Cyber security

The Budget’s $10 billion cybersecurity plan is all about making Australia a key ‘offensive’ cyber player

- March 31, 2022 4 MIN READ

In the 2022 federal budget, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg launched a range of vote-winning initiatives – one of which included a breathtaking A$9.9 billion for cyber security over ten years. Bundled under the acronym REDSPICE (which stands for resilience, effects, defence, space, intelligence, cyber and enablers), the program is expected to help build Australia’s intelligence and… Read more »

cyber hacking
Cyber security

Everything you need to know about the Budget when it comes to cybersecurity from an expert

- March 30, 2022 4 MIN READ

I looked for the cybersecurity line items in the budget so you don’t have to. Initial Thoughts I commented in my corresponding post when last year’s budget was released that: “This (2021) budget continues the historical trend of spending a significant amount on national security, which includes cybersecurity, but having most of the money directed towards the… Read more »

Troy Hunt
Cyber security

Troy Hunt, the cybersecurity expert behind Have I Been Pwned, on the sector’s biggest myths and why we should be worried about IoT devices

- February 25, 2022 3 MIN READ

Your passwords aren’t safe, the internet of things is ripe for abuse, and hackers don’t always wear hoodies – this is some of the wisdom shared by cyber security expert and creator of the Have I Been Pwned website, Troy Hunt at the ACS Reimagination Thought Leaders’ Summit 2022. In an entertaining talk delivered to… Read more »

cyber hacking
Politics

The Australian government is making reporting ransomware attacks mandatory

- October 15, 2021 3 MIN READ

The federal government will introduce a new mandatory ransomware reporting scheme as it looks to crackdown on cybercriminals targeting Australians. Sparse details about the scheme were announced alongside the Department of Home Affairs’ Ransomware Action Plan, released on Wednesday, but the government said it will likely affect businesses with an annual turnover greater than $10… Read more »

cybersecurity
Cyber security

Australian companies are keeping their cyberattacks secret amid a rising ransomeware problem

- September 10, 2021 3 MIN READ

Australia continues to be an easy target for ransomware groups who profit from poor corporate accountability and a culture of secrecy. The number of ransomware incidents affecting local organisations increased by 24 per cent in the first six months of 2021, according to data from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner’s (OAIC) latest notifiable data breaches report. Unfortunately,… Read more »

smishing
Cyber security

Scammers have moved in on Australia Post’s delivery problems with SMS ‘flubots’

- September 3, 2021 3 MIN READ

Australians must be extra cautious about what messages they click on in coming weeks, after Australia Post’s three-day hiatus on package pickups created a new window for cybercriminals tweaking the Flubot ‘smishing’ attack to tap uncertainty around COVID test results, vaccines, and deliveries. More than 5,500 Australians have told the ACCC Scamwatch service that they have received text… Read more »

Topics

A cyber attack downed the NSW Education Dept website just as the government ordered schools to switch to online teaching

- July 9, 2021 2 MIN READ

The NSW Department of Education was hit by an apparent cyber attack on Wednesday. In a notice published on Thursday, the department said it took precautionary measures, shutting down many of its systems including the online portal teachers were using in preparation for the new school term. “The timing of this creates considerable challenges for… Read more »

Atlassian
Cyber security

Researchers found a cybersecurity flaw in Atlassian software that left it vulnerable to account takeovers

- June 29, 2021 2 MIN READ

Atlassian products were vulnerable to a hack that could have seen attackers gain access to user accounts, cybersecurity analysts found. Researchers from security firm Check Point discovered a set of flaws which, if exploited, would have enabled bad actors to take over the accounts of Atlassian products like Jira and Bitbucket. The researchers found the training.atlassian.com subdomain… Read more »

AFP, arrest, Ironside
Data

How busting organised crime globally was done with an app born ‘over a few beers’ with the FBI

- June 9, 2021 4 MIN READ

Australian and US law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced they’d sprung a trap three years in the making, catching major international crime figures using an encrypted app. More than 200 underworld figures in Australia have been charged in what Australian Federal Police (AFP) say is their biggest-ever organised crime bust. The operation, led by the… Read more »

UpGuard, cybersecurity, US
Funding

Australian insurer IAG doubles down on cybersecurity startup in $25 million raise

- June 8, 2021 2 MIN READ

Insurance giant IAG’s VC arm, IAG Firemark Ventures, has led a US$19 million (A$25m) series “B-1” raise into Australian cybersecurity startup UpGuard. Firemark was among several investors backing the nine-year-old business once again, including Pelion Venture Partners, Square Peg Capital and August Capital, bringing the total raised to A$59 million, following a previous raise in… Read more »

butcher, abattoir, meat, beef
Cyber security

The meat processor behind Primo and Hans has closed 47 sites after a cyber attack took out its IT

- June 1, 2021 2 MIN READ

A cyber attack on US meat processing company JBS Foods, which owns the brands Hans and Primo, forced the closure of 47 facilities around Australia on Monday. The attack was confirmed by JBS Australia CEO Brent Eastwood who spoke to industry news site Beef Central, saying he was unsure how long the outage would last. In a… Read more »

cybersecurity
Cyber security

It’s been a great year for cyberhackers trying to crack open financial services

- May 26, 2021 3 MIN READ

Banks, investment firms and other financial services and insurance (FSI) companies suffered from a massive boost in cybercriminals’ attention during 2020, according to a new analysis that identified 3.4 billion credential-stuffing attacks targeted at FSI firms alone. That included a 45 per cent year-on-year jump in credential stuffing – in which cybercriminals use stolen login credentials to… Read more »

cybersecurity
Cyber security

Security flaws in Microsoft’s Exchange software reveals key issues in Australia’s cybersecurity approach

- March 15, 2021 3 MIN READ

On March 2, 2021, Microsoft published information about four critical vulnerabilities in its widely used Exchange email server software that are being actively exploited. It also released security updates for all versions of Exchange back to 2010. Microsoft has told cybersecurity expert Brian Krebs it was notified of the vulnerabilities in “early January”. The Australian… Read more »