Australians should prepare for online services to go down unexpectedly as threats rise, cyber agency warns

Australian Signals Directorate chief says advanced AI tools are needed to defend against ‘AI-enabled attackers’

Get our daily political email, free app or daily news podcast

Australians should prepare for more basic and important online services to go offline unexpectedly, the nation’s signals intelligence agency has warned, urging that “system security must be prioritised over system availability”.

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) also says businesses and critical infrastructure must use cutting-edge AI models to defend against digital threats, raising alarm that artificial intelligence is enabling more dangerous threats than ever.