Building the AI-Enabled Commonwealth: Preparing Government for a New Cyber Reality

AI is changing both sides of the cyber security equation.

For government, it offers new ways to strengthen detection, analyse threats and support faster decision-making. At the same time, the same technology is making phishing, misinformation and automated attacks more scalable and sophisticated.

That tension will be explored at Government Cyber Security Showcase Federal 2026 in the keynote “Building the AI-Enabled Commonwealth.”

Delivered by Sharif Abuadbba, Team Leader, Distributed Systems and Security, Data61, CSIRO, the session will examine how the Commonwealth can take advantage of AI while preparing for a threat environment in which attackers are using many of the same capabilities.

The keynote will take place from 11:40 AM to 12:00 PM within the Governance, Strategy and Risk track.

Explore the event: Overview page | Agenda page | Registration page

AI as a force multiplier

One of the biggest changes AI brings to cyber security is scale.

Tasks that once required more time, technical capability or human effort can increasingly be automated. That creates opportunities for defenders, but it also gives cyber criminals and state-sponsored actors new ways to increase the speed and reach of attacks.

Sharif’s session will look at AI as a force multiplier for cybercrime and state-sponsored activity, including the rise of AI-enabled phishing, misinformation and automation-driven attacks.

For government agencies, this changes the nature of preparedness. It is no longer enough to think only about known attack patterns or traditional defensive controls. Teams also need to consider how rapidly evolving AI tools could change the behaviour, volume and sophistication of threats.

Adopting AI without creating new risk

The challenge is not simply how to defend against AI. Government is also adopting AI itself.

That creates a second set of questions around security, transparency and accountability.

As agencies explore AI-enabled workflows, decision support and automation, they need confidence that new tools are being introduced in ways that do not create unnecessary exposure or weaken public trust.

Sharif will explore how government can balance AI adoption with security and transparency, while maintaining clear accountability around how emerging technologies are used.

The goal is not to slow innovation for its own sake. It is to ensure security and governance mature alongside adoption.

Governing technology that is moving quickly

AI is advancing faster than many traditional governance processes.

For government, that creates a difficult balance. Controls need to be strong enough to manage risk, but flexible enough to keep pace with new use cases and capabilities.

That question sits at the centre of Building the AI-Enabled Commonwealth: how can agencies establish sensible guardrails around emerging technology without making responsible innovation unnecessarily difficult?

The session will look at governance approaches that support adoption while maintaining security, transparency and public confidence.

A wider focus on cyber resilience

Sharif’s keynote forms part of a broader program focused on how the Commonwealth can strengthen resilience as government becomes more digitally connected and dependent.

Government Cyber Security Showcase Federal 2026 brings together senior leaders from cyber security, national security, digital transformation, intelligence, critical infrastructure and service delivery to examine the changing cyber environment facing government.

Across the day, attendees will explore issues including:

• AI-enabled attacks and machine-driven threats
• critical infrastructure and operational resilience
• cybercrime and identity exploitation
• third-party and supply chain risk
• secure-by-design digital services
• threat intelligence and incident response
• governance, strategy and risk
• detection, containment and recovery

The program is structured across two dedicated tracks: Governance, Strategy and Risk and Detection and Response, with attendees able to move between sessions throughout the day.

Interactive roundtables will also give participants the opportunity to work through practical issues including AI governance, data trust, cloud security, machine identities, agentic AI and coordinated cyber response.

The Showcase takes place on Thursday, 22 October 2026 at the National Convention Centre Canberra.

Registration is complimentary for government attendees.

Explore the event: Overview page | Agenda page | Registration page