The Australian Signals Directorate says cyber incidents are rising sharply, with home offices and smart devices now prime targets. Queensland recorded the most cases as financial losses mount for individuals and businesses.

Canberra

The Australian Signals Directorate's latest annual cyber threat report reveals a notable rise in cyber attacks targeting home offices, including smart devices such as doorbells. The report points to China as a particular concern and highlights that attackers can use compromised devices to access work laptops and sensitive information.

Over 1,200 cyber security incidents were recorded in the last financial year, marking an 11% increase from the previous year. Queensland accounted for the highest proportion of reports, and identity fraud was the most common type of incident. The financial impact of these attacks is substantial, with individuals losing an average of $33,000 and businesses facing even higher costs. Authorities urge Australians to use strong passwords and keep their devices updated to mitigate risks.

Cyber attacks on home offices surge, ASD report warns

It's not just your boss spying on you when working from home, but something and someone far more sinister. China in particular. The Australian Signals Directorate released its annual cyber threat report today, revealing home officers are becoming the target of attacks, including your smart doorbell. Any other device that's on that network will talk to each other. That allows the attacker then to, say, pivot onto your work laptop. Last financial year, there were more than 1,200 cyber security incidents, up 11% on the year before. There is a call that is taken by ASD once every six minutes. Queensland accounted for 28% of reports, followed by Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. Nearly a third of all individual incidents relate to identity fraud, followed by shopping, then banking fraud, both online, on average costing individuals $33,000. For businesses, the cost is far higher, up 219% in the last financial year. For bigger firms, that means per cyber security incident, the cost of dealing with it is more than $200,000. And today, Ancel is the latest Australian company to fall victim, hit by a cyber attack. And that's why we're investing billions of dollars to try and combat these cyber attacks, which feel like they're becoming more and more prevalent. The advice? We need to have things like hard-to-guess passwords and update the software and hardware of the devices that we're using. Matthew Karstunen, 10 News.

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