September 2025
In 2023 the Australian Government released its 2023-2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy. The strategy consists of three horizons: Horizon 1 Strengthen our foundations; Horizon 2 Scale cyber maturity across the whole economy; Horizon 3 Advance the global frontier of cyber security. FSO’s submission addresses Charting New Horizons – Developing Horizon 2.
FSO see two distinct cyber skill objectives:
- A need for uplift in cyber security literacy in schools
- Educating towards career pathways for cyber talent pipelines, such as increasing diversity in STEM studies
FSO is undertaking a range of work to support cyber:
- Updating the ICT Training Package with new and updated specialist cyber skills
- Entry level pathways to identify VET pathways to employment in cyber
- Uplift digital capability skills across the Australian economy
Challenges include:
- Insufficient employer numbers providing opportunities with sufficient scale and sustainability to impact critical cyber shortages
- Government funding critical to drive programs to uplift cyber skills
- Ability to broaden the cyber pipeline by drawing workers with adjacent skills into tech and cyber roles
- Cyber shortages cannot be considered in isolation from broader technology capabilities, such as integrated AI–cyber skills
- Governance-related cyber roles are growing in importance