"Technology Units in the Australian Security Intelligence Organization"

 
 Organization
 The Australian Federal government is alive to the rising challenge on the use and growth of technology application both internally and across the globe. As such, such technology application as Edwards (2010, p.31) noted, has increased security and safety threats in the market. Consequently, in the late November 2014, the government launched the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). In this regard, the security unit was not a new creation, but a strategic move to assemble and establish a unitary coordination of previously existing units focusing on technology security issues across the States. Therefore, the ACSC led to the merging of the respective technology units in the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, the Australian Federal Police, and the Australian crime commission. As such, each of the participating security portfolios’ serving as the key funding partners for the agency operations based on their respective budget allocations. Moreover, the ACSC is placed as a direct responsibility of the Attorney General and the Minister of Defence, due to its legal and security operational mandates. 1.2 Crimes Countered The development of the agency was based on the need to establish a coordinated operational point through which online data and information on security could be seamlessly evaluated, analyzed and shared across Australian security agencies. As already noted, the organization is especially focused in combating cyber crimes in the Australian society. In this regard, as Tofan, Andrei and Dinca (2012, p.107) stated, technology changes and the increased rise of the application and use of the internet has led to the rise of cyber crimes such as terrorism planning, and cyber bullying, among others. Therefore, the organization seeks to develop a relevant and appropriate framework through which to counter the challenges. On one hand, the agency is mandated with the mandate of creating and raising awareness on the cyber security needs including sensitizing the public and the private entities on the challenge and risks associated with cyber security and as such promote the development of relevant proactive infrastructure to insulate such a segment against the potential cyber security threats. In this regard, the agency promotes and encourages the reporting of cyber security incidents proving such a reporting framework, despite their minimal magnitude across the Australian States. In addition, the agency is mandated with the role of investigating and analyzing any detected cyber security crimes. As such the Australian Government (2015) stated that that the venture analyses the magnitude, risk and threat level of such crimes and consequently reports to the authority and responsible law enforcement agencies for the execution of the relevant legal course of action. Further, the agency upon its full operational status by the end of the year intends to curb the cyber crimes through supporting and guiding the government cyber security regulations and policies through the provision of annual and regular cyber security reports, evaluating threats and risk areas, as well as the relevant recommended courses of actions. Therefore, based on the above analysis it is apparent that upon its full operational status acquisition, the ACSC seeks to regulate the cyber security market through the development of relevant infrastructure as well as legal and administrative policies to govern and safeguard the Australian market into the future. 1.3 Applied Technology and Framework The ACSC agency relies on the application of information communication technology (ICT) skill an expertise as well as technology data analysis. In this regard, through the drawing together of the existing agencies resources, the venture has acquired a highly qualified staff, intended to rise to above 1300 staff members by the end of 2015 enhances the data analytical capabilities.