Draft cyber laws land on Burke’s desk, with tweak to contentious new powers
Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has received draft cybersecurity laws, with the government likely to tweak proposed powers over critical infrastructure.
New cybersecurity laws requiring businesses to report the payment of ransoms and giving the government more powers to take over the networks of critical infrastructure have been drawn up by the Department of Home Affairs and are sitting on minister Tony Burke’s desk.
Multiple security sources, who were not authorised to comment publicly, confirmed to Capital Brief that Home Affairs has sent draft laws to Burke’s office.
The sources said there will likely be a change to the ‘consequence management powers’, which have faced some pushback from industry, and would give federal authorities the power to force operators of critical infrastructure to comply with their directions after a hack has occurred.
Currently, the Australian Signals Directorate and the Australian Cyber Security Coordinator only have the power to make certain directions and take over networks while a cyber attack is happening.
