Latest news with #AusCERTCyberSecurityConference
The Age
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Australia news LIVE: PM speaks from disaster zone; Calwell and Bradfield races tighten further; McCormack says Littleproud has been ‘messy'
Latest posts Latest posts 2.01pm Calwell count tightens as independent leaps ahead of Liberals By Adam Carey The race for the last undeclared seat in Victoria has tightened, with Labor still in doubt of retaining the once super-safe seat of Calwell in Melbourne's outer north. Carly Moore, a three-time council mayor who quit the ALP to run as an independent, has catapulted into second place as counting progresses in what the Australian Electoral Commission called the most complicated count in its history. Moore currently commands 45.8 per cent of votes, compared to Labor's candidate Basem Abdo's 54.2 per cent after preferences. Moore needs to secure 64.4 per cent of preferences from Liberal and Greens votes in Calwell as those parties' candidates are eliminated from the count in coming days. Loading Moore told this masthead that she believed the result would come down to the wire in a complex contest in which multiple independents polled well, and their preferences sprayed around. Moore campaigned on a platform of grievance about perceived Labor neglect of the economically disadvantaged and ethnically diverse electorate. She preferenced Abdo last on her how-to-vote card. 'All the things that we were saying during the campaign are true, that this community feels like we're being taken advantage of,' she said. 'We've been treated like a safe seat because we've been a safe seat'. Moore said Labor, which previously held Calwell with a 12.4 per cent margin, would have to devote more resources to the seat in future elections, no matter who wins this time. 'This should be Labor heartland. I hope that they see this as a bit of a wake-up call to make sure they're listening to what the community is telling them, because I don't think they have been'. Abdo was contacted for comment. Labor has not lost a single seat in the 2025 election. But it suffered a primary vote swing of 14.3 per cent in Calwell. 1.39pm Australia must prepare for 'Hollywood'-style cyberattack: Cybersecurity sheriff By Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson Australia has yet to suffer a critical, Hollywood-style cybersecurity incident, according to the nation's top online cop, but our defences are being tested and criminals grow in number. The rate of cyberattacks against Australian businesses may also be higher than statistics indicate, she warned as small businesses continue bearing the brunt of financial losses. National Cyber Security Co-ordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness issued the warnings at the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast today, while also promising public consultation to inform future online safety policies. The event has drawn 900 delegates and comes a month after large superannuation firms were targeted in a co-ordinated online attack and less than a year after 12.9 million Australians had private information stolen in the MediSecure hack. Loading Despite a growing number of attacks on large Australian organisations including in the healthcare and telecommunications sectors and legal firms, McGuinness told the audience none had damaged the nation's critical infrastructure or had a lasting impact. 'Australia has seen the dark side of significant cyber incidents such as Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, Ramsay Health Care… but we are actually yet to see a catastrophic cyber incident with impacts across multiple critical infrastructure sectors,' she said. 'We must continue to evolve and thrive to ensure that those scenes we see in Hollywood [movies] never actually eventuate.' The Annual Cyber Threat Report released in November found Australian cybercrime reports grew by 12 per cent in 2024 and the cost of attacks to individuals grew by 17 per cent to an average of $30,700. The Australian Cyber Security Strategy, launched in November 2023, is due to be updated by 2026 to address a broader range of cybersecurity investments, and a public consultation will be launched in the coming months. Read how to protect yourself here. AAP
West Australian
23-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Australia must prepare for Hollywood-style cyber attack
Australia has yet to suffer a critical, Hollywood-style cyber security incident, according to the nation's top online cop, but our defences are being tested and criminals grow in number. The rate of cyber attacks against Australian businesses may also be higher than statistics indicate, she warned as small businesses continue bearing the brunt of financial losses. National Cyber Security Co-ordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness issued the warnings at the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast on Friday, while also promising public consultation to inform future online safety policies. The event has drawn 900 delegates and comes a month after large superannuation firms were targeted in a co-ordinated online attack and less than a year after 12.9 million Australians had private information stolen in the Medisecure hack. Despite a growing number of attacks on large Australian organisations including healthcare, telecommunications and legal firms, Lt Gen McGuinness told the audience none had damaged the nation's critical infrastructure or had a lasting impact. "Australia has seen the dark side of significant cyber incidents such as Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, HWL Ebsworth, Ramsay Health Care and Medisecure (but) we are actually yet to see a catastrophic cyber incident with impacts across multiple critical infrastructure sectors," she said. "We must continue to evolve and thrive to ensure that those scenes we see in Hollywood never actually eventuate." The most recent high-profile cyber attack in which criminals stole $750,000 from 10 AustralianSuper accounts had been the result of a "credential-stuffing attack", Lt Gen McGuinness confirmed, involving criminals using passwords leaked from another data breach. Financial losses from the attack were "relatively small" but aimed at a large financial market, she said, and should serve as a reminder for all parties to bolster online defences. The Annual Cyber Threat Report released in November found Australian cyber crime reports grew by 12 per cent in 2024 and the cost of attacks to individuals grew by 17 per cent to an average of $30,700. Cyber crime's cost to businesses fell by eight per cent according to the report, but Lt Gen McGuinness said the true cost of online crime was likely to be significantly higher given most Australian businesses were categorised as small and lost an average of $49,600 per incident. "These businesses don't have the staff and the resources to have dedicated IT professionals or security functions, let alone the capacity to respond to an incident without help," she said. "Our adversaries also know this." Australian businesses of all sizes should develop and practise incident response plans to avoid data theft, she said, and should refrain from paying ransoms demanded by criminals if possible to avoid being re-targeted. The Australian Cyber Security Strategy, launched in November 2023, is due to be updated by 2026 to address a broader range of cyber security investments, and a public consultation will be launched in the coming months.
Perth Now
23-05-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
Australia must prepare for Hollywood-style cyber attack
Australia has yet to suffer a critical, Hollywood-style cyber security incident, according to the nation's top online cop, but our defences are being tested and criminals grow in number. The rate of cyber attacks against Australian businesses may also be higher than statistics indicate, she warned as small businesses continue bearing the brunt of financial losses. National Cyber Security Co-ordinator Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness issued the warnings at the AusCERT Cyber Security Conference on the Gold Coast on Friday, while also promising public consultation to inform future online safety policies. The event has drawn 900 delegates and comes a month after large superannuation firms were targeted in a co-ordinated online attack and less than a year after 12.9 million Australians had private information stolen in the Medisecure hack. Despite a growing number of attacks on large Australian organisations including healthcare, telecommunications and legal firms, Lt Gen McGuinness told the audience none had damaged the nation's critical infrastructure or had a lasting impact. "Australia has seen the dark side of significant cyber incidents such as Optus, Medibank, Latitude Financial, HWL Ebsworth, Ramsay Health Care and Medisecure (but) we are actually yet to see a catastrophic cyber incident with impacts across multiple critical infrastructure sectors," she said. "We must continue to evolve and thrive to ensure that those scenes we see in Hollywood never actually eventuate." The most recent high-profile cyber attack in which criminals stole $750,000 from 10 AustralianSuper accounts had been the result of a "credential-stuffing attack", Lt Gen McGuinness confirmed, involving criminals using passwords leaked from another data breach. Financial losses from the attack were "relatively small" but aimed at a large financial market, she said, and should serve as a reminder for all parties to bolster online defences. The Annual Cyber Threat Report released in November found Australian cyber crime reports grew by 12 per cent in 2024 and the cost of attacks to individuals grew by 17 per cent to an average of $30,700. Cyber crime's cost to businesses fell by eight per cent according to the report, but Lt Gen McGuinness said the true cost of online crime was likely to be significantly higher given most Australian businesses were categorised as small and lost an average of $49,600 per incident. "These businesses don't have the staff and the resources to have dedicated IT professionals or security functions, let alone the capacity to respond to an incident without help," she said. "Our adversaries also know this." Australian businesses of all sizes should develop and practise incident response plans to avoid data theft, she said, and should refrain from paying ransoms demanded by criminals if possible to avoid being re-targeted. The Australian Cyber Security Strategy, launched in November 2023, is due to be updated by 2026 to address a broader range of cyber security investments, and a public consultation will be launched in the coming months.
