The initiative will see investment directed to better equipping high school teachers to teach digital security skills to students across the country as part of the first round of the government’s AustCyber Projects Fund.

More than 1000 students across the country are expected to benefit from the program.

Developed by the University of Sydney and Australia’s banking sector, the program is one of seven industry-led grant recipients to share in almost $3 million.

ANZ Bank, CommBank, NAB, Westpac and British Telecom will participate in the project, which will directly address part of the Digital Technologies stream of the Australian curriculum.

Jobs and Innovation Minister Senator Michaelia Cash said the increasing importance of cyber security for businesses and governments around the world opened career paths for students in Australia.

“The Turnbull Government is ensuring Australians are skilled and Australian businesses are well-positioned to take advantage of the burgeoning global cyber security market, with its $30.5 million investment in AustCyber,” she said.

“The government is supporting innovative projects that address workforce development, education, and detection and defensive technology needs to make sure Australia can realise the full potential of our globally competitive digital economy.”

Other cyber security sector projects to receive government funding include:

• WithYouWithMe will identify, train and add 75 new students into the Australian cyber security industry.
• Fifth Domain and partners, Canberra Institute of Technology and ANU, will produce a learning management system for education organisations, students and employers to collaborate in developing the cyber security workforce of the future.
• Deception.ai will conduct an export commercialisation of its cyber security product and document this to assist other Australian start-ups seeking to sell their products overseas.
• Cybermerc will build a next-generation intrusion detection system with La Trobe University, Optus and ai, reducing the exposure time for sophisticated cyber actors inside networks.
• QuadIQ will build an intelligent IT system to reduce the time required to complete security vetting of people working in high-trust environments.
• Vault Systems will build, with Quintessence Labs, the world’s first secure and scalable package for enterprise file synchronisation and sharing systems.