Australia Sees 13% Rise in Cyber Crime Reports as COVID-19 Pushes More People Online

Australia on Wednesday reported a 13% increase in cybercrime over the past year, with around one in four incidents targeting critical infrastructure and services, as working from home during the pandemic has left more people vulnerable to online attacks.

The Australian Cyber ​​Security Center (ACSC) received a cybercrime report every eight minutes for the 12 months through June 30, 2021, it said in its annual report.

Hackers focused on people working remotely online and used the fear created by COVID-19 to actively target vulnerable people and health services to carry out espionage and steal money and sensitive data, Deputy Defense Minister Andrew Hastie said in a statement.

Ransomware incidents increased by almost 15%, with the healthcare industry reporting the second highest number of attacks.

Ransomware works by encrypting victims’ data, and hackers typically offer victims a passcode – or “key” – to retrieve it in exchange for cryptocurrency payments of up to millions of dollars.

“Malicious cybercriminals are stepping up their attacks on Australians,” Hastie said.

In June last year, Australia declared it was the target of a ‘sophisticated state-based cyber actor’, with attacks targeting all levels of government, political parties and essential service providers. . Sources told Reuters that Australia considers China the prime suspect, which Beijing has denied.

In July this year, the United States and its allies, including Australia, accused China of a global campaign of cyber espionage, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said posed “a major threat to our security. economic and national ”.

IDCare, which works with regulators to support identity theft victims, said the CCAA figures were the “tip of the iceberg” as many victims did not report to authorities. He said he had seen a 47% increase in complaints so far in 2021, compared to 2020 which was itself a record year.

“The general indicators are that it is not slowing down and is likely to increase,” said IDCare chief executive David Lacey.

“It’s a perfect storm for crooks, these are conditions they love and thrive on.” © Reuters

September 15, 2021