The Australian government has a serious cybersecurity challenge
The amount of cyber attacks attempted on government departments and public organisations is on the rise.
A breach into the ACT government’s email system. Access gained to student enrolment records at the University of Sydney. Melbourne's City of Stonnington council experiencing "IT issues" that turned out to be an infiltration by hackers.
These attacks are part of a worrying pattern. High-profile breaches into the likes of Optus and DP World have focused minds of the vulnerabilities of Australia’s companies and the infrastructure they operate. But they have also focused bad actors on the smorgasbord of wider opportunities in Australia, a wealthy country with some demonstrably poor cyber defences.
BlackBerry, which has pivoted from phones to cybersecurity, recorded 48,000 attempted cyberattacks on Australia’s public sector in Q3 this year. That is over a 50% jump from the previous quarter. The only other country that saw a similar percentage increase was the United States.
That is alarming, especially given Australia’s governmental organisations have a chequered history of meeting cybersecurity standards set by the Australian Signals Directorate.
