"In the cyber world it may manifest differently … and that's why governments need to be able to have some degree of ability to step in."

The Morrison government wants to pass the new laws before the end of the year.

Alastair MacGibbon,former head of Australian Cyber Security Centre,said the ASD would go into systems to monitor and defend the network,not"to spy".

"They take that pretty seriously. They would be looking at network defence,"he said.

Mr MacGibbon,now chief strategy officer of CyberCX,said the move to impose a fiduciary duty on company directors would send a signal to the market that"it's time to start treating cyber security risk seriously".

"This sends the strongest signal I have ever seen sent to the market to get your house in order and that change is coming,"he said.

"The analogy I use is workplace health and safety - I imagine at the time they said you can't force these responsibilities onto company boards … no one sees that as bad idea now."

The cyber strategy also includesnew powers for the Australian Federal Police to track and disrupt servers being used by paedophiles,terrorists and other serious criminals.

Mr MacGibbon said the capability for the AFP was needed as federal and state police had been vacant in the cyber space for too long.

"Cyber crime has had a rollicking good time for too long,"he said.

The strategy also calls on internet service providers and other web companies to put in place systems that automatically block malicious websites and activity,along the lines of the"cleaner pipes"initiative Telstra has already put in place.

Sarah Sloan,from global cyber security company Palo Alto Networks,said all Australian ISPs and telcos needed to automatically block cybersecurity threats in real-time.

"We appreciate Australia's record financial investment and commitment to partnering with industry to make the strategy a collective effort,"she said.