New Zealand opens National Cyber Security Centre

The New Zealand government has officially opened today, its new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) which will be in charge with helping to defend government agencies and critical infrastructure providers against cyber threats.

“The global threat from cyber intrusions is real and growing, and New Zealanders and the New Zealand economy are not immune,” said Steven Joyce, Minister for Communications and Information Technology, “Cyber security is becoming increasingly important for New Zealanders, businesses and government.

Cyber intrusions have the potential to impact on the reliability of critical infrastructure, government services, and the economy.”

The NCSC is a key part of New Zealand’s Cyber Security Strategy, which was released June this year, and will build on existing cyber security and information assurance capabilities to provide enhanced protection for government agencies.

According to an official statement the three main initial functions of the NCSC are to provide advice and support to help develop secure networks, detect and respond to sophisticated cyber threats, and coordinate and assist operational responses to major cyber events of national importance.

The NCSC will also absorb the existing functions of the Centre for Critical Infrastructure Protection (CCIP).

“This is an important step in building New Zealand’s capacity to protect against sophisticated cyber threats,” said Joyce.

“New Zealanders will benefit from enhanced protection of government data and services, and critical national infrastructure, which will help to protect critical services,” he added.

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