NSW Government Sets Public Cloud As Default Standard For Agencies

Adopting public cloud will now be the default for all government state agencies under a new principle that has been introduced by the New South Wales government under its new cloud strategy.

Under the new principle, Minister for Customer Service Victor Dominello said all agencies would embed a "public cloud by default" principle for all IT procurement decisions and have the "highest security, privacy, and contractual safeguards" when going to market for computing services.  

"It is a move that will accelerate innovation, modernise service delivery, and create better outcomes for the citizens of NSW," Dominello said in a statement on Friday.

"A modern and reliable cloud strategy and cloud policy will enable government-wide adoption of public cloud services in a united and secure manner."

According to the state government, the strategy has been designed to provide government agencies with a "common vision, direction, and approach for consuming cloud services".

It also touted that the strategy has been designed to lower cybersecurity and privacy risks. 

Last month, Service NSW revealed that the personal information of 186,000 customers was stolen because of a cyber attack earlier this year on 47 staff email accounts.  

Following a four-month investigation that began in April, Service NSW said it identified that 738GB of data, which compromised of 3.8 million documents, was stolen from the email accounts. 

Service NSW said it would progressively notify affected customers by sending personalised letters via registered post containing information about the data that was stolen and how they could access support, including access to an individual case manager to help with possibly replacing some documents. The agency expects to complete notifying customers in December.  

The introduction of cloud strategy is part of the state government's digital transformation program.

Most recently, Dominello vowed to make the state the digital capital of the southern hemisphere in the next three years and released the inaugural artificial intelligence strategy to help achieve that goal.

Prior to that, the NSW government launched its Smart Places Strategy and Smart Infrastructure Policy, which outlined how it plans to build sensors and technology into infrastructure and buildings.

Under that strategy, the government hopes to see all smart places be embedded with sensors and communications technology in infrastructure and the natural environment; see sensors and technology solutions be used to capture, safely store, and make government-acquired data available; and be able to communicate information and insights using the data to drive decisions. 

Dominello boasted that building smart tech into infrastructure and buildings would create jobs, enhance security, improve quality of life, reduce environmental impacts, and promote data sharing.

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