A cybercrime is now reported every eight minutes in Australia with criminals and spies taking advantage of large numbers of people working from home during COVID-19 lockdowns.<\/p>\n
The federal government’s latest official assessment shows malicious online actors are exploiting the pandemic and are actively targeting vulnerable Australians and health services.<\/p>\n
In its second annual threat report, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has revealed over 67,500 cybercrime reports were made in the last financial year, a jump of 13 per cent on the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n
About one-quarter of cyber incidents reported to the ACSC last year were associated with Australia’s critical infrastructure or essential services, including education, communications, electricity, water and transport.<\/p>\n
ACSC head Abigail Bradshaw says criminals and spies are taking advantage of COVID-19 factors such as the need for Australians to conduct more activities online.<\/p>\n
“It’s shaped both the targets that malicious actors are going after and it’s shaped the vectors, or the means by which those targets are accessed,” she said.<\/p>\n
The health sector reported the second-highest number of ransomware incidents, which grew as COVID-19 vaccines were developed and rolled out.<\/p>\n
During the past year, cyber security officials working with Telstra and Services Australia helped to take down over 110 malicious COVID-19 themed websites.<\/p>\n
Source: ABC (Australia)<\/p>\n