Australians should be prepared for unexpected interruptions to essential online services as organisations respond to mounting cyber threats, the Australian Signals Directorate has warned. The agency says protecting systems must take precedence over maintaining access, even when that requires services to be taken offline while security work is carried out.
In its annual cyber threat report, ASD said it handled 1,500 cybersecurity incidents during 2025-26, a 20% increase on the previous year. It also alerted businesses, governments and critical infrastructure operators, among other external organisations, to more than 4,400 potentially malicious cyber incidents. That notification figure rose 80% in a year.
The agency warned that hostile foreign governments, criminals and hackers were using artificial intelligence to collect intelligence, interfere with critical infrastructure and steal money. Australian government and private networks faced persistent attempts by state-based actors to breach their systems over the past year. ASD said actors in the Indo-Pacific could be conducting attacks in preparation for possible future conflicts, including intelligence gathering or disruption.
AI is helping attackers discover weaknesses and conduct operations more quickly and effectively, according to the report, which warned of heightened threats for every network owner. ASD said cybersecurity should be treated as a responsibility for organisational leaders and a central business risk. It urged businesses and critical infrastructure operators to adopt advanced AI models for defence, with tools that can identify vulnerabilities, detect suspicious activity and improve incident responses.
ASD director general Abigail Bradshaw said on Monday that Australia needed to accelerate improvements to its technology and cybersecurity foundations. She called for AI tools to automate defensive work and help organisations keep ahead of attackers using the same technology. Bradshaw has previously discussed ASD’s access to Anthropic’s Mythos model, which the developer said it could not release publicly because of its ability to identify previously unknown flaws in IT systems.
Australian government agencies regard access to advanced models and cooperation with leading AI laboratories as important to strengthening cyber defences. Defence minister Richard Marles urged Australians to improve their protections while taking advantage of AI. Home affairs and cybersecurity minister Tony Burke said the government was preparing Australia to respond to the threats and opportunities associated with emerging technologies.
Bradshaw identified ageing technology as a major vulnerability, particularly systems and devices whose makers no longer provide updates. Such equipment presents an attractive target for hackers. Last week, newly identified weaknesses in PHP, the programming language underpinning most websites, prompted governments and businesses to rush to address the problem.
ASD urged organisations to keep systems updated, report suspicious incidents and seek its assistance. Bradshaw and Marles said security should come before keeping systems online, potentially requiring more services to be temporarily unavailable as organisations secure them.