Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC)

Based in Melbourne, Australia the Oceania Cyber Security Centre (OCSC) is a not-for-profit cybersecurity assessment, evaluation and research organisation that conducts evidence-based cybersecurity capacity building in the Indo-Pacific. Jointly owned by eight Victorian Universities, the OCSC is focused on building regional capabilities through a mix of national cybersecurity capacity assessments, independent evaluations, localised research, and educational programs. We do this by working with local and international stakeholders from industry, government, the private sector, and academia to build partnerships that maximise efficiency and improve outcomes for the region and globally.

The OCSC is the regional implementor of the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model for Nations (CMM). We work in partnership with the Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre (GCSCC) at the University of Oxford to conduct national cybersecurity capacity assessments in the Indo-Pacific using the CMM. These assessments take a best practice approach to inform the initial phase of National Cybersecurity Strategy development process, helping countries to identify their own priorities for the strategy and capacity building activities. As of March 2023, OCSC have deployed the CMM to: Samoa; Tonga; Vanuatu; Papua New Guinea; the Federated States of Micronesia, Tuvalu, the Cook Islands and Nauru.

Following a CMM review, the OCSC works with countries to co-develop evidence-based Cybersecurity Roadmaps informed by the CMM review, key stakeholders, and research. The Roadmap is thus responsive to the country’s own priorities and context and aligned with existing
local and regional programmes to avoid duplication, guiding the country through the revision or development and implementation of their National Cybersecurity Strategy. OCSC offers expert independent evaluation of programs as they happen to enable implementors to correct course and ensure better outcomes, or post-implementation to improve practice. A second CMM review provides a robust mechanism to measure program impact.