ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report 2020.
Cybercrimeis becoming more sophisticated, with cybercriminals targeting individuals, businesses, educational institutions and government, according to the ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report 2020.
Cybercrime threat in one of the most widespread threats facing Australia, and the most significant threat in terms of overall volume and impactto individuals and businesses. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) Targeting Scams 2019 report identified Australians lost over $634 million to scams in 2019. While the true cost of cybercrime to the Australian economy is difficult to measure, industry estimates have previously placed cybersecurity incidents as high as $29 billion annually.
In March 2020, cybercriminals quickly adapted their phishing methods to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic. To help Australians identify threats, the ACSC released two updates about COVID19 malicious cyber activity:
For more information, visit:
https://www.cyber.gov.au/threats/threat-update-covid-19-malicious-cyber-activity
https://www.cyber.gov.au/threats/threat-update-covid-19-malicious-cyber-activity-20-apr-2020
The most commontype of cybersecurity incident was ‘malicious email’. Phishing and spearphishing emails have consistently remained the most common cybersecurity incidents reported to the ACSC.
Competitors continue to use phishing as a means of obtaining initial access into a network, including through compromising user credentials or
installing malware after a recipient clicks on a malicious link or attachment.
The second most common incident was a ‘compromised system’.
This category relates to incidents where an adversary has accessed or modified a network, account, database or website without authorisation. Although malicious emails are currently, and will likely continue to be, the most common type of incident reported to the ACSC is important to
ensure security is applied throughout a network (defence-in-depth) and across personal and Business devices.