"Public Wants to Build Cyber Resilience"

Cyberattacks impacting thousands of Australian citizens' personal data have raised awareness of the dangers of insecure digital systems. According to researchers at Flinders University, consumers want to have a more active role in building more resilient systems to reduce risks of hacking, online deception, bots, and other threats. Their study of a nationally representative sample of 1,500 Australian citizens and focus groups with 62 people from three states looked at attitudes toward institutional trust, resilience, digital literacy, and perceptions of cyber threats. Even before the recent cyber breaches faced by Optus and Medibank Private customer bases, citizens surveyed were unconvinced that Australia is keeping up with cyber threats and interference in the country's economy, politics, or society. Not only are these citizens concerned about the government's technological capabilities, often citing negative experiences with online government services, but they also have reservations about businesses' investments in skills and commitments to cybersecurity, according to Flinders University researcher Dr Josh Holloway. They tended to be unaware of which public institutions and authorities are taking the lead in managing cyber threats and, collectively, expressed skepticism of social media and technology companies, media organizations, the federal government, and public service in general. Although survey respondents wanted greater capability and responsibility from the government and corporations, their trust in the process was lacking. The findings highlight the gap between Australian citizens' knowledge and engagement, and the top-down, technocratic, and elite-driven agencies' broad response to cyber threats. People must be educated about the reality of cyber risk and given the tools and information they need to participate in strategic efforts to improve cyber resilience, instead of just hearing about the consequences of successful cyberattacks. This article continues to discuss the study on peoples' understanding and threat perception regarding resilience to cyber-enabled foreign interference. 

Flinders University reports "Public Wants to Build Cyber Resilience"