The Federal Government has announced the new Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) will be established in Canberra this year.

In announcing the formation of the new centre, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said the ACSC would draw upon the skills of the nation’s top cyber security experts and will act as the central hub of the Government’s cyber security efforts. 

The ACSC will include cyber security operational capabilities from the Defence Signals Directorate, Defence Intelligence Organisation, Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, the Attorney-General’s Department’s Computer Emergency Response Team Australia, Australian Federal Police and the Australian Crime Commission. 

Ms Gillard said the new centre will be tasked with analysing the nature and extent of cyber threats, and will lead the Government’s response to cyber security incidents.

The announcement by Ms Gillard comes after recent statistics found that over 400 significant cyber related incidents against government systems in 2011-12. 

The same statistics show that, in 2012, over 5.4 million Australians were victims of cyber crime with an estimated cost of $1.65 billion to the economy.

The formation of the new centre forms part of the Federal Government’s Australia’s National Security Strategy initiative which was announced earlier this month.