For the purpose of strengthening the security of its IT and communications infrastructure, TPG Communications launched a new Cyber Centre of Excellence (CCoE) in Sydney. The center’s primary objective are to identify vulnerabilities, create countermeasures, and deploy the required security measures in place.
The CCoE, now fully operational after a significant investment, brings together TPG’s red and blue teams, along with partner resources from Ericsson, Nokia, and TCS, who will rotate in 90-day intervals. Researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) are also part of the initiative. About 20 employees will work at the center, and by January 2025, vendor resources should be on site.
The CCoE aims to improve TPG’s capacity to detect and address security threats, particularly those posed by nation-state actors targeting vital infrastructure and telecommunications. The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) provides TPG Telecom with intelligence, but the center’s proactive exploit development will allow for quicker reactions to new threats. This development process may include new security rules and code enhancements for systems such as Security Information and Event Management (SIEM).
The center will assess both software vulnerabilities and physical security to safeguard critical sites, including data and operations centers, from any cyber threats.
In an effort to improve industry safety generally, the CCoE shares research findings with other telecom providers as part of its collaborative strategy. Using artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance the detection of smishing (SMS phishing) on TPG’s network is one of the center’s early activities. Current models are 95% accurate in differentiating between malicious and legitimate messages.
Similar to the Commonwealth Bank’s efforts, TPG Telecom has stated its intention to make a large number of the center’s research results open-source. TPG wants to increase the security of telecom infrastructure across the board by openly sharing cybersecurity advancements. Barney said, ”We’re looking at executing this on live data in the very near future.”
