In light of the multiple cybersecurity attacks and data breaches suffered by major institutions including healthcare, finance companies, government agencies, security firms and multinational institutions, the Australian government has resolved to enhance its security frameworks by imposing a mandate upon businesses in the region to assume a strategic reporting system for ransomware attacks in order to combat the digital plague.
The ever-rising cybersecurity threat cost the Australian economy a whopping $2.9 billion in 2021 and has more than doubled today, necessitating a fast action in response to the issue. Hence, the framework for National Cybersecurity Strategy is due to be released this month. It has also been reported that this move will not be enforced using sanctions as businesses reserve the right to pay ransoms to recover their data from hackers who breach their internal database, although Australia’s National Cybersecurity Coordinator, Air Marshall Darren Goldie advises against it. The cybersecurity framework is primarily aimed at equipping businesses and individuals with important tools with which to combat cybersecurity attacks and recover from lofty demands of ransomware hackers.
Ransomware attacks have become a growing global issue and as such many governments, including Australia have joined the coalition to pushback against the economic effects of paying billions of dollars each year in ransom. Fund retrievers’ cybersecurity research unit has found that ransomware hackers make use of cryptocurrency mining pools to launder ill-gotten funds and has developed a blacklist of wallets funded through such means and belonging to various known cybercriminals, scam cryptocurrency investment websites, romance scammers and more. The company has resolved to use this information in partnership with law enforcement agents to apprehend the unscrupulous characters behind these schemes and offer resolutions to their victims.
The mandate marks a significantly proactive move by the Australian government towards providing a safer digital atmosphere and ridding the vast cyberspace of bad actors who are highly funded and sophisticated in their criminal enterprises, thereby setting a standard for many other governments similarly affected.