1. Ransomware Attacks

Is ransomware still a major threat to Australian businesses?

Yes. Ransomware remains a significant cybersecurity threat for Australian organisations in 2026.

ASD’s Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024–25 found that ransomware was involved in 11% of all incidents responded to by the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC), broadly consistent with the previous year.

Ransomware can prevent employees from accessing files and systems, interrupt business operations and potentially expose sensitive information.

For a small business, even a short period of downtime can affect:

• Customer service
• Sales and payments
• Staff productivity
• Business-critical systems
• Access to customer data
• Business reputation

How can Australian businesses reduce ransomware risk?

Businesses should prioritise:

• Regular and tested backups
• Multi-factor authentication (MFA)
• Timely security patching
• Endpoint protection
• Restricted administrator privileges
• Employee security awareness training
• An incident response plan

Australia’s Essential Eight provides a recognised baseline for reducing the risk of common cyber attacks, including ransomware.

2. AI-Powered Phishing and Social Engineering

How is AI changing phishing attacks?

Artificial intelligence is making it easier for criminals to create convincing messages, impersonation attempts and scams.

Traditional phishing emails were sometimes easier to identify because of poor spelling, unusual wording or obvious mistakes. AI can make malicious messages much more convincing.

Australian research has also highlighted concerns about AI being used for impersonation, deception and financial crime.

Businesses should therefore avoid relying solely on employees to identify suspicious grammar or spelling.

How can businesses protect against AI-powered phishing?

Use multiple layers of protection:

• MFA on business accounts
• Email security controls
• SPF, DKIM and DMARC
• Security awareness training
• Phishing simulations
• Verification procedures for payments
• Verification of unusual requests through another communication channel

For example, if an employee receives an email requesting a change to supplier banking details, they should independently verify the request before making the change.

3. Business Email Compromise

What is business email compromise?

Business Email Compromise (BEC) occurs when criminals compromise or impersonate a legitimate business email account to trick employees into transferring money, changing payment information, or sharing sensitive information.

ASD’s 2024–25 data lists email compromise without financial loss at 19%, BEC fraud involving financial loss at 15%, and identity fraud at 11% among the top reported cybercrime threats for businesses.

BEC is particularly dangerous because attackers may not need sophisticated malware. Sometimes they only need access to an email account and enough information about the business to create a convincing request.

How can Australian businesses prevent BEC?

Businesses should:

• Enable MFA
• Protect administrator accounts
• Use strong email security controls
• Implement SPF, DKIM and DMARC
• Require verification for payment changes
• Train finance and management teams
• Monitor unusual account activity

ASD specifically recommends following the Essential Eight and applying additional controls to high-risk users such as finance, HR and senior executives.

4. Supply Chain and Third-Party Cyber Attacks

Why are third-party suppliers a cybersecurity risk?

Your business may have strong security controls while a supplier, software provider or external IT service has weaker security.

Attackers can target third parties because they may have legitimate access to systems, applications or sensitive information.

Australian organisations therefore need to consider cybersecurity beyond their own network.

How can businesses reduce supply chain cyber risk?

Before giving a third party access to business systems, consider:

• What information can they access?
• Why do they need that access?
• Is MFA enabled?
• How is access monitored?
• What happens when the relationship ends?
• Does the supplier have an incident response process?
• What security requirements are included in the contract?

Regularly review vendors rather than treating supplier security as a one-time assessment.

5. Data Breaches and Privacy Risks

How common are data breaches in Australia?

Data breaches remain a major concern for Australian businesses.

The OAIC recorded 1,205 data breach notifications during 2025, an 8% increase from 2024 and the highest annual figure since Australia’s mandatory data breach reporting scheme began. Of those notifications, 716 were attributed to malicious or criminal activity.

The affected information can include:

• Customer names
• Contact details
• Identification information
• Financial information
• Health information
• Employee records
• Login credentials

A data breach can create financial, operational, legal and reputational consequences.

How can Australian businesses reduce data breach risks?

Start by understanding:

1. What personal information your business stores
2. Where it is stored
3. Who can access it
4. Why you need it
5. How long you retain it
6. How it is protected
7. What happens if it is compromised

Businesses should also maintain a documented incident response process so staff know what to do when a potential breach occurs.

6. DDoS Attacks

Are DDoS attacks increasing in Australia?

Yes. ASD reported that it responded to more than 200 DoS/DDoS incidents in FY2024–25, representing an increase of more than 280% compared with the previous year.

A Distributed Denial-of-Service attack attempts to overwhelm an online service with traffic, potentially making websites, applications or other internet-facing services unavailable.

For businesses that depend heavily on their website or online systems, downtime can quickly become a commercial problem.

How can businesses protect against DDoS attacks?

Depending on the business and infrastructure, useful measures can include:

• DDoS protection
• Content delivery networks (CDNs)
• Web application firewalls
• Traffic monitoring
• Network redundancy
• Incident response procedures
• Hosting-level protection

Businesses should identify which internet-facing services are most critical before an attack happens.

7. Edge Device and Network Vulnerabilities

Why are routers, firewalls and VPN devices cybersecurity risks?

Internet-facing devices such as routers, firewalls and VPN products can become entry points into a business network.

ASD reported that it observed more than 120 incidents associated with attacks on edge devices in FY2024–25, with 96% of those incidents being successful.

These devices can be particularly attractive to attackers because vulnerabilities may provide an initial foothold into a wider network.

How can businesses secure edge devices?

Businesses should:

• Keep firmware and software patched
• Replace unsupported devices
• Remove unnecessary internet exposure
• Use strong administrator credentials
• Enable MFA where available
• Review firewall and VPN configurations
• Monitor unusual network activity

An old firewall or VPN appliance should not be treated as harmless simply because it has been working for years.

8. Insider Threats and Human Error

Can employees cause cybersecurity incidents?

Yes. Cybersecurity incidents do not always begin with an external hacker.

Human error can include:

• Sending information to the wrong person
• Clicking malicious links
• Reusing passwords
• Losing devices
• Sharing credentials
• Misconfiguring cloud services
• Approving fraudulent payment requests

The Australian Institute of Criminology’s research shows that cybercrime continues to affect Australian small and medium businesses. Its 2024 survey found that SME owners and managers reported substantial exposure to malware, identity crime and fraud/scams.

How can businesses reduce human-related security risks?

Instead of relying on a once-a-year training session, businesses can use:

• Short security awareness sessions
• Phishing simulations
• Password manager adoption
• MFA
• Clear payment verification procedures
• Regular security reminders
• Least-privilege access

The goal is to make secure behaviour part of normal business operations.

9. Cloud and SaaS Security Misconfiguration

Is cloud security a risk for small businesses?

Yes. Moving business systems to Microsoft 365, Google Workspace and other cloud platforms does not automatically make them secure.

Problems can occur when:

• Users have excessive permissions
• MFA is not enabled
• Former employees retain access
• Files are publicly accessible
• Administrator accounts are poorly protected
• Third-party applications have unnecessary permissions

Cloud environments should therefore be reviewed regularly.

How can businesses improve cloud security?

Start with:

• MFA for all users
• Strong administrator protection
• Regular access reviews
• Removal of inactive accounts
• Least-privilege permissions
• Secure sharing settings
• Monitoring and logging
• Regular backup and recovery testing

Australian businesses should also consider how cloud providers and SaaS applications handle sensitive business information.

10. Identity and Credential Theft

Why are stolen credentials such a serious cybersecurity threat?

A stolen username and password can provide an attacker with direct access to email, cloud applications, financial systems or other business resources.

Identity fraud remained the top reported cybercrime type for Australian individuals, while identity fraud also ranked among the top reported business cybercrime threats in ASD’s 2024–25 reporting.

Once an attacker obtains legitimate credentials, detecting malicious activity can become more difficult because the login may initially appear legitimate.

How can Australian businesses protect employee accounts?

Businesses should implement:

• Multi-factor authentication
• Strong, unique passwords
• Password managers
• Phishing-resistant authentication where practical
• Conditional access policies
• Regular access reviews
• Immediate removal of former employee accounts
• Monitoring for suspicious login activity

MFA is one of the simplest security improvements many businesses can make.

How Can Australian Businesses Prepare for Cybersecurity Threats in 2026?

Australian businesses do not need to solve every cybersecurity problem at once.

Start with the fundamentals.

1. Implement the Essential Eight

The Australian Signals Directorate recommends the Essential Eight as a baseline cybersecurity strategy. It includes measures such as patching applications and operating systems, MFA, restricting administrative privileges, application control, and regular backups.

2. Protect Business Email

Email remains one of the most common attack paths.

Implement:

• MFA
• SPF
• DKIM
• DMARC
• Email filtering
• Phishing awareness training

3. Secure Endpoints

Business laptops and desktops should have appropriate endpoint security, regular updates, and controlled administrator privileges.

4. Back Up Critical Data

Backups should not simply exist. They should be tested.

A business should know:

• What is backed up?
• How often?
• Where is it stored?
• Who can access it?
• How quickly can it be restored?

5. Create an Incident Response Plan

Every business should know what happens after a suspected cyber attack.

The plan should identify:

• Who is contacted first?
• Who isolates affected devices?
• Who communicates with customers?
• Who contacts the bank?
• Who manages legal or privacy obligations?
• How are systems restored?

6. Review Your Cloud and Third-Party Access

Regularly review users, permissions, applications and suppliers.

Remove access that is no longer required.

7. Train Your Employees

Technology alone cannot eliminate cybersecurity risk.

Employees should know how to identify:

• Phishing emails
• Fake invoices
• Suspicious links
• Credential theft attempts
• Social engineering
• AI-generated impersonation
• Unusual payment requests

Cybersecurity Checklist for Australian Businesses

Use this quick checklist to identify common gaps:

• MFA enabled on critical accounts
• Essential Eight controls reviewed
• Operating systems and applications patched
• Business email protected with appropriate controls
• SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured
• Critical data regularly backed up
• Backup restoration tested
• Endpoint security deployed
• Administrator privileges restricted
• Former employee accounts removed
• Cloud permissions reviewed
• Third-party access reviewed
• Firewall and VPN devices patched
• Staff cybersecurity training provided
• Incident response plan documented
• Critical systems identified
• Cybersecurity responsibilities assigned
• If several boxes remain unchecked, that does not necessarily mean your business has been compromised. It does indicate areas that deserve attention.