What Are The Top 5 Cybercrimes in Australia?

Did you know that small businesses are targeted in 43% of cyber attacks?

Unfortunately, studies show that cyber incidents are increasingly affecting small and medium Australian businesses as they shift online without necessarily knowing how to protect their data and computer systems from devastating cyber attacks.

The average cost of a cyber attack on a small business is $9,000. This means that if you’re not prepared and insured against this rising threat, your hard work could be destroyed in minutes as your company goes out of business.

To help you better understand cyber threats so that you can prepare for them, we’ve listed below the top 5 cybercrimes affecting Australian businesses.

Phishing

As a business owner, you might have already been the victim of a phishing attack in the last few years. Indeed, an alarming report reveals that 92% of Australian organisations have experienced a successful phishing attack in the past! 

Phishing refers to the fraudulent activity of sending a seemingly legitimate email or website link to someone to trick them into sharing personal and financial information. 

Malware

Malware is intrusive software such as a Trojan, a virus, or spyware that aims at destroying your computer and computer systems. It usually consists of code developed by hackers to inflict maximum damage to your data and systems. Malware can also be designed to access unauthorised data and leak it.

Ransomware

80% of Australian businesses experienced a successful ransomware attack in 2021. So, the threat to your business is real.

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that is designed to encrypt your data or lock you out of your systems, preventing you from accessing critical information until you pay a ransom.

Distributed Denial-Of-Service

A distributed denial-of-service (or DDoS) attack refers to a cyber attack on a specific network or server intended to disrupt the normal operations of a website by flooding the network or server with unusually high levels of traffic. This traffic includes fraudulent requests designed to overwhelm the system causing it to deny access to every user, even legitimate ones.  

DDoS attacks are extremely common in Asia-Pacific, and Australia is increasingly targeted. In fact, it has become the third most targeted country globally!

Watering Hole Attack

A watering hole attack refers to a cyber attack during which a cybercriminal infects a website that’s likely to be visited by a targeted organisation. The idea is to gain access to the victim’s computers and networks through a third-party website rather than attacking the company directly.

Want To Protect Your Business Against Cyber Attacks?

One successful cyber attack can cost thousands of dollars, if not more, to your business. Cyber liability insurance policies are designed to cover your company against the harmful consequences of a cyber attack.

Here are a few things cyber insurance can help you with:

• Data breach
• Business disruption and loss reimbursement
• Cyber extortion defence
• Forensic support

If you want more information about cyber insurance, don’t hesitate to read our latest article on the top benefits of getting cyber insurance. 

At upcover, we strive to help small businesses thrive. And as part of our mission, we make a point to adapt our offering to ever-changing small businesses’ needs. That’s why we’ve added Cyber & Privacy Liability insurance to our list of policies.