Australian businesses need to protect themselves against the costs of cybercrime, with the incidence of attacks rising 20 per cent in the last 12 months.
Following a report by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, which revealed a significant increase in attacks on Australian businesses, Insurance Council of Australia chief executive, Rob Whelan, said business owners needed to pay attention to the threat.
“Australian business can no longer afford to turn a blind eye to cybercrime,” he said.
“The ACSC has estimated it costs the country $1 billion a year. Business owners are urged to undertake a detailed risk assessment of potential vulnerabilities and liabilities and to take action to ensure appropriate protection is in place.
“One example of significant threat is the ACSC’s recent warning that a new wave of ransomware emails are targeting Australian Government and private-sector enterprises in the guise of emails purporting to be from Australia Post parcel collection and also Australian Federal Police infringement notices.
“The ACSC warned the sheer scale of the attack and the continual use of new domains by the hackers has reduced the effectiveness of domain-blocking as a long-term solution.”
Whelan urged business owners to investigate insurance products on offer to mitigate against the financial losses caused by cybercrime.
