Macquarie launches security centre for universities

Macquarie Cloud Services has launched a Security Operations Centre for Australasian universities and research institutions, available through CAUDIT.

The new centre targets higher education organisations facing an October deadline to strengthen cyber defences. It is aimed at universities and research institutions seeking to improve monitoring and meet security compliance requirements during that transition.

The Security Operations Centre provides around-the-clock support from engineers with government data clearances and is based onshore in Australia. Housed within Macquarie's data centre campus in Sydney, it is intended to address threats including insider breaches, nation-state activity and risks linked to older information technology systems.

Access to the service will be channelled through the Council of Australasian University Directors of Information Technology, the sector's peak body for ICT across higher education and research. The launch builds on an existing relationship between the two organisations following the introduction of CAUDIT Cloud, a cloud service for research and education.

Institutions in the sector have faced mounting cyber pressure in recent years as universities manage large volumes of sensitive data, research projects, and links to government, health and defence work. At the same time, many are dealing with ageing systems and shortages of specialist cyber staff, leaving gaps in monitoring and incident response.

The new service is designed to help institutions maintain a range of security standards and clearances, including ISO/IEC 27001, PCI-DSS, IRAP and the Essential Eight. Macquarie Cloud Services said it also uses artificial intelligence to reduce alert volumes and speed up investigations by security teams.

CAUDIT members will be able to migrate at no cost in less than a month and defer managed service fees until after the October deadline. The structure is intended to reduce overlapping costs for institutions moving from existing arrangements.

Macquarie Cloud Services is part of Macquarie Technology Group, which is listed on the ASX. The company said it provides managed security services to 42 per cent of Federal Government agencies, which it cited as evidence of the experience behind the higher education-focused service.

For universities, the timing reflects broader concern about the exposure of research networks and administrative systems to cyber attacks. Higher education institutions hold student and staff records, intellectual property and sensitive collaboration data, making them regular targets for criminal groups as well as state-backed actors.

Legacy technology remains a particular issue across the sector. Older equipment and complex networks can be harder to secure and monitor, especially where institutions have accumulated multiple systems over many years and must support both research activity and day-to-day administration.

CAUDIT represents universities and research institutions across Australasia and the South Pacific, with each member organisation represented by its most senior ICT executive. Its procurement role gives institutions a way to buy shared or sector-specific technology services without running separate negotiations for each organisation.

Karl Napper, Head of CAUDIT Cloud at Macquarie Cloud Services, said the threat environment for universities had become broader and more complex.

"Australia's third-level institutions deal with a range of threats, from malicious or accidental insider breaches to nation states looking to compromise one of our top export industries or researchers supporting healthcare, defence, and other critical industries," Napper said.

He said the required migration also gave institutions a chance to examine older systems and their broader cyber frameworks.

"Universities need to migrate given the October deadline, but there's an opportunity in that to take stock of their environments and consider what legacy systems they can upgrade, move to more modern security frameworks such as Zero Trust, and ultimately raise the security posture of an entire industry that matters so much to the economy," he said.