Govt's new ACORN system to be revamped

The federal government’s flagship cybercrime reporting system is due for a revamp just months after launch in the light of modest response numbers and emerging new requirements.

Dubbed ACORN (Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network), the website - run by CrimTrac - was released in November to enable the public to report cases of cybercrime.

The $2 million site allows citizens to report a cybercrime via a form that takes 15 minutes to fill out.

It was pitched as the first time state and federal police would be able to access a national overview of cybercrime affecting Australians in order to develop suitable responses to the threats.

After almost five months, CrimTrac CTO Matt Jones said ACORN had received some 11,500 responses - a figure he agreed indicated cyber crime instances were under-reported.

Speaking during a panel session at Informa’s 3^rd annual Police Technology Forum in Canberra this week, Jones said the lacklustre response had triggered an overhaul agenda for the site, which would be led by the Attorney-General's Department and the Australian Crime Commission. 

The two agencies are now working to figure out whether the right questions are being asked on the form, and how to better ensure reliability of responses.

Jones also revealed little analysis had been undertaken into the reports being provided by users through ACORN.

However, some early trends were apparent, he said - phishing attacks were the most highly reported type of cybercrime out of 12 possible categories.

“We have got to perform some analysis around that," Jones said.

The CrimTrac CTO declined to comment on specific timelines or improvements for ACORN 2.0, but said the "basic concept is there".

“There’s still a fair bit of work to do yet in terms of understanding what the new requirements are."