ASD Warns of 1,500 Incidents and Service Outages as Cyber Threats Spike

The Australian Signals Directorate reported that it handled 1,500 cybersecurity incidents during the 2025-26 fiscal year. This figure represents a 20% increase compared to the previous year.

The agency also notified external organizations, including businesses and critical infrastructure operators, of more than 4,400 potentially malicious cyber incidents. This notification volume rose by 80% in one year. ASD stated that protecting systems must take precedence over maintaining access, even if that means taking essential online services offline while security work is completed.

The annual report identified hostile foreign governments, criminals, and hackers as the primary actors using artificial intelligence to collect intelligence, interfere with infrastructure, and steal money. State-based actors made persistent attempts to breach Australian government and private networks over the past year. ASD noted that actors in the Indo-Pacific region may be conducting attacks in preparation for possible future conflicts.

Director general Abigail Bradshaw said on Monday that Australia needs to accelerate improvements to its technology foundations. She called for AI tools to automate defensive work so organizations can keep ahead of attackers who use the same technology. Bradshaw previously discussed ASD’s access to Anthropic’s Mythos model. The developer said it could not release the model publicly because it can identify previously unknown flaws in IT systems.

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 is preparing Australia to respond to the threats and opportunities associated with emerging technologies. Government agencies regard access to advanced models and cooperation with leading AI laboratories as important to strengthening cyber defences.

Bradshaw identified ageing technology as a major vulnerability, particularly systems 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 organizations to keep systems updated and report suspicious incidents. Bradshaw and Marles confirmed that security should come before keeping systems online, a stance that may require more services to be temporarily unavailable as organizations secure their networks.