Cybersecurity services

CAUDIT provide a range of services to help members adopt appropriate risk profiles and counter ever-increasing cybersecurity threats, and, in doing so, helps safeguard the intellectual property and reputation of Australasia’s universities. In addition to the direct provision of support, CAUDIT performs a valuable coordinating and advisory role, working together in a trusted community, delivering economies of scale and helping mature sector cybersecurity capabilities – people, processes, technology.

Our approach to cybersecurity is agile and we take feedback from Members to continually evolve our program. An overview of some of the CAUDIT cybersecurity services are:
 

Sector third party risk assessments

Through a sector offer, CAUDIT provides third party risk assessments to enable institutions to assess the risks of vendor offerings and solutions. We take a combined approach of online assessment and The Higher Education Community Vendor Assessment Tool (HECVAT). For more information click here.

Virtual webinar series

We host a regular webinar series, which covers sector specific topics including member stories and best practices/lessons learned. These are generally held on Tuesdays between 1-2pm AEST.

Benchmarking

CAUDIT runs 3 cybersecurity specific benchmarking activities annually. This includes baseline, systems, and maturity an provide insight into the sector, which are valuable for planning, strategy, and overview of sector cybersecurity trends.

The CISO group

CAUDIT facilitates a CISO email group, which is comprised of the senior cybersecurity member within institutions with responsibility for cybersecurity . This is a private forum for CISOs to share experiences, threat intelligence, and other matters relevant to the group. The CISO group meet monthly, have an active email communication list, and collaborate providing thought leadership, priorities for the sector, share challenges and good practice. All Australian and New Zealand institutions have active members. 

AHECS Cybersecurity Community of Practice (CoP)

The AHECS Cybersecurity CoP has over 450 active members from all Australian and New Zealand institutions. The CoP is an active community with regular webinars by peers, international peers, industry and government and have a Slack channel for communication sharing updates, threat intelligence and good practice. 

Additionally, CAUDIT Communities of Practice membership is open to the IT, library, and research support staff of CAUDIT member organisations. Members may join as many as they wish. These provide a valuable way to connect with likeminded peers, and share information, via a dedicated email list and Teams Channel. Cybersecurity is featured in two of the current special interest groups – data loss prevention, and security awareness. The Security Awareness group also meet monthly to share experiences and help support each other in internal awareness and culture programs.

AHECS Cybersecurity Summit

The AHECS Cybersecurity Summit, launched in 2020, is an annual conference developed by the sector for the sector, and is specifically focused on the Higher Education and Research Cybersecurity, Identity Management and Privacy Community. The Summit is a unique opportunity for cybersecurity professionals within the sector to meet in person annually, and share their experiences, lessons, challenges, as well as connect socially to foster the community engagement.

Government engagement

CAUDIT engages with Government, strategic partners (nationally and internationally), suppliers and partners, on behalf of the sector regarding a range of items including legislation, compliance, systems, and threat intelligence.

Four-Nation Cyber Security Study Tour

The Cybersecurity Virtual Study Tour, launched in 2020, brings together delegates from around the world to consider the cybersecurity challenges currently facing institutions everywhere, share best practices and threat intelligence, as well as seek opportunities for collaboration. The tours are a collaborative activity delivered by CAUDIT in partnership with peer organisations globally. Whilst COVID put these on hold for a couple of years, we are planning a tour to US and Canada in 2024. Information on the 2024 tour will be available in Q1.

Cybersecurity help and shared resources 

CAUDIT acts on behalf of the sector to undertake activities which save Members time and resources, such as obtaining legal advice and advocating to Government. Also, working together with CAUDIT members, we develop a range of resources including ‘best practice’ and general templates which you can utilise for your institutions (i.e., threat assessments, ransomware response plans, etc). The AHECS and CAUDIT websites contains webinar recordings, upcoming events, threat assessments, resources, and updates from the community. Members can authenticate with their university login.

Threat intelligence and AHECS ISAC

Working with AHECS partners, Government, market leaders, and Government, we share threat intelligence when received either the CISO group, and/or cybersecurity community. AusCERT facilitate an information sharing and analysis centre, the AHECS ISAC, using AusCERTs MISP.

Cybersecurity procurement panel

CAUDIT negotiates sector pricing, to ensure the sector can access services and provisions at the best possible pricing.

CAUDIT Partner Program

CAUDIT facilitates showcases so Members can preview third party products and services, without having to spend the time to review the market and meet the vendors themselves.

If you have any questions about AHECS or CAUDIT cybersecurity services, please contact Nikki Peever.