A government survey has revealed that many Australian organisations are attacked daily by cyber criminals.

The research, published by the Australian Cyber Security Centre, questioned 113 organisations including major businesses and government departments.

A staggering 90% faced some form of attempted or successful cyber-security compromise last financial year.

“The cyber threat remains ever-present,” the report says.

“Organisations faced numerous malicious cyber threats on a daily basis – through spear-phishing emails alone, organisations are affected up to hundreds of times a day.

“Findings suggest the current level of cyber-threat activity is disruptive for organisations regardless of whether an attempt to compromise a network is successful or not.”

The survey found most organisations display a high level of resilience.

However, more than half (51%) tend to be alerted to possible breaches by external parties.

“Despite the overall resilience, there are still a number of significant challenges that suggest organisations could do more to prepare for and adapt to continually changing cyber threats.”

Improvements are being made. Some 71% of organisations report having a cyber-security incident response plan in place, compared with 60% in the 2015 survey.