The National Cyber Security Coordinator (the Coordinator), supported by the National Office of Cyber Security, drives forward the necessary work to ensure Australia is best positioned to respond to the opportunities and threats of the digital age.
The Coordinator directs:
- and triages action in response to a significant cyber incident
- engagement on whole-of-government cyber security
- prevention and preparation activities to help anticipate and mitigate the risk of cyber security incidents
- ITcyber incident management frameworks.
The Coordinator also supports:
- Australian Government efforts to deter and respond to malicious cyber activity
- the hardening of Australian Government.
The Coordinator leads this work in collaboration with the Australian Government’s key policy, operational and security agencies.
Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness CSC began as the National Cyber Security Coordinator on 26 February 2024.
National Office of Cyber Security
The National Office of Cyber Security (NOCS) was established on 1 May 2023 to support the Coordinator.
The Coordinator and the NOCS oversee efforts to ensure:
- Australians are better protected from cyber threats
- business and critical infrastructure entities are cyber resilient
- effective responses to major cyber incidents
- delivery of the Australian Government’s mission to make Australia one of the most cyber secure nations in the world by 2030.
Cyber security incident response
The Coordinator oversees responses to consequences arising from cyber security incidents, supported by the NOCS. This is to support Australia’s resilience to, and recovery from, major cyber incidents. This includes working with government partners to ensure alignment across regulatory, policy and incident response frameworks.
The Coordinator engages in information gathering across government and industry. It leads collaborative forums to support holistic decision-making in response to cyber incidents.
Executive Cyber Council
The Executive Cyber Council – an initiative of the 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy – plays an important role in facilitating genuine and transparent co-leadership with industry on key cyber security issues. The Council also supports the delivery of national cyber security priorities. This includes initiatives driven under the 2023–2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy’s Action Plan. The Council meets biannually.
The Minister for Cyber Security appoints council members. These members are at an executive level or are a recognised expert in cyber security. Representation includes a broad cross-section of the economy to facilitate diverse perspectives and advice. The current Council members are:
- Minister for Cyber Security
- National Cyber Security Coordinator
- Australian Signals Directorate
- Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
- Australian Banking Association
- Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Australian Energy Market Operator
- ASX Limited
- Atlassian
- Amazon Web Services
- Australian Women in Security Network
- Business Council of Australia
- Commonwealth Bank of Australia
- Consumers' Federation of Australia
- Coles Group
- Council of Small Business Organisations Australia
- CyberCX
- Group of Eight
- Google Australia & New Zealand
- Insurance Australia Group
- Linfox Australia and New Zealand
- Meta Australia and New Zealand
- Microsoft Australia and New Zealand
- Medical Software Industry Association
- Optus
- Qantas Group
- Tech Council of Australia
- Telstra
- Telstra Health
- Toll Group
- Virgin Australia
- Woolworths
- Xero
National Cyber Intel Partnership
The Coordinator chairs the National Cyber Intel Partnership (NCIP). The NCIP convenes Australian Government and industry stakeholders to discuss approaches to support cyber threat intelligence sharing. The NCIP also informs the deployment of threat blocking capabilities that can prevent identified threats from reaching end users.
NCIP members include industry leaders and cyber experts from academia and civil society. The NCIP meets quarterly. A small industry-driven working group in the NCIP is currently piloting the development of an automated, near-real-time threat blocking capability. This pilot will build on and integrate with existing government and industry platforms.
