A new platform will help Australian businesses easily share information about cyber threats.

Cybermerc is developing Aushield Defend, a threat intelligence portal that co-founder and CEO Matthew Nevin hopes will help businesses better prepare for a wave of ongoing cyber attacks.

“This project is about building a community,” Nevin said.

“Right now, Australian businesses are defending themselves in isolation.

“We want them to collaborate."

The platform is designed to collect and share information about the latest cyber threats between its users.

When one business gets attacked, everyone on the platform will be notified and can prepare accordingly.

Australian businesses have successfully targeted by hackers recently with Toll Group and brewer Lion suffering from major disruptive attacks.,

Cybermerc, which is based in the ACT, recently received $2.44 million in funding to develop the platform, half ($1.22 million) of which came from the latest round of AustCyber’s $15 million Projects Fund aiming to improve Australia’s cybersecurity capabilities.

AustCyber CEO Michelle Price said the funding for Cybermerc’s project comes at an important time.

“The growing demand for cybersecurity products and services is a significant economic opportunity for Australia,” Price said.

“Supporting cyber resiliency improves our nation’s overall global competitiveness, as well as its security.”

“The news of sustained cyber attacks over recent weeks highlights the importance of digital trust and building a resilient cybersecurity infrastructure for Australia.”

Just two weeks ago, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made a snap announcement that Australian businesses and organisations were under increased attack from a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor”.

The surprise Friday morning press conference was intended to “raise awareness” about our national cyber security posture and has caused a flurry in activity from local cybersecurity vendors and researchers.

Some government support

Federally-funded industry growth organisation AustCyber has recently contributed $8.5 million to 17 projects that it identifies as helping increase innovation and commercialisation in Australia’s cybersecurity sector.

Cybermerc’s $1.22 million is the biggest individual cash splash from AustCyber and is part of the final funding round that sees $106,000 and $225,000 going toward the University of Adelaide and South Metropolitan TAFE respectively to help improve their cybersecurity training capabilities.

Fifth Domain, a company that specialises in cyber training, has received nearly $1 million in funding for its suite of gamified exercises to help students prepare for real-world scenarios.

The government funding has reached a broad range of companies.

Sydney-based data startup Locii was given $950,000 to develop its digital identity platform, Truuth, that decentralises users’ biometric information.

And AustCyber has given Brisbane-based Kortek over $900,000 for a project that aims to give enterprises a simple way to securely add internet of things devices into cloud systems.