Quarter of Australians said they had ’definitely’ had their personal data hacked or stolen

Nearly a quarter of Australians have had their personal digital data hacked or stolen and one in five have cancelled subscriptions in the past month due to security concerns, new figures show.

Nearly a quarter of Australians have had their personal digital data hacked or stolen.

Nearly a quarter of Australians have had their personal digital data hacked or stolen and one in five have cancelled subscriptions in the past month due to security concerns, new figures show.

The data was revealed by the SEC Newgate Mood of the ­Nation report, which surveyed 1200 people and comes amid the Optus and Medibank hacks that have potentially exposed millions of Australians’ personal ­information.

According to the report, 23 per cent of those surveyed said they had “definitely” had their personal data hacked or stolen, while another 19 per cent ­believed this may have happened to them, suggesting nearly half the population could have been the victims of costly cyberattacks and data breaches. Just over 30 per cent of ­respondents over 50 either knew for a fact or at least thought they could have been hacked, compared to more than half aged 35 to 49.

“It is clear that millions of Australians have suffered crippling cyberattacks and are responding in an effort to protect themselves,” SEC Newgate Research partner David Stolper said.

The survey also revealed more than 20 per cent of respondents had cancelled online subscriptions in the past month and 70 per cent of respondents changed their online password in that time period. More than 60 per cent had set up two-factor authentication in a bid to reduce the risk of being hacked.

Alastair MacGibbon of leading cyber ­security firm CyberCx.

The head of the leading cyber ­security firm CyberCx, Alastair MacGibbon, said Australians had a “growing awareness” of online security risks.

“We all have a part to play,” Mr MacGibbon, who was a chief cyber adviser to ex-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, said.

“The take up of two-factor authentication and other tools is a vital step that Australians can take to safeguard themselves online, and we would urge providers to make these measures enabled by default.”

Mr Stopler said the heightened awareness for cyber security provided “a clear opportunity for governments and industry to fill this need and restore public confidence in the digital economy”.

Labor on Friday announced penalties for companies involved in serious or repeated cyber breaches would be drastically increased from the maximum fine of $2.2m to at least $50m. Companies could also be fined three times the value of “any benefit obtained” through the misuse of information, or 30 per cent of their adjusted turnover over the period the breach was conducted.

“When Australians are asked to hand over their personal data they have a right to expect it will be protected,” Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.

The Privacy Legislation Amendment bill will also provide the Australian Information Commissioner greater powers to resolve privacy breaches, and follows Medibank becoming the second major company in less than a month to be hacked and confirm customer’s personal information had been breached, after Optus revealed in September up to 11 million customers had been exposed to a data leak.