The Labor government will commit more than $89 million over the next four years to sustain and enhance cyber security initiatives, it was announced in last night’s budget.

A further $160.4 million was allocated to the Services Australia Cyber SecurityUplift program, bolstering security around digital services such as MyGov and Centrelink.

Cyber security expert Brendan Walker-Munro said the government can do more to protect its most vulnerable netizens. 

“There is always more that the government can do and the question really comes down to money,” said Walker-Munro.

“They’ve got to recognise that we have an aging population.

“Everybody now has someone in their family or someone they know that’s been hit by a scam or a hack or a data breach.”

While the government has invested in advertisement campaigns to encourage individuals to take steps to guard their digitally accessible details, Australia’s cyber strategy is generally lagging behind global technological developments. 

The government has got to start making sure that their own house is in order.

“For example, the United States has just started to move all of their cryptographic standards to something that can resist a potential quantum computer. They want to have that in place by 2029,” said Walker-Munro.

Hacking groups have taken advantage of gaps in the Australian cyber shield with higher education institutions particularly at risk. 

ANU has been hacked twice in the past decade. WSU was breached by a former student in 2025. 

Last week, learning management system Canvas was breached by ShinyHunters, a black hat hacking group who stole confidential information impacting students from approximately 9,000 institutions globally, including The University of Technology Sydney and other Australian universities.

The government’s Cyber Security Strategy Action Plan establishes six shields of protection, starting with small businesses and civilians.

However, for this plan to work, Walker-Munro said: “The government has got to start making sure that their own house is in order. Having systems that go down because of cyber issues doesn’t further that at all.”

Main image by B Klug/Flickr.