Federal Government puts $8.5M towards cyber security upskill

The Australian Federal Government has released $8.5 million funding to grow and create new jobs in the cyber security sector.

This round of AustCyber Projects Fund is set to assist the cyber security industry to upskill and expand, according to the minister for industry, science and technology Karen Andrews.

Funding for individual projects will range from $100,000 to $3 million, making up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs.

"Australia’s cyber security industry is continually growing and this funding will further boost our ability to become a global leader in the field, creating more Australian jobs while also making the nation more cyber resilient," Andrews said.

"According to a report released by AustCyber last year, the global cyber security market is projected to be worth almost US$250 billion by the year 2026."

There are several criteria to be eligible to the funding, which includes providing matched industry funding, technology readiness level, alignment with the knowledge priorities and national benefit.

Applications for round 2 close on 12 July and can be entered here.

The AustCyber Projects Fund was launched 12 months ago with the first round totalling $6.5 million which helped 10 projects to get off the ground.

Those include WithYouWithMe who got $150,000, Fifth Domain received $547,114, Deception.ai received $180,000, Cybermerc was eligible to $550,000, The University of Sydney to $611,971, QuadIQ got $300,000, Vault Systems $448,000, all awarded on 3 August 2018.

On 4 December, another three projects received funding, those being Cog Systems with $497,750, Laava ID with $1.5 million and Forticode $1.3 million.

The first round resulted in innovative advancements, including unique smart barcode technology that enables people to identify and verify the quality of products they buy through their smartphone, and technology that allows for independent authentication of personal data stored and managed on mobile devices.