Australia warns of unprecedented AI threat to infrastructure
11:32, 27/10/2026, TuesdayU: Update: 11:51, 27/10/2026, Tuesday
AFP
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Australia's cyber security agency warns that artificial intelligence poses an unprecedented threat to national infrastructure, with state-sponsored hackers exploiting the technology to launch attacks at scale.
Australia's cyber security agency warned on Tuesday that rapidly advancing artificial intelligence poses an "unprecedented" threat to computer networks and critical infrastructure, saying foreign governments have turned the technology loose to launch sophisticated attacks against national systems.
AI transforms threat landscape
The Australian Signals Directorate stated in its annual cyber threat report that AI has been the defining force in the cyber threat landscape over the past year, allowing malicious actors to find vulnerabilities faster and exploit them at unprecedented scale, speed and sophistication. The agency reported issuing more than 4,400 warnings about potentially malicious activity over the past year, an 80 percent increase compared to the prior 12 months, and noted that the directorate itself used AI tools to compile the assessment.
State actors target sensitive data
"In recent weeks, new threats have emerged from the unintended actions of AI agents and model testing," the report read. The document identified hackers linked to China, Russia and North Korea as having targeted Australia or its allies in recent times. "State-sponsored cyber actors continued to target Australian organisations primarily to gain access to sensitive or non-public information," the directorate said, adding that this activity extends beyond government networks to include critical infrastructure entities, private businesses and individuals.
Canberra urges system 'hardening'
Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters that the nation could not ignore the AI revolution. "AI is here and it's real. People need to engage," Marles said. "There's no turning the clock back in relation to that. Malicious actors are using AI to find vulnerabilities in systems."
Marles urged Australians to update their computers and harden their systems against intrusion. The warning comes as governments and firms rush to fix critical flaws in a widely used programming language after a vulnerability was discovered using a powerful model from OpenAI.