Education sector most attacked in Australia

The education sector was the most targeted industry for cyber attacks in Australia during 2017, accounting for 26% of all attacks, according to Dimension Data and NTT Security.

The technology sector (17%), finance sector (13%), government sector (13%) and manufacturing sector (12%) round out the top five list of most targeted industries.

Guidance on NTT Security’s Global Threat Intelligence Report 2018 compiled by Dimension Data also shows that Australia is a frequent target of cyber attacks.

But it is also a major source of attacks, accounting for an estimated 57% of cyber attacks in the APAC region, including a staggering 66% of attacks on the financial sector of APAC.

According to Dimension Data Director of Cybersecurity John Karabin, educational institutions should be on high alert in Australia due to the broad range of devices and access points in university, college and school networks.

He said motives for attacking the education sector include the fact that student records and other personally identifiable information are of great value to cybercriminals.

Globally, the report shows that ransomware attacks grew 350% in 2017 to represent 7% of all global malware attacks — up from just 1% in 2016.

Image credit: ©Tyler Olson/Dollar Photo Club

Please follow us and share on Twitter and Facebook. You can also subscribe for FREE to our weekly newsletter and quarterly magazine.