The Australian government is set to undertake a major review of the nation's six intelligence agencies, as a response to the changing face of terrorism as well as the growing threat posed by cyber-spying.

In the wake of Australia's online census disaster, in which foreign hackers were able to shut down the nation's first online national survey, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has reportedly ordered the first major intelligence review since 2011.

A spokesperson for the prime minister told Fairfax Media that the nation's six agencies, the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS), Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Office of National Assessments (ONA), the Defence Intelligence Organisation, the Australian Geospatial Organisation and the Australian Signals Directorate, would come under review in the next couple of months.

The spokesperson said the review was in response to a new era for national security.

"We are working through a proposal for a periodic review and the details involved. It is expected that these considerations will take at least several weeks," the spokesperson said.

Following news of the review, Tobias Feakin, national security expert from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told the Australian broadcasting Corporation (ABC) it was "always sound policy" to review the functions of any intelligence agency.

Intelligence expert at the Australian National University (ANU) John Blaxland said the growing threat posed by "lone wolf" terrorists and the changing face of cyber-crime meant it was important to keep on top of the national security landscape.

"The world has continued to change and, while we thought the Cold War was over and that old-school intelligence and security concerns were behind us, it seems that they're back. So the concerns about great power espionage are back," Blaxland told Fairfax.

"Then that's on top of the apparently growing concerns about self-generated jihadists who have made established surveillance techniques far less effective than was the case when they were all less security conscious and less encrypted." Endit

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