kevin Rudd
(Credit: Australian Labor Party)

The so-called National Security CIO will be a part of the new National Security and International Policy Group within Rudd's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, according to advertisements placed today. The position will report to former SAS commander Duncan Lewis, who was this month appointed as Rudd's new national security advisor.

"The National Security CIO will provide strategic direction, co-ordination and oversight of the national security community's information and communications technology architecture and strategy," the advertisement stated.

It remains unclear what relationship the new public servant will have with AusCERT, the nation's existing Computer Emergency Response Team, or the Australian Government Information Management Office (AGIMO), which sits within the Department of Finance and Deregulation and is the Federal Government's top authority in terms of information technology policy across government.

There is also the Defence Signals Directorate, which sets a range of security policies across government agencies.

The news comes as Rudd has recently promised to bolster Australia's cyber-defences to fend off what he described as hackers' and terrorists' ready access to technology.

"We are highly dependent on computer and information technology to drive critical industries such as aviation, electricity and water supply, banking and finance, and telecommunications networks," the Prime Minister said in his first national security statement.

"This dependency on information technology makes us potentially vulnerable to cyber attacks," he said. "A number of actors may carry out such attacks ranging from hackers, to commercial entities and foreign states."