Cyberattacks rise four-fold in Australia, 76,000 complaints registered last year: Govt report

Cyberattacks against Australia jumped four-fold compared to last year, with over half of the attacks being targeted towards individuals for fraud and theft, a government report has said.According to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), 76,000 cybercrime complaints were registered last financial year, of which 95 reports were related to attacks on critical infrastructure.

The government agency further noted that there was a 13 per cent rise in cybercrime complaints compared to last year.

It said that the attacks have been largely carried out by criminals and state-sponsored groups mainly emanating from China’s Ministry of State Security, Iran and Russian states-financed groups.

“It’s not just about the frauds or the texts that you or I might receive, but real issues around the security of our country going forward,” cybersecurity minister Clare O’Neil told state-owned Australian Broadcasting Company on Friday, reports Reuters news agency.

“It is a national security focus of the government.”

Watch |Australia unveils privacy rule changes after Optus data breach

The report comes in the backdrop of massive data breaches on telecommunications company Optus and Medibank insurance firm, in which the private data of millions of Australians was compromised.

However, the government blamed Optus and Medibank for inadequate software updates which paved the way for easy hacking.

The Australian government recently decided to table a legislation to increasethe maximum penalty for repeated offences of 'privacy breach'.

They are planning to increase the penalty amount to $32 million from the current $1.4 million or 30 per cent of the turnover in the relevant period or three times the value of any benefit obtained through misuse of information.

"Significant privacy breaches in recent weeks have shown that the existing safeguards are inadequate. It's not enough for a penalty for a major data breach to be seen as the cost of doing business," said Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.

"We need better laws to regulate how companies manage the huge amount of data they collect, and bigger penalties to incentivise better behaviour," he added

(With inputs from agencies)

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