The latest cybersecurity trends from ACSC

Cyberattacks and agents alike have been relentless for businesses and individauls since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and unfortunately the rate of cyberattacks continues to increase.

In 2021, Australia witnessed several high-profile attacks including the Sunburst attack which exploited zero-day vulnerabilities, and the BGH ransomware attacks that highlighted the frailty of infrastructures.

It appears constant vigilance has become the new norm for many organisations, with the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) documenting '76,000 cybercrime reports last financial year' in their Annual Cyber Threat Report - which is a 13% increase from the previous period.

Here's a quick dive into the reports standout findings:

The ACSC's recently released Annual Cyber Threat Report, accounts for cyber activity occurring between July 2021 to June 2022. This report examines the key cyber threats in Australia with the aim of providing crucial advice for Australian individuals and organisations to better protect themselves online.

The report covers crucial insights to highlight the current Australian cyber threat landscape to help 'Australians better understand the cyber threat environment and improve their cyber defences'.

The ACSC report combines 'insights from the Australian Federal Police, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, The Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Department of Home Affairs'. You can Download the full report HERE.

When examining the sophistication of cyberthreats in Australia, the ACSC highlighted the following as prominent cyber security trends in the 2021 22 financial year:

1. Cyberspace has become a battleground.
2. Australias prosperity is attractive to cybercriminals.
3. Ransomware remains the most destructive cybercrime.
4. Worldwide, critical infrastructure networks are increasingly targeted.
5. The rapid exploitation of critical public vulnerabilities became the norm.

As we can see below, surprisingly ransomware accounted for a very small percentage when examining the total cybercrime reports, coming in at approximately 0.6%, with online fraud, online shopping, and online banking being the most frequently reported cybercrimes accounting for approximately 54% collectively.

Key Highlights from the July 2021 to June 2022 Annual Cyber Threat Report include:

• 150,000 to 200,000 Small Office/Home Office routers in Australian homes and small businesses vulnerable to compromise including by state actors.
• A cybercrime report every 7 minutes on average compared to every 8 minutes last financial year.
• Over 25,000 calls to the Cyber Security Hotline an average of 69 per day and an increase of 15 per cent from the previous financial year.
• Fraud, online shopping and online banking were the top reported cybercrime types, accounting for 54 per cent of all reports.
• A rise in the average cost per cybercrime report to over $39,000 for small business, $88,000 for medium business, and over $62,000 for large business an average increase of 14 per cent.

To read the full report you can download your copy HERE.