CDC Data Centres is investing $2.5 billion in its new Sydney data facilities as a precaution from the series of data breaches that rocked companies such as Medibank and Optus last year. 

According to the Australian, the tech services company has been steadily expanding its services in the last few years as more companies seek to house their data onshore rather than overseas. 

The company has already opened a $1.5 billion data centre in NSW, with the intention of spending $1 billion to make the site one of the biggest data management centres in the country. 

“The (Covid-19) recovery is to a large degree being technology-led and every single country is focused on data sovereignty,” CDC chief executive Greg Boorer told The Australian. 

“It would be horrible to contemplate a critical system that the government requires to keep citizens safe – health data or something like that – and it’s located in a different country and there is a denial of service from that country. It could be incredibly problematic.” 

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For the last two years, CDC has spent around $1 billion annually on increasing its data centres from 13 to 20 facilities. 

Mr Boorer states that the increasing number and sophistication of cyber attacks have brought data security to the top of national and organisational risks. This risk has then created a focus on the foundations of digital infrastructure. 

“We’ve come from an odd place in that we started working with the government first and not the commercial sector, so we have grown up with really strict rules on compliance, a focus on security,” Mr Boorer states. 

“With the most recent challenges, the entire digital economy has kind of moved in our direction, rather than to a lower security or a low availability preference.” 

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But while the CDC and other rival data centres continue to invest in the improvement of their operations, Mr Boorer says that they cannot completely fend off data breaches similar to that of Medibank and Optus. 

“The security that modern world-class data centres offer goes a long way to protecting the data because the availability of these systems is equally as important as the security,” he said. 

“But none of these things will protect data unless there is a holistic approach to security, all the way through the technology stack.” 

Mr Boorer states that companies still have the responsibility of securing their networks and systems from cyber attacks. 

It is expected that CDC’s total capacity will exceed 700MW in the period ahead, with 13 of its data centres spread across Canberra, Sydney and Auckland. CDC is also currently constructing another data centre in Melbourne. 

Source: The Australian. Content has been edited for style and length. 

Eliza Sayon

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Eliza is a content producer and editor at Public Spectrum. She is an experienced writer on topics related to the government and to the public, as well as stories that uplift and improve the community.

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