Online criminals are increasingly targeting wealthy private schools in Australia, a new report by the nation’s cyber espionage agency warns.
The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) today released its annual threat assessment which found cybercrimes over the past financial year were costing small businesses nearly $50,000.
The average cost of cybercrime for individuals was about $30,000.
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An emerging trend over the past 12 months was cyber attacks on private schools by hackers, the ASD says.
They are being lured by school records holding sensitive student data, including health and psychological data, which can be stolen and used to extort money from parents.
The ASD report cites a malware attack last November targeting the Association of Independent Schools of NSW triggered when an employee searched online for an Australian education sector enterprise agreement and clicked on a malicious link.
The malicious cyber actor had persistent access to the network for three days.
The Australian Federal Police were called in to prevent a repeat of the cyber attack.
Education and training providers were some of the some popular infrastructure targets for cyber criminals along with transport, warehousing, electricity and waste services, the ASD found.
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The cyber spy agency received 87,000 reports of cybercrime during the past financial year and responded to 1100 incidents, a figure similar to the past 12 months.
Defence Minister Richard Marles, whose department has responsibility for the ASD, said the number of reports was similar to the previous year, but that the impact and costs of online crime were increasing,
Individuals and businesses are again being warned not to pay hackers when they become victim of ransomware attacks.
The ASD warns there is no guarantee it will help them to recover stolen data.
