The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) recommends that business and network owners improve their cybersecurity by focusing on four “big moves,” including replacing legacy IT.
According to the ACSC’s Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024-25, the Australian cybersecurity agency answered over 42,500 calls to the Security Hotline, an increase of 16% compared to the ACSC’s previous cyber threat year review.
The number of cybercrime reports fell 3% to 84,700. Still, this means that the cybersecurity agency receives a report every six minutes on average.
Self-reported costs of cybercrime went up 50% to $80,850 overall. For small businesses, the costs amounted to $56,600 (up 14%), for medium-sized businesses $97,200 (up 55%), and for large businesses $202,700 (up 219%).
Over the past 12 months, the ACSC responded to more than 200 incidents involving DDoS attacks, an increase of more than 280% from last year. Identity fraud remained the top-reported cybercrime, which was up 8%.
The Australian cybersecurity agency responded to over 1,200 cybersecurity incidents last year, an increase of 11%.
These numbers show that cyberattacks are becoming a more significant threat every day. That’s why the ACSC recommends that business and network owners focus on four “big moves.”
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These include implementing best-practice logging, effectively managing third-party risks, preparing for post-quantum cryptography, and replacing legacy IT.
Legacy IT is a collection of hardware, software, services, protocols, and systems that are considered end-of-life because they are no longer supported by the vendor or developer. Keeping legacy IT up and running increases the likelihood of a cybersecurity incident. It can also make any incident much more impactful.
There are also significant business risks associated with legacy IT. For example, legacy IT can increase the likelihood that an organization will have systems taken offline, service delivery disrupted, data destroyed or leaked, and cause reputational damage.
According to the ACSC, replacing legacy IT with the latest hardware and software is one of the most effective ways to increase a company’s cybersecurity defenses and prepare for future challenges.
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