Cyber Security NSW receives $87.7m in state budget

Cyber Security NSW, a government agency that leads, implements and supports cyber security initiatives, has received $87.7 million to work with government entities to prevent, detect and recover from cyber incidents.

The funding across the next four years was announced in the 2025-26 Budget Statement by the NSW government earlier in the week.

A spokesperson for Cyber Security NSW told techpartner.news that the funding will see the organisation continue its work with government agencies to prevent, detect and recover from cyber incidents.

This includes providing a range of services to support NSW Government agencies’ security postures, such as penetration testing, vulnerability scanning awareness and training and incident exercises; updating the NSW Cyber Security Strategy 2025-27 to further align with the NSW State Digital Strategy and the 2023–2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy; and enhancing the features of the Cyber Portal – a secure, all-of-government single door platform for sharing cyber intelligence up to the PROTECTED classification.

The spokesperson also said the work Cyber Security NSW includes facilitating more opportunities for cross-agency coordination, such as reviewing and improving existing emergency management plans and cyber incident response arrangements, as well as providing guidance to NSW Government entities for meeting the Mandatory Requirements outlined in the NSW Cyber Security Policy.

In addition to working closely with NSW Government entities, Cyber Security NSW also coordinates and collaborates with emergency management, law enforcement, academia, the private sector and cyber security entities within NSW and nationally.

Programs and initiatives already rolled out by Cyber Security NSW include a domain-based message authentication, reporting and conformance (DMARC) tool to all agencies and local councils. DMARC authentication only allows authorised individuals to send emails using the legitimate NSW Government domain, ‘nsw.gov.au’.

Cyber Security NSW is also working with the Information and Privacy Commission NSW to implement the Mandatory Notification of Data Breach Scheme, which will require agencies to provide notifications to affected individuals in the event of an eligible data breach of their personal or health information by a NSW public sector agency or state-owned corporation.

NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey said this budget is about "sequencing reforms to maximise growth".

"It is about coordinating housing, water, energy, transport, manufacturing and technology – the vital systems that empower our people and secure our prosperity," he said.

The total allocation of funding to tech projects in the budget totalled nearly $700 million.