Australia launches National Plan to Combat Cybercrime

Australian Minister for Home Affairs Karen Andrews has said that Australia’s National Plan to Combat Cybercrime and a new cyber crime centre will bring together the experience, powers, capabilities and intelligence needed to build a strong, multi-faceted response to the problem of cyber crime.

The Joint Policing Cybercrime Coordination Centre is based in the Australian Federal Police’s New South Wales headquarters, and has been established with $89 million in funding provided through the Morrison Government’s $1.67 billion Cyber Security Strategy.

Andrews said: “During the pandemic, cybercrime became one of the fastest growing and most prolific forms of crime committed against Australians. The tools and the techniques used to rob or extort Australians became more effective and more freely available than ever before. This is why the Morrison Government is taking strong, decisive action to safeguard Australians, their data, and our shared digital future.

“Our National Plan will support industries to grow online, build wider confidence in the digital economy, ensure safer online spaces for children, and better support law enforcement to bring to justice those who would break our laws.

“I’m serious about enforcing the law and protecting Australia’s digital future, which is why the Plan is backed up by the resources, intelligence, and capabilities of a new AFP-led cybercrime centre. Using far-reaching Commonwealth legislation and high-end technical capabilities, the AFP’s new cyber crime centre will aggressively target cyber threats, shut them down, and bring offenders to justice.”

Both initiatives build on the Morrison Government’s comprehensive cyber security measures, including: securing landmark reforms to national security legislation to better protect critical infrastructure; introducing important legislation to revolutionise the way Australian agencies investigate and prosecute cyber crime​; and cracking down and protecting Australians from ransomware through the Ransomware Action Plan.