Phishing attacks have become the No 1 cyber enemy of business in Australia.
Half of the “malicious or criminal” data breaches reported to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) in the three months to September 30 came from phishing.
In its report released this week, the OAIC says a total of 245 breaches were reported between July and September.
Most data breaches affected between 100 and 1000 people, but one involved more than 50,000 and two others affected over 100,000 people.
The legal, accounting and management service sectors suffered the majority of breaches related to “malicious cyber” activity, followed by financial organisations and health service providers.
The report urges businesses and organisations to ensure they have the work policies and processes for staff to protect personal information, and to have the right cyber security in place.