The government is preparing to make changes that would force technology companies to hand over more information about suspected terrorists.

The Attorney General George Brandis and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton have left for Canada to attend a security and intelligence-sharing meeting with the Five Eyes nations: Canada, New Zealand, Britain and the US.

The top priority at these talks is how to tackle terrorism online.

Australia's focus is the problem of ubiquitous encryption — what to do about all the end-to-end encrypted messaging services like WhatsApp, Signal and Telegram.

One measure being considered by the Australian government, is introducing something similar to the UK's Investigatory Powers Act, which would impose greater obligations on tech companies to cooperate with authorities.

The Investigatory Powers Act came into force at the end of last year, but has met with challenges.