Govt opens National Cyber Security Centre

The government has opened its new National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), fulfilling a part of its cyber security strategy released in June.

ICT Minister Steven Joyce says the global cyber threat is growing, and New Zealand is not immune.

"Cyber intrusions have the potential to impact on the reliability of critical infrastructure, government services, and the economy.

"This is an important step in building New Zealand's capacity to protect against sophisticated cyber threats.

The NCSC's main functions will be to provide advice and support to help develop secure networks, detect and respond to cyber threats, and coordinate responses to other cyber events of national importance.

"New Zealanders will benefit from enhanced protection of government data and services, and critical national infrastructure, which will help to protect critical services," Joyce says.

Note: in a piece of unfortunate timing, the NCSC opening comes at the same time as 14 government websites are knocked out due to a failed upgrade.