The government plans to introduce into parliament a new cyber-security bill which would require businesses to disclose ransoms paid to hackers.
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00:00What the government is trying to do here is get eyes on a problem that's got away from
00:09them and from all of us really.
00:10So in the past five years, ransomware attacks have increased fivefold according to the Australian
00:16Signals Directorate, which is why the centrepiece of this bill, the Cyber Security Act, is going
00:22to be, well, we're going to make it mandatory for businesses, any businesses with an annual
00:27turnover of greater than $3 million, to disclose any payments that they make.
00:34As a way to make that safer, I suppose, for them, because there's a lot of anxiety in
00:38the business community about that, they're saying if you do tell us, we won't alert regulators.
00:45Which is not to say that regulators won't be able to prosecute in the way they would
00:50eventually normally do so, but they just won't get the information from Australian Signals
00:57Directorate or cyber authorities.
01:00They'll have to go about it using their existing powers.
01:02I sat down with the then Home Affairs Minister, Claire O'Neill, just before the Cabinet reshuffle,
01:11and she talked me through the key points.
01:13This is a no-fault scheme.
01:14We're not blaming businesses when they are subjected to a crime.
01:18They're victims of a crime, and that's important to recognise.
01:21But business too are incredibly concerned about this problem, and from the discussions
01:25that we've had, which have been extensive, business are very pleased that government
01:30is taking up the mantle here and pushing towards action on ransomware payments.
01:35They don't want to live in this world where, in an unregulated way, businesses are paying
01:39money to criminals, which is then reinvested back in hurting Australian businesses.
01:45This is not a sustainable situation, and business understand that.
01:48It's not going to be a safe harbour.
01:49This is what the government is quite eager to put across.
01:53The other big message, and this is a tricky balancing act, I suppose, trying to get both
01:57these messages out, but they're saying, you can trust us.
02:01Please just tell us what's going on, because at the moment, no one knows.
02:04It's this big mystery, exactly how bad the problem is.
02:09They really just want to build that trust with business.
02:12What I was hearing from business groups is that they do want to see stronger protections
02:17in place.
02:18It is in a draft format, this bill.
02:22It hasn't been unveiled yet, so we could see it shift some more, but yes, there will be
02:27protections for business that just won't be total.