On 25 November 2021, the Australian Signals Directorate’s Australian Cyber Security Centre (ASD’s ACSC) announced a significant expansion to its 24-hour call centre capabilities, particularly benefiting small and medium-sized business owners, older and other vulnerable Australians. The call centre is full of expert staff who provide Australians with on-tap cyber security advice, assurance and assistance when they need it.
The ASD’s ACSC’s latest Annual Cyber Threat Report showed the cyber threats facing Australians are growing, and that cybercriminals are actively targeting Australians.
In the 2020-21 financial year, the ASD’s ACSC received over 22,000 calls on the Cyber Security Hotline, an average of 60 per day, which is an increase of more than 310 per cent from the previous financial year.
The ASD’s ACSC already provides the latest advice to Australia’s small businesses, culturally and linguistically-diverse communities, older Australians, and Australian families through its website. The expanded hotline means the ASD’s ACSC can provide even more assistance to Australians, free of charge.
In addition to the Hotline, the ASD’s ACSC has also released new online learning resources offering simple-to-follow cyber security advice for all Australian businesses and individuals, available at cyber.gov.au/learn.
Australians are encouraged to report cyber incidents through the ASD’s ACSC’s ReportCyber tool, which provides a single online portal for individuals and business to report cyber incidents.
Read the full joint Minister for Defence, Minister for Defence Industry, and Assistant Minister for Defence media release.