The Australian dark web has evolved into a booming underground economy, with rising ransomware attacks and stolen data traded openly, Cyble reports.
Despite being tucked in the bottom corner of the world map, Australia is high up on the threat map for cybercriminals. The Australian dark web game has evolved over the years, and now it is a thriving economy for hackers, criminals, and hacktivist groups.
This economy now sells and purchases stolen corporate data, personal records, and privileged credentials that are openly traded. What was once a niche underground network now powers a shadow industry worth millions, exploiting every stolen byte from Australian businesses.
The Scale of the Australian Dark Web Threats
According to the Cyble Global Threat Landscape Report (H1 2025), ransomware attacks in Australia and New Zealand doubled year-over-year. Healthcare, professional services, and SMEs were among the hardest hit, with ransom demands averaging USD $750,000.
New ransomware groups such as Dire Wolf have also emerged, while established players like Akira, Lynx, and INC Ransom continue to dominate.
Recent Dark Web Activity Targeting Australia
Cyble analysts discovered multiple dark web posts and alleged breach claims in 2025 involving Australian organizations:
- ipperSec allegedly defaced the internal systems of TV-Plus Pty Ltd’s fibre monitoring network.
- ethan_fernsbyy was observed offering what they claimed were 236,000 Tangerine Telecom customer records on a breach forum.
- The Qilin ransomware group claimed responsibility for stealing 128 GB of data from Metricon Homes, reportedly including finance and HR documents.
- The Akira ransomware group allegedly targeted LeasePLUS Pty Ltd, stating they had exfiltrated contracts and personal data from over 2,300 individuals.
- The Kairos extortion group purportedly breached O&G Adelaide, claiming to have exposed 77 GB of patient and medical records.
- SpaceBears claimed to have compromised telecom provider Vertel and threatened to release client data.
- FSociety reportedly listed Goodman Ltd among its alleged victims on its leak site.
- The Global threat group claimed attacks on multiple healthcare providers, including Ascot Vale Health Group.
- Threat actor Kavinsky allegedly offered a 27,000-record database from Felix Markets on underground forums.
The Market Reality: What’s for Sale and for How Much
The Australian dark web has clear price tags for stolen goods:
- Identity kits → Driver’s licenses (>AUD $1,500), passports (>AUD $1,200).
- Corporate datasets → Bulk customer data, financial details, and PII sold in packages ranging from $1–$100 per log.
In effect, ransomware-ready access costs less than a corporate team lunch. The statistics reveal the true scope of cybercrime in Australia:
- OAIC logged 1,113 breaches in 2024, the highest since the Notifiable Data Breach (NDB) scheme began.
- 87,000+ cybercrime reports were made to ASD/ACSC in FY2023–24, roughly one every six minutes.
- 36,700 hotline calls (+12% YoY) and 1,100 incident responses were recorded.
- Small businesses were hit hard, averaging AUD $49,600 in losses per incident.
- Scams remain rampant, nearly 500,000 reports in 2024.
Tangible Australian Threat Examples
- Medibank: Data of 9.7 million people exposed; OAIC has launched legal action.
- Latitude Financial: 14 million records, including 7.9 million driver licences, compromised.
- HWL Ebsworth: Attackers leaked 1.45 TB of legal and government data.
- DP World: Port disruptions halted 30,000+ containers, showing supply-chain fragility.
What Criminals Do with Australian Business Data
Once stolen, Australian business data rarely goes to waste. Remote access via RDP or VPN is often resold to ransomware affiliates, while identity documents fuel KYC fraud, SIM swaps, and account takeovers. Corporate emails and legal files become tools for precision business email compromise (BEC), and even old breach data resurfaces months later in phishing campaigns or bundled stealer packs.
Australian organizations face unique risks because of the global value of their IDs, passports, and licenses is highly trusted and difficult to replace, combined with an increasingly aggressive regulatory environment, as seen in OAIC’s enforcement actions against Optus and Medibank.
Compounding this is the fragility of critical supply chains, where a single law firm or managed service provider breach can expose dozens of dependent clients. To understand their exposure quickly, businesses should monitor dark web mentions of their brand or .com.au domain, track whether employee identifiers have been leaked in major datasets like Optus, Latitude, or HWLE, and rotate OAuth tokens or API keys that appear in stealer logs.
At the same time, they must harden access by enforcing phishing-resistant MFA, disabling legacy authentication, and brokering all RDP or VPN sessions through zero-trust frameworks.
In 2025, “good” security for Australian firms means more than internal hardening: it involves continuous brand takedown across forums, Telegram channels, and dark markets, integrating access telemetry at the edge with per-user risk scoring and conditional MFA, conducting supplier breach drills for legal, payroll, and MSP dependencies, and maintaining regulator-ready evidence packs that cover timelines, remediation steps, and customer protection measures.
Conclusion
The rise of Australian dark web activities highlights the critical nature of the other side of the internet. A side hidden but still close to use. From small enterprises to national infrastructure, every organization must face the harsh reality that sensitive information is actively being traded and exploited.
In this high-stakes environment, remaining unaware is no longer an option. That’s where Cyble comes in, empowering security teams with real-time dark web monitoring, advanced AI-native threat intelligence, and continuous visibility into new cyber risks.
Recognized by leading analyst firms and trusted by governments and enterprises globally, Cyble helps organizations confront digital threats head-on with actionable intelligence, automated defenses, and regulatory readiness. In a world where the dark web thrives on your silence, Cyble ensures you’re never left in the dark.
The underground won’t disappear, but by studying it, Australian organizations can finally turn the dark web from a threat into an early warning system.
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