Google to help build cyber protection for Australian infrastructure

By Byron Kaye

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Google and Australia's national science agency will join hands to develop digital tools that automatically detect and fix software vulnerabilities for operators of critical infrastructure, seeking to combat a surge in cyberattacks.

The software for organisations such as hospitals, defence bodies and energy suppliers will be customised to be in line with Australia's regulatory environment.

"Software supply chain vulnerabilities are a global issue, and Australia has led the way in legislative measures to control and combat the risks," said Stefan Avgoustakis, head of security practice for Google Cloud in Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian government has been imposing tougher requirements on critical infrastructure operators to report and prevent cyberattacks after a spate of breaches in the past two years left the personal information of half the country's 26 million population exposed.

The research partnership will pair up Google's existing open source vulnerability database and artificial intelligence services with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's (CSIRO) research methods, the parties said in a statement.

Google said the plan was part of a five-year commitment it made in 2021 to spend A$1 billion ($675 million) in Australia at a time when the country's push for tougher regulation of global tech firms had cooled relations with the U.S. firm.

Google also supplies cybersecurity services to the U.S. as part of a $9 billion contract between the U.S. Department of Defense and a number of large tech firms.

CSIRO's project lead Ejaz Ahmed said locally developed cybersecurity software would "be better aligned with local regulations, promoting greater compliance and trustworthiness."

The project's findings will be made public to provide operators of critical infrastructure easy access to the information.

($1 = 1.4826 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)