In other public sector ICT and digital news for 7 September 2021:

• The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has challenged public and private sector organisations to test their cyber and forensic skills. The new online simulated cyber incident tool was designed as a training exercise for cyber security staff and was initially launched at the BSides Canberra Conference in April 2021. The test can be downloaded here.
• There have been some major appointments across the Australian public sector, including Brenton Philp as the Deputy Secretary of Early Childhood and Childcare at the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and Peter Johnstone as the NSW Chief Magistrate.
• The NSW Department of Customer Service has released a tender seeking to diversify the state’s cloud platforms and services. This plan is intended to advance the adoption of public cloud and reduce costs. It comes as part of the government’s ‘public cloud first’ policy, which requires agencies to use public cloud services by default.
• Accenture has scored $70 million worth of tech contracts with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). These contracts include a $35 million deal for Accenture to maintain and improve the ATO’s online platform and $28 million for IT services for the superannuation change program.
• NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced that the state is contemplating introducing its own proof-of-vaccination app that will allow residents to sign into venues and access their vaccination certificates within the same app to streamline check-ins.