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The national cybersecurity agency in Australia still recognises Ransomware as the most destructive cybercrime threat.
According to the latest annual threat report from the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) though Ransomware only accounts for 0.6 per cent of the total reported cyber attacks this financial year, still deemed to be the most destructive.
“This is because ransomware has a dual impact on victim organisations – the encryption of data disrupts their businesses, but they also face reputational damage if stolen data is released or sold on,” the annual report indicated.
The lingering threat of Ransomware comes as proposed improvements under the former Coalition government’s ransomware action plan, such as harsher penalties for offenders and a required event reporting scheme, take a back place to more critical matters.
Despite the marginal drop in reports from victims over the past year, Ransomware remains persistent. The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) latest annual threat report, released on Friday, revealed that the agency received over 76,000 cybercrime reports last fiscal year, or one every seven minutes – a 13% increase over 2020-21.
Here is the breakdown of the said report. The majority of these threats occurred in Victoria and Queensland:
- 27 per cent – online fraud
- 14 per cent – online shopping
- 13 per cent – online banking
- 12 per cent – investments
On the other hand, the incoming Albanese government has pledged to revise the 2020 Cyber Security Strategy, which will most certainly place a heavy emphasis on Ransomware, given Labor’s criticism of the previous government last year. Ransomware accounted for 135 of the more than 1,100 cyber security incidents handled by the ACSC, marking a 75% increase over 2019-20. In addition, the FBI notified 148 organisations of ransomware activity on their networks.
According to the report, the overall number of incidents responded to by the ACSC – 95 of which harmed critical infrastructure providers – declined 36% this year, partly due to the “expansion of Australia’s commercial incident response sector.”
Incidents were from:
- 11 per cent – Education and training sectors
- 10 per cent – Information media and telecommunications
- 10 per cent – Professional, scientific, and technical services
In announcing the report’s release, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles stated that the increase in harmful cyber activity reflected the global deterioration in geostrategic competitiveness.
The former Coalition government allocated $9.9 billion to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) over a decade in the March 2022 federal budget, allowing the agency to treble in size and triple its cyber offensive power.
ASD will develop new centres in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth over the next three years as a result of the funding, in part to recruit new talent. Because of the establishment of the hubs, 40% of the workforce will be based outside of Canberra.
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