Information in the digital age is the lifeblood of many organisations, whether they be Government agencies or private sector organisations. With the constant threat of cyber-attack, cyber security is a challenge for many organisations with limited budgets and staff. As a law enforcement agency, the Western Australia Police Force is not only responsible for investigating cyber-crime, but also to assist in the prevention of cyber-crime.

The WA Police Force have created a special publication of best practice information security standards and guidelines to:

• Enhance organisations' cyber-security programs to prevent cyber-attack and cyber-crime.
• Protect WA citizens' data.

The WA Police Force hopes that making its Information Security Best Practice Standards and Guidelines available to the public, it will assist in them improving cyber-security.

Whilst there are a number of high level information security frameworks and management systems such as ISO 27001, and the Australian Signals Directorate’s Information Security Manual, these publications are aimed at CIOs & CISOs. We have taken those recommendations and written some best practice standards and guidelines that government agencies and private sector organisations can adopt as their own.

I would like to acknowledge the Australian Signals Directorate, the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the International Standards Organisation for their leadership and contributions. Whilst in some instances, we have lowered the minimum standards recommended by these organisations, we've taken a pragmatic approach, recognising that many organisations in Western Australia are unlikely to be able to fully comply with some of the standards published by ASD or NIST.

WA Police Force not only encourages organisations to adopt what we consider minimum standards and pragmatic guidelines, but also to actively collaborate by contributing improvements and suggestions.

Mr Hai Tran - Chief Information Security Officer

These are critically important documents for not just WA Police Force, but for Western Australia. Without a clear minimum set of Standards and Guidelines being defined, I found during my time at the Office of Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) now Office of Digital Government (ODG) that many organisations were struggling to understand what they should be striving for to ensure the security of not just their data but WA citizens’ data. This is critically important in an increasing digital age where we are pushing data outside the traditional boundaries of the agency network and enabling our police officers.

Organisations can use this publication to empower their personnel, by providing them with a powerful decision support mechanism. When in doubt, personnel can read the publication and make informed decisions. Personnel can rest assured that if they comply with standards and guidelines and something goes wrong, they have made the best decision possible. By adopting these standards and guidelines it helps organisations be more agile and flexible, because no longer will “Security won’t allow it” be an acceptable excuse. This publication clearly articulates to everyone what is required to ensure reliable information is available to those who need it.

We are happy to share this under a Creative Commons licence because it will help improve the security standards for all of WA Government and our citizens trust us with their information.

Mr Andrew Cann - Chief Information Officer

These documents, are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0). You are free to re-use the work under that licence, under the following terms:

• Attribute the WA Police Force as author, indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
• You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits. Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Attribution: © Western Australia Police Force 2019

Notice Identifying Other Material and/or Rights in this Publication: The Creative Commons licence does not apply to the WA Police Force Logo. Permission to reuse the WA Police Force logo can be obtained from the WA Police Force Corporate Communications Branch: [email protected].