Sekuro and Women in Digital have released research showing that 84% of Australians believe AI will increase cybercrime. The study also found that 44% of cybercrime victims did not report the incident through any channel.
A nationally representative survey of 2,003 Australian adults found that 42% had been exposed to cybercrime in the past five years, while 27% said they had been victims. Among those who had been hacked, 40% said they had been targeted more than once, pointing to a pattern of repeat victimisation.
The findings suggest concern about online threats is growing as AI use becomes more common. According to the research, 74% of Australians already use AI and 45% use it at least weekly, while eight in 10 said they were concerned AI would make them more vulnerable to cyber attacks.
Concern about cybercrime extended beyond AI. Some 71% of respondents said they were worried about cybercrime affecting themselves or their family, and 59% said they were more worried than they were two years earlier.
Financial scams were the top concern for 29% of respondents, followed by hacking at 27% and data breaches at 24%. Reporting rates were especially low for data breaches, with 51% of victims saying they did not report the incident through any channel.
Hidden harm
The research points to what it describes as a large volume of cybercrime that never appears in official statistics. It also highlights differences in how online offending affects victims, especially in more personal forms of abuse.
While overall victimisation rates were similar for men and women, the report said women face a disproportionate share of targeted offences such as digital stalking, coercive control and image-based abuse. It cited data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and the eSafety Commissioner showing that women are significantly more likely than men to experience technology-facilitated abuse from an intimate or former partner.
Those figures also showed women were twice as likely as men to fear for their physical safety as a result, at 26.3% compared with 12.6%. Research from ANROWS cited in the report found underreporting was especially severe in technology-facilitated abuse, with 97.6% of victims not reporting to eSafety and 91.7% not reporting to police.
More than one in three victims of this type of abuse, or 34.3%, told nobody about their experience. The figures suggest the most personal forms of digital offending can remain largely invisible even as their effects extend beyond the online world.
Holly Hunt, chief executive officer and founder of Women in Digital, said the headline figures tell only part of the story.
"Cybercrime can be deeply personal for victims, whether it involves sensitive information, threats or intimidation. When technology is used to stalk, control or exploit someone, the consequences can extend beyond the digital world and into people's everyday lives," Hunt said.
"Shame can also play a powerful role in keeping victims silent. Fear of judgement, further exposure or being blamed can stop people from reporting, creating cybercrime that sits outside official statistics and leaving some of the most harmful forms of offending largely unseen," she said.
AI concerns
The survey found older Australians were generally more anxious about AI-enabled cybercrime than younger adults. Almost half of people aged 65 and over said they were very worried, compared with about one in four people aged 18 to 34.
Even so, the data suggests most Australians are trying to reduce their exposure to risk. Some 98% said they were taking active steps to protect themselves online, including avoiding suspicious links and emails, using multi-factor authentication, and limiting the personal information they share online.
Avoiding suspicious links and emails was the most common step, cited by 79% of respondents. Multi-factor authentication was used by 71%, while 65% said they limited the amount of personal information they shared online.
The report argues that this level of personal effort has not been matched by reporting systems that are easy for victims to navigate. It calls for a single national reporting pathway, trauma-informed reporting processes, better measurement of gendered cybercrime, and policy that treats digital and physical harm as linked rather than separate issues.
Noel Allnutt, chief executive officer of Sekuro, said responsibility should not rest only with individuals.
"We know most Australians are already taking steps to protect themselves online. However, cyber hygiene is becoming increasingly overwhelming, and preventing cybercrime can't rest on individuals alone.
"This overlooks how complicated these situations can be, particularly when cybercrime becomes personal and criminals take advantage of people's trust and vulnerability.
"We need systems, workplaces and technologies that recognise how criminals target people, and make it easier for victims to know where to turn and get help when they need it," Allnutt said.