According to Australia’s online security watchdog, the country’s Cyber Security Centre receives reports of cybercrime every 10 minutes.
Since July 2019, Australians have filed more than 13,500 reports of cybercrime to the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), the rough equivalent of one report every ten minutes. The number may actually be a conservative figure, as it is derived only from victims’ self-reporting – implying that there could be a lot of unreported cybercrimes as well. The prevalence of these attacks continues to grow and can have devastating effects of any business but especially those such as accountants or any other business that has sensitive client information.
Australia’s federal government has estimated that cybercrimes cost businesses an aggregated $29 billion each year. As ACSC head Rachel Noble put it: “There are more spiders than ever on the world wide web”.
According to the data, Victoria took the title of Australia’s cybercrime capital with 3,027 reports. The southeastern state is closely followed by Queensland with 3,002. Meanwhile, Northern Territory residents filed just 101 cybercrime reports. Over two-thirds of the victims were between 25 and 34 years of age.
Prevention is better than cure
Dr. John Williams, Deputy Director of the Cyber Security Centre at the University of Queensland, advised people to avoid using the same password for multiple apps, while taking particular care to set up a unique password for their primary email account.
With today’s technologies and safeguards dedicated to cyber security, two-factor authentication can greatly reduce one’s risk of falling victim to cybercrimes, by helping to verify account login activities via SMS.
Cyber insurance, should be seen as an additional layer to your security process, not an alternative. These good digital security habits, together with a healthy dose of diligence and skepticism, can help people avoid taking the bait from scam artists and cyber criminals in the first place.
If you are interested in finding out more information about measures you can take to protect your accounting firm from cybercrime contact the team at Accountancy Insurance or to receive an obligation free quote for cyber insurance click here.