Cybercrime and cyber-attacks are on the increase in Australia, and according to ASIO, and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), communist China is the main force behind the hacking of Australian companies and vital infrastructure. There were almost 94,000 reports of cybercrime made to authorities this year, which is an increase of 23 percent from the 2021-2022 financial year. The average cost to companies had increased by 14 percent, and losses for small businesses by cyber-attacks averaged almost $30,000 in the 2020-21 financial year, and increased to almost $46,000 in the last financial year. The aim here is to either acquire intellectual property, which communist China can then use and then sell back to the West, or to simply attack and destroy the intellectual property of Australian competitors.
Attacks upon Australian government organisations by China, are less along the lines of seeking commercial advantage, for one does not get much of that done by the Australian government, but more along the lines of cyber-warfare, preparing the grinds for the coming war with China. Arguably, China is already in the early stages of this war, one which is still at the cyber stage and has yet to go kinetic.