(14 August 2024 – Australia) A new partnership designed to share collective security intelligence amongst Australia’s largest enterprises is honing more effective ways to counter cyberattacks.
The formation of the National Cyber Intel Partnership, part of the federal government’s broader strategy to make Australia a world leader in cyber security by 2030, sees major corporates like Westpac, Telstra and Woolworths working together to block cyber threats and protect customers from cyber-attacks. Australian banks are uniting to fight cybercrime through the Scam-Safe Accord, which includes a six-point plan to protect customers from scams.
The Fraud Reporting Exchange, launched by the Australian Financial Crimes Exchange in May 2023, also helps to prevents potential scams and frauds by fast-tracking payment reporting and intelligence sharing between institutions. Cybercriminals are becoming more sophisticated and more action is required. The Australian Signals Directorate’s 2022/23 Cyber Threat Report notes a cybercrime report is made to ReportCyber about once every six minutes.
“These are just the incidents we hear about. In all likelihood, this is just the tip of the iceberg” commented Australian National Cyber Security Coordinator, Lieutenant General Michelle McGuinness.
“Cyber threats are growing in scale and sophistication, and no single entity can face these threats alone. Effective cyber protection requires malicious cyber activity to be identified and blocked as far ahead of the end-user as possible. We need industry to become an integral part of our national cyber defences – a cyber ecosystem where those that have the capability, expertise and experience to better protect Australians across the economy, play a role in doing so.”