What is the major cyber security threat facing Australia now?

What is the major cyber security threat facing Australia now in 2025-2026 is ransomware and state-sponsored cyber attacks on critical infrastructure, according to Australian Signals Directorate Annual Cyber Threat Report 2023-2024 and ACSC. Ransomware is the most damaging threat for businesses, where attackers encrypt your data and demand ransom of $50,000 to $1M+ in cryptocurrency, with average ransom for small business $50K and downtime of 21 days. Ransomware groups like LockBit, BlackCat and Russian groups target Australian health, construction, professional services and manufacturing, with 30% increase in ransomware reports. The second major threat is Business Email Compromise and phishing, where attackers compromise email accounts and send fake invoices, causing losses of $100M+ per year in Australia, with average loss $30K per incident. Third is state-sponsored espionage and disruption from China, Russia and Iran targeting critical infrastructure including energy, water, ports and telecoms, with ASD warning that Chinese state-sponsored group Volt Typhoon is pre-positioning in critical infrastructure for potential disruption. Fourth is data breaches from third party suppliers, like the 2022 Optus and Medibank breaches that exposed 10M+ records. Emerging threats include AI-powered phishing and deepfakes that are harder to detect, and attacks on IoT devices. The Australian Government's Cyber Security Strategy 2023-2030 identifies these as major threats and is investing $2.3B to block threats, mandate reporting of ransomware payments, and require critical infrastructure to have stronger defences.