Digital Lives of Australians

Key insight:

• Many small businesses believe they are ‘too small’ to be targeted, and they are significantly less likely to put in place security protections.

Consideration:

• Target communications to explicitly challenge the ‘too small to target’ myth and promote baseline protections as non negotiable.

Key insight:

• Only half of consumers and two thirds of small businesses know where to report a data breach, and post incident action is limited among those affected.

Consideration:

• Continue to provide clear, simple incident response pathways and reporting guidance.

Key insight:

• Almost half of small businesses feel helpless against cyber security threats on the basis their limited resources pale in comparison to larger corporate organisations that have fallen victim to cyber criminals.

Consideration:

• Continue investment awareness and education in cyber security practices with a focus on trusted, reliable, free resources such as cyber.gov. au and the Five P’s of website security.

Key insight:

• AI is being used more, especially as it becomes integrated into commonly used applications such as search engines, but confidence remains moderate. AI adopters remain just as likely to believe AI will replace human workers.

Consideration:

• Embed AI training into workplace learning and business support programs, focused on practical, role based use cases. Emphasise the benefits of AI augmentation while reinforcing the need for ‘human in the loop’ processes (e.g. verifying outputs, protecting sensitive information, and understanding risks).

Key insight:

• Older Australians, people living with disability, and established small businesses show lower AI uptake, confidence and interest.

Consideration:

• Design targeted AI inclusion initiatives that address trust, relevance and perceived risk — not just access.

Key insight:

• Digital ID users see strong benefits, but limited usecase opportunities suppress interest in adopting it.

Consideration:

• Accelerate cross sector acceptance of Digital ID by encouraging and onboarding additional providers, to broaden its relevance in everyday transactions.

Key insight:

•  Cyber security and AI are the most significant skills gaps for workers and small businesses. Australians’ overall confidence online remains high, but confidence managing cyber security risks lags – many want to improve their cyber security but don’t know how. As AI uptake accelerates, there is growing interest in training that helps people use AI effectively and responsibly.

Consideration:

• Accessible, trustworthy and practical training resources on cyber security and AI will support digital upskilling. Workplace training, online courses or webinars, and online video or self guided tutorials are most in demand. Developing and delivering these resources would help build real world capability for Australian workers and small businesses.

Key insight:

• Non users’ concerns centre on data misuse, security, and lack of clarity; strong regulation increases comfort.

Consideration:

• Strengthen and clearly communicate Digital ID governance, enforcement and data security safeguards to build trust in the system.