Victoria named nation's cybercrime hotspot

The Age media advises that Australians are reporting incidents of cybercrime about every 10 minutes, according to statistics released by the nation's cyber security watchdog.

More than 13,500 reports of cybercrime have been received by the Australian Cyber Security Centre since July.  Victoria made up the bulk of those reports at 26 per cent (3,027 reports), followed by NSW with 25 per cent (2,922).

The most-common type of cybercrime reported to the ACSC is online fraud, closely followed by identity-related offences.

The organisation says cyber security incidents cost Australian businesses up to $29 billion each year, with almost one in three Australian adults impacted by cybercrime in 2018.

Monday marks the start of Stay Smart Online Week, an annual initiative to raise awareness about online security and the impact of cybercrime on the community.

Major Australian businesses including ANZ, Westpac, St. George, Bank of Melbourne and BankSA will change their homepages to black and white for the day to draw attention to the threat of cybercrime.

They will be joined by hundreds of other businesses, government agencies, associations and community groups which will display black and white imagery on their websites and social media during the week.

Head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre Rachel Noble said taking extra care online was paramount, given the alarming statistics.

More information is available through - https://www.cyber.gov.au/