EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
JOHN KARABIN , SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CYBERSECURITY ,
NTT AUSTRALIA
We are beginning to see many governments take an active role in cybersecurity policy , threat detection and prevention measures .
The last two years have seen massive change in the cybersecurity landscape , largely driven by the pandemic and geopolitical pressures . At the same time , we ’ ve found some things have stayed the same .
According to NTT ’ s 2021 Global Threat Intelligence Report , ransomware continues to be one of the most damaging forms of cybersecurity threats , with the finance industry the most attacked due to its large payoff . While we don ’ t see these trends diminishing in the APAC region , we are seeing some new trends .
Increased disruption to the supply chain
Over the last few years , increased disruption to the supply chain has resulted in greater cyber-risk and vulnerability to back-end systems . Earlier this year , the attack on Colonial Pipeline forced the company to close down operations and freeze IT systems , temporarily halting the supply of fuel and gas across the east coast of the United States .
More recently in Australia , Frontier Software , one of the largest cloud-based payroll providers was significantly impacted by a cyber event , resulting in many reliant organizations being forced to activate their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans . These examples demonstrate that as businesses rely more on technology , the supply chain is an increasingly popular way for threat actors to either gain an entry point or cause significant disruption .
Manufacturing and healthcare experiencing larger volumes of cybersecurity threats
Criminal groups utilizing ransomware do particularly well when they increase the pressure of decision making , and we see this happening in the healthcare and manufacturing sectors . The healthcare industry ’ s cyber maturity score in particular , continues to lag behind in APAC , sitting at 0.60 compared to the global average maturity level of 1.02 out of a top score of five .
While the manufacturing industry has a score of 1.98 compared to the global score of 1.21 , it was the second most attacked in APAC , showing there are still significant vulnerabilities that can be exploited . This is a stark reminder of the threats and potential impact that
are caused by rapid Digital Transformation in critical industries not adequately addressing security .
Governments taking an active interest with the aim of increasing cybersecurity and business resilience
We are beginning to see many governments take an active role in cybersecurity policy , threat detection and prevention measures . The Australian government is on the cusp of passing the Critical Infrastructure Bill , which will allow the federal government power to assist or actively intervene in the security response of private organizations if required .
It will also increase the obligations around reporting and implementing essential cybersecurity practices . With this new legislation , the very definition of ‘ critical infrastructure ’ is being expanded from four to 11 sectors including , utilities , health , food , transport and data storage . It ’ s great to see the government taking this up as an important initiative as it highlights the important collaborative role both industry and government have to play , with the dividend being an exciting digital future that we can rely on and trust in .
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