UNSW Canberra Cyber Director Nigel Phair says Australia is "absolutely" vulnerable to cyber attacks after an oil pipeline and a major meat producer in the United States fell victim to cyber attack.
"On the whole, cyber security is discussed at a lot more mature level in the US than it often is in Australia," he told Sky News Australia.
"We've had President Biden come out a week and a half a go with a new presidential directive about how agencies have to work together, share information and respond to these attacks - we kind of need that same thing coming from our leaders."
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UNSW Canberra Cyber Director Nigel Phair says hospitals really need to invest in IT security after several Australian hospitals were targets of cyber attacks.
“Health care is the number one sector, not just in Australia but globally, that get hit by criminals,” he told Sky News.
“It’s a no brainer, firstly because of the criticality of the hospital, they’re going to pay a ransom … really quickly because they want to get things happening again.
“It’s a real wake-up call, I know we say that all the time but this is yet another of the wake up calls for the sector."