Gold Coast cyber crime experts Chris Haigh and David Rudduck warn any business - no matter the size - can be attacked by hackers

Gold Coast cyber security experts are warning businesses of any size to be wary of hackers because falling prey is often “luck of the draw” and the costs can be enormous.

GOLD Coast cyber security experts are warning businesses of any size to be wary of hackers because falling prey is often “luck of the draw” and the costs can be enormous.

The warning comes in the wake of Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealing yesterday that Australia has been the target of a major cyber attack on all levels of government, political parties and businesses by a foreign entity.

“We know it is a sophisticated, state-based cyber actor because of the scale and nature of the targeting and the tradecraft used,” Mr Morrison said.

He said these were not new cyber risks but were specific, targeted activities and he wanted to warn Australians and organisations.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has revealed Australia has been the target of a major cyber attack on all levels of government, political parties and businesses by a foreign entity.

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He said investigations so far had not revealed any large-scale personal data breaches.

Mercury IT chief information officer Chris Haigh said the Gold Coast technology and cyber security firm was seeing an increase in phishing and ransomware attacks, especially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts a victim’s files, with the attacker demanding a ransom from the victim to restore data access.

“We are not seeing it abate at all, it is just getting worse,” he said.

He said businesses and organisations in the government, infrastructure and healthcare sectors were most at risk.

David Ruddock, the managing director of Insane Technologies at Bundall.

Mr Haigh warned businesses not to think just because they were small they were not on the radar of hackers.

“That is the number one excuse I get, which is, ‘I’m not big enough, I’m not important’.

“But the problem is (with) a lot of the phishing and ransomware events, which can literally shut down businesses for days on end, the criminals are not specifically targeting your business. It is kind of a scattergun approach, like getting a massive list and sending it out.

“So you are not safe just because you are small. It’s unfortunately luck of the draw.”

Insane Technologies managing director David Rudduck said pharmacies were a “huge target” now but any business could be attacked by cyber criminals.

“We have seen a lot of businesses move to remote desktop servers to set up remote access and have fast-tracked the process with an unsecured system,” he said.

“If the Australian Government is facing a state-based cyber attack, then imagine how easy it is to attack small businesses.”

Telstra CEO Andy Penn said there had been a significant increase in cyber attacks in recent weeks

“We are on heightened alert for ourselves and for our customers and we are actively managing the risk,” he said.

“Cyber security is a large and growing area of risk for the security of the nation, and COVID-19 has increased that risk with so many of people working and studying from home, away from traditional security measures.”