Free Cyber Wardens Training Ends 11 September. Where Small Businesses Can Still Get Help
Cyber Wardens, the free cyber security course built for Australian small businesses, closes at close of business on Friday 11 September 2026 because its federal funding has ended. If you or anyone on your team started it and never finished, this is the week to log back in.
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBOA), which runs it, has posted a notice asking people to finish their training, download their certificates, and save any resources they want to keep. Free one-on-one cyber help for small businesses is still running after Friday, and we list where to find it below.
Why Cyber Wardens is closing
Cyber Wardens launched in late 2023 as short, plain-English training for small business owners and staff. One person in the business learns the basics (phishing, scams, passwords, MFA, updates), then helps the rest of the team do the same.
The program received $23.4 million in federal funding, which ran through to July 2026, with Telstra and Commonwealth Bank as founding partners. According to SmartCompany, the 2026-27 federal budget did not include new funding, and Treasury confirmed in May that government funding would stop after 31 July, in line with the original grant agreement.
COSBOA kept the platform running for about six weeks after the funding stopped, so people already enrolled could finish.
36,878 graduates in under three years
COSBOA CEO Skye Cappuccio told SmartCompany the program had 36,878 graduates as of Wednesday 9 September. Of those, 30,020 meet the grant's eligibility and reporting requirements, which is why government figures are lower. The original aim was up to 60,000 graduates.
Cappuccio said Cyber Wardens "showed that small businesses will undertake cyber security training when it is short, plain-English, practical and free."
That matches what we see around Perth. Most small businesses are not careless about security, they are busy. If the advice takes ten minutes and makes sense, people follow it.
Whether Cyber Wardens will come back
COSBOA keeps the Cyber Wardens brand and content, and says it is in active discussions with prospective partners about a "potential next phase". Nothing has been announced.
There is also a House of Representatives committee looking into the cyber maturity of small and medium businesses and whether government support is good enough. COSBOA has asked it to recommend ongoing funding for this kind of training. The committee is due to report by 31 March 2027, so any new funding is months away at best.
Save your training before Friday 11 September
If anyone in your business has a Cyber Wardens account:
- Log in and finish any course you are partway through. A half-finished module is no use to anyone once the site closes.
- Download your certificates. Some insurers, clients and tender forms ask what security training your staff have done. A certificate is easy proof.
- Save the resources you actually used. Checklists and guides from the Resource Hub are worth keeping in a shared folder, so new staff can read them too.
Free cyber help that is still running
Small businesses are not on their own once Cyber Wardens closes. These services are free and still running:
| Service | What it does | How to reach it |
|---|---|---|
| Small Business Cyber Resilience Service (run by IDCARE) | One-on-one help to build a security plan, plus recovery support after an incident | 1800 595 170, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm AEST (6am to 4pm AWST) |
| Australian Cyber Security Hotline | Help during a live cyber incident | 1300 CYBER1 (1300 292 371) |
| Scamwatch | Scam alerts and reporting | scamwatch.gov.au |
The Small Business Cyber Resilience Service is the one most Perth businesses have never heard of. It is open to sole traders and businesses with 19 or fewer full-time equivalent staff. An adviser works with you to build a tailored plan, recommends tools that suit your size and budget, and if something has already gone wrong, walks you through recovery. It also includes mental health support after an incident, which matters more than people expect when the business email has been taken over.
The habits Cyber Wardens taught still apply
If your team did the course, keep these habits going. If not, start here:
- Turn on multi-factor authentication for email, banking and accounting software. If you are on Microsoft 365, have a read of our piece on passkeys rolling out to business accounts.
- Keep devices updated. Windows, phones, routers and the point-of-sale system.
- Back up anything you cannot afford to lose, and check you can actually restore it.
- Slow down on payment requests. Any change to a supplier's bank details gets a phone call to a number you already have.
- Talk about scams as a team. One person who knows what a dodgy invoice looks like protects everyone.
MFA remains one of the simplest and most effective ways to protect accounts. You may not think your business is a target, but cybercriminals have a lot to gain from compromising your systems. Turn on MFA. Lock out cybercriminals. Learn more 👉 cyber.gov.au/learn-basics/e…
If you would rather someone checked the basics for you, we do that for Perth small businesses every week: a short visit, a clear list of what is fine and what needs fixing, and no jargon.
