Global Surge in Automated Cyberattacks Puts Australian Businesses on High Alert, New Report Finds
Australia’s small and medium businesses are facing unprecedented cyber risk as global hacking groups accelerate automated attacks powered by artificial intelligence, according to new research from FortiGuard Labs. The findings, released in the 2024 Global Threat Landscape Report, position Australia as a high value target and warn that current defences among smaller enterprises are falling dangerously behind.
The report paints a picture of cybercrime evolving at extraordinary speed. Analysts tracked an average of 36,000 malicious scans per second worldwide, resulting in 97 billion exploitation attempts across the year. Automation and AI have enabled attackers to probe, infiltrate and monetise weaknesses faster than organisations can patch them.
While large corporations have invested heavily in cybersecurity infrastructure, smaller businesses — which make up the overwhelming majority of Australia’s economy — are struggling to keep pace. Their limited resources and lower levels of digital maturity create ideal entry points for attackers seeking wide access with minimal effort.
The report highlights the expanding ecosystem of organised cybercrime, including a sharp rise in Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS) operations. Thirteen new criminal groups were identified in 2024, several of which were responsible for over a third of all known ransomware attacks. These groups increasingly coordinate through encrypted platforms such as Telegram, where they exchange data, tools and stolen credentials away from detection.
The United States, United Kingdom and Canada were the most frequently targeted countries, but Australia remains highly attractive to digital criminals. The nation’s relative prosperity, combined with significant financial reserves in superannuation funds and corporate accounts, create strong incentives for ransomware operators seeking large payouts.
Compounding the threat is the rise of hacktivism. More than 60 percent of ideologically motivated attacks tracked in the report were linked to geopolitical tensions, with campaigns adopting hashtags associated with conflicts and political movements. The blending of political activism and financial crime has created an unpredictable threat environment that is harder for organisations to anticipate.
Fortinet’s analysis also identified a 42 percent increase in stolen credentials for sale online, further expanding opportunities for attackers to breach networks using legitimate login information. With cybercriminals able to strike long before vulnerabilities are patched, businesses are encouraged to adopt continuous threat exposure management (CTEM) — an approach centred on simulating live attacks to uncover weaknesses before real adversaries exploit them.
To strengthen global cyber resilience, Fortinet has partnered with Crime Stoppers International on a Cybercrime Bounty program, offering financial rewards for anonymously reporting criminal cyber activity. The initiative aims to increase accountability and help organisations share critical intelligence more effectively.
The company urges businesses never to pay ransoms, noting that victims often face repeat attacks once they are seen as profitable targets. Instead, firms are encouraged to build layered, proactive defences, adopt real time monitoring and prepare comprehensive response plans before an incident occurs.
The FortiGuard Labs report makes clear that cyberthreats are no longer isolated events, nor do attackers wait for convenient opportunities. With automated tools identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed, organisations — particularly small and medium businesses — must evolve just as quickly. Without decisive action, the gap between defenders and attackers will continue to widen, leaving economies and communities increasingly exposed to the global cybercrime surge.
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