An expert in cybersecurity has warned that the threat of cyber attacks on companies, individuals and educational institutions such as the University of Wollongong is too big to ignore.
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That's exactly what Distinguished Professor Willy Susilo, will highlight during this Wednesday's online seminar on the Australian cybersecurity industry.
The director of UOW's Institute of Cybersecurity and Cryptology is one of many speakers to feature in UOW's "Cybersecurity - a real and challenging threat" seminar.
The October 27 event starting at 4pm coincides with Australian Cyber Week (October 25-29).
It comes as Australia's cybersecurity agency (ACSC) states that there has been a 60 per cent increase in ransomware attacks against Australian entities since last year.
On top of that, 2020 broke all records regarding data lost in breaches and the number of cyber-attacks on companies, governments and individuals.
"The main problem is that - day by day - we rely more on online storage such as the cloud. This increases the risk of data breaches," Professor Susilo said.
The internationally recognised expert in post-quantum cryptography and cybersecurity has published more than 500 research papers on cryptography and network security.
Prof Susilo has also actively engaged with the industry and the research community to improve Australia's cybersecurity capabilities.
He said cybersecurity was a challenging problem with many risk factors at play, ranging from legislation, technology to the human aspect.
"While cybersecurity is possible to a certain extent, especially from the technological perspective, it does rely on users doing the right thing. In fact, many consider humans to be the weakest link in cybersecurity. Hence, more work should focus on designing techniques that safeguard against users doing the wrong thing while requiring minimal human intervention," Prof Susilo advised.
The Hon. Victor Dominello MP, Minister for Customer Service and Minister for Digital, will open the seminar.
The free seminar will be delivered via Zoom. Visit https://uow-au.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_HYEKQCfBTm-TYLAbvebkRA to register.
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