Australian government signs AWS to deliver $2bn top-secret cloud

The Australian government’s top-secret cloud infrastructure will be built and run by AWS to host the country’s defence and intelligence data.

The ‘TS Cloud’ will cost at least $2 billion over the next decade, and will substantially “bolster Australia’s cyber capabilities”, prime minister Anthony Albanese and deputy prime minister and Defence minister Richard Marles said in a statement.

It will be “purpose-built for Australia’s Defence and national intelligence community agencies to host, share and analyse “our nation’s most classified data at speed and at scale, and provides opportunities to harness leading technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning.”

In addition, the TS Cloud is expected to boost the “resilience of Defence’s communications networks”, and support “greater interoperability and deeper collaboration with the United States.”

AWS’ experience with classified cloud services, and longstanding presence in Australia, got it over the line, according to the government.

Australian businesses are set to be engaged by AWS “to design and build the TS Cloud”, according to the government, though it was not clear in what capacity this work might proceed.

Australian Signals Directorate director-general Rachel Noble said that the TS Cloud will be “a vital part of [the] REDSPICE program which is lifting our intelligence and offensive and defensive cyber capabilities.”

REDSPICE is a separate, decade-long, $10 billion effort to boost Australia’s cyber security capabilities.

Meanwhile, Office of National Intelligence (ONI) director-general Andrew Shearer said the TS Cloud would “drive even closer integration, sharing and collaboration between agencies, greater resilience, and greater interoperability with our most important international intelligence partners.”

“As program sponsor on behalf of the national intelligence community, ONI considers the Top Secret Cloud will help lay the foundation for a connected, modern and resilient intelligence community,” he said.

AWS’ worldwide public sector vice president Dave Levy said the provider “is excited to embark on this strategic partnership with the Australian government, to provide our most innovative, efficient, and effective cloud services to help Australia enhance its national defence capabilities and protect its citizens.” 

In the US, a similar secret cloud is now being built by four different providers, including AWS, although an earlier iteration of the project was awarded solely to Microsoft before being canned.