ASIC to implement new threat intelligence platform

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is to implement a new cyber threat intelligence platform following the receipt of recent federal funding.

Joseph Longo, ASIC
ASIC

The financial and business regulator, alongside the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), received $206.4 million from this year's federal Budget for a program of technology and cyber uplifts.

ASIC chair Joseph Longo said part of the funding will be allocated to implementing a new threat intelligence platform to “improve information collection, time to detection of internal and external cyber threats”.

“We have commenced a digital transformation program that received initial funding in the recent federal budget to secure ASIC’s regulatory systems," Longo said at senate estimates.

“To continue on our journey to make ASIC increasingly data-informed and data-enabled, further investment in our systems and our technology is critical to ensure smarter regulation.”

Longo added that ASIC is now exploring “the responsible use of emerging technologies” such as artificial intelligence; machine learning; big data; and coding and cyber protection tools.

Last year, ASIC was told it needed a “substantial uplift” to its IT and data capabilities and to its approach to introducing new systems.

A review by the Financial Regulator Assessment Authority (FRAA) last year found that 34 percent of ASIC staff believed the regulator had “appropriate technology to identify and prioritise threats and harms, and opportunities and innovations”.

A reliable, trusted registry

In May 2024, the ATO transferred the responsibility of the Australian Business Registry Services to ASIC.

Longo told senate estimates that ASIC has now received funding to “stabilise” these “very old” legacy business registers.

“It is critical that Australia has reliable, trusted registry platforms to support economic activity,” Longo told senate estimates.

The ATO took charge of Australian Business Registry Services in April 2021, becoming responsible for core business registers and for a now-abandoned modernisation.

The registers were part of a modernisation program that was axed after $530 million was spent, with only one public-facing result.