The NSW Electoral Commission has secured $4.8 million to perform the most urgent cyber security upgrades to the state’s electoral systems, after its last three proposals for funding were knocked back.
The funding was quietly approved from the state government’s digital restart fund (DRF) last month following repeated public calls by electoral commissioner John Schmidt for investment.
Schmidt first raised the alarm about the commission’s precarious cyber security posture in April 2021, saying that more than 50 electoral systems required “urgent” fixes.
He stated that many funding proposals to fix the concerns had not been granted, making compliance with the government’s cyber policy difficult for the NSW Electoral Commission (NSWEC).
“Lack of proper investment… has resulted in the commission failing to comply, and failing to comply in the near future, with… necessary cyber security regulations,” Schmidt stated at the time.
“That $22 million is now reserved, and we will engage with the Electoral Commission on following tranches,” he added, without specifying what work will be done.
The funds, which will be available later this month, will be used to strengthen NSWEC’s cyber security maturity, including compliance with the ACSC’s “Essential Eight” techniques for mitigating cyber security events, according to NSWEC.
“The funds will be used to boost maturity against the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Essential Eight controls, improve the commission’s capacity to comply with the NSW government’s cyber security policy… and improve identity and access management,” a spokesman said.
