Federal government faced ‘extensive compromise’

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Cyber Threat Report 2022-23 revealed that severe data breaches increased with five major incidents across the government and critical infrastructures. Around 15% of all incidents were category 3, involving compromised assets, data breaches, and ransomware. ASD notified 24% of affected organisations about suspicious activities. Government sectors reported over 40% of cybersecurity incidents. The report also highlighted ransomware as the most destructive cybercrime, with over 1,100 attacks in 2022-23. Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud also caused losses of approximately $80m.