Retail, Services Industries Under Fire in Oceania

Last year in Australia, New Zealand, and the South Pacific, Main Street industries such as retail and construction faced more cyberattacks than critical sectors, with Cyble tracking 92 sales of compromised access affecting Aussie and Kiwi organisations in 2025, 31 of which touched the retail sector. The report notes that the most significant initial access-related breach in the region in 2025 was Scattered Spider’s breach of Australia’s national airline, Qantas.

It also highlights that the most significant attack against a retailer involved 250GB of stolen data, including a 30GB SQL database, dumped onto a Russian-language cybercrime forum and sold for around $1,500, according to the Dark Web seller. Ransomware patterns show professional services leading attacks, with construction and healthcare also listed among the top affected sectors; overall, 45% of all ransomware attacks in Oceania last year came from INC, Qilin, Lynx, Akira and Dragonforce.

The piece argues that attackers pursue the most lucrative targets for the least effort, and that retail’s high transaction volume and workforce dynamics create appealing entry points for opportunistic actors, a view echoed by industry voices quoted in the article published on 14 January 2026.