Outgoing Telstra CEO Andy Penn warns Australia at risk of cyber attacks

The Telstra boss has named a major threat facing Australia and named the ‘biggest lever’ that can be pulled to stop it.

Outgoing Telstra chief executive officer Andy Penn has named the “biggest lever” Australia can pull in its efforts to fight cyber attacks.

Mr Penn, who chairs the cyber industry committee that advises the federal government, said educating people about ransomware and other digital threats was the best way to prevent them.

“We’re never going to be able to catch everything,” he told the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday.

“So the one area where we do call out where we think the government could invest more in, in the context of the overall scale of this strategy is in community awareness.”

Mr Penn last year urged the government to take a stronger position on ransomware and other types of malware as the frequency and intensity of cyber attacks increases.

He said on Tuesday the federal government needed to take a national approach to tackling cyber attacks including investing in its defences.

“As I always describe it, you know if we wanted to rob a bank 100 years ago, you would come down the high street and knock on the door and, and the money would be in the safe at the back,” Mr Penn said.

“Unfortunately, now you can rob a bank from anywhere in the world and that’s sort of metaphorically what’s happening and that’s the challenge.”

Outgoing Telstra boss Andy Penn says Australia is an attractive target for cyber criminals. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Mr Penn threw his support behind new Home Affairs and Cyber Security Minister Clare O’Neil’s plans to overhaul Australia’s cyber security strategy.

Ms O’Neil will reshape the strategy from 2020, which Mr Penn advised the then-Morrison government on.

Mr Penn said the confluence of technological advancements and a more fractured geopolitical environment had led to a “significant increase” in cyber threats.

“Make no mistake, Australia is an attractive and active target for malicious actors and cyber criminals,” Mr Penn said.

“The bottom line is, at a time that we’ve become more dependent than ever on doing things digitally and that dynamic is only going to increase, the digital platforms and digital infrastructure on which we rely are at most risk.”

Telstra has in the last 12 months intercepted more than 1 million malicious emails and 200 million scam calls, Mr Penn said.

And the telco giant is blocking more than 1500 scam text messages every minute.