Academic Eila Erfani has called for the creation of a cyber victim support hub to provide individuals and organisations with resources, guidance and recovery assistance.

And she says expansion of Australia’s Digital ID program would help provide secure and reliable verification methods, reduce identity fraud and enhance online security.

Cybersecurity should go beyond technology and incorporate psychology, sociology, ethics and economics, the UNSW Business School lecturer says.

This would offer “the potential to establish a cybersecurity infrastructure that not only defends against threats but also fosters a secure, inclusive and equitable digital environment for all users”.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are allowing cybercriminals to conduct increasingly sophisticated, effective campaigns, and key to mitigation will be “combatting AI with responsible AI”.

AI can automate and scale up attacks, generate personalised phishing emails, create deepfakes, evade detection, crack passwords, optimise attacks, exploit systems, poison data and enhance social engineering attacks, Dr Erfani says.

“AI plays a dual role in cybersecurity: while it can be used to create sophisticated attacks, we can also harness its power to develop effective strategies for mitigating these threats.”

While the “arms race” between cybersecurity defences and AI-powered attacks will intensify, and quantum computing is a growing scam risk, Dr Erfani says rapid technological advancement can help in detecting, preventing and mitigating cyber threats.