The Federal Government wants to create a new national cybersecurity office. 

The Albanese Government is set to revamp Australia’s $1.7 billion cyber security plan, which was established under the leadership of former Prime Minister Scott Morrison following the Optus and Medibank hacks. 

The plan will be led by a new coordinator for cyber security within the Home Affairs Department. 

Home Affairs Minister Clare O'Neil stated that the previous cyber laws were exposed as inadequate, citing the Optus and Medibank hacks as examples. 

The government will establish a national cyber office, which will include an emergency response function to manage attacks with a coordinated strategy. 

In addition, the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act will be rewritten to incorporate customer data and “systems” into the definition of critical infrastructure, giving the government the power to intervene in major data breaches. 

The government is also considering a new Cyber Security Act that would impose new obligations and standards across industry and government. 

The government hopes to have the new cyber coordinator in place within a month. 

Former Telstra boss Andy Penn says governments, not just business, need to toughen up their cybersecurity protections to stop the theft of Australians’ sensitive data. 

Mr Penn is on the federal government’s cybersecurity advisory panel. He has also pushed for changes that would let the Australian Signals Directorate take over a company’s IT system following a major cybersecurity breach.

“We’re seeing business really call out and saying, we need better guidance on what are the minimum standards that we need to meet. Whether that’s individual companies or whether that’s government agencies, I think more does need to be done, in a legislative sense, on lifting our level of resilience,” he told reporters.