Businesses ill prepared for cyber breaches
AUSTRALIAN BUSINESSES ARE ILL-PREPARED FOR CYBERSECURITY BREACHES
By Joe Devanesan, Techwire Asia
As last week drew to a close, the Australian prime minister unexpectedly held a media conference to reveal that “a sophisticated state-based cyber actor” was targeting multiple levels of the Australian government, critical infrastructure, and private businesses as well in a coordinated cyberattack.
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In fact, in a direct contradiction of the Australian government’s assertions, University of New South Wales (UNSW) cybercrime expert Richard Buckland claimed that the cyberattack on Australia was “not very sophisticated” and the fact “that we’ve been caught out so badly speaks to a widespread underinvestment in cybersecurity.”
This “widespread underinvestment” coupled with the increase in cyber threats during COVID-19 and compounded with the additional security vulnerabilities, could well have paved the way for the intrusions on Australia’s government, critical infrastructure and businesses – and why the motivation behind the latest attacks are “difficult to understand” as PM Morrison put it.
