Govt is looking at mandatory reporting for cybercrime incidents

The government is weighing the merits of a mandatory reporting requirement on organisations that are attacked or extorted by cyber criminals.

Home Affairs boss Mike Pezzullo told senate estimates yesterday that mandatory reporting is being considered “as an extension of the cyber security strategy” released mid last year.

While cautioning that he did not want to “presume or preempt government policy”, and qualifying that further stakeholder consultation is necessary, Pezzullo expressed a view that such a reporting regime is “likely” to be introduced at some point.

“My inclination - and I’m not going to state it as an opinion - is that it’s likely that a regime of that character will be proposed, but there’s still some stakeholder engagement to undertake.

“I think … most advanced economies are at a point where by some means ... a much more active defence posture is going to be required, simply because of the prevalence of the attacks.”

Leave a Comment