The Australian Government has launched public consultation on a voluntary Code of Practice for cyber incident response providers, aiming to improve service quality and national cyber resilience.

The Code, part of the 2023–2030 Australian Cyber Security Strategy, is being co-designed by the National Office of Cyber Security (NOCS), the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), and industry stakeholders.

It targets providers offering technical cyber incident response services, proposing principles for threat identification, containment, recovery, and collaboration with government agencies.

The consultation paper highlights the lack of consistent standards in Australia, noting that businesses often rely on incident responders without assurance of quality or professionalism.

According to the ASD’s Cyber Threat Report 2023–24, cybercrime costs rose sharply: small businesses faced an average loss of $A49,600 per incident, while individuals lost $A30,700 on average.

The Code outlines eight guiding principles, including rapid threat identification, containment, artefact preservation, and collaboration with ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) and the National Cyber Security Coordinator (NCSC).

The Code is voluntary and does not cover pre-incident monitoring or broader cybersecurity services. It focuses strictly on technical incident response during active threats.

It is unclear how the Code aligns with existing standards such as ISO/IEC 27035 or NIST frameworks, which many Australian organisations already use.

Submissions are open until 26 September 2025. Stakeholders can access the consultation paper and submit feedback via the Department of Home Affairs portal.