Australian organisations deemed as running infrastructure critical to the country’s national interest will have to increase their investment in cybersecurity protection to comply with new national security requirements, with the measures estimated to cost companies almost $10 billion combined.

A new Risk Management Protocol signed off by Minister for Home Affairs and Cybersecurity Clare O’Neil will make board members culpable for failure to properly secure assets, and will cover companies across sectors including energy, healthcare, water, food transport and communications.