72 per cent of Australians are fearful that hackers are attacking major industries and sectors of the economy, according to a global survey by Honeywell: Process Solutions.
The 10-country global survey revealed 57 per cent of Australians do not think all cyber attacks can be stopped and believe hacker attacks will continue till security is bypassed.
While 36 per cent of Australians believe that the government and organisations are not taking the threat of cyber attacks seriously, 33 per cent believe the media has exaggerated the issue.
Michael Chertoff, co-founder and executive chairman of the Chertoff Group and former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said concerns surrounding cyber attacks are warranted and advised industries to ensure they are protected.
“This threat is real and industries need a proactive and coordinated approach to protect their assets as well as their intellectual property,” Mr Chertoff said.
“We have seen a number of attacks to critical industries in areas like the Middle East and the U.S. and these have had major impacts on their operations.”
5,065 adults across 10 countries were surveyed for the report, which found India (92 per cent) and Japan (89 per cent) to be the countries most worried about cyber attacks.
Respondents considered oil and gas industries (64 per cent) to be the most at risk of attacks, followed by medical/health care/pharmaceuticals (64 per cent), power grid (63 per cent), chemicals (61 per cent) and aerospace/defense (59 per cent).
“These survey results are not surprising in light of the recent cyber attacks that have made headlines in several areas around the world,” said Jeff Zindel, leader of HPS’ Industrial Cyber Security business.
“The impacts of these attacks, as well as others that have not been publicly reported, have cost companies and governments billions of dollars through operational issues and loss of intellectual property.”
