The Department of Human Services over five years ago kicked off the program of work[1] to basically replace the then-30-year-old Income Security Integrated System (ISIS) that is used to distribute welfare to Australians.
The project, known as the Welfare Payment Infrastructure Transformation (WPIT) program, was slated to cost around AU$1.5 billion and run from 2015 to 2022.
The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) last month handed down its examination of WPIT, finding the former department, now known as Services Australia, had "largely appropriate arrangements" in many areas, but was lacking on the cyber and cost monitoring fronts[2].
Agency representatives told Senators last week that it was currently working on the recommendations made by ANAO.
"We would agree with the ANAO report at that time that there were components of the system that have not been accredited, we have an approved program of work that is going through that accreditation program now," Services Australia general manager cyber services Tim Spackman said.
"I think it's worth noting that there is a number of components to that system and even small changes require re-accreditation throughout that process -- it's not a set and forget scenario."
Spackman said the department has worked closely with the Australian Cyber Security Centre and that it has a "really good capability" in its 24/7 cyber operation centre.
Specifically, Spackman said the department is currently looking at the ISIS component and has "done the lion's share of that work". He said completion is due before the year is out.
"I would like to stress though, that the accreditation piece does not mean that nothing's happening in the interim, we are continually looking at maturing our cyber capability," he continued. "We just need to accept some of the mitigations and put that into