The Australian Cyber Network closing its doors

The board of Australian Cyber Network (ACN), a not-for-profit organisation established to serve as a national industry body focused on advocacy, capability and education for Australia’s cyber security industry, has announced the closure of the organisation.

The ACN board of directors announced on LinkedIn that after “months of careful consideration and every effort to secure adequate funding for the 2025-26 program of works”, the organisation would officially be shut down. 
 
“As with all start-ups, the journey had commercialisation challenges and like many member-based organisations, faced a challenging financial environment,” the board’s statement said. 
 
“Although our time was brief, we were pleased to be able to deliver a for industry by industry membership model to help cyber security start-ups grow their products, services and business capability - services they were either unable to access elsewhere or that would otherwise have been beyond their financial reach.” 

ACN was formerly known as AustCyber, which was a government funded organisation. After government funding ended, the organisation was relaunched as ACN in 2024.

When ACN was launched, co-founder and chair Jason Murrell envisioned it acting as a bridge between Australian industry and global cyber security initiatives, to ensure that the country played a leading role in shaping international cyber standards and solutions. 

The organisation aimed to mature the industry, shape policy, and support small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in defending against cyber threats.

In April this year, the ACN published its State of the Industry 2024 report – a snapshot of Australia’s cyber security industry aimed at supporting decisions about the development of cyber security products, services, workforce and investment.

“This publication was established as an evidence base for policy makers, investors and industry alike by providing a central source of information and economic data. It also highlighted the progress of Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy 2023–2030, helping to fill a much-needed gap in independent assessment and visibility,” the board stated this week. 

“We created space for difficult but necessary conversations to take place publicly on the challenges facing sovereign cyber security start-ups and scale-ups.” 
 
The board stated that the achievements of the ACN were only possible through the commitment of its members, supporters and partners, particularly the start-ups and scale-ups who saw ACN as a platform of support.  
 
“To every person, company and partner who believed in what we were building - thank you. We are incredibly proud of what we achieved together in such a short time,” the statement reads.

“The vision behind ACN remains just as relevant today as when we started and we wish all of you the best in your respective journeys supporting and growing the Australian cyber security ecosystem.”