Australia’s strategy to become a global cyber leader by 2030
Australia has set out a roadmap to realise its vision of becoming a world leader in cyber security by 2030.
The 2023–2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy (13MB, PDF) sets out 6 cyber shields under which the Australian Government will seek to improve cyber security, manage cyber risks and better support citizens and businesses.
Each shield provides an additional layer of defence against cyber threats and places Australian citizens and businesses at its core:
- Strong businesses and citizens
- Safe technology
- World-class threat sharing and blocking
- Protected critical infrastructure
- Sovereign capabilities
- Resilient region and global leadership.
The 6 shields will be staggered over three horizons to 2030. The 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Action Plan (PDF, 2 MB) details the key initiatives that will start over the next 2 years.
Multimillion-dollar investment to boost cyber capabilities
The Australian Government will commit A$586.9 million to the Cyber Security Strategy out to 2030. This includes:
- A$290.8m to support small and medium business, build public awareness, fight cybercrime, break the ransomware business model, and strengthen the security of Australians’ identities
- A$4.8m to establish consumer standards for smart devices and software
- A$9.4m to build a threat sharing platform for the health sector
- A$143.6m to strengthen critical infrastructure protections and uplift government cyber security
- A$8.6m to professionalise the cyber workforce and accelerate the cyber industry in Australia
- A$129.7m to strengthen regional cooperation, cyber capacity uplift programs, and leadership in cyber governance forums on the international stage.
This funding is on top of a commitment to fund A$2.3 billion of existing related initiatives that will support the Cyber Security Strategy delivered by the Australian Signals Directorate out to 2030.
Opportunities in Australia’s cyber industry
There are strong opportunities for investors to help Australia boost cyber security and achieve its vision of becoming a cyber security world leader by 2030.
Australia is the world’s second most attractive destination for foreign direct investment for cyber security (Source: FDi markets). Australia generated the world’s ninth largest revenue in cyber security in 2022, growing around 9% per year on average (Source: AustCyber, Australia’s Cyber Security Sector Competitiveness Plan 2022). This makes it the perfect place to develop cyber security solutions and operate regional security operation centres.
Investors will find:
- a skilled talent pool underpinned by a pipeline of industry-ready vocational and tertiary graduates]
- a strong research ecosystem of world-leading universities, including 7 universities that are in the global top 100 for computer science, putting Australia in third place for most number of universities in the top 100 (QS World University Ranking 2022)
- growing domestic demand for cyber products and services. Australia’s IT spend is projected to grow 5.8% in 2023, two times faster than the world’s projected IT spend (2.4%) (Source: Gartner, Gartner Market Databook, 4Q22 Update, January 2023)
- a launchpad – with a shared time zone – to Asian cyber markets.
Find out more about Australia’s A$7 billion cyber security opportunity.
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