One in 10 Australian organisations have lost more than $1 million after falling victim to cyber crime in the past two years. This was a key finding of PwC’s Global Economic Crime Survey released today on economic crime in Australia. It found that cyber crime was the second most frequent economic crime experienced by organisations in Australia and abroad. Asset misappropriation was the most frequent with procurement fraud ranking third. One third (33 per cent) of all economic crimes in 2014 were cyber attacks, up from 30 per cent in 2012. Almost half (43 per cent) of the organisations surveyed ranked the theft or loss or personal identifiable information as the number one concern should a cyber crime attack occur. A further 33 per cent were most concerned about the theft of intellectual property or data in general. PwC partner Richard Bergman said cyber crime is not just an IT issue. “Recent high profile data breaches such as the US Target breach have increased the level of awareness and concern among senior management and the board. But the majority of cyber crime incidents still don’t make the headlines. “Information is valuable and attackers are determined to get it. Many of the attacks we’ve recently investigated have targeted merger acquisition information, and what surprises many organisations is how long attackers are inside their networks before the attack occurs,” Bergman said. The report also said determining who is accountable for cyber across organisations needs to be addressed. Recent cyber breaches have seen senior executives standing down as well as CIOs, the report said. The report found all forms of economic crime are up, with 57 per cent of Australian companies reporting an incident in the past two years. Globally, the number of incidents reported was lower at 32 per cent and in the Asia-Pacific region only 37 per cent. Related content Opinion 5 hard questions every IT leader must answer Strong leadership is vital to IT success — and shouldn’t be taken for granted. Continual self-reflection is essential for knowing whether it’s time to restructure your approach to leading IT. By Thornton May Mar 28, 2023 5 mins Business IT Alignment IT Leadership Feature CIOs address the impact of hybrid work Assessing how some of the most progressive CIOs strive to provide both technological and emotional support for a dispersed workforce. By Pat Brans Mar 28, 2023 8 mins CIO Remote Work Employee Experience BrandPost Smart UPS Connectivity: what it is and why you need it By Veronica Lew Mar 27, 2023 4 mins Remote Access BrandPost Huawei’s F5G rollout plan signals new wave of green technology and digital transformation At MWC, Gu Yunbo, President of Huawei’s Enterprise Optical Business Domain, sat down with CIO to discuss a raft of new F5G launches, and what they mean for enterprise computing. By Peter Kirwan Mar 27, 2023 4 mins Digital Transformation Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe