Shadow minister for cyber security Tim Watts says a mandatory reporting regime for businesses that feel they have no choice but to pay cyber criminals extorting them would help smoke out and target crypto-currency exchanges being used to launder funds and hit ransomware groups financially.

Ransomware attacks are estimated to have cost the Australian economy $1.4 billion in 2020, including both ransom demand costs and average down time of networks, according to security firm Emsisoft.