With the growth in cyber threats worldwide and the recent cyberattacks on Ukraine, every other country has become super vigilant about cybersecurity. Australia is one of those countries.
The threat to the Australian departments has widely increased with these attacks. Presently, there is no possibility of a cyberattack on the country but nobody can predict the future. Therefore, the officials of the Australian Cyber Security Center (ACSC) are employing measures so that they can easily protect themselves in the future.
The ACSC very recently issued an official alert statement that said, “Australian organizations are encouraged to adopt cybersecurity measures for their organization's safety.”
The whole world today is informed about the malware and threat actors that were being used to orchestrate the cyber breach in Ukraine. The officials of ACSC should be vigilant when it comes to ransomware attacks.
The cyber attackers from the group of Conti have revealed that they are going to attack and target the digital infrastructure of a nation as a response to any kind of cyber or military actions against Russia. So, to provide protection and as a method of adopting security measures against the Conti cyberattacker group, ACSC has also published an adversary. This adversary mentions the tactics of attacking and the various methods to safeguard yourself against the group.
ACSC has also appointed various dedicated reporting platforms so that not even a single attack goes unnoticed and the aftereffects of an attack can be easily negotiated. The impact of a cyber attack can be in various forms such as –
- introduction of destructive malware (WhisperGate, HermeticWiper, IsaacWiper, etc.)
- Ransomware attacks
- Malicious activity and security measures, etc.
Methods for Identification of Cyberattacks
The ACSC has proposed many methods and techniques, using which national organizations can easily identify and mitigate cyberattacks.
The fraudsters generally send spear-phishing emails to their targets that contain malicious links. These links can easily fool the spam checking tools as they use the publicly available URL shortening method. So, the victim most probably falls for the trap and mindlessly clicks on the link, which then steals their personal information. The fraudsters can easily access the victim’s organizational assets using third-party software.
Sometimes, these fraudsters can attack immediately after taking control of the victim's computer systems. But sometimes they stay hidden in their systems and wait for the best opportunity to attack the organization. This can cause maximum loss to the organization and maximum profit to the fraudster.
In some cases, the threat actors attack those significant employees of the organization who can help them gain control over the data present in their systems. Moreover, there are many people out there who have weak passwords that can be easily guessed by fraudsters. This is a big loophole that lets attackers enter your systems.
The ACSC, in its latest statement, has recommended that organizations adopt cybersecurity measures to stay protected from them. All organizations must review and detect phishing email sources, handle those emails, and take action against them.
This is a well-appreciated step by the cyber experts associated with the Australian government. With the high possibility of a global cyberwar, the Australian government is preparing itself for any upcoming threats. Being prepared beforehand is much better than looking for a way out once the cyberattack has been successful.
Original source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cybersecurity-measures-employed-australian-aariya-rathi/?published=t
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