Australia releases Defence Strategic Review 2023, calls for increased cyber capabilities
The country’s cyber and information operations capabilities must be scaled up and optimised, the report notes.
Australia has released the Defence Strategic Review 2023, calling for more attention and resources for ‘crucial future-focused joint capabilities such as information warfare, cyber capabilities, electronic warfare, and guided weapons and explosive ordnance.’
One of the key recommendations is developing a comprehensive framework for managing operations in the cyber domain. Another key recommendation is strengthening the Department of Defence’s cyber domain capabilities to support Australian Defence Force (ADF) operations, including integrating the defence and management of Defence’s C4 networks and architectures, delivering a coherent and centralised cyber domain capability development and management function, and building and sustaining a trained defence cyber workforce.
A shortage of senior staff in Defence’s Chief Information Officer Group (CIOG) and an overreliance on external contractors for these positions were also identified. A recommendation was made that Defence’s cybersecurity operations capability in CIOG should be increased and that legacy systems and platforms should be decommissioned.
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