Cybercrime in Australia
Australia’s cybercrime landscape is tracked primarily through two complementary government sources: the Australian Signals Directorate’s Annual Cyber Threat Report, which covers cyber incidents against organisations, government, and critical infrastructure broadly, and the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Targeting Scams Report, which focuses specifically on consumer-facing scams and fraud. Together they show a threat environment that is growing in both scale and financial cost, with older Australians, First Nations communities, and other vulnerable groups bearing a disproportionate share of the impact.
National cybercrime overview
Sourced from ASD’s Annual Cyber Threat Report 2024–25.
| Statistic | Figure |
|---|---|
| Cyber security incidents ASD responded to | Over 1,200, an 11% increase from FY2023–24 |
| Cybercrime reports via ReportCyber | Over 84,700 — an average of one report every 6 minutes |
| Average self-reported cost per report (individuals) | $33,000, up 8% year-on-year |
| Average self-reported cost per report (small business) | $56,600, up 14% year-on-year |
| Average self-reported cost per report (large business) | $202,700, a 219% year-on-year increase |
| Healthcare sector attack success rate | 95% of health/social assistance incidents succeeded, versus ~52% across all sectors |
| Ransomware incidents | 138 incidents; 39% were only detected because ASD contacted the affected entity |
Scams targeting older and vulnerable Australians
Sourced from the National Anti-Scam Centre’s Targeting Scams Report.
| Group | Statistic | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Adults 65+ | Highest reported losses of any age group: $99.6 million (down 17.6% from 2023) | 2024 |
| First Nations Australians | Losses increased 73.1% to $6.5 million | 2024 |
| First Nations Australians (loss-report growth) | 55.3% increase in reports involving losses | 2025 |
| People with disability | $20.8 million in losses, down 32.6% from 2023 | 2024 |
| CALD communities | Losses decreased 36% from 2023 | 2024 |
| English as a second language | 44% increase in reports involving losses | 2025 |
| First Nations (population vs loss share) | Make up ~17.1% of the population but account for 26.5% of overall Scamwatch losses | 2025 |
| National total (all combined data sources) | $2.18 billion combined reported losses, up 7.8% from 2024 | 2025 |
Reading the two datasets together
The ASD report and the Anti-Scam Centre report measure different things and shouldn’t be treated as one combined figure — the former covers cyber incidents against organisations and infrastructure, the latter covers scams against individuals and consumers, a related but distinct category of cybercrime. The clearest disparity figure across both datasets is the First Nations population-to-loss ratio: representing roughly 17% of the population but over a quarter of reported Scamwatch losses, a gap that points to disproportionate targeting or vulnerability rather than simple population size.
Position in this vault
This pillar sits under Cybersecurity, grounding the vault’s to the Australian context specifically.It is relevant to Social Engineering and scam-based attack strategies, which disproportionately affect the groups documented here.