COMMENTARY
CYBER & INFORMATION WARFARE
ACSC: FOCUSED ON CYBER SECURITY AND CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE By Abigail Bradshaw CSC, Head Australian Cyber Security Centre
What does your crisis response plan tell you to do if you couldn’t access your systems? Or, worse, if you lost control of your systems entirely and someone else started using them? Unfortunately, this is one of the chilling possibilities you must confront and prepare for in the defence industry.
AN EVOLVING THREAT Since the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s (ACSC) last contribution to this publication in 2019-20, the cyber threats to Australia have continued to evolve. This includes an increase in sophisticated ransomware attacks, online fraud incidents, business email compromises, and data breaches. And this is just from the cyber criminals. The defence industry and the businesses that support it are also prime targets for state-based actors who continue their drive to access our systems to build intelligence and steal intellectual property. The ACSC’s latest Annual Cyber Threat Report shines a light on how cybercriminals and adversaries have taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic
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to target Australian households and businesses, including through persistent scams and destructive ransomware attacks. The pace and scale of cybercrime and cyber incidents is truly astounding. The report shows the ACSC received a cybercrime report around every eight minutes, and Australian victims of cybercrime self-reported losses topping a massive $33bn in the 2020-21 financial year. That is real money coming out of the economy and your business. Cybercrime undermines our prosperity, national sovereignty and strategic vision for our region. As the head of the ACSC, a key focus is the protection of critical infrastructure, the defence industry and the essential
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The ACSC’s latest Annual Cyber Threat Report shows the ACSC received a cybercrime report around every eight minutes, and Australian victims of cybercrime selfreported losses topping a massive $33bn in the 2020-21 financial year.
services all Australians rely on. This applies equally across the Defence
