Aussie MPs to attend "cyber bootcamp" after nation's botched online census

Australian ministers and leading senior public servants will be required to attend a "cyber bootcamp" as the fallout from the nation's botched online census continues.

Australia's first online census was widely considered a costly failure, after the website was attacked by a number of Denial of Service (DoS) cyber attacks, something which prompted the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) to shut down the website for almost 48 hours.

In an effort to teach politicians and those involved in vital services about the importance of cyber security, a report examining the circumstances and handling of the census concluded that while the response to the DoS attacks "could have been worse," more needed to be done in preparation for such an occurrence.

The prime minister's cyber security chief Alastair MacGibbon handed down the results of his report on Thursday evening, and found the ABS had not properly prepared for the nation's first online census, while the fallout was also mismanaged.

"One of the government's most respected agencies - the ABS - working in collaboration with one of the technical world's most experienced companies - IBM - couldn't handle a predictable problem," the report said.

"The ABS's actions since only underscores the importance of culture: it has steadfastly refused to own the issue and acknowledge responsibility."

The report said the ABS not only "severely under-utilized social media as a communications tool," but it also "struggled to win back the trust of the public in the following days" when the census website failed to reappear online.

Many Australians refused to fill out the census in the following day out of fear for their private details.

MacGibbon's report also recommended that government ministers and public servants, such as the head of the ABS David Kalisch, attend a cyber security bootcamp "(to) educate participants about cyber security fundamentals and how to talk about issues with the public."

Overall, the report blamed the Australian government for failing to adequately oversee and prepare for the census.

"While many parties have not lived up to their responsibilities in delivering the 2016 census, the primary responsibility lies with the government," the report said.

The government has said it would accept all of the report's recommendations. Endit