THE DEVELOPMENT OF AHECS

CAUDIT is leading a partnership of AARNet, AusCERT, REANNZ and AAF to help CAUDIT members adopt appropriate risk profiles and countering ever-increasing cybersecurity threats and in doing so, help safeguard the intellectual property and reputation of Australasia’s universities.

AHECS’s purpose is to proactively help safeguard the intellectual property and reputation of Australasia’s universities through:

• working together in a trusted community, delivering economies of scale
• coordinating and leveraging existing resilient services
• delivering new fit-for-purpose services
• maturing sector cybersecurity capabilities – people, processes, technology
• bringing privacy and information management together

AHECS services include provision of:

• training to improve the cybersecurity posture and capability of AHECS stakeholders
• benchmarking, health checks, maturity assessments
• good practice guides, advocacy, advice
• threat intelligence
• target events
• facilitation of collaboration and security services

In addition to the direct provision of support, CAUDIT performs a valuable coordinating and advisory role, working together in a trusted community, delivering economies of scale and helping mature sector cybersecurity capabilities – people, processes, technology.

CAUDIT members prioritised this initiative for implementation in 2018. A Director, Cybersecurity Program commenced in January 2020 to drive the program of work.