Australian Cyber Strategy: Security Prioritized Over Uptime

The Australian Signals Directorate advises the public to expect interruptions to essential online services as organizations prioritize system security over continuous availability. The agency stated in its annual cyber threat report that protecting infrastructure must take precedence, even when it requires taking services offline for maintenance.

ASD recorded 1,500 cybersecurity incidents during the 2025-26 period, marking a 20% increase from the previous year. The agency also notified external organizations, including businesses, governments, and critical infrastructure operators, of more than 4,400 potentially malicious incidents. This notification figure rose by 80% over the past twelve months.

The report identifies hostile foreign governments, criminals, and hackers as primary threats, noting their increased use of artificial intelligence for intelligence gathering, infrastructure interference, and financial theft. ASD observed persistent attempts by state-based actors to breach Australian networks, with some actors in the Indo-Pacific region potentially preparing for future conflicts through disruption and data collection.

According to the agency, AI enables attackers to discover weaknesses and execute operations with greater speed and efficiency. ASD urges organizational leaders to treat cybersecurity as a central business risk and to adopt advanced AI models for defense. These tools are designed to identify vulnerabilities, detect suspicious activity, and improve incident response times.

Director General Abigail Bradshaw announced on Monday that Australia must accelerate improvements to its technology foundations. She called for the automation of defensive work using AI to help organizations stay ahead of attackers. Bradshaw previously discussed ASD’s access to Anthropic’s Mythos model, a tool the developer kept private due to its capability to identify previously unknown flaws in IT systems.

Government officials emphasized the importance of leveraging advanced models and cooperation with AI laboratories. Defence minister Richard Marles and home affairs minister Tony Burke stated that the government is preparing Australia to address emerging technological threats. They reiterated that security should come before keeping systems online, which may result in temporary service unavailability.

Bradshaw identified ageing technology as a major vulnerability, particularly systems whose manufacturers no longer provide updates. Last week, newly identified weaknesses in PHP, the programming language supporting most websites, forced governments and businesses to rush updates. ASD urged organizations to keep systems updated, report suspicious incidents, and seek assistance when needed.