NZ exposed to cyber attacks
Project to update Defence Force tech plagued by issues
A$182.5 million project to upgrade the New Zealand Defence Force’s IT infrastructure has been plagued by challenges and delays, leaving New Zealand increasingly exposed to cyber threats and out of touch with its allies.
A shift of the New Zealand Defence Force’s (NZDF) IT to the cloud and improved connectivity between defence headquarters (HQ) and bases were meant to be established by 2021/22, according to a 2019 strategic document.
But the major upgrades are yet to be delivered, despite about $100m being spent, two sources familiar with the project said.
Transformation programme
The NZDF started an IT transformation programme towards a “modern and secure infrastructure” in 2019.
The upgrades were “core requirements for the NZDF to operate as a networked combat force”. Existing in-house IT infrastructure was out of date, and performance was “significantly slowed and degraded”, a Cabinet paper said.
This came with increased costs and increased security and data integrity risks, including vulnerability to cyber threats. Cabinet approved a business case for the investment in 2020.
“The nature of modern warfare is changing, with new military capabilities expected to generate vast amounts of data. The full benefits of investment in new military capability can only be realised if the Defence Force can effectively capture, store, integrate and disseminate data and insights generated by new capabilities, including having the ability to integrate with our allied partners where necessary,” the Cabinet paper said.
The “whole of life” cost of the cloud and connectivity projects would be $182.5m over a five-year period, starting in the 2020/21 financial year. The NZDF would use its operational baseline funding for the projects.
‘Starved of resources’
According to another report, the cloud and connectivity projects had a 2021 deadline for delivery. But by 2022, the projects were yet to be delivered.
They were renamed the Digital Information Programme (DIP) and formally approved by NZDF governance in September 2022, according to official information.
A source said the DIP should have been delivered by the end of 2022. Instead, it was “starved of resources” despite its crucial importance in protecting Aotearoa from digital warfare.
“In the future, most warfare will be digital. As part of the Five Eyes network, we are falling far behind if we don’t adopt these digital products. This is a crucial programme of work to lift the capability of NZDF and to bring it on par with its partners,” the source said.
The source said the project was yet to be delivered after wasting more than three years and an estimated $100m spent on contractors, internal staffing and technology.
The team working on it made several attempts to escalate their concerns with NZDF’s governance, to no avail.
Agile methodology
The project was to be developed under a “scaled agile framework” methodology, where improvements are made iteratively, allowing methods to be tested and improvised.
As a result, the team could not plan long-term and battled for resources within the wider digital team, the source said.
Challenges and delays
The cloud and connectivity projects faced challenges, which delayed their delivery, the NZDF’s chief of staff, Air Commodore A.J. Woods, said.
“These challenges included balancing resourcing, technical design issues, delays in progressing cases through Cabinet for approval and supply chain issues.”
The NZDF could not provide BusinessDesk with the cost of the projects to date because the funding came from within the Defence Digital Group (DDG) baseline.
Defence digital budget
According to official data, in the five years to 2022/23, the DDG’s budget was $653.5m, including about $108m spent on contractors and consultants.
The transformation programme had three goals, to be delivered sequentially to enable the networked combat force by 2025, Woods said. The programme delivered “the digital operating model” by 2022, and parts of the cloud and connectivity projects would be delivered by December.
The Government committed $408m to the NZDF over four years to upgrade dated equipment and infrastructure in the 2024 Budget. The upgrades included “some digital services and a modernisation of devices and productivity tools”. The NZDF was one of the agencies excluded from spending reductions the Government demanded of public services.
In the future, most warfare will be digital.
NZDF source