Award sign of confidence in GCSB

The Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) has won a top Building Trust and Confidence in Government award for its cyber-security CORTEX project, a turnaround for the much-maligned spy agency.

The GCSB and the CORTEX project itself came under sustained fire from privacy watchdogs in 2014 upon launch, as the project involves mass collection of data.

The agency was recognised by the Institute of Public Administration NZ at a Wellington ceremony on Wednesday night.

Alongside its traditional role spying on communications, the GCSB assists government agencies and some private sector companies with cyber-defence.

This is done via CORTEX, a suite of software that can be built into the networks of government departments and some top private sector companies or ‘‘nationally significant organisations’’ – with their consent.

The GCSB says the amount of money saved by stopping cyberthreats was $39.47 million in its first year of operation.

GCSB director Andrew Hampton was pleased to win the award as the bureau had tried to be more open of late. This follows the damning Kitteridge report in 2013, which revealed the GCSB illegally spied on up to 85 people and had a corrosive culture.

‘‘The nature of our business means much of what we do is in secret, so there’s often only limited opportunities to talk publicly. We have the ability to exercise what are, at times, quite intrusive powers. It’s, therefore, really important the public has some trust and confidence in what we do.’’

‘‘The nature of our business means that much of what we do is in secret.’’

GCSB director Andrew Hampton