Cyber Attack Record In Australia, Every 8 Minutes There Is 1 Cyber Crime Report

The surge in cyberattacks in Australia stems from the existence of WFH during the pandemic. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Australian government on Wednesday, September 15 announced that it experienced a 13% jump in cybercrime reports last year. Of the spike in cases, about one in four incidents target critical infrastructure and critical services as many are working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Australian Cybersecurity Center (ACSC) received one cybercrime report every eight minutes for the 12 months to June 30, 2021. This is a record high for Australians working remotely online during the pandemic.

"Hackers have revolved around exploiting COVID-19 and actively targeting vulnerable people and healthcare services to conduct espionage, and steal money and sensitive data", Assistant Secretary of Defense Andrew Hastie said in a statement.

Ransomware incidents increased by almost 15%. The health sector reported the second-highest number of attacks in incidents. Ransom software works by encrypting the victim's data and usually, hackers will offer the key in exchange for cryptocurrency payments that can run into millions of dollars.

"Bad cybercriminals have stepped up their attacks on Australians", Hastie said.

In June last year, Australia said it was being targeted by "state-based sophisticated cyber actors" with attacks targeting all levels of government, political parties, and key service providers. Sources told Reuters that Australia viewed China as the prime suspect, but that statement was quickly refuted by Beijing.

The United States and its allies, including Australia, in July this year accused China of a campaign of cyber espionage, which Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said poses a "grave threat to our economic and national security".