May 5, 2016
The Government has pledged $22.2 million to help bolster the country’s cyber security infrastructure, as part of the Budget 2016 announcements.
Revealed by Communications Minister Amy Adams, the Government will invest $20 million of operating funding over the next four years on a new national Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) to combat cyber-attacks and cybercrime, with an additional $2.2 million of capital for set up.
A CERT is an organisation that receives cyber incident reports, tracks cyber security incidents or attacks, and provides advice and alerts to its customers on how to respond and prevent further attacks.
As explained by Adams, CERTs also work closely with their international counterparts to prevent and respond to cybersecurity incidents, and address cybercrime.
“Our national CERT will be a key piece of New Zealand’s cyber security architecture,” Adams adds.