Australia must be at forefront of global cyber security threat response

As Australia plays a leading role in the International Counter Ransomware Taskforce while shoring up the nation's cyber posture, it's timely to assess the opportunities, risks, and gaps Australia is now seeking to stay one step ahead of cybercriminals and protect the data of the Australian people, institutions and organisations.

One key issue to address is the need for greater agility in how Canberra approaches cyber. Our approach must go beyond getting the basics right. The threat landscape is far more sophisticated in 2023 than even last year, such is the ever-evolving cyber threat. Our cyber security basics should already be automated and built into the security culture and IT systems, and the necessary behaviour change within public and private organisations should be well advanced.

Automation and agility are important because cyberattacks move faster than other technological front lines. Today's threats need to be analysed, suppressed and automated in the knowledge tomorrow's cyberattacks will be different and almost certainly more advanced. Cyber is an ever-evolving battle domain.

The ability to match this evolution requires specific expertise that needs to be homegrown - particularly given the threats we face from state actors - constantly refined and evolved. For the Commonwealth, there is merit in ensuring that domain expertise, currently held in government portfolio clusters, is fully utilised to provide contextual intelligence relevant to the cyber landscape and threats observed.

The experience of 'applied intelligence' helps convert volumes of cyber threat intel (CTI) into response prioritisation and remedial action, ensuring we can move faster than our cyber adversaries.

To achieve this outcome, offshoring our cyber security teams is sub-optimal. Local sovereign expertise needs to be protected, grown and put to work to protect a small number of portfolio lead agencies which will collectively protect all Federal Government networks, systems and data.

The government's cyber hubs program, part of the Hardening Government IT (HGIT) Initiative, is nearing the end of its proof-of-concept phase, testing this philosophy. The program has tasked four lead agencies (Defence, ATO, Home Affairs and Services Australia) to uplift their capabilities and develop an operating model necessary to improve the cyber security of smaller agencies, which will be brought under each hub over coming years.

The Australian Taxation Office has been an exemplar in enhancing its cyber posture. It recently expanded its secure internet gateways, data centre capabilities, and ramped up myriad protections for financial, personal and other sensitive data belonging to Australian organisations and citizens.

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As the cyber hubs program matures further, a key challenge is the expertise needed to develop a final blueprint. The cyber security sector is suffering from its worst skills deficit ever, right when we need skills more than ever. AustCyber estimates Australia needs nearly 17,000 cyber workers in the next three years to satisfy demand. The ACT has perhaps the greatest need, but a much smaller pool to choose from.

While cyber is and must be a key focus for all government agencies, it isn't the core mission of any of them. Cyber security is an essential security service protecting each agency - tailored to the specific operating environments of portfolios and individual agencies. The breadth of portfolio priorities makes it challenging to deliver ongoing skills uplift, and iterative technology development, much less retaining the expertise needed to maintain a strong cyber posture. This is where Australia's sovereign cyber security industry must play a leading role.

As Canberra continues to progress its cyber agenda, and with the world watching, we need to enshrine the importance of continuous innovation here in Australia, with government and industry working in partnership to create sovereign expertise and capability. Staying still and maintaining the status quo is the biggest risk of all.