Cyber criminals are one step ahead: security experts

Malcolm Turnbull’s planned pre-emptive strikes on cyber attackers is unlikely to deter cyber criminals, security experts say.

Australia continues to be a soft target for hackers.

Malcolm Turnbull’s planned pre-emptive strikes on cyber attackers are unlikely to deter cyber crimin­als, security experts say.

The Prime Minister yesterday acknowledged the capabilities of the Australian Signals Directorate to launch strikes on hacker collect­ives, saying he hoped his announcement sent a strong message to cyber criminals.

But security experts said making pre-emptive strikes against a decentralised and extremely agile enemy was fraught with danger.

Nick Savvides, from cyber ­security firm Symantec, said the biggest problem was identifying the right culprit. “It’s hard to identify the actors and then how do you attack them without breaking laws both at home and the countries where the hackers are operating from,” Mr Savvides said.

Nigel Phair, director of the Centre for Internet Safety at the University of Canberra, said ­cyber criminals were well aware of the capabilities of state agencies and, despite the strong intent on display from the Australian government, it’s “pretty much business as usual for these guys”.

“It’s good that the Prime Minister has made that announcement but the high-end crooks aren’t going to pay much attention to it,’’ he said.

“Whether it’s pre-emptive or a retaliatory strike it’s hard to find these guys, and governments by and large are just too risk-averse, in case something goes wrong.’’

The government has put forward a multi-pronged strategy that aims to foster greater collaboration between the private and public sector and establish centres across the country to share inform­ation on the threats posed by hacker collectives to Australian businesses and consumers.

With $230 million allocated to the scheme, funds will also be direct­ed to develop homegrown cyber ­security capabilities and promote international cyber co-operation.

Australia continues to be a soft target for hackers, with the latest report by Symantec highlighting that one in 328 Australians was hit by malware attacks last year. Australians are also increasingly falling prey to ransomware — where hackers encrypt information and hold it hostage until a user decides to pay for access. Australia is the No 1 target for this sort of attack in the southern hemisphere.

In light of the escalating threats, the government has appointe­d Children’s eSafety Commissioner Alastair MacGibbon as a special adviser to the prime minister on cyber security.

Mr Phair said Mr MacGibbon’s presence would be crucial in ensur­ing the conversation on cyber security didn’t fade into the background. “He has the ability to get cut-through and he’s the sort that will get stuff done,” he said.

Mr Phair said encouraging business to be upfront about data breaches would require more than just a rigorous enforcement ­regime. “How this will work is if there’s an industry-driven process with minimal government involvement: there has to be a big practicality lens put on top of this,” he said.

Commonwealth Bank chief inform­ation security and trust officer­ Ben Heyes said holding organisati­ons accountable for keeping the data safe was a core customer expectation and any policy framework had to stay abreast of that.