Australian Army research paper advocates for Australian national cyber reserve force, volunteer cyber organisations

The paper argues that modern cyber warfare is shaped less by stand-alone military capability and more by integrated, whole-of-society partnerships.

Drawing on Ukraine’s experience against Russian cyber forces, it advocates for countries to follow a similar coordinated ecosystem by linking government, military, private industry and civilian assets to significantly enhance national cyber resilience. It was also informed by approaches from Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and NATO.

“(Recommendation for the) development of an Australian national cyber reserve force. Australia faces a key challenge: a national cyber security shortage of 30,000 professionals which impacts Australian industry, the Australian Army and the broader defence context,” it said.

“The Australian government should develop a national cyber reserve force that includes vetted, trained personnel who can be mobilised in times of crisis.

“This capability could help inform a potential Australian public–private cyber partnership model, where organisations’ cyber workforces could assist the ADF at times of crisis.

“The ASD operates a Cyber Gap Program, but further efforts may be required to scale up a national cyber reserve.”

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The paper further highlighted that Ukraine has been largely cyber resilient because it developed a whole-of-society cyber defence model by incorporating not only state institutions but also private companies and volunteer cyber groups. This approach yielded depth, redundancy and rapid response capacity.

Second, public and private partnerships proved decisive for the Ukraine–Russia cyber conflict. Multinational technology firms provided cloud infrastructure, threat intelligence and incident response support, enabling continuity of government and military operations.

Third, Ukraine benefited from pre-war investment and experience by accumulation. Years of exposure to Russian cyber activity since 2014 allowed it to strengthen institutions, improve coordination and build resilience over time.

The paper advocates for peace-time countries, like Australia, to establish integrated ecosystems for better positioning to withstand and recover from cyber operations during wartime.

“Volunteer cyber organisations have contributed to cyber resilience. The IT Army of Ukraine (alongside other initiatives) proves that volunteer civilian hacker groups can effectively execute cyber attacks and protect against Russian influence operations,” it said.

“In Ukraine, these groups have been modelled on efforts undertaken in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where the formalisation of cyber units in paramilitary and militia bodies has contributed to national defence.

“While volunteer cyber units have demonstrated their capacity to contribute to cyber resilience, questions remain about how to optimise their impact and collective skill.”

Robert Dougherty

Robert is a senior journalist who has previously worked for Seven West Media in Western Australia, as well as Fairfax Media and Australian Community Media in New South Wales. He has produced national headlines, photography and videography of emergency services, business, community, defence and government news across Australia. Robert graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, Majoring in Public Relations and Journalism at Curtin University, attended student exchange program with Fudan University and holds Tier 1 General Advice certification for Kaplan Professional. Reach out via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or via LinkedIn.