Australian hackers will respond to the "clarion call" trumpeted by the Anonymous hacking network to wage cyberwarfare against Islamic State.
The global group has declared war on IS through a YouTube video vowing vengeance for attacks in Paris on Friday, claimed by IS, which left at least 129 dead and hundreds injured.
RMIT University School of Electrical and Computer Engineering senior lecturer Mark Gregory said Australians had maintained a presence within the group in recent years.
"We've got a verifiable online war occurring in the virtual world as well as in the physical world," the internet security expert told AAP.
"IS are not doing that well in this battle simply because of the weight and expertise of the forces being thrown against them."
Dr Gregory said western and Middle Eastern governments were leading the online fight, which had also been taken up by "hacktivist" organisations.
"Anonymous everywhere in the world is going to hunt you down," a hooded figure in black, wearing the group's signature Guy Fawkes mask said in French in the YouTube video posted on Monday.
While it wasn't possible to verify the video's authenticity, it had all the hallmarks of public statements by Anonymous.
In the wake of January's Charlie Hebdo attacks, Anonymous exposed social media accounts associated with IS after vowing to mount online attacks in a YouTube video.
Dr Gregory said the online war was focused on attacking the propaganda arm of IS, responsible for horrific videos of beheadings.
"Groups like IS and al-Qaeda have been using video and online media as part of their armoury," he said.
"Other groups are fighting back against that and trying to hack their websites and email accounts."
Skilled young Australian hackers with a "social bent" are attracted to groups like Anonymous, Dr Gregory added.
"A lot of the people we've seen involved in Anonymous and other groups end up working for security organisations," he said.
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