Cyber Security TAFE Centre of Excellence at CIT Woden: The Innovation to Know This Month

Canberra's Cyber Security TAFE Centre of Excellence at CIT Woden opened in September 2025 as a national hub to build cyber-ready workers and strengthen Australia's sovereign cyber security capability in energy and critical infrastructure.

Why awareness matters now

October serves as Cyber Security Awareness Month in Australia. The 2025 national theme is Building our cyber safe culture. Key steps promoted this month include installing updates, using strong passphrases and setting up multi-factor authentication.

Local training opportunity

Innovation Central Canberra at the University of Canberra offers the short course Behind the Breach: Understanding Cyber Threats from 21 to 23 October 2025. The course runs in partnership with Cisco and Splunk and targets professionals without prior technical knowledge.

Evidence of risk

Cybercrime is reported every six minutes in Australia, with 232 attacks daily. An average reported hit costs small businesses $56,600, which can be enough to close them down. Separately, 91 percent of successful data breaches start with spear phishing attacks targeting specific individuals, making employees the greatest cyber security risk for companies.

Residents and businesses can apply the recommended steps of installing updates, using strong passphrases and setting up multi-factor authentication. The Centre of Excellence at CIT Woden and the October course at Innovation Central Canberra provide pathways to build skills in these areas.