Australia is suffering a cyber crime wave which makes it a bigger per-capita sufferer of hack attacks than the US, according to a recent survey.

The annual Australian Computer Crime and Security Survey, funded by the New South Wales Police, the Australian Computer Emergency Response Team and Deloitte Touche, shows that more than 67 per cent of companies were hacked last year.

This is seven per cent higher than the US and twice the 1999 levels. Some 35 per cent have been hacked six or more times.

The survey showed that data or network sabotage, virus infection, computer fraud and theft of laptop computers were the biggest security risks.

A Deloitte IT Security spokesman said that the figures demonstrated that computer security breaches are rocketing, and that the source and nature of the attacks is changing.

While most attacks in the past were caused by staff mistakes or sabotage, external security breaches have now been identified as the greatest risk to companies.