The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has released a new report, developed in partnership with the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC), to provide information about emerging cyber threats impacting the Australian economy.
The Centre said the inaugural ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report was the first unclassified annual threat report since ACSC became part of the Australian Signals Directorate in July 2018.
“The report identifies and describes key cyber security threats targeting Australian systems and networks, and provides a range of examples and real-world case studies of malicious activity targeting Australian networks, between July 2019 and June 2020,” ACSC said.
“Over this period, the ACSC responded to 2,266 cyber security incidents and received 59,806 cybercrime reports at an average of 164 cybercrime reports per day, or one report every 10 minutes,” it said.
“[The Report] provides mitigation advice that all Australians and organisations can take to defend against these threats.”
ACSC said malicious cyber activity against Australia’s national and economic interests was increasing in frequency, scale, and sophistication.
“Phishing and spearphishing remain the most common methods used by cyber adversaries to harvest personal information or user credentials to gain access to networks, or to distribute malicious content,” it said.
“Over the past 12 months the ACSC has observed real-world impacts of ransomware incidents, which have typically originated from a user executing a file received as part of a spearphishing campaign.”
It said ransomware had become one of the most significant threats due to the potential impact on the operations of businesses and governments.
The Centre said people could help protect themselves against the most common cybercrimes by limiting the amount of personal information shared online; being suspicious of any unsolicited requests for personal information or money; never allowing remote access of a computer; and turning on two-factor authentication for all essential services such as email, bank and social media accounts.
It said people should remember that if it seemed too good to be true, it almost certainly was.
ACSC’s new 18-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
