Local solution solves global IT issue

Government at all levels is focused on improving public safety and security at present. And in recent years NEC Australia has collaborated with Government from coast to coast, in line with a push by Australian governments for the private sector to be highly proactive on security responses. 
Our technology is now well proven in a range of environments, and will be further put to use at the recent Interpol World Congress in Singapore.  Here, delegates were checked by NEC’s facial recognition solution called NeoFace, which is used by a number of Australian government departments for a variety of reasons, including law enforcement, identity management, customer relations and security management.  

In the Northern Territory, NeoFace is used by the Northern Territory Police to accurately match against police databases, any images from CCTV footage, body-worn video cameras or phones and identifies people being brought into custody in under 10 seconds.

This is just one example of the work NEC is doing with state and territory governments - part of the company’s goal to provide an environment that offers safety, security and efficiency in the ICT environment for our customers.

In this way, NEC’s cyber security framework is focused on prevention, detection and response to ensure our customers are protected against attacks and breaches utilising the latest technology, 24x7.

According to an Australian Financial Review report on June 20, cyberattacks cost as much as $500 billion a year globally and demand for cyber security professionals has grown 57 per cent in the last 12 months. Research undertaken by the Australian Computer Society (ACS) found the average cost of a cyberattack to an Australian business was about $276,000.

Furthermore, a Cybersecurity Ventures report on cybercrimes found the cost of cyber threats projected to rise to $6 trillion annually by 2021.  There is also a rising threat of cyber attacks on medical devices–which is expected to reach $101 billion by 2018.

At NEC, we are offering governments, across Australia, a broad range of globally-sourced compliant security solutions and services, from consulting and integration through to managed security services and ‘as a service’ security services.

As part of the work we are doing with Governments in cyber security, we have been working with the South Australia Government to establish an Adelaide based $4.38 million Global Security Intel Centre (GSIC) to address growing global demand for cyber security.

NEC’s fingerprint and facial recognition technologies are used by more than 1000 customers in more than 40 countries worldwide.

With a strong focus on security and cyber safety, NEC is also empowering State Government departments and agencies to increasingly use new storage options which optimise well-proven security measures. With the provision of our Data Centre platforms, we can provide architectural flexibility to ensure Governments can consolidate and virtualise their IT environment, while managing data volume and data security.

One example is WA, where – with our involvement in the recently announced Government’s GovNext-ICT Program – we will provide data centre and cloud services, network and communication services, identity management and ICT operations.

We will support the consolidation of WA’s 60 plus government data centres into a small number of interconnected, high grade, secure data centres, teamed with a multi-tenanted community cloud.

In this way, NEC is listening to Government and responding. NEC is working closely with Government Ministers and Departments, while collaborating with closely with our Australian and global ICT partner businesses, to actively respond to security and safety issues – and striving to add value at every opportunity.

In closing, it’s worth restating a recent thought from a senior member of the Federal Government which really resonates in the ICT security field: If you are standing still when it comes to (cyber security), you are going backwards.

Working within and with Australian Government, we plan to build not just a cutting-edge ICT solution, but a vibrant, secure and safe future.