In comparing cybersecurity risks in the United States to another country, it is important to understand that many categories can be correlated. Since the vast majority of incidents will most naturally fall on businesses and individuals, this seems the most likely grouping to choose for comparison. The two sources used in comparing the two countries are the fiscal year 2022 reports from the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC). These reports cover complaints of cybercrimes from all sizes of businesses and individuals. The complaints cover a wide range of risks in the cyber field. These statistics are important to understand if companies are to engage in business partnerships between the two countries.
In 2022, there were 800 thousand complaints of cybercrimes in America. Phishing was the most frequently reported cybercrime. After phishing, the next most frequent complaint was for Personal Data Breach (PDB). The third most frequently reported cybercrime in the U.S. was Non-payment/Non-delivery (2023). In Australia, there were 76 thousand complaints during the same year. Fraud was by far the most widely reported cybercrime. ID Theft, which is the closest comparison to PDB within the two reports, was reported at a frequency near the bottom of the ACSC statistics; far below other types of cybercrimes. Nonpayment/Non-delivery in the IC3 report is compared to Shopping in the ACSC report. Shopping was identified by ACSC as the second-highest reported cybercrime (Australian Cyber Security Centre, 2022).
If taken per capita, the numbers of reporting are roughly equal between both countries. The types of crimes were listed with different titles though were similar in scope. While Phishing was by far the most reported cybercrime in the U.S., fraud was equally the most frequently reported in Australia. Phishing is a form of fraud though the two report categories appear to be very different in that one is specific to a type of fraud while the other includes all types of fraud not specifically identified in other areas of the report. Fraud, by whatever title given, appears to be the most widely reported and the costliest type of cybercrime in both countries. This is an understandable risk for both countries as they were two of the wealthiest nations in 2022.
Shopping scams seem to be a prominent complaint in both countries as well. However, in Australia shopping cybercrimes make up a larger number of complaints than Non-payment/Non-delivery issues in the States. With online shopping being a leading form of commerce, both countries face challenges when handling the risks involving online transactions. In the U.S., Personal Data Breaches comprise the second-highest complaint category. This category is very broad in spectrum and includes personal data theft. It is important to note that the ACSC does not include a separate section for personal data breaches. Associated risks do appear to be lower in Australia than in the United States though the difference is not completely ascertainable due to the difference in reporting categories. Differences in the frequency of reporting certain types of cybercrimes in both countries could be attributed to many factors such as failure to report out of fear or distrust of government institutions.
Both countries share concerns about Business Email Compromise (BEC). Both reports tend toward an increase in both types of crimes. In Australia, BEC is the fifth most reported crime and one of the costliest. In the U.S., this crime is considered possibly the second most costly cybercrime of 2022, and it is rising in frequency. Overall, U.S. cases of BEC had a very low occurrence of reporting as compared to other cybercrimes. Both nations possess these risks by nature of being wealthier than many other countries. Also, other powerful nations can take advantage of these areas to harm the economies of adversaries. These types of cybercrimes are the most notable and costliest risks that companies in each nation will need to know of so that they can adopt adequate protections when engaging in business across borders.
(2023). Internet Crime Report 2022 [Review of Internet Crime Report 2022]. In Internet Crime Complaint Center, Federal Bureau of Investigation. Federal Bureau of Investigation (IC3). https://www.ic3.gov/Media/PDF/AnnualReport/2022_IC3Report.pdf
Australian Cyber Security Centre. (2022, November 4). ACSC Annual Cyber Threat Report, July 2021 to June 2022 | Cyber.gov.au. Cyber.gov.au. https://www.cyber.gov.au/about-us/reports-and-statistics/acsc-annual-cyber-threat-report-july-2021-june-2022