The Australian government has announced the establishment of the Council of Registered Ethical Security Testers, or CREST.

CREST is a pretty big deal in the UK. Over there it's an extremely serious series of tests that can give hiring organisations a semi-reliable indication that a tester knows what they're doing. If you don't have your CREST certification, there's work you simply can't do.

But who knows what it'll morph into here -- the jury isn't just out, it hasn't even been empanelled yet. Government involvement isn't usually a good start.

You can read the Attorney General's announcement here.

Interesting to note that former Australian Federal Police agent (that was years ago now) Alastair MacGibbon is the CEO of CREST Australia.

He has zero background in security testing but his appointment makes sense -- it wouldn't be politically possible to appoint a CEO from a professional services organisation.

This way there's no conflict of interests.