Imagine your company gets hit by ransomware. You weigh up the options, reluctantly pay the criminals, and hope to quietly get on with things. But under Australia's new laws, that's no longer an option. As of the 30th May 2025, Australia became the first country in the world to require businesses with revenue over $3 million to report ransomware payments to the government, and within 72 hours!
This isn't just paperwork - it's a fundamental shift. When you risk having to go to the government with your tail between your legs to explain why you didn’t patch your server, cyber security takes on a whole new significance.
The Aussie Cyber Crisis That Changed Everything
The timing isn't coincidental. Australia has endured a devastating series of preventable cyberattacks. The Optus breach in September 2022 exposed 9.5 million customers through a coding error that sat unpatched for four years. Weeks later, Medibank lost 9.7 million health records to attackers exploiting compromised credentials and missing multi-factor authentication. Then MediSecure in April 2024 suffered the largest breach in Australian history - 12.9 million people affected, 6.5 terabytes of health data stolen, and the company destroyed within three weeks.
These weren't sophisticated nation-state attacks. They were basic security failures - the cyber equivalent of leaving your front door unlocked and being surprised when someone walks in.
From Private Embarrassment to Public Record
Here's what's changed: The Australian Signals Directorate reports that 71% of cyber incidents involve ransomware, yet historically only one in five victims reported attacks. The new laws fix this visibility gap by requiring companies to document exactly what vulnerabilities were exploited and how much they paid.
No more quiet ransom payments. No more hoping nobody notices your security failures. Every payment gets documented, every vulnerability exposed, every failure potentially scrutinised by regulators and competitors.
The government has provided a six-month grace period until 2026, but the message is clear. Medibank faces up to $2.22 million per privacy violation, whilst Optus confronts theoretical maximum penalties of $900 million for telecommunications security failures.
Patch Management: No Longer Optional
For businesses, these new laws transform patch management from best practice to business imperative. The question isn't whether you can afford maintenance downtime - it's whether you can afford explaining to the Australian Signals Directorate why you failed to patch known vulnerabilities before paying criminals.
Modern patch management strategies aren't just technical solutions anymore; they're compliance tools that could determine whether your business survives its next security incident. Just like WannaCry demonstrated, the attacks that make headlines are often the most preventable ones.
The New Reality
Australia's cyber security awakening delivers an important lesson: in a world where ransomware payments must be reported within 72 hours, there's no hiding from the consequences of poor patch management. Whether you're a small business or large enterprise, the choice is simple - patch proactively, or publicly explain why you didn't.
Are you confident in your patch management processes? Want help ensuring your systems stay secure and compliant? Get in touch today!
