Government Cyber Security Showcase Victoria 2027

As AI moves into production across government, the conversation is shifting from whether AI should be governed to how it is secured in practice. This discussion will explore the emerging security risks of AI-enabled systems, autonomous agents and AI-driven attacks, and what security operations need to do differently. Delegates will consider how to build the visibility, controls and response capabilities needed as AI becomes part of critical government operations.

AI agents, bots, APIs and automated services are creating a rapidly expanding layer of non-human identities across government environments. Understanding what these identities can access, who owns them and when their privileges should change is becoming a significant security challenge. This roundtable will explore how organisations can establish accountability and control over machine access without limiting the benefits of automation and AI.

Greater data sharing creates significant opportunities for better services, AI and cross-government decision making, but it also expands the potential impact of a security or privacy failure. This discussion will explore how organisations can enable responsible data sharing while maintaining appropriate security, privacy and accountability. Delegates will consider where trust needs to be built into the architecture, governance and operating model rather than added after the fact.

Government's dependence on SaaS, cloud platforms and managed service providers means significant cyber risk now sits outside the traditional organisational boundary. This discussion will examine how agencies can maintain meaningful oversight of third-party technology and services throughout their lifecycle, not simply at the point of procurement. Delegates will explore how to establish ongoing assurance, understand concentration risk and respond when a trusted provider becomes a source of exposure.

Digital sovereignty is increasingly about more than where government data is hosted. It raises questions about where security operations are performed, who has access to critical systems and intelligence, and whether essential capabilities remain available during geopolitical or technology disruption. This roundtable will explore how organisations can identify their critical dependencies and determine where sovereign capability genuinely matters.

The next phase of cyber maturity requires organisations to look beyond foundational controls and consider whether they can demonstrate genuine security and resilience. As the Essential Eight evolves, this discussion will explore what effective assurance could look like across identity, cloud, AI, supply chain and critical services. Delegates will consider how to move from demonstrating compliance to demonstrating that risk is actually being reduced.

Zero Trust is moving from a strategic aspiration towards an operational priority, but implementation remains challenging across complex government environments. This discussion will explore how organisations are translating Zero Trust principles into practical changes across identity, devices, applications, networks and data. Delegates will consider how to prioritise the journey, overcome legacy constraints and demonstrate measurable improvements in cyber risk.

Identity has become a central point of control as government services move across cloud, hybrid environments and interconnected platforms. This discussion will explore how organisations can secure access across employees, contractors, partners, applications and machines while reducing unnecessary privilege. Delegates will consider how stronger identity foundations can support Zero Trust, reduce attack paths and improve confidence in who or what is accessing critical services.

Government's attack surface now extends across edge devices, remote access, cloud environments and connected services, making traditional perimeter-based security increasingly difficult to sustain. This discussion will explore how organisations can maintain visibility and control as infrastructure and users become more distributed. Delegates will consider where the greatest exposure sits and how security strategies need to adapt to an increasingly borderless environment.

Security teams are being asked to defend more systems, more identities and more complex environments without a corresponding increase in people or resources. This discussion will explore how automation and AI can reshape the security operating model while maintaining appropriate human oversight and accountability. Delegates will consider which capabilities should be automated, where specialist expertise remains essential and how to build sustainable security operations.