Neutralising cyber threats has moved to the top of the priority list, as businesses and governments in Australia face mounting costs of cyberattacks.
Cybersecurity has become a top-level concern for businesses and governments in Australia, after the high-profile data breaches at Optus and Medibank Private.
The report, which aggregates data from the AFP, ASIO, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, ASD and the Department of Home Affairs, says more than 76,000 cybercrime reports were submitted to the ACSC, an increase of 13 per cent.said there had been a 25 per cent increase in the number of publicly reported software “vulnerabilities”.
“Cybersecurity is a joint responsibility, says an ACSC spokesperson. “Governments and industry need to enhance collaboration to prepare, deny and respond to malicious cyber activity. This includes strengthening partnerships arrangements and sharing technical expertise.” But he also points to personal behaviour. Just as there’s widespread national consciousness of the dangers of smoking and not wearing seatbelts in cars, this must now be extended to the cyber realm and people must take more personal responsibility for their cybersecurity.“We won’t realise our vision of a more secure Australia until baseline cybersecurity practices are adopted consistently by more Australians and Australian businesses,” says an ACSC spokesperson.
However, as Neale points out, politically motivated hackers can also target private sector suppliers as an easier path into a secure government system. He cites the managed service provider breaches of 2016-17 where IBM, Hewlett-Packard and other contractors were hacked by China primarily to monitor the email systems of Australian government entities.
Once war breaks out, one aim is to destroy trust in both government-controlled and private sector systems, says Brennan. Unconfirmed reports say the Russians initially tried to hack Ukraine’s civilian water and power utilities early this year but were thwarted, so have resorted to what the war fighters call “kinetic” means: brute force, low-technology missile attacks. The intended effect is the same, only the means are different.
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