The federal government is encouraging Australians, including those in regional areas, to be extra vigilant for potential cybercrime as the country faces an unprecedented level of cyber-attacks attempting to steal sensitive information and money.

The call to action comes alongside the launch of the next stage of the government's 'Act Now Stay Secure' cyber security campaign.

Assistant Minister for Defence Andrew Hastie said the consequences of cybercrime can be catastrophic for businesses, families, and individuals.

“In the 12 months to 30 June this year, around 4600 reports of business email compromise have been made to the Australian Cyber Security Centre - of these, around a third reported financial losses totalling approximately $81 million,” Assistant Minister Hastie said.

“Email is a very common tool for the delivery of ransomware attacks, with phishing messages sent to potential victims containing malicious links or attachments."

Regional businesses are also not immune. One business support service in Central West NSW reported earlier this year that they had several requests for assistance from smaller businesses impacted by cyber incidents.

They said one such business had their email system compromised, resulting in a $5000 payment to an overseas criminal rather than the intended supplier. The company has no recourse to recover their money.

According to Assistant Minister Hastie, cybercriminals can also use compromised email accounts to send fraudulent emails to the business' customers or steal sensitive information from them.

He said this could lead to "catastrophic" financial losses for businesses through scams or ransomware so businesses should do everything they can to protect themselves.

“There are things everyone can and should be doing to protect themselves and their email accounts – use complex passwords and multifactor authentication, back up your data and keep a copy off-line, and don’t click on suspicious links," he said.

“As part of the ‘Act Now Stay Secure’ campaign, the Australian Cyber Security Centre has released new email security guides to help prevent email compromise, and advice to help victims recover from an email attack."

The government's security guides, other advice and information, and the ability to report a cybercrime are available at cyber.gov.au.