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Businesses hit by cyber attacks will be required to report the incidents to federal authorities, as new specific offences for criminals operating online are announced by the Federal Government.

Source : PortMac.News | Independent :

Source : PortMac.News | Independent | News Story:

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New cyber offences for not reporting ransomware attacks
Businesses hit by cyber attacks will be required to report the incidents to federal authorities, as new specific offences for criminals operating online are announced by the Federal Government.

News Story Summary:

The new criminal offences will target people engaged in "cyber extortion", using ransomware to steal private information and then charging their victims exorbitant amounts of money for the return or release of the data.

Cyber criminals buying and selling malware — and targeting critical infrastructure such as hospitals and power networks — will also be specifically outlawed as the government tries to modernise the nation's criminal legislation to deal with growing online threats.

Just how harsh the penalties will be remains to be seen, with the government still drafting legislation and consulting on the issue.

Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said the new offences would ensure Australian authorities were armed with the best tools to target cyber criminals and "take them down".

She insisted any penalties would be serious.

Ms Andrews also said the public must be better educated about ransomware, as she warned against businesses opting to quietly pay ransoms rather than be exposed to public embarrassment.

"We don't condone payment of any ransom at all, because it does just make you more liable to a further attack," Ms Andrews told Nine Radio.

"Let's be clear, it doesn't mean that you're going to get back the information that's been stolen either."

Ms Andrews said there had been a 15 per cent increase in cyber crimes reported over the past year, with many of those attacks beginning with seemingly innocuous messages.

"Just because you receive an email or a text message, it doesn't mean that it's legitimate," she said, urging the public to be cautious in clicking any links.

Penalties for businesses who hide being victim to an attack:

In noting the increase in cyber crimes being reported, Ms Andrews feared it was just the tip of the iceberg, with some businesses wary of the reputational risk from admitting they had been hit.

"We want people to put their hands up and say, 'No, actually, I have been the victim of a ransomware attack' and get the support that they need to be able to deal with the implications and outcomes that support that."

The new mandatory reporting regime will include civil penalties, such as fines, for businesses that do not alert authorities to attacks, however, Ms Andrews said. such penalties would be used as a last resort.

There have been a number of high-profile cyber attacks in recent times that crippled organisations and their computer systems, including the Nine Network, JBS Meats and the Victorian Health Department.

Intelligence agencies have expressed concerns about some businesses refusing assistance after a cyber attack.

While giving evidence in June to a parliamentary committee on legislation giving security agencies greater powers to protect critical infrastructure, the Australian Signals Directorate's Rachel Noble gave an example.

"We found out something happened because there were media reports," Ms Noble said.

"Then we tried to reach out to the company to clarify if the media reports were true, and they didn't want to talk to us.

"Five days later, we were still getting very sluggish engagement and were trying to get them to provide data to us and to deploy some of our tools so that we could work out what was happening on their networks."

Ms Noble said the negotiations with the unnamed company continued for a fortnight, and the cyber attack had a "National impact".

"On day 14, we were only able to provide them with generic protection advice, and their network was still down," Ms Noble said.

"Three months later they got re-infected and we started again."

Laws not coming soon enough, says Labor

The federal Opposition welcomed the announcement, describing it as another example of the Coalition heeding calls for action from the other side of the political aisle.

However, Shadow Home Affairs Minister Kristina Keneally and Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security Tim Watts said the announcement lacked detail.

"With only a few Parliamentary sitting weeks left in the year and more consultation on its proposed ransom payment reporting scheme to be done, this looks like yet another announcement with no delivery from the Morrison-Joyce Government," the pair said in a statement.

"It's a familiar pattern from this government.

"One of Mr Morrison's first actions when coming to office was to abolish the dedicated cyber security minister and it's been at the bottom of the government's to-do list ever since."

Story By | Matthew Doran


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