While cyber attacks on huge telcos, airlines and superannuation funds grab the headlines, small and medium-sized business owners are increasingly being seen as easy targets.

In an alarming new study of the Australians whose devices have been slowed or seized by hackers, experts warned paying up to protect business reputations could be throwing away money for nothing and even earning a place on "sucker lists" for repeated targeting.

The report based on the 2023 Australian Cybercrime Survey found nearly 5 per cent of respondents had received a ransom message on their device in the previous year, well up on the 2.1 per cent just two years earlier.

What's more, many were targeted multiple times, particularly if they chose to cave in to the ransomware criminals' demands.

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