Australia Looking at Regulations to Make Ransom Payment Reporting Mandatory

When considering online security, most consumers and businesses will understandably look at preventative measures. Nobody wants to fall victim to cybercriminals so implementing robust security measures can often repel attacks or dissuade opportunistic attacks.

Unfortunately, many people still find themselves becoming the victims of sophisticated attacks by criminal gangs, and Australia wants to bring in a set of new rules that would make it mandatory for those who suffer from ransom attacks to have to report the incidents.

In the meantime, Australian consumers and online businesses should continue following best practices when accessing the Internet, making payments, and storing data.

The financial industry has a strong focus on account security and multi-factor authentication is commonplace for banks and payment services. Consumers must follow traditional sign-in procedures before additional verification is required. One-use codes issued to mobile numbers or emails associated with the account or biometric authentication can minimize the risk of hackers accessing accounts.

Gambling expert Sergio Zammit also rates security as one of the top factors that consumers consider when choosing an online casino. The highest-rated PayID casinos use several security measures including end-to-end encryption that are more commonly associated with financial institutions.

There are lots of other ways that consumers and businesses can protect themselves against the threat of cybercrime including phishing emails, hackers, and ransomware attacks.

Australia’s decision to implement rules that would force victims to report ransom attacks comes in the footsteps of America’s CIRCIA (Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act).

Implemented in 2022, the law requires that incidents must be reported by certain entities if they fall victim to any ransomware attacks or cyber incidents.

Victims must report incidents within a specified timescale, helping the CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) identify trends, improving prosecution rates, and allowing software developers to create secure products and updates to improve existing ones.

Ransomware attacks can affect all types of online businesses and work by encrypting data and files, forcing the victim to pay a ransom to receive the key to decrypt it.

This type of malware is downloaded to devices by scamming users into opening malicious links and attachments.

Users can avoid this by avoiding opening attachments or following links unless they expect to receive them from a trusted source. Malicious websites can also be blocked, and educating employees or those with access to devices about these dangers is key to avoiding traps.

The move by the Australian government is an attempt to dent the rising costs that victims have to pay which average over $2.5 billion every year for the economy.

The government had initially looked at steps to completely outlaw the payment of ransom in cybercrime attacks. However, criticism of this proposed legislation led to a rethink which resulted in a shift of focus towards the reporting of ransom payments.

Cybercrime in Australia is on the rise and a report published in 2023 suggested that online criminal incidents happened on average every 6 minutes in the country. Reporting these will help authorities gather information that will be beneficial in stopping this epidemic.