Australian Signals Directorate director-general Rachel Noble has cautioned against proposals to establish a separate cybersecurity entity, saying that offensive cyber capabilities have now been “fully integrated” into the spy agency’s operations.
In a rare speech to mark 75 years of the Australian Signal Directorate (ASD) at the National Press Club on Thursday afternoon, Ms Noble, who took on the top job at the start of last year, will outline the agency’s offensive cyber capabilities and how it has been integrated with its other functions.
She says it is important that the cyber operations are kept close to ASD’s intelligence roles, saying that “signals intelligence is the secret sauce to making us all world class cyber agencies”.
“It is this intelligence, the decades of investment in capabilities and the expertise of our people that gives us a cutting edge as cybersecurity experts over and above any private company and any other governments in the world,” Ms Noble said.
“It is this signals intelligence that makes our ability to give cybersecurity defensive advice and undertake offensive cyber operations like no one else can. The idea that we could draw a line somehow between these functions would take away the very cutting edge that Australia has, and needs, over our adversaries.
Rachel Noble
“In ASD those functions are fully integrated, our people move seamlessly among those teams, and we are committed to continuing to ensure we are one ASD team in pursuit of one mission – to protect the security of Australia. Sometimes in public discussion there is contemplation of a standalone cybersecurity agency. For the reasons I have just outlined, this is why I would counsel against it.”
The Australian Cyber Security Centre is currently housed within the ASD.
The ASD’s offe ..
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