Ben Law: Protect your agribusiness from cybercrime

Every six minutes, a cyberattack is reported to the government's cybersecurity hotline. Last financial year, 94,000 incidents were reported to law enforcement, and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) responded to 1100 attacks on Australian entities, including 127 extortion-related incidents.

According to the ASD's annual Cyber Threat Report, 118 of these incidents involved ransomware or other forms of restriction to systems, files or accounts. It found business email compromise was a key tool to conduct cybercrime with ransomware a highly destructive type.

The ASD reported the average cost of cybercrime rose 14 per cent hitting business at the following levels;

• small business: $46,000
• medium business: $97,200
• large business: $71,600

Top 3 cybercrime types for individuals

• identity fraud
• online banking fraud
• online shopping fraud

Top 3 cybercrime types for business

• email compromise
• business email compromise (BEC) fraud
• online banking fraud

Source: ASD Cyber Threat Report 2022-2023

IT specialist Joel Winters joins me to educate us and give us some tips for what we can all do to beef up our defences against cybercrime.

Cybercrime is becoming more frequent and sophisticated and the ag sector is by no means immune. In fact, having been somewhat insulated against traditional crime due to its remoteness, Ag is potentially a ripe target for cybercriminals preying on the unwary.

Joel is a highly experienced IT specialist at ProComputers, which has offices in Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and Rockhampton, and is currently pursuing a post-graduate degree in cybersecurity. In this episode, Joel will be giving us some background on Cybercrime and sharing the top tips you can put in place now to start protecting you and your agribusiness!

Other ways to listen here

Report a Cybercrime:

https://www.cyber.gov.au/report-and-recover

Other useful links:

https://www.cyber.gov.au/
https://www.cyber.gov.au/resources-business-and-government/essential-cyber-security/essential-eight