AWS to help protect against cyber security incidents

New Zealanders continue to embrace digital technology, ranking fourth in the 2020 United Nations E-Participation Index. For any organisation taking part in the digital world, it’s vital they take steps to ensure they do so in a way that is safe and secure for their staff and customers. Without the right protection, security incidents can cause harm, disruption and financial loss. Today, we are seeing customers bolster their cyber security posture by moving from point-in-time compliance, to one of continuous assurance.

Today, we are excited to launch the New Zealand Information Security Manual (NZISM) Conformance Pack for AWS, developed in conjunction with the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), to help government agencies and New Zealand organisations assess the compliance of their AWS cloud environment against more than 150 NZISM security controls. Available now, the NZISM Conformance Pack gives organisations a continuous assurance process that shows the real-time status of their environment, displayed in a user-friendly dashboard style report. This enables all AWS customers to make compliance a continuous activity. Developing the NZISM Conformance Pack involved several public sector agencies, and is accompanied by a comprehensive training and support program.

The AWS NZISM Conformance Pack can easily be accessed from here, a central resource that provides on-demand access to AWS’ security and compliance reports, and select online agreements.

A culture of security to help protect New Zealand government and business

Security is our top priority at AWS, and we are working hard to support the New Zealand Government’s efforts to reduce risk and improve security assurance.

At AWS, we maintain the highest standards for data security and offer the most flexible and secure cloud computing environment available today. Our world-class core infrastructure is built to satisfy the security requirements for governments, global banks, and other high-sensitivity organisations. We support more security standards and compliance certifications than any other offering, and millions of active customers around the world trust us with some of their most sensitive information.

In May of this year, we launched the AWS Security and Privacy Knowledge Hub for New Zealand and Australian customers to build knowledge, capability, and security skills through local information, expert advice, and practical resources. This Hub is part of our ongoing commitment to invest in education and initiatives that support customers, partners, and industry, and help them build skills to unlock the full potential of the cloud. The Hub provides a central knowledge base for AWS cloud security and privacy information, including best practice advice on security and privacy standards, data privacy in New Zealand and Australia, government security compliance, guides, tools, and much more.

AWS also offers over 40 Training and Certification courses, self-paced labs, an AWS Certified Security – Specialty certification, and other resources to raise everyone’s security competence. These training offerings provide the opportunity for individuals to develop and enhance their security skills and address critical cybersecurity needs in their organisations.

Continued investment in New Zealand

These initiatives are part of AWS’s ongoing investment in New Zealand, which began eight years ago with the opening of our first local operation in Aotearoa. Today, AWS has thousands of active customers across the country using our services each month to innovate quickly, increase operational efficiencies, and take their ideas to the world. New Zealand has a rich community of innovators and entrepreneurs, and we support their tenacity and ambition to build and grow world-leading businesses. That’s why we are continuing to deepen local investments so our customers, including Air NZ, BNZ, Consegna, Contact Energy, Deloitte, Department of Conservation, Education Perfect, Orion Health, Sharsies, UneeQ, University of Auckland, Vodafone, and Xero to name a few – can access the latest technology to improve their customer experience, lower operating costs and expand into global markets.

Today we employ more than 100 people across our new Auckland and Wellington offices, with roles ranging from data scientists, cloud engineers, solutions architects, to sales and account managers. We have a national team dedicated to public sector engagement, with specific knowledge and expertise to support government needs.

AWS works closely with the public and private sector, to not only ensure that our infrastructure and services exceed the highest standards for security, but that customers can use it to build secure foundations for their digital future.