SharkSmart

The Brief

An enterprise digital ecosystem delivering mission critical public safety alerts and cross agency coordination for NSW’s Shark Management Strategy.

SharkSmart is NSW Government’s authoritative platform for shark risk management and public safety coordination across NSW waterways. Operated by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), the platform supports real time shark detections, incident management, beach closure coordination, and public alerting as part of the statewide Shark Management Strategy. The platform serves as critical public safety infrastructure requiring high availability, data security, and coordinated information sharing across multiple government agencies and operational partners.

What the platform delivers:

• Public safety alerts in real time
• Role-based access across agencies
• Detection data from listening stations, drones and field teams
• Hosted in AWS Sydney

Improving people’s education and awareness of shark behaviour helps to reduce their risk of a shark encounter in NSW waters

Project Overview

A proven, reliable platform operating continuously since 2014 as critical government infrastructure.

Mobiddiction has worked with NSW DPIRD since 2014 to deliver and continuously operate the SharkSmart platform. That long engagement shows the platform’s reliability and its ability to change with government requirements. SharkSmart was originally delivered on Mobiconnect and has since been modernised onto M4, our multi-tenant platform. DPIRD’s program runs on its own separately provisioned infrastructure, on the same M4 codebase, released on its own schedule.

The platform operates as mission critical infrastructure where system reliability directly impacts public safety outcomes. High availability, secure data handling, audit logging, and disaster recovery capabilities are fundamental to the platform’s architecture, not optional features. The SharkSmart platform has acquired signoff by the Enterprise Architecture Review Board for major updates, with Mobiddiction working closely with NSW Government digital and cyber security specialists to ensure ongoing compliance with enterprise standards and security requirements.

The program includes public SharkSmart mobile apps for iOS and Android (including Apple and Android watches) and a SharkSmart PRO app for DPIRD staff and other authorised platform users such as drone operators, SLS NSW, drumline operators, and shark meshing contractors. These apps all connect to the SharkSmart platform via secure APIs.

How SharkSmart comes together on M4

SharkSmart runs on M4. Every program on M4 starts from the same managed core. We extend what a program needs to work differently, and craft only what exists nowhere else.

Core. Used as they are: sign-in, roles and permissions, workspaces, app users, content, media, API keys, teams and the AI assistant. SharkSmart’s assistant and its knowledge base are live.

Extended capability. Core features extended for SharkSmart, without changing them for anyone else. Alerts carry species, drumline, beach and detection detail. Push notifications carry species, beach and photo. Assessments award a badge on first pass. A 30-day notification journey links into the app. Scheduled data comes from the Bureau of Meteorology (tides and forecasts), Beachwatch (water quality) and timeanddate (sun times). Staff notifications cover alert review, escalation and beach closures.

Custom modules. Crafted only for SharkSmart and plugged into the core: the operator dashboard, drumline and drone operations, shark tagging and detection, and beach conditions.

Cross Agency Coordination and Role Based Access Control

Secure information sharing across multiple government agencies and operational partners with granular access controls.

SharkSmart supports complex multi agency coordination requiring sophisticated role based access control across organisational boundaries. The platform manages secure data access and operational permissions for multiple stakeholder organisations including Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), contracted drumline operators, shark meshing contractors, Surf Life Saving NSW, Surfing NSW, aerial drone surveillance operators, and Innovasea listening station technology providers.

The platform’s web admin console provides a flexible user and identity module, allowing users and roles to map to organisational structures across not just DPIRD but also external organisations like Surf Life Saving. Each organisation and user role has appropriate access to relevant operational data, incident information, and alert management capabilities based on their responsibilities within the Shark Management Strategy. This granular access control ensures operational data security while enabling coordinated response across agencies.

The platform includes workflow management and approval processes for incidents and alerts, allowing some users to report incidents and have them published in real time, while other less trained or trusted users have their reports go into a moderation and approval queue requiring more senior signoff before publishing those alerts. This tiered approach balances rapid response for time critical safety information with appropriate governance controls ensuring alert accuracy and reliability. The platform maintains full audit trails of user actions, approval workflows, and data access, meeting government accountability and compliance requirements.

Real Time Detection, Incident Management and Public Alerting

Integrated detection systems delivering time critical alerts to operational teams and the public.

The platform integrates multiple real time data sources including tagged shark detections from acoustic listening stations, verified shark sightings from beach patrols and aerial drone surveillance, beach closure notifications from SLS and local authorities, and incident reports from operational partners. This integrated approach provides a comprehensive situational awareness picture for both operational coordination and public safety communication.

When tagged sharks are detected by listening stations in NSW waters, the platform processes detection data and delivers real time notifications to subscribed users based on their location preferences and favourite beaches. Beach closure information is coordinated across agencies and published through public facing channels ensuring timely community awareness. Incident alerts support operational response coordination across Surf Life Saving, local councils, and DPIRD response teams.

The alert distribution system supports multiple delivery channels including mobile applications, web platforms, mobile push notifications, and smartwatch alerts, ensuring critical safety information reaches the public regardless of their preferred device or connectivity situation.

Enterprise Platform Foundation

Run on infrastructure built for public safety.

M4 is the managed platform behind SharkSmart. Developed and operated under Mobiddiction’s Information Security Management System, certified to ISO/IEC 27001:2022 by an independent, accredited auditor. It addresses NSW Government information security requirements including data encryption, access controls, security monitoring and incident response procedures.

The program runs on its own network, load balancer, application servers and database cluster in AWS Sydney, with rolling, health-gated releases. Operational data, detection records and incident information are stored in Australia. Audit logging records user actions, data changes and system events.

Regular security assessments, vulnerability management, and proactive platform maintenance ensure the system remains secure and reliable over its operational lifetime. Our ongoing support model includes incident response, performance monitoring, capacity management, and continuous enhancement aligned to evolving government requirements and technological standards.

Operational Maturity and Long Term Government Partnership

Continuous operation since 2014 for public safety.

The SharkSmart platform represents a sustained government partnership spanning more than a decade of continuous development, operation, and enhancement since 2014. This long term engagement demonstrates several critical factors relevant to government procurement: proven operational reliability of mission critical infrastructure, ability to evolve platforms to meet changing requirements without system replacement, sustained vendor capability and organisational stability, and deep understanding of government operating environments and compliance obligations.

Throughout this engagement we have run the platform continuously, shipped regular enhancements in response to stakeholder feedback, added new detection technologies and data sources as they became available, and adapted to changing NSW Government security and compliance standards.

The platform has scaled to support growing user populations, expanded geographic coverage, and increasing operational complexity while maintaining performance and reliability. This operational track record provides evidence of our capability to deliver and support enterprise government platforms over extended timeframes, not merely deploy initial solutions.

Public Safety Outcomes

Supporting informed decision making and risk awareness for NSW waterway users.

SharkSmart serves as the authoritative source of shark related safety information for NSW, helping swimmers, surfers, and other water users make informed decisions about entering NSW waterways. The platform provides educational resources about shark species and behaviour, risk assessment tools enabling personal risk evaluation, spatial information including shark meshing programs and alternate swimming locations, and real time detection alerts for tagged sharks near popular beaches.

The platform’s purpose is not to deter people from enjoying NSW waterways but rather to act as a trusted adviser providing timely, accurate information supporting individual risk assessment and decision making. This approach aligns with the Shark Management Strategy’s objective of balancing public safety awareness with maintaining the cultural and economic importance of NSW beaches and waterways.

The SharkSmart app provides key information and resources to users based on their location and favourite beaches they visit.

Continued Evolution and Enhancement

Ongoing strategic partnership delivering platform evolution aligned to NSW Government objectives.

The SharkSmart platform continues to evolve as an integral component of NSW Government’s Shark Management Strategy. Mobiddiction maintains an ongoing strategic partnership with DPIRD, providing continuous operational support, feature enhancement, and technology evolution. Recent platform enhancements include location based alerts providing automatic notifications when users are near beaches with recent detections, cellular smartwatch application enabling alerts directly to standalone smart watches without phone pairing, enhanced favourite beach management supporting personalised notification preferences, and expanded integration with additional detection and surveillance systems.

This continuous evolution model ensures the platform remains aligned with government objectives, incorporates emerging technologies, and responds to operational feedback from agencies and public users. Our sustained engagement demonstrates commitment to long term government partnerships rather than transactional project delivery.

Technology and Compliance Summary

• Platform Foundation: M4, Mobiddiction’s multi-tenant platform
• Information Security Management System: ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certified
• Data Sovereignty: AWS Cloud infrastructure hosted in Australian regions ensures all data is stored within Australia
• Access Control: Role based access control supporting multi agency coordination and alignment with organisational structures
• Availability: Redundant infrastructure with rolling, health-gated releases
• Compliance: NSW Government information security, privacy, and records management requirements
• Audit Capability: Comprehensive audit logging of user actions and system events
• Integration: Real time data ingestion from acoustic detection systems, aerial drone surveillance platforms, and incident reporting systems
• Delivery Channels: Mobile applications (iOS, Android, smartwatch), web platforms, mobile push notifications, secure APIs
• Operational Duration: Continuous operation since 2014
• Governance: Enterprise Architecture Review Board signoff for major updates