Current State of Cybersecurity in Australia

With COVID-19 pandemic forcing many organisations and their employees to operate from home, security issues have never been a more important reputation risk to address. Data from various sources (Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, Australian Cyber Security Centre, Security In Depth, ACCC) indicate an increase in the number of security breaches during the first half of 2020.A recent analysis of Center for Strategic and International Studies data found that Australia was the world’s sixth most-targeted country in terms of ‘significant cyber-attacks’.According to the Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN), cyber-attacks are on the rise among Australian organisations. The average cost of a cybercrime attack is around $276,000, in addition to reputation damage which has a significant impact on the bottom line and future viability of the business. The total cost of cybercrime in the Australian economy is as high as $29 billion annually.

Human error is counted as one of the main reasons of data breaches with 55% in Health sector, 41% in Finance sector and 35% in all others. The statistics also confirm that the small and medium businesses (SMB) are the most vulnerable due to the lacking security policies and inadequate security solutions.

Businesses that continue utilising their business services remotely, need to consider additional controls to cover high level security principles such as Govern, Protect, Detect, and Respond. Simply securing the edge of the networks is not enough anymore.In the coming weeks, we will post a series of blogs that will address affordable and easy ways to secure your workplace. We will also explain the most common security threats which affect Australian SMBs, as well as cybersecurity mitigation practices and risk reduction strategies to help you comply with the regulatory or vendor requirements and successfully protect your clients and your reputation.If you want to learn more about how to keep your work community safe, sign up for our Cybersecurity blog series.