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The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) received more than 82,000 cyber crime reports during FY2025–26 – equivalent to one report every six minutes – and responded to more than 1,500 cyber security incidents.
More than 4,400 notifications of potentially malicious cyber activity were issued to organisations, while industry accounted for 51 per cent of cyber incidents reported to the agency.
The financial impact of cyber crime also increased, with the average self-reported cost per business report rising by 16 per cent to $93,500. For medium-sized businesses, the average cost climbed by 45 per cent to $141,300.
Identity theft remains the top threat
Identity fraud remained the most reported type of cyber crime over the past five years, although reports fell by 18 per cent in 2025–26, according to the report.
Phishing was the most frequently observed initial access technique, accounting for 39 per cent of the top 10 techniques identified by the ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre. Compromised accounts and credentials also remained a common way for cyber criminals to gain access to Australian networks.
Social engineering was another prominent risk, with cyber criminals exploiting trust, urgency and impersonation to persuade people to disclose personal information, transfer money or click on malicious links.
The agency also recorded 98 data breaches during the year, accounting for more than 6 per cent of the incidents it responded to. This represented a 66 per cent increase on the previous year.
Other common cyber crime types included online shopping fraud and online banking fraud.
Commenting on the findings, Richard Marles MP, deputy prime minister and minister for defence, said: “The report highlights that Australians continue to be affected by cyber crime, ransomware and data breaches, often resulting in significant financial, operational and personal harm.
“Cyber criminals are becoming more adaptive in their tradecraft, increasingly exploiting trusted relationships and using social engineering techniques to manipulate individuals and organisations into granting access to sensitive systems and information.”
Financial services among top critical infrastructure targets as tech intensifies attacks
Financial and insurance services accounted for 30 per cent of cyber incidents affecting critical infrastructure in 2025–26, making it the leading industry division for such incidents, according to the report.
Critical infrastructure refers to essential systems and services whose disruption could have wider consequences for the economy and public safety, such as financial services, energy, food and water.
The ASD’s Australian Cyber Security Centre responded to 154 incidents involving critical infrastructure during the year, accounting for 10 per cent of all incidents it handled. The number was down almost 7 per cent on the previous financial year.
The threat to financial infrastructure has also drawn warnings from the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. Executive board member Therese McCarthy Hockey warned that cyber crime powered by frontier AI could pose an existential risk to Australia’s financial infrastructure.
“AI isn’t simply turbocharging the ability of cyber adversaries to find vulnerabilities they can exploit; it’s dramatically reducing the level of skill and resources needed to undertake potent cyber attacks,” McCarthy Hockey said.
“The risk is that security teams become overwhelmed trying to patch vulnerabilities and fend off attacks coming faster than ever before.”
Commenting on the report, Minister Marles warned Australians to be “clear-eyed” about the threats posed by AI, saying the technology was “reshaping the threat environment”.
“AI has been the defining force in the cyber threat landscape over the past year, allowing malicious actors to find vulnerabilities faster and exploit them at unprecedented scale, speed and sophistication,” he said.
“In recent weeks, new threats have emerged from the unintended actions of AI agents and model testing.”
Broker industry at risk
The risks are not confined to large organisations or critical infrastructure. The mortgage broking industry is not immune to cyber crime, with brokers previously telling Broker Daily about clients who have fallen victim to scams.
In one case, a borrower lost around $80,000 and was forced to reapply for their loan at a higher loan-to-value ratio.
In addition, the warning comes just months after Broker Daily broke the news that fintech platform youX had suffered a major cyber attack, compromising the personal and financial information of almost 500,000 borrowers and bringing cyber security risks sharply into focus.
Scammers are also using increasingly sophisticated impersonation tactics to make fraudulent communications appear legitimate. The National Anti-Scam Centre said deepfakes of celebrities had been used to lend credibility to deceptive correspondence, with the associated scams costing Australians more than $7 million.
The most impersonated figures included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Jacqui Lambie, Angus Taylor and Alan Kohler. These impersonations often form part of broader scam networks using spoof websites, fake reviews, fabricated news articles and AI-generated videos to build credibility.
Financial institutions have also faced scrutiny over their handling of customer protection. Earlier this year, HSBC was ordered by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission to pay a $35 million penalty over failures to protect its customers.
Lenders have separately warned of emerging scam trends. National Australia Bank (NAB) reported a sharp rise in losses linked to investment scams involving superannuation.
NAB data showed estimated losses from these scams surged by 389 per cent between October 2025 and July 2026, compared with the prior corresponding period, although the number of cases remained largely stable.
Around two-thirds of the scams involved cryptocurrency payments, with criminals often directing victims to convert their funds into digital assets before moving them offshore. These transactions can be difficult to trace, making it harder for victims to recover their money.
Meanwhile, Bankwest identified phishing as its most prevalent scam across all demographics. It was also the only scam type to increase in volume year on year, accounting for 52 per cent of the bank’s cases in the last financial year.
[Related: AI adoption is surging, but are lenders’ data systems ready?]
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