ASD and Splunk launch CTIS plug-in

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) has partnered with Cisco cybersecurity subsidiary Splunk to develop a plug-in to support the directorate’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing (CTIS) platform.

The plug-in integrates the Splunk Enterprise Security solution with the CTIS platform to allow Splunk customers who are also partners in the CTIS initiative to share and receive cyberthreat intelligence at machine speed.

The CTIS was introduced in March last year and has been mandatory for all Australian federal government agencies since July this year. The two-way sharing platform enables government and industry partners to coordinate to detect and defend against today’s increasingly sophisticated cyberthreats.

Splunk has become the second company to launch a CTIS integration in partnership with the ASD. The plug-in will enable government departments to meet the mandated requirement. It is also available to critical infrastructure providers and other private sector organisations to allow them to more easily participate in the national threat-sharing effort.

The integration builds on Splunk’s recent completion of an Information Security Registered Assessors’ Program (IRAP) assessment for its Splunk Observability Cloud, its 20th offering assessed under the IRAP framework.

Stephanie Crowe, head of the ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre, said that strengthening Australia’s cybersecurity capability is an imperative.

“No person, organisation or entity is immune from a cyber attack, but through closer partnerships between governments and the private sector we can collectively join forces to tackle cyberthreats to make Australia a harder target,” she said.

Splunk Group VP for Australia and New Zealand Marc Caltabiano added that collaborations between governments and industry are needed to address the rapidly evolving threat landscape.

“We must help our partners across government and industry build resilience and meet regulatory requirements,” he said. “This integration with ASD’s platform equips our customers with the intelligence to protect essential services and respond decisively as attacks grow in speed and sophistication.”

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