KPMG chief executive Andrew Yates said this reflected the rash of significant recent cyberattacks,which began in October 2022 with theloss of sensitive customer health records at Medibank,and threatened tocripple Christmas shoppers last November with an attack on DP World ports.
“I think it’s just the increased awareness that this is an issue that is with us,and it’s not going to go away,” he said.
The result mirrors the findings of anAustralian Financial Reviewsurvey of Australia’s top CEOs,published this month that found cybersecurity was the biggest risk not getting the attention it deserved.
Just this week,Victoria’s court system was hit by a ransomware attack,with hackers potentially accessing archives containing testimony from highly sensitive cases.
Just before Christmas,St Vincent’s Health was hit with an attack by a sophisticated group of cybercriminals,who gained access to the organisation’s data through a compromised account.
Yates emphasised that both business and government needed to collaborate to deal effectively with the rising threat from hackers,which include state-sponsored actors.