back to article Australians almost immune from ransomware, topping lists for data safety

Take a bow, Australians: we may have had 242 breaches sent to the information commissioner this quarter, but almost nobody fell victim to ransomware attacks. Of all the data breaches reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) between April and June this year, only two were ransomware attacks. …

  1. veti Silver badge

    "Notifiable" breaches?

    So, I looked at the links - and it's not clear that a ransomware attack should even be notifiable. Ransomware scum don't commonly, so far as I know, steal records - they just make them unusable.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: "Notifiable" breaches?

      It's not just about stealing data, it's if the breach results in DATA LOSS of person identifiable information etc. Most ransomware attacks wouldn't be reported though as the company can fall back on backups and re-key any data, this is what happens in most healthcare attacks as data is typically held on systems which are unaffected and anything lost that day is usually re-keyed.

      Additionally there's a stigma now with reporting ransomware, so private companies are increasingly terrified of reporting themselves for fear of the media annihilating them.

    2. EnviableOne

      Re: "Notifiable" breaches?

      Ransomware usually comes down to an availibility breach.

      Untill the back-ups can be found and restored, the data is unavailable, unless the data is not backed up in which case its straight forward destruction.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you build it

    "They" will come...

    (mostly at night)

  3. david 12 Silver badge

    Single target attacks

    Rather, most of the incidents with single targets are probably human error, where data about an individual was lost or sent to the wrong destination.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I wonder...

    ...if public advice from 9 years ago helped the current situation?

    https://www.itnews.com.au/news/nsw-police-dont-use-windows-for-internet-banking-157767

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe they just ignore ransomware threats

    If you live with the daily reality that putting on your shoes without checking them can kill you, are you really going to be scared of an emailed threat by some internet loser?

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