Australia

Threats that keep Australian CEOs up at night

Since Optus put cybercrime in the spotlight, others have reported cyber breaches.

Woolworths subsidiary MyDeal.com.au was targeted in a series of cyberattacks across Australia over the weekend. The Australian online retail market said data was exposed when its customer relationship management system was accessed by “compromised user credentials”.

On Tuesday, online wine retailer Vinomofo joined the list of victims when it discovered a massive data breach in which intruders accessed customers’ personal information such as names, dates of birth, addresses and contact information. made it clear that

Neither hack was in the same league as Optus in terms of size or detailed customer intimacy. For hackers, breaking into a big bank is like winning a lot of money.

McEwan said NAB and its New Zealand subsidiary, BNZ, are using new technologies such as biometrics and a team of experts to monitor customer accounts 24/7 to detect anomalous account activity. Protect. Other banks have similarly robust systems in place.

That being said, it doesn’t matter when.

Wayne Biles, Chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority.credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Wayne Byers, chairman of Australia’s Prudential Regulator, told a parliamentary committee at a hearing last week that a cyberattack against one of Australia’s financial institutions “will occur” at some point in the future.

“Financial institutions are very advanced[in cybersecurity]at least in a broader sense, but they also know that some event will happen at some point. he said.

There is no end point. Instead, the hacker and his corporation are embroiled in an arms race, with both sides constantly sharpening their tools.

Just as banks and other organizations spend billions of dollars to improve their defenses, cybercriminals continue to evolve and improve their attack sophistication.

“Every time we stop an attack or threat, cybercriminals and the countries behind them launch another attack using new and different methods,” said McEwan.

Australia reportedly lost $1.8 billion to fraud and cyber fraud in 2021. Considering that an estimated one-third of victims don’t report being scammed, McEwan said the real number is likely to be well over $2 billion and rising each year. says.

Given the humiliation of falling prey to thieves one step more sophisticated than someone pretending to be a Nigerian prince, the under-reporting by scammed customers is understandable. Even more concerning is the reluctance of companies to admit that their systems have been hacked.

A recent survey conducted by PwC suggests Australian executives fear reporting cybersecurity breaches will harm their business as it will hurt profitability and market share. It has been.

Such an attitude goes against demands from governments and shareholders for greater transparency about security breaches. If McEwan is correct in his assertion that cyberattacks are nightmare fuel for Australian businesses, CEOs need to get used to coming clean when their corporate defenses are breached.

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Threats that keep Australian CEOs up at night

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