The event saw the Prime Minister observing a threat hunt with Macquarie’s “cyberwarriors,” which involved exploring a government agency’s IT infrastructure—using a library of more than 4,000 threat intelligence playbooks to look for patterns or compromise or vulnerabilities which could be exploited by cybercriminals.

Macquarie says the opening also marked the completion of the data centre in Macquarie’s Sydney Campus.

The data centre’s investment is worth more than $85 million and supported 1,200 construction, engineering, cyber security, and IT jobs throughout the pandemic.

The Prime Minister praised the IC3 East, describing it as “an example of the type of secure, sovereign infrastructure Australia needs to bolster our cyber security posture and accelerate the digital economy.”

“This centre we are finally opening today – is about the economy, it is about the digital world that is transforming the world, and it is about our security,” Morrison pointed out.

“Increasingly, our economy and our security depend on each other. This campus is about both – a mighty $200 million data centre, Australian owned, Australian operated, one of the most trusted and certified in Australia, with a team of highly trained engineers delivering up to 50 megawatts of data storage capability.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison emphasised that the economy and the country’s security depend on each other. He explained that the data centre is both: a $200 million data centre, Australian-owned and operated with a team of highly trained engineers delivering up to 50 megawatts of data storage capability.

“Our government has set a goal of Australia being a top 10 digital economy by 2030. An essential foundation of such a goal is trust and confidence, trust in the regulatory systems of a country, and confidence it can meet the increasing cyber challenges in our world. Espionage, disinformation, cyber-attacks, foreign interference, and economic coercion – these types of malignant activities mounting in our world,” Morrison said.

“The scale, frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks have increased. In fact, last year in Australia, a cyber-incident was reported every eight minutes. One quarter of these attacks targeted either our critical infrastructure or essential services. The fact is, the security of our critical digital infrastructure goes hand-in-hand with our national resilience. As we do more business online – and hold more information online – ensuring the protection of our data and our networks is more critical than ever,” Morrison added.

The official opening comes timely as Macquarie a signed a million-dollar contract with a global corporation for circa 10 megawatts (MW) of data centre capacity.

The deal led Macquarie to increase its planned opening capacity for IC3 East.

It also preceded the company’s plans to build another data centre – its largest ever facility – at the Macquarie Park Data Centre Campus. IC3 Super West will increase the Campus’ overall capacity to 50MW.

Macquarie Government managing director Aidan Tudehope claimed IC3 East has the capability, capacity, and scale to support Australian government organisations as they encounter increased cyber threats.

“The world has changed quite dramatically in recent years and particularly in recent months. This has had a direct impact on the level of cybercriminal activity which is landing on Australian shores,” he said.

“Macquarie is privileged to partner with more than 42% of Federal Government agencies and personnel, protecting them against cyber threats through our secure, sovereign Data Centre Campuses in Sydney and Canberra.”

Macquarie Data Centre group executive David Hirst added that the event showcased the importance of secure cloud and data centre infrastructure to power Australia’s digital economy.

“The government has underscored the importance of cyber security and data sovereignty, including through the Cyber Security Strategy; decision for all government data to be stored in onshore Certified Strategic or Certified Assured data centres; and the Critical Infrastructure Bill, which formally recognised key data storage, telecommunications, and processing industries as Australian critical infrastructure,” Hirst explained.

Macquarie says the IC3 East is built in accordance to the latest physical and cyber security standards essential to store and protect data in Australia.

This includes Federal Government-level SCEC Zone 3 or higher security, ISO 27001, and SOC 2. It is staffed 24x7x365 by government-cleared engineers and incorporates ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety management) and ISO 14001 (environmental management) to meet modern business requirements.